Have VCs decided that saving the environment is a bad idea? According to an article in today’s Mass High Tech entitled “Cleantech-focused funds take over as general VCs back off cleantech” , there’s plenty of evidence to say they have. Look at the chart to the left. MHT asked Dow Jones VentureSource to identify 10 VCs in MA, Palo Alto, and NY who made more than 5 cleantech deals in 2003-2008. Now, look at new deals in 2009-2010. How many? Zero! Now that’s flat-lining. There’s some consolation in the 25 follow-on investments for 2009-2010, but that’s only 43% of the total of 58 new deals in 2003-2008. (For some reason, the chart doesn’t show the totals. This is a strange omission; including them is a no-brainer to me.)

So why the precipitous drop in VC funding? Galen Moore offers some interesting hypotheses and I won’t waste time summarizing them here. Being involved in the clean/green energy space myself, I’d say the biggest reasons are: (1) VCs haven’t identified the “home run” deal; (2) investors got spooked with the global economic crash in 2008 and needed to stick to their knitting; (3) customers represent growing markets but they’re not mature enough to enable VCs to see a profitable exit strategy.

The New England Clean Energy Council, together with the The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP), just announced the official launch of The Massachusetts Clean Energy Careers Training & Education Online Directory. The online resource is dedicated to connecting people throughout Massachusetts with information about clean energy education and training programs throughout the state. Read the press release at http://www.cleanenergycouncil.org/node/6042.

According to the press release: “the new website—www.cleanenergyeducation.org—makes it easy for job seekers, workforce training providers, educational institutes and employers to find information about clean energy training and education programs, ranging from one-day training workshops to doctoral programs in clean energy. The site, which MassCEC created in partnership with the NEEP and the Clean Energy Council, includes an online database cataloguing clean energy training and education programs in Massachusetts, and a networking tool for training and education providers to share best practices and program information.”

Massachusetts has needed a website like this one for many years and I, for one, am glad it’s finally arrived. Does anyone know if other states have a similar resource?

Greentech Media reported in an article entitled “GE Says ZigBee is Better Than Wi-Fi” that “General Electric argues that ZigBee is superior to Wi-Fi on all fronts.” This is according to a white paper released on Thursday by GE. ZigBee is the “only standards-based wireless technology designed to address the unique needs of low-cost, low-power wireless sensor and control networks.” (1)

The GE Appliance and Lighting Division white paper says that ZigBee could save consumers “in the range of hundreds of millions to several billion dollars over the next 20 years”  and “Given the potential application of smart technology to millions of appliances and devices that will be connected to the smart grid, the difference in continuous power consumption will result in a significant change at the aggregated national level.” (2)

As consumers look for alternative technologies for home area networks, smart appliances, and smart-enabled devices, the conclusions in this white paper are huge for the ZigBee Alliance and hardware/software vendors that develop technology solutions based on ZigBee standards.

Notes

(1) ZigBee Alliance, http://zigbee.org/About/AboutTechnology/ZigBeeTechnology.aspx

(2) “Energy Efficiency Comparisons of Wireless Communication Technology Options for Smart Grid Enabled Devices,” http://www.brymercreative.com/geal_2010/images/120910_zigbee.pdf, p. 9.