"Green Shoots of Investments" in the Green Sector

After being the sacrificial lamb during the height of the economic crisis, green companies are again becoming hot investment commodities:

Promising startup firms and cleantech companies who had postponed plans for public offerings are now seeing renewed interest and an influx of venture capital.

In general, these investments are trending away from capital-intensive energy generating technologies such as wind and solar, and moving instead toward those in the areas of efficiency, energy storage and transportation, Reuters said.

Investors seem to be betting that makers of lithium-ion battery and startups in the smart grid sector will do well in the years ahead.

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Experts and industry executives are predicting a significant pickup as early as this fall in green technology investments, with continued improvement through 2010. However, the level of activity is not likely to hit the $2.6 billion peak seen in the third quarter of 2008, they warn.

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Total green technology venture investments surged 73 percent to $572 million in April to June from the previous quarter, according to the Reuters report citing data from Ernst & Young.

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Investors now are more interested in less capital-intensive technology such as those associated with energy efficiency and smart grid technology, Vollen said.

"Everybody still recognizes that energy storage is the holy grail of the sector," he told Reuters.

Inventing in less costly ways to store energy has been a major hurdle in the widespread adoption of renewable energy.

- Brewskie