October 15, 2007

Absolute dollar figures can be hard to come by, but there's no doubt that renewables and clean tech are growing exponentially as a percentage of venture capitalists' portfolios.

Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), puts the figure north of 4 percent, up from less than 0.5 percent seven or eight years ago. That's an 800 percent increase. And the pace is accelerating. Raj Atluru, a managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, one of the largest venture firms, estimates that clean tech is the fourth largest venture category among all categories, up from seventh largest just three years ago. In 2006, he says, it accounted for 10 percent of all venture capital investments. Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner in the venture firm Technology Partners, puts the number even higher, at about 14 percent of all venture dollars in the fourth quarter of 2006.

The tiny turbine, with balsa wood blades, can power one Christmas tree light.

The EU's renewable power sector, led by wind, is growing, and those who build wind farms are having trouble keeping up with demand

by Mark Scott

After years of playing second fiddle to mainstream power sources, Europe's renewable energy sector is now going from strength to strength. Lucrative government subsidies, an EU-wide goal to reduce CO2 emissions 20% by 2020, and growing public support for the fight against climate change have turned this new industry into a force to be reckoned with.

Prices for solar and biogas introduced in the Michigan Renewable Energy Sources Act would be the best in North America.

Patterned after Germany's highly successful Renewable Energy Sources Act, Veteran Michigan Assemblywoman Kathleen Law submitted a bill to the Michigan House of Representatives earlier this week that creates the first comprehensive renewable energy feed-in tariff (FIT) introduced into any U.S. legislature.

Continued survey analysis shows support among residents for energy source

Delaware residents not only are supportive of offshore wind power, according to new analysis of a survey conducted by University of Delaware researchers, but they're willing to pay to have it instead of coal or natural gas power.