I am pleased to share with you an update on Applied Ventures as we celebrate our fund's fifth anniversary. Over these past five years, we have had the privilege of investing more than $100 million dollars in 27 companies, mostly in cleantech, making us one of the most active investors in the space.

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"We're going to take our money elsewhere." Maybe those words will have the impact that “global warming,” “climate change,” “green economy” and others have failed to make on skeptical U.S. policymakers. And who uttered the line above – Mr. Kevin Parker, head of Deutsche Bank’s asset management division – is no less important than what was said.

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The clean energy movement has an unfortunate history of sacrificing the “good” in search of the “perfect” solution. Here’s an example: Kevin Costner (yes, the actor) reacted to the Exxon Valdez oil spill by investing over $24 million in a company that makes high speed centrifuge machines that can separate oil from water at the source of an oil spill. So, rather than having to skim the oil off the water or collect and transport massive mixtures of oil and water, the machines sends clean water back into the ocean on site and collect oil on the tanker. That way, the oil never reaches land, which greatly reduces the impact on wetlands, birds and sea life.

Sounds great, right? Not so fast.

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The Austin Generation Resource Plan, a proposed master plan for Austin, Texas’ energy production and usage through 2020, calls for developing 170 megawatts (MW) of new solar power over the next decade -- in addition to the current Austin goal of 100 MW.

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