Kermit the Frog once told us that “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green,” but he also reminded us that it’s not such a bad thing to be; that goes for investors on Wall Street as well as tree-huggers in Yosemite, daily commuters on traffic-clogged highways and byways across the world, arctic wildlife trying to survive in a constantly-shrinking environment, and kids growing up in smog-infested cities. Terence Chea of the Associated Press (via The Seattle Post-Intelligencer) writes:

Venture capitalists are seeing green in clean technologies.

The amount of North American venture capital invested in environmentally friendly technologies jumped 35 percent last year to more than $1.6 billion, according to a report to be released Wednesday by the Cleantech Venture Network.

“Cleantech” investments by venture capital firms rose to a record $502 million during the fourth quarter of 2005 - 18 percent more than the previous quarter and 60 percent more than the same period a year earlier…

Looking toward greener energy alternatives has always made sense to me on a pretty basic level, but we’ve all got different incentives. If investors are paying attention, maybe the dollars needed to change gears and pursue technologies that harness renewable resources will get us going in the right direction sooner in this young century than a potentially catastrophic later.

[tags]venture capital,alternative energy,green energy,clean tech,fuel economy,renewable resource[/tags]