SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- This past summer Mark Goldstein had an epiphany: get beyond the narrow thinking of what can be on the Internet, a technology that's already weaved itself into the fabric of everyday American life.

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"Where do you go after the Kmart shopper?" quipped Goldstein, as he reflected on his recent decision to become a partner at Clean Edge, a 2-year-old marketing and consulting company focused on technology to create alternative energy and recycled material.

Goldstein introduced BlueLight specials to the Web three years ago and laid the groundwork for 7 million Kmart shoppers to get online for free. He pondered the "where to next" question -- as many in Silicon Valley have done over the greater part of the last 18 months -- ever since BlueLight.com, which he founded in December 1999, folded back into Kmart in August 2001.

With nearly 200 million people on the Internet today and 60 percent having shopped online, there isn't much left to change in consumer shopping behavior. That was essentially the case a year ago when Goldstein asked himself: "Do I want to be a retailer" now that the Web is all grown up?

Goldstein is young at heart, after all, even though his warm and welcoming smile could make him an ideal Wal-Mart greeter. Behind that ruddy, youthful glow is a steadfast fervor to compete, stay connected, and a tireless curiosity in technology that can change consumer behavior. Admittedly, his talent is not in creating technology, but positioning it. It's a skill that apparently comes naturally.

In grade school, the cheerful self-promoter showed early signs of his marketing and branding savvy by crafting a way to charge neighborhood kids to use his slide and throw ping-pong balls into goldfish bowls. His tactic: call it the "Fun So Fun Fair" carnival.

Wind behind his back

Clean Edge may provide that carnival sizzle and financial opportunity. It may even satisfy the craving for cool technologies, the price many pay after the relentless energy unleashed during the Internet mania. "I wanted to find a disruptive technology [much like the Internet]," said Goldstein.

He's also joined other former Internet dot-commers who've taken off their rose-colored shades in favor of the green-tinted kind. He's stopped investing in Internet companies in the public market, like Yahoo and CNet (CNET: news, chart, profile). Instead he's invested about $100,000 into a couple under-the-radar companies including Nanosolar, founded by Martin Roscheisen, who sold E-Groups to Yahoo (YHOO: news, chart, profile) for $432 million in stock in June 2000. And Andrew BeeBe, who started Internet hosting company Big Step, is a partner at Clean Edge, as well.

Talk of clean technology is ramping up since first getting attention in the late '70s when the first solar panels were put up to heat water. Today, most panels are solar PV, or photovoltaic, which converts sunlight into electricity. Solar and wind power are the fastest growing alternative energy sources, partly because they're affordable. For example, wind power costs about 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is comparable to other traditional energy sources.

Favorable public policy is helping to create demand. Just last month, California Gov. Gray Davis signed the Renewable Portfolio Standard into law. RPS calls on utilities to double the level of renewable energy in their electricity mix to 20 percent by 2017. Already, 10 percent of energy volume in California comes from renewable sources including wind and solar power, the two fastest growing energy sources in the world.

Additionally, technologists are creating designs to make cars that can run 99 miles per gallon. "It's comparable to drilling under Detroit and finding a Saudi Arabia," said Amory Lovins, chairman of Hypercar Inc., which is designing the clean-tech car.

But the opportunity for clean technologies also includes renewable materials, said Goldstein, whose big eyes get wider when he talks about rejected tires and reusing them in some way.

 Watch interview with Goldstein.

While there is a confluence of events helping to stimulate momentum for this industry, funding may be one slight problem. The sector saw 11 start-ups including some names like Hydrogenics (HYGS: news, chart, profile), Evergreen Solar (ESLR: news, chart, profile), Global Power Equipment (GEG: news, chart, profile) and Millennium Cell (MCEL: news, chart, profile), that raised $1.2 billion in initial public offerings since 2000, according to Dealogic.

These stocks have come under pressure with the overall market.

Start-up experience

Still, Goldstein sees the chances of raising money through the life-cycle of these companies far higher than the three start-ups he joined briefly in the last 12 months -- in wireless Internet technology Wi-Fi, video conferencing and disposable CDs.

His experience from these companies: Getting investors interested in the first round, or an "A" round is easy. It's the follow-on rounds that investors shy away from.

It's quite a change for someone who started five companies during the '90s, when cash flowed abundantly and investor interest was high at any point of a company's life cycle.

But Goldstein, and perhaps many of us, is better off with less money. He founded Impulse Buy with about $6 million in funding mostly from Softbank, now Mobius, back in 1997. He eventually sold the e-commerce company to Inktomi (INKT: news, chart, profile) for $125 million in stock in early 1999 before Inktomi would hit its high-water mark of $241 about a year later. It was his longest and most financially rewarding start-up. Goldstein owned a 35 percent stake in Impulse Buy and sold practically all of his Inktomi shares by January 2001.

It was BlueLight.com, a venture in which he had 10 times more money to play with and high-profile partners and backers to help him succeed, which ended up a financial disappointment.

Goldstein received about $100 million to start BlueLight.com, which assembled the highest-profile names during the Internet boom. Yahoo and Softbank with Goldstein at the helm embarked on a strategy to revamp and rebrand Kmart from the Internet out.

Even Martha Stewart, at the behest of venture-capital guru John Doerr -- who was a director of Stewart's Omnimedia (MSO: news, chart, profile) -- would take a 5 percent share in the newly formed e-tailing company. In December 1999 the site was launched and valued at $250 million.

Only one year later after a swooning stock market, Goldstein saw the blue lights flickering. "We were doing a deal with Shutterfly," he recalled. "Kmart wanted us to do a deal with Kodak even though the terms were inferior. That's the time when I realized -- it's all about Kmart."

He then realized he'd have to start rethinking his career path after he walked into Kmart and no one knew who he was. By the time it bought BlueLight.com, Kmart paid about $250 million for the company and Goldstein received a boatload of Kmart stock for his 5 percent of BlueLight.com. Unfortunately, Kmart went bankrupt soon after. And now, as part of Kmart's bankruptcy process, Kmart is selling off the ISP that BlueLight.com operated. The ISP, with 165,000 subscribers paying $9 a month, will be auctioned next Monday.

Give-aways were part of the Internet age. Those costs and other expenses burned BlueLight.com. "We were all Icarus," Goldstein said jokingly. "All the dot-commers flew too close to the sun."

Better put on those glasses: the green-tinted kind.

Friday moves

Palm (PALM: news, chart, profile) fell 3 percent to 64 cents. The maker of the popular Palm handheld devices is expected to showcase its new line of devices next week. According to analysts, the Zire, targeting the price-conscious consumer, is expected to retail for $100. The Tungsten T product, targeting the corporate market, is expected to feature Bluetooth short-range wireless connectivity and use Palm OS 5, while the Tungsten W is a GPRS phone-PDA unit.

Yahoo is on tap to report third-quarter results on Oct. 9. Analysts expect Yahoo to earn 4 cents. Yahoo lost 1 cent in the previous year. Analysts expect Yahoo to generate $239.16 in sales, up from $166.13 a year ago. Yahoo lost 5 cents to $9.34.

 Watch interview with Avenue A CEO on online advertising.

Overture (OVER: news, chart, profile) jumped 8 percent to $23.40. On Monday, the paid-listings company said it extended two contracts with Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile). Commerce One (CMRCD: news, chart, profile) dropped 9 percent to 30 cents. The software company said Friday that it was cutting 400 jobs. EBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) added 45 cents to $52.35. Late Thursday, the online auction company completed its acquisition of PayPal.

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