Taking a clear interest in funding clean energy companies and making it official, Kleiner Perkins announced today that they have raised three funds totaling $900M, of which $100M has been earmarked for "greentech" (and $200M directed at pandemics, interestingly). In so doing, they become one of the highest-profile firms to officially set aside capital for funding cleantech firms -- although many of the best-known generalist firms are already also active in the space, of course. It's unclear if KPCB is going to look beyond energy tech in their cleantech investments, but that would seem likely.

Quote of the day, courtesy of John Doerr: "Greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century."

One of the more visible solar startups, Konarka, today announced a $20M raise led by 3i Group plc, with existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Good Energies, Vanguard Ventures, Partech International and Chevron Technology Ventures also participating in the raise. As part of the raise, 3i and Good Energies have taken board seats in the company.

To date, Konarka has raised $60M.

• Basin Water, a groundwater treatment company based in California, has filed for a $52M IPO. Revenues for 2005 were under $8M, which gives a sense of where valuations are in cleantech right now...

• On the subject of nanotechnology, "cleantech" or danger, Joel Makower (as usual) has some thoughts well worth checking out.

• For those tracking biofuels in general and Seattle BioDiesel in particular, here's an interesting article.

• One topic that hasn't been written up much in the press lately is the opportunity for venture investors to get in on wind power technologies, but here's a good overview (self-promotion alert... literally).
  

• SmartMoney posted this good interview with Tim Woodward of Nth Power, one of the best-known energy tech pureplay VCs. Worth checking out...
  

• Fascinating post on CleantechBlog describing GE's decision to back away from superconducting turbines.
  

• The recent State of the Union speech's highlighting of alternative energy sources (notwithstanding actual budgetary decisions to the contrary) has of course re-energized the debate we've mentioned before about the viability of biofuels. To keep up on the latest, read this article in the NYT and the rebuttal from green guru Joel Makower.

• Great article on the intersection of cleantech, nanotech and advanced materials.

• Good interview with Ron Kenedi of Sharp Solar.
  

• Amusing reads: Herb Greenberg slams ECD (sub req'd). Huge Brita filters for St. Paul, MN? And for those with a particular interest in following the vagaries of oil prices and their impact on the economy, here's an interesting analysis of last year's predictions, and a forecast for this year from an admitted pessimist... "From the very first time I cranked up my oil depletion model in 2003, the events of this year have exuded a bad karma. Although I have fine-tuned my model over a hundred times, the result is always the same. 2006 does not look good." Perhaps "amusing read" isn't the best label...
  

Lilliputian Systems, which is developing micro fuel cells for use in wireless devices, has raised an undisclosed amount of debt from Hercules Technology Growth Capital, a publicly-traded investment group. We last heard from Lilliputian back in November, when it was reported that they had raised $30M from several major VCs.

Expansion Capital Partners' San Francisco office seeks a current MBA student to serve as a Summer Associate (internship). The Summer Associate will work directly with the Principal and at times with the Partners of the firm to track, develop and evaluate investment opportunities, focusing primarily on deal generation, screening and diligence. This will be a full-time position based in San Francisco's Financial District.

The ideal candidate will have a financial or consulting background and an existing strong knowledge of clean technologies, preferably from experience in an entrepreneurial setting (not just from reading this site's archives!). Applicants should provide a resume and cover letter to yours truly via email.

Biofuels continue to get significant investor attention, with two recent funding completions:

• DynaMotive completed a $5M raise originally announced in December. The company uses proprietary pyrolysis technology to transform agricultural and forestry waste into BioOil. They recently announced licensing agreements to open two plants in eastern Europe.

• ASAlliances BioFuels announced they have raised $148M in equity and sub debt to help financing the construction of three ethanol plants in the midwest. The funding consisted of $94M of equity and $54M of mezz sub debt, provided by American Capital Strategies, Laminar Direct Capital, US Renewables Group and Midwest First Financial.