One out of five VCs plan to target cleantech; CaliSolar and Glacier Bay get funding

The growing interest in cleantech, greentech, energytech, environmental technologies, whatever you call it, is grabbing hold for more VCs.

As the latest NVCA survey of VCs shows, 12% of VCs now say they're "currently focusing on investments in energy/environment, with that figure jumping to 21 percent over the next five years." For the second year in a row, it's the fastest growing sector in terms of projected activity. So according to those surveyed, five years from now one out of every five VCs plans to be focusing on cleantech.

Of course, a few leading lights are already deeply involved in the sector, as regular readers here will be aware. Matt Marshall has this nice profile of Vinod Khosla and Marty Lagod, two dedicated cleantech investors in the bay area. Khosla Ventures also recently announced the addition of Samir Kaul as General Partner and Doug Cameron as Chief Science Officer, as they continue to build out their team. And of course, as Friday's mention of NStructures shows, Khosla Ventures has been pretty active lately. Matt Marshall gives a nice write-up on this as well.

Two more cleantech deals to mention today:

• CaliSolar, another stealth solar deal, raised $9M in first round funding from ATV and Globespan Capital Partners, according to PEWW. (And again, Matt Marshall beats me to the punch in mentioning that Globespan's Ullas Naik is on the board -- nice hustle lately, Matt)

• Glacier Bay, which has been developing thermal management systems for some time now, raised $8M in first time funding from NEA. The company has been selling refrigerators and air conditioners for yachts for years, but also has developed cooling systems for blue chip customers in IT environments, and is now working on "integrated energy platforms" for yachts, military apps, long-haul trucking, medical devices, etc.
  

Other notes: Get your alternative energy cost targets here... Another editorial on the ongoing biofuels debate we've mentioned before, and a good overview of the cellulosic ethanol efforts underway, and the challenges faced... News that DuPont is going to be targeting biofuels... and BP and GE are getting into hydrogen together... Finally, lest we forget amidst the hype around PV, solar thermal is strongly in play as well...