Weekly headlines as market advances

• Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers states that venture funding for green or renewable technologies will be $3.5B in 2007 up from $1.6B (Ray Lane, managing partner).

• Deloitte's Survey Shows Consumers Would Pay More For Renewable Energy in Power News by on Tuesday 15 May 2007 According to a recent survey conducted by the energy and resources industry group of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, the U.S. subsidiary of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a majority of consumers would pay more for clean energy. A total of 62% of those surveyed said they would willingly pay higher electric rates for clean coal, and 54% said they would pay more for alternative energy sources, the company says. In addition, 44% of the respondents cited environmental reasons as the primary motivator when it comes to the purchase of alternative or renewable energy. The factor of price was the second most mentioned motivator (30%), followed by energy reliability (15%) and jobs creation (8%). "We were surprised at the increasing level of support from consumers, but the findings remain mixed," says Branko Terzic, Deloitte's regulatory policy leader, energy and resources. "While more than three quarters of the consumers surveyed believed that alternative energy brought benefits, 42 percent would not pay an additional 5 percent on their electricity bill to support government-mandated alternative energy purchases."

• Wal-Mart is purchasing as much as 20 million kWh of solar power, from BP Solar, SunEdison LLC, and PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation, for 22 combined Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Clubs and a distribution center in Hawaii and California.