NYT: Green Tinge (alternative energy) Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures

[DeepModem Mom]

Green Tinge Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures
By GARY RIVLIN
Published: June 22, 2005


SAN FRANCISCO, June 21 - Ira Ehrenpreis may be a kind of prophet advocating investments in alternative energy companies, but don't accuse him of being noble.

In recent months Mr. Ehrenpreis, a venture capitalist at Technology Partners in Palo Alto, Calif., has been asked any number of times to speak to audiences about "clean tech," a term that encompasses such things as solar energy, water purification systems and alternative automotive fuels.

He begins and ends every speech the same way: with a slide that stresses that to the extent his motivations are tinged green, it has to do with the color of money.

In Silicon Valley these days, more venture capitalists are following Mr. Ehrenpreis's lead. They are driven in part by the high price of oil, which hovered around $59 a barrel on Tuesday, and the vast unmet demand for electricity in China and India....

***

That message is resonating with venture capitalists and individual investors in the Valley, where growing rich through doing good is considered the ideal....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/business/22clean.html

[slor]

1. Sounds good!

That is the kind of tech I want to invest in.

[ananda]

2. investment

I bought some shares in three alternative energy or fuel cell companies. That felt good, and I'm holding onto them. Two are up, and one is down a bit... so far.

Sue

[slor]

3. Can you tell me more...

such as the companies, or the broker you used. Thanks!