From the Economist: Tilting at Windmills: Investing in Clean Energy
The clean-energy business is turning into the next big investment boom, in which risks are lightly brushed aside.
UNTIL recently, recalls Charlie Gay, a 30-year veteran of the solar-power business, venture capitalists were far too busy catering to captains of the information-technology industry to waste time on “hippy-dippy tree-huggers” like himself. But now the tree-huggers are in the ascendant and the IT barons are busy investing in clean-energy technology.
Among them is Vinod Khosla, a celebrated Silicon Valley financier. He is touting ethanol as the next big thing. Applied Materials, where Mr Gay works, has branched out from flat screens and computer chips into solar cells. Sun Power, the solar subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor, is now worth almost as much as its chipmaking parent company.
Investors are falling over themselves to finance start-ups in clean technology, especially in energy. …
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