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It is very unfortunate that cleantech term is being shunned and I truly hope that the word will survive Gartner’s phase of disillusionment and continue to to be a mainstream business term. Cleantech has been given a bad name by few bad apples such as Solindra and very expensive biofuel plants that didn’t produce any commercially viable results. I understand that some leading venture capitalist firms have been burned by “cleantech” investment, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into capital extensive projects for technologies that never scaled up properly out of lab environment. However, that doesn’t mean that we as a society don’t have to continue inventing new technologies and business models that will help us use less energy, less materials, reuse more and pollute less.

Yes, cleantech is too broad definition, but I see that as a positive aspect as the word itself makes the need to be more respectful about our environment salient. Each and every industry can improve its processes to consume less materials and energy, which is the goal we should strive for.