FTSE's new ET50 index, which tracks the 50 largest pure play greentech companies by market cap, has picked up Sweden's AP7 as its first benchmarking fund. The ET50, which debuted last week with a $170 billion market cap, tracks companies in power gen and energy efficiency (68%), water tech and pollution controls (15%), and waste and resource management (17%). It's five largest holdings are Vestas (11.34%), SunTech (7.25%), First Solar (6.03%), Gamesa (4.99%), and Iberdrola (4.08%), with the top 10 companies comprising nearly 50% of the index. ET50's geographic distribution is heavily weighted towards U.S. companies (41.19%), with Denmark (14.97%) and Spain (10.57%) rounding out the top three. While other major indices, such as WilderHill and Clean Edge, focus primarily on power gen

Watching the major auto manufacturers killing themselves to release a green product is embarrassing in a way similar to watching an aging, cortisone-infused quarterback rely on his running game because he can’t perform well in the pocket anymore. Despite amassing nearly twenty years of experience designing, developing and producing green vehicles, the leading car companies have largely failed to introduce a product that addresses two critical problems facing green transportation: building a zero-emissions car everyone wants and anyone can afford. At last week’s North American International Auto Show the leading car companies proudly displayed concept cars and products with names like EcoBoost, FCX Clarity, and Green Line, though none presented an operational business model for bringing these so-called green vehicles to the mass market. By way of comparison, it took GM only eight years to develop the H2 and market it successfully in the U.S. and abroad. While the titans in Detroit were busy rolling out their shiny new toys, recent announcements from India and Israel proved

Well, here I am in the storied valley of Davos, Switzerland – the site of World Economic Forum annual meetings (http://www.weforum.org). I have heard about the WEF annual meetings for so long that being invited to the 2008 meeting is a dream-come-true. However, being here after being honored by the WEF as a Technology Pioneer gives me the carte blanch to walk up to any one and strike up a conversation. Well, I plan to do just that and report it all to you through daily posts.SwitzerlandSwitzerland must have been created by God to give human-kind a taste of heaven and a respite from daily struggles. I know if from experience, having lived here for two years during the mid-90s. It is small country but crammed with all the natural beauty in this world. Switzerland is the land of mountain peaks that kiss the sky, crystal clear lakes, beautiful sunrises and sunsets from its numerous valleys. Whether hiking, skiing or just relaxing in your chalet with a glass of wine and a good book, you can get away from the world and recharge your batteries before plunging back into the daily rat race. It is the land of world famous resorts – St. Moritz, Grindelwald, Zermatt and of course, Davos. It is a skiers heaven during winters and

This week we’re trying something new on this very new blogspace - a guest blogger, live from the World Economic Forum at Davos. Pankaj Dhingra is the CEO of Nanostellar and he’s one of the anointed few Technology Pioneers to be invited to attend, sit on a panel, and make his contribution to the betterment of the global economy (it sure needs help this week!). He’ll be discussing green job creation among other things. Should be fun. Forgive him if he shows his bias for a company named Nanostellar. And diesel emission controls. And the Swiss Alps.

It's about time to put up a new Greentech Media Top Ten Startups. It's been hiding down here for months in it's quiet little corner, keeping to itself. Not really doing what a good top ten startups list should do - eliciting spit-takes of disgust and incredulity, nods of approval, or just annoying all the companies that didn't make the list. This was a nice list; diplomatic, catholic, well considered, self-satisfied. It had touched on all corners of the greentech universe and anointed fewer than a dozen companies some special status among the hundreds of peers. It launched with the site, back on September 4, and made for some decent reading, and was read. Especially the Bloom Energy entry. That remains one of the most read pages on our entire site. But now, as the new year begins, this list has grown a little mossy and some of these entries have a certain gamey smell to them (we almost had Imperium on the original list, which would definitely be smelly today, wouldn't it?). Were updating the list now, and we'll post it in

We have assembled an amazing team here, research analysts, journalists, editors, and top-notch sales and web production staff, all led by an executive team with great vision and entrepreneurial strength. And all of us spend all day reading and thinking about greentech, each applying our particular knowledge to understanding a market that is overwhelming in its excitement and its dynamism. We already work hard to deliver the best of that knowledge through our detailed research reports and newsletters, as well as our aggressive news coverage. But still there's more. We have lively internal debates about the direction of the greentech market, the meanings of new developments in its various sectors, and how best it can be encapsulated and understood. In thinking about the development of our team and our company, we think about the development of the greentech market as a whole. Until now, these discussions have lived mostly in series of internal e-mails and IMs, but we want to open them up to our readers, for your perusal and participation. And we hope to bring in voices from around the industry to contribute to the conversation, so stay tuned for guest bloggers that will be helping us out. Think of Green Light as the third leg of the information that we offer, a more direct, more opinionated, more fluid account of the goings on in greentech. We hope you enjoy it as much as we will.

Something stinks at Imperium Renewables, and it's not the Southeast Asian palm oil. In the last few weeks the company has shed its CEO, pulled back from a much anticipated initial public offering, and (this week) announced cuts to its corporate work force. Sam from HR and Diane from marketing are packing their cubicles, leaving the engineers to run the shop. Cutting back at corporate is like a late '90s internet company selling the Ferrari and the ping pong table - bouncing the unnecessary costs to keep the ship afloat. For a company once regarded as the boy genius of biofuel it is clear now Imperium is muddling its way through what can charitably be called Act II of Titus Andronicus. So the question remains, are things at Imperium as bad as they seem, or is another example of the growing pains many analysts expect green tech companies will experience as the market matures? For the answer, I offer a short trip down memory lane. In August 2007 Imperium opened its 100 million gallon capacity, $78 million biodiesel plant in Grays Harbor near Seattle. Operating at full production, Imperium anticipated controlling 40 percent of the U.S. biodiesel market by 2009. Current domestic production was pegged at 75 million gallons, with projections of 1 billion by the end of 2009. Imperium's initial calculation was based both on full production at Grays Harbor and an expected 300 million gallon capacity expansion at proposed plants in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Argentina that were expected to be completed by the end of 2008. To finance the expansion, Imperium filed an S-1 with the SEC in May 2007 announcing its intention to raise a $345 million IPO. $220 million would go to the new plants. The IPO, in addition to its previous $214 million in equity and debt financing, would have left the company enough capital to build the plants and maintain a steady flow of palm oil feedstock from Southeast Asia. Whoa! $100 oil! I bet Martin Tobias, Imperium's imperius ex-CEO, never saw