• Program 2007-08

Clean Technology: Investment Boom or Investment Bubble?

Date: 

March 26, 2008

Time: 

6-8 pm

Venue: 

NYU Stern School of Business Henry Kaufman Management Center, 11th Floor, 44 West 4th Street (at Greene Street), New York, NY 10012

Consumers are suddenly buying carbon offsets in droves, and the originators of credits are scrambling to invest that money in carbon-reducing projects or technologies of all kinds. Oil companies are slowly becoming "energy" companies, with stakeholder pressure to put their money into something, anything, that is not a fossil fuel. Venture capitalists and hedge funds are pouring money into green tech start-ups, both as an opportunity to fund the "next big thing" and as an ethical-investing play to attract new clients. Given the sudden flow of capital into green technologies, are there enough good projects to go around - or are we creating an investment bubble? Is "cleantech" the new "dot-com" for overeager investors? This panel will explore which types of investments may be faddish and risky, and which have solid prospects. Panelists will offer their own assessments of new green solutions such as clean coal, wind, mini hydro, geothermal, and solar.

Moderator: 

Matthew Wilson, PhD, Principal Economist and Business Analyst, ARCADIS

Panelists: 

Eron Bloomgarden, Country Director, United States, EcoSecurities. Bruce M. Kahn, Second Vice President-Wealth Management, Smith Barney. Anastasia O'Rourke, Project Director for the Cleantech Venture Capital Report.