Another bit of positive green investment news. Smart grid is again the focus.

More positive news on the clean-tech investment front (announced before the market meltdown but significant nonetheless): Another smart-grid player, GridPoint, is using at least some of its $120 million in recently raised equity financing to buy V2Green, which sells technology for integrating infrastructure for supporting plug-in electric hybrids with the electric utility grid.

GridPoint's mission in life is to provide a platform that can better connect the various alternative energy resources that are popping up around the globe—including hybrids, solar panels, wind turbines and other energy storage devices—with the means of managing them—thermostats, etc.

The focus of this particular investment has got me thinking about how critically important it will be for us to adopt standards-based technology that can communicate with each other over the "network" (in this case the electric grid). Consider, as an example, what would happen if we all drove our hybrids home and then plugged them in to charge at exactly the same time every evening. This scenario, outlined by Oak Ridge National Lab, suggests that without proper management, another 160 new power plants would be needed to accommodate electric hybrids. UNLESS the charging process is handled properly, in which cases we might only need eight new plants (although that's kind of a lot, too, isn't it). Makes you think about how far we have to go, doesn't it?