Yes, we're in an economic turmoil, but it's not time to go back to bear skins, caves and making weapons out of pointed sticks just yet. Element Partners, a VC firm that's part of the Draper, Fisher, Jurveston galaxy, has raised a second fund of $486 million. The firm initially only wanted to get $400 million. The fact that they can raise the fund in such austere times is a sign that energy and resource efficiency remains high on the priority list. Element spans the gamut of green ideas. Some of its more interesting companies: CoalTek, which squeezes out the water from coal so that it burns cleaner; BioFuelBox, for distributed biofuel production; and Deeya Energy, the Indo-U.S. makers of flow batteries for large-scale energy storage. The firm has also assembled a somewhat large portfolio of green building products; Arxx (concrete forms); Microposite (construction board); Icynene (insulation); Ecore (recycled rubber -- like what Lehigh Technologies does). Sam Gabbita of the firm will speak at our Green Building Summit in June.