Clean-tech policy divisiveness tempers energy start-up hopes

Venture capitalists have started looking at less capital-intensive energy investments in response to mixed U.S. policy signals, hedge fund managers said Friday at the Silicon Valley Energy Summit.

Those investors are picking off information technology start-ups that use formats applicable to the energy sector, according an entry posted by Stanford University, which hosted the event, on CleanTechnica.com. Many of those firms dabble in energy efficiency and conservation software that monitor customer energy use, the functionality of which can be rolled into other clean technology products.

“IT is a big part of all the talk because we are capital light right now,” Josh Green, a general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, said at the event. “It’s hard to get the $1 billion investment.”

Washington, D.C., rhetoric on clean technology has cooled interest and funding opportunities in more expensive clean-technology endeavors, the hedge fund managers said. The pullback from clean energy after California-based solar panel maker Solyndra went bust, after a $535 million federal loan guarantee, spooked investment in similar technologies, they said.

“Most early-stage investing in clean tech today focuses on energy startups that leverage information technology not currently used in the energy sector,” Stanford said in a press release about the event. “The focus is due in part to a cautious U.S. investment environment, especially in clean tech, which has watched some bets fail and seen government retrench support.”

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