Among the participants was Hydro Green Energy, which generates electricity from moving water. The company needs $10 million to ramp up its projects, and CEO Wayne Krause may have hooked a backer: He said he met with one interested investor at the conference.
Interest is dizzyingly high in alternative energy investments, of course, with oil prices above $90 per barrel, environmental concerns and worries about dwindling supplies of black gold.
Someone asked Gary Evans, chief executive of GreenHunter, which is doing biofuels, biomass and wind projects, to what price oil would have to drop for his proposition to be uneconomical. Evans, a former oilman, was realistic, but bullish: "If oil is below $50 to $65, I'm packing it up. But I predicted $100 oil three years ago, and ladies and gentlemen, we're going to $150, and this business is going to do great." Which must have come as a comfort to the other presenters. — Claire Poole
