Clean tech: bubble or no bubble?

There’s a lot of cash sloshing around in clean tech these days — from cash pouring into start-up firms, to establishing players upping their spend on alternative energies and so on. For some, it all brings back fears of a repeat of a dot com-style boom, especially considering all the big Silicon Valley tech names getting into the game (Vinod Khosla, et al).

Investment in clean energy rose 67% last year, and every week brings news of a new kind of start-up firm touting its wares. As a result, earth2tech has kicked off a debate about bubble fear. But so far, everyone at the party is rocking and no-one wants to cry wolf, it seems:

Eric Wesoff, Senior Analyst, Greentech Media: “We saw an Internet bubble where companies were going public without revenue. We’re not in a bubble because non-profitable companies [aren’t able] to go public. It’s an intelligent market. Nanodynamics pulled back their IPO, and cited unfavorable market conditions.