NEWS

Green Tinge Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures Ira Ehrenpreis may be a kind of prophet advocating investments in alternative energy companies, but don't accuse him of being noble. In recent months Mr. Ehrenpreis, a venture capitalist at Technology Partners in Palo Alto, Calif., has been asked any number of times to speak to audiences about "clean tech," a term that encompasses such things as solar energy, water purification systems and alternative automotive fuels. He begins and ends every speech the same way: with a slide that stresses that to the extent his motivations are tinged green, it has to do with the color of money. Top venture firms on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif., are beginning to show serious interest in the alternative energy sector, though that typically means venturing outside their core expertise. They hope to capitalize on the growing worldwide demand for energy at a time of rising energy costs, and they see potential for huge profits in technology that can address challenges like climate change and dwindling natural resources....
Wrangling water The persistent drought in much of the Intermountain West, including Idaho, was one of the key reasons that the The Cecil Andrus Center decided to convene its "Troubled Water: Exploring Solutions for the Western Water Crisis" conference in April. The international conference had several goals. First, it sought to bring together experts, officials and activities of various persuasions to address the question of water and its uses in the western United States. While the ongoing drought and its management was a central concern, attendees were also presented with discussions and a hard-hitting, role-playing scenario that entered into related topics such as the changing patterns of use and ownership of water, demographic developments in the West, the need for new dams and litigation concerns. Second, the conference sought to explore international water issues, as drought is a persistent phenomenon that occurs worldwide....

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