The following is Part 2 of my five-part series on the roles of angel investors and venture capital investors in emerging technology sectors with explosive upside potential, such as the nanotech, cleantech, biotech, information technology and new media sectors.

The movement founded by people pejoratively labeled as tree-huggers, enviro-Nazis and hippies has now been joined by governments, multinational corporations and the armed services. Here’s a rundown of recent news stories that demonstrate how Cleantech is moving forward, both as a concept and burgeoning industry.

But building a national Smart Grid is a very daunting task, but regional coalitions comprising industry, government and consumers are banding together to push for smaller, local Smart Grids.

Entire industries that have dominated the competitive landscape are struggling for relevance, while new insurgent businesses are gaining momentum and disrupting the status quo. The goal of New World 3.0 is to embrace these changes, not to shrink from them. In this space, we identify investment opportunities that are emerge as much of the world rethinks, retools and rebuilds its industries and technologies.

Finally, a use for Stirling Engines (maybe). Mull it over, along with Xcel Energy's (NYSE: XEL) proposed grid maintenance fee for solar customers, while enjoing a brew at a solar-powered beer festival.

Have you always wanted to be a partner in a venture capital fund? Here's how it works.

My goal in writing New Tech Investor is twofold: to help educate potential investors in emerging technology before they invest in some of the wild technologies; and to provide a base of reference, sites you can go to for more in-depth information on particular technologies or tech news. The ezine aspires to be a digest of emerging technology (emtech) info and vetting service all wrapped into one. This issue features a brief rundown of what's going on in the emerging technologies space, from nanotech to alternative energies.

When investing in a private early-stage company, it’s possible to invest at a much lower equity price, albeit with much higher risk. This concept is essentially the backbone of the traditional venture capital industry business model: Invest in a relatively large number of early-stage companies and let the small number of explosive successes balance out the large number of failures.

A key point to remember is that even if the US decides against moving its grid into the 21st Century, Europe, Asia and many emerging markets are moving in that direction. All the companies I like have established positions in markets that have a proven commitment to distributed power generation and continue to make major investments in renewable energy technologies, with solar being the lead technology.

It’s about the science that’s moving tech forward; if you know the challenges and opportunities on the scientific side, you know where to put your money on the market side.