Purely considering venture capital, the invested amount to make our world greener, reached USD 3.9 billion in 2008 in the US only. It tripled in less than 3 years: a trend confirmed in 2008. The idealists are tempted to claim that the main driver behind this exploding growth is the emergence of a global environmental conscience. However, there may be reasons behind this trend that are much simpler and less philosophical. With the major increase in energy and commodity prices, the end-consumer is forced to adjust his daily habits to these new parameters, for the first time in decades.

There is no doubt, that the recent direct impact on our consumption habits has shifted the investment appetite for clean tech into another dimension and this is probably for the long run. In fact, with this recent shift investors understood that clean tech is not about investing in environmentally friendly products but about investing in efficiencies. Nothing could be more attractive than capturing direct top line value by improving the efficiency of existing products and processes, that were not as of interest of in the past. Also in the Green Economy, the market is finally playing its regulation role.