Perhaps it’s because we’re located in Cleantech Group’s San Francisco office, but time and time again we hear comparisons between cleantech and IT. Sometimes the comparisons make cleantech look good. When drawing analogies between cleantech and IT we often hear about the size of the market opportunity, the many smart people dedicating their time and careers to the industry, and the investment dollars from nearby Sand Hill Road (and all across the world, for that matter) which are pouring into cleantech.
Yet we also hear people point out the many ways in which cleantech is different than IT. These comparisons typically cast the industry in a more negative light. We hear about how cleantech startups are less capital efficient than their IT counterparts, how sales cycles can be long and challenging, how the industry is regulated and reliant on policy decisions which may or may not be forthcoming. Clearly there is some truth to these criticisms – though many of them tell parts, but not the whole, of the story.
Whatever one thinks of this never ending debate, there is one area where we can confidently draw a cleantech/ IT comparison: energy efficiency. Let me count the ways. First, in our most …
