TechPulse 360

The concept is simple: more than halt the world’s population lives in cities and towns.

So by focusing renewable energy resources on these concentrations of humanity, the greatest good can be done to combat global warming.

Forget about bringing solar to the village in Kenya or the ranches dotting the Wyoming countryside. Spend money where it will do the most.

Electric car hype will dissipate to a more sober realization that efficiencies are needed across the transportation system

This concept seemed to underscore several 2010 predictions Monday from generally rosy Cleantech Group.  First, the research firm said it sees the unprecedented quantities of green stimulus money being doled out in the United States and elsewhere to spur a “space race” of sorts, with cities and states competing to nurture clean-tech industries.

This will likely be the case following all the government pump priming that has taken place in recent months. And momentum for clever approaches could come from a variety of places:, Singapore, Australia, France, Germany, Israel and parts of the U.S., just as Cleantech Group expects.

But a burst in private-equity and venture capital funding for green companies isn’t as much of a done deal as Cleantech Group anticipates. Cleantech Group calls for a level of funding well in excess of 2009’s. An incremental increase seems more likely given the nation’s continuing credit woes. Large funds will certainly be raised and big name investors will follow Warren Buffett’s move and deploy capital in clean-tech plays.

But a sharp reversal of today’s course isn’t probable

Cleantech Group also believes green marketing efforts will increase, oil will rise in price and the hype surrounding electric cars will dissipate. In place of today’s electric-car hype will come a realism that efficiencies are needed more broadly in the transportation sector, from shipping to urban public transport.

All this seems very plausible – and a positive step for a sustainable effort to turn climate challenges into climate successes. I second the motion.