I went to a Cleantech Roundtable Discussion today up in Santa Monica which consisted of speakers ranging from Steve Westly to the Mayor of Santa Ana.

The talk was kicked off by the moderator asking Steve Westly what he thought were the big opportunities in clean technology. Steve outlined four major areas of opportunities within the next decade:

1. Utilities – Especially as it releates to Smart Grid technology

2. Building Materials

3. Batteries – Esp. for electric vehicles

4. Recycling

Cleantech is obviously an area where there will be significant investment in the future. There are always going to be problems like siting new solar facilities with more and more people getting involved in regulation. I think people are now realizing the economic value that can be created with Cleantech. With the cost of solar cutting by 50% within the next couple of years, and the payback period also cutting down, consumers are going adopt at a huge rate.

Also got to check out both models of the Tesla. It was a lot smaller than I imagined. I knew it had Lotus body but didn’t realize it was that small. Still impressive none the less, considering it goes 0-60mph in 3.9 in first gear.