Investments in clean energy projects and companies reached $155 billion last year, surpassing fossil fuel investments. According to a United Nations report, $13.5 billion in new private investment was directed to companies that are developing new technologies, with almost half that (according to Private Equity Intelligence, Ltd.) coming from clean technology-focused private equity funds.

Clean energy sources account for the majority of energy investments last year, with $105 billion spent on developing 40GW of wind, solar, small hydro, biomass and geothermal energy generation capabilities. Large hydro (25GW) accounted for another $35 billion in investments.

Totaling $140 billion, this accounts for 56% of investments in power last year. The aggregate 65GW, however, represents only 41% of new capacity developed in 2008. Renewable energy dominated the clean technology space, 75% of the total at $117 billion.

Investments in clean energy technology grew 5% from 2007 to 2008, leading to a second consecutive record-setting year. Emerging markets made the difference last year – particularly China and Brazil. China has become the second largest wind market in the worlds (as measured by new capacity) and the world's top photovoltaic manufacturer.

Geothermal appears to be on the horizon for several countries, including Australia and Kenya. Nonetheless, the ongoing financial crisis has put the squeeze on the clean energy space. U.S. investments fell 2%, and growth slowed considerably in Europe.

TechCrunch reports that Greenpeace is chiding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the iPhone's toxic chemical ingredients. Moreover, Greenpeace's analysis suggests that the iPhone is losing "green ground" to other mobile phone competitors which are in the process of eliminating the iPhone's toxic chemicals.

According to Greenpeace, the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the presence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)) and hazardous PVCs. Two of the "phthalate plasticisers" found at high levels in the iPhone headphone cable are classified in Europe as 'toxic to reproduction, category 2′ and are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe.

Greenpeace's analysis of competitors is most interesting: Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is totally PVC free while Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Sony Ericsson already have products on the market with BFR free components. I am in Greenpeace's camp on this one. I also think that if Apple cleaned up the iPhone, it would find that green means green -- particularly in Europe.

That's something that Apple shareholders and Greenpeace would both celebrate.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

When I read about Wal-Mart Store's (NYSE:WMT) embrace of environmentally friendly light bulbs, I took a quick peak outside the window of my home office. To my surprise, the world as I know it didn't come to an end.

The problem I have with doing right by the environment (besides laziness) is that it's expensive and often requires government subsidies. That's what makes Wal-Mart's plans to sell compact fluorescent lights so interesting. These bulbs are eight times as costly as traditional incandescent bulbs but produce less greenhouse gasses. Wal-Mart wants to sell 100 million of the environmentally friendly light bulbs, which today make up 6 percent of the market, by 2008.

Wal-Mart's skeptical suppliers went along. After all, this is Wal-Mart, the last company any of them wants to annoy.

While Wal-Mart has increased sales of the greener lights, it's only one of many ambitious environmental goals which USA Today says includes reducing the amount of gas used by its trucking fleet, buying fish only from sustainable fisheries, as well as reducing sold waste and energy use at its 7,000 stores. USA Today says Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" got a standing ovation when it was shown at Wal-Mart's headquarters.

Wal-Mart's critics argue that this green effort is merely a PR stunt. Other groups who have fought the retailers on many issues for years seem to be surprised that Wal-Mart has embraced the environmental movement. There may be some spin with Wal-Mart's green push, but it will be interesting to see if the huge company can make a big difference in making environmentally-friendly technology more economically viable.