Thursday, January 8, 2009

What Bubble?

So some have said that the recent decline in cleantech investing is a good things since something of a bubble was forming.

But is it a bubble if it was barely visible? Let's face it, energy is not the web. Instead of thee "endless possibilities" that web investments presented in the late 90's, energy is very quantifiable. Just take a look at this observation by VantagePoint Venture Partners' Alan Salzman.

"In the big picture, our investments have been dwarfed by the investments and incentives that have gone to traditional energy sources. While petroleum companies may sink $390 billion per year into upstream oil investments, Ernst & Young counts only $3.3 billion in venture investments in cleantech over the first three quarters of 2008 – less than the cost of one nuclear power plant."

It's good to keep a little perspective sometimes.

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