Venture capitalists have started looking at less capital-intensive energy investments in response to mixed U.S. policy signals, hedge fund managers said at the Silicon Valley Energy Summit.

Those investors are picking off information technology start-ups that use formats applicable to the energy sector, according an entry posted by Stanford University, which hosted the event, on CleanTechnica.com. Many of those firms dabble in energy efficiency and conservation software that monitor customer energy use, the functionality of which can be rolled into other clean technology products.

“IT is a big part of all the talk because we are capital light right now,” Josh Green, a general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, said at the event. “It’s hard to get the $1 billion investment.” MORE …