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Insert "green" pun here: the New York Times, always a sucker for the exception to the rule, steps past greenies like Vinod Khosla and the Google boys ("Oooh! We're saving the world! Look at us driving Priuses and investing in fuel cells!") and talks to Nicholas Parker, chairman of the Cleantech Venture Network.

Parker could easily act all goody-goody like the aforementioned "cleantech" stars, but that bullshit wouldn't help him. "This is not the venture equivalent of socially responsible investing," he says. It's about money.

Like any Bullshit Breaker (TM), Parker has a motive for being contrarian: He knows that VCs are in it for the money too, and he's better off acting like a capitalist than a philanthropist. Takeaway: Billionaire playboys may act like world-savers, but the real work is done by those who want to make a buck.

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Promoting Alternative Energy Without Being Too Green [NYT]