Sure, things don't look rosy on the economic front, but some have reason to believe that the cleantech investment boom has just begun. This EETimes report explores the VC scene and the innovations that promise to keep this one hot sector for decades to come.

"The market size for cleantech will be measured in the trillions of dollars -- it's immeasurably deep," said Erik Straser, partner and leader of the cleantech team at venture capital firm Mohr, Davidow Ventures (Palo Alto, Calif.) Mohr, Davidow has investments in 11 cleantech companies to date, including those exploring solar, biofuel and hydrogen fuel cell technologies.

According to Straser and other investors, we are in the early stages of an investment boom that will last 20 to 30 years. To date, the cleantech business has been driven by a relatively small number of venture capitalists and entrepreneurial companies. But that's now changing. "Cleantech is going mainstream," Straser said.

Another fascinating concepts in the article include greening the supply chain, nanotech and designing for environment in the electronic engineering disciplines.