Green Technology

Taking advantage of greatly reduced stock prices is a tricky business. One strategy is to find an investment area so certain to grow that it will be around long after market traumas subside. Green investing, which offers the added potential that innovative companies will get snapped up by bigger firms, could be one of those areas. Buying stocks of firms that play a significant role in the environment and energy conservation can be highly speculative, as indicated by the beatings so many have taken this year.

Getting investors excited about long-lasting batteries was a challenge for Leyden Energy in the early days. Raising funds was even harder. Then came the iPhone. The popularity of Apple's mobile device and other smartphones sent engineers into a frenzy to create batteries that could outlast the power hogs. The Fremont, Calif., lithium-ion battery company was already working on a solution, and as a result it recently raised $20 million in venture funding. Energy storage companies such as Leyden Energy led clean technology investment during the third quarter by raking in $421 million in venture capital, a 1,932% increase from the same period last year, according to an Ernst & Young report.

The green technology movement in Silicon Valley landed an international name Monday when Khosla Ventures said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would join the venture capital firm as a senior advisor. Khosla Ventures, the Menlo Park, Calif., firm founded by Vinod Khosla in 2004, made the announcement at its summit for limited partners in Sausalito. Blair will advise Khosla Ventures portfolio companies on public policy. Khosla is currently investing $1.1 billion in tech firms, including so-called clean technology.

Taking advantage of greatly reduced stock prices is a tricky business. One strategy is to find an investment area so certain to grow that it will be around long after market traumas subside. Green investing, which offers the added potential that innovative companies will get snapped up by bigger firms, could be one of those areas. Buying stocks of firms that play a significant role in the environment and energy conservation can be highly speculative, as indicated by the beatings so many have taken this year.

When visitors to Wilmington's historic red-brick Chamber of Commerce ask what's new, three topics tend to dominate the ensuing conversation. One is the recent groundbreaking for a long-awaited 30-acre buffer of parkland separating the working-class community from the frenzy of diesel-spewing activity in the nation's busiest port.

In what would have been an unaccustomed move for a Silicon Valley venture capitalist not too long ago, Alan Salzman recently flew to Copenhagen to attend a conference on climate change and schmooze government policymakers. His mission: Explain the role of venture capitalists and their green-tech start-ups in cleaning up the environment. "All aspects of clean tech bump up against government regulations," said Salzman, whose firm, VantagePoint Venture Partners, has funded such high-profile firms as electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. and solar power plant developer BrightSource Energy Inc. A few years ago, venture capitalists rarely ventured too far from Sand Hill Road, a stretch of low-slung office parks nestled among redwood trees in the hills above Stanford University that is home to some of the world's biggest venture firms.

In a sign that green technology investing is bouncing back, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures said Tuesday that it had raised $1.1 billion to spur development of renewable energy and other clean technologies. It is the biggest first-time fund in a decade and comes as venture capital investment in green technology is just beginning to recover from a precipitous fall prompted by the global economic collapse last fall. In the first half of the year, investments in green tech plunged to $513 million from $2 billion in the first six months of 2008, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

At a recent solar energy conference in Anaheim, economic development officials from Ohio talked up a state that seemed far removed from the solar panels and high-tech devices that dominated the convention floor. Ohio, long known for its smokestack auto plants and metal-bending factories, would be an ideal place for green technology companies to set up shop, they said. "People don't traditionally think of Ohio when they think of solar," said Lisa Patt-McDaniel, director of Ohio's economic development agency.

The technology industry is always looking for the next new thing, and that's helping drive the latest hiring push. Such initiatives as green technology and "cloud computing" could even fuel an overall economic comeback, technology analysts say. "After three long years of putting off technology investments, companies inevitably want to take advantage of the new technology that's available," said John A. Challenger, chief executive of outplacement consultant...

Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr made his name and fortune with early investments in pioneering tech firms such as Sun Microsystems, Netscape and Google that went from scrappy start-ups to industry leaders. Now, Doerr and his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, are placing big bets on an emerging sector he calls "green technology," which he believes could one day be at least as big as information technology or biotechnology.

Mason Keefe never used to come to Little Tokyo. The Burbank teenager's most prominent cultural influence was her mother's Texan background; Japan was a distant country. But two years ago, the 14-year-old's passion for comic books led to the discovery of Japanese manga, which fueled an obsession with Japan. Now she adores sushi. She studies Japanese. And she comes to Little Tokyo regularly — most recently this past weekend to check out Little Tokyo Design Week, a five-day festival showcasing Japan's cutting-edge design, technology and pop culture.

How would you like to don a pair of "moon shoes" and do your best Michael Jackson imitation? Or get in touch with your inner Picasso while finger-painting with algae? Those are some of the activities at the annual San Diego Science Festival, a weeklong event that will culminate Saturday in Expo Day at Petco Park in downtown San Diego . Organized by UC San Diego in collaboration with science and engineering organizations, the family-friendly festival aims to provide interactive learning experiences.

"As goes General Motors, so goes the nation. " A year and a half ago, that old saying seemed ominous. GM was in bankruptcy, and our country was in the depths of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. But for a feel-good story, it's hard to top what's happened since: Federal investment helped General Motors get back on its feet and return to profitability, and GM has come out with a game-changing new car, the plug-in hybrid electric Chevy Volt. Motor Trend magazine named the Volt its 2011 Car of the Year.

The green technology movement in Silicon Valley landed an international name Monday when Khosla Ventures said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would join the venture capital firm as a senior advisor. Khosla Ventures, the Menlo Park, Calif., firm founded by Vinod Khosla in 2004, made the announcement at its summit for limited partners in Sausalito. Blair will advise Khosla Ventures portfolio companies on public policy. Khosla is currently investing $1.1 billion in tech firms, including so-called clean technology.

Yet-Ming Chiang relishes his 20-mile drive to work. His hybrid car gets more than 100 miles per gallon, recharges by plugging into a regular wall outlet and purrs so quietly that it's his favorite place for making important phone calls. But what makes Chiang's ordinary-looking beige Toyota Prius even more special is that it's powered by a breakthrough battery that he invented and is working to turn into the kind of high-tech, green, "Made in America" product that many see as the key to the nation's economic future.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature reached agreement on a fairly significant deal last week, and it showed three things: There is hope yet. Yes, these people can come together and compromise with a minimum of showboating and temper tantrums. Schwarzenegger isn't nearly as lame a duck in his waning days in office as lousy poll numbers would suggest. He still possesses the power to sign and veto bills. And he's still a celluloid celebrity with a powerful personality.

How would you like to don a pair of "moon shoes" and do your best Michael Jackson imitation? Or get in touch with your inner Picasso while finger-painting with algae? Those are some of the activities at the annual San Diego Science Festival, a weeklong event that will culminate Saturday in Expo Day at Petco Park in downtown San Diego . Organized by UC San Diego in collaboration with science and engineering organizations, the family-friendly festival aims to provide interactive learning experiences.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are so busy that they move more cargo than the next five largest U.S. ports combined. They're so efficient that they process more international trade in one month than most North American harbors handle in an entire year. Now the friendly rivals are leading the way into unexpected waters: attracting, testing and funding cutting-edge technology to reduce emissions and fuel consumption at the ports. Even as their revenues declined and their budgets shrank in the worst global recession in more than 60 years, the twin ports have become accidental venture capitalists of sorts in the world of green technology.

After weeks of bickering over how to cut the deficit-ridden budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed Monday to trim $1.1 billion from mass transit but give new tax breaks to home buyers and green-technology companies. The governor, who signed part of the package into law Monday evening, said the tax incentives -- which could add to the budget woes -- are crucial to the state's economic recovery. "The package of bills as written will provide significant benefit to the state's general fund and will help put Californians back to work," he said in a statement.

The technology industry is always looking for the next new thing, and that's helping drive the latest hiring push. Such initiatives as green technology and "cloud computing" could even fuel an overall economic comeback, technology analysts say. "After three long years of putting off technology investments, companies inevitably want to take advantage of the new technology that's available," said John A. Challenger, chief executive of outplacement consultant...