The New York Times reports that more and more companies are finding it profitable to go green: "There are a lot of creative types looking for the next big thing," said Bob Sheppard, deputy director for corporate programs at Clean Air-Cool Planet, a nonprofit environmental education organization. "Well, these days, environment is it." It is impossible to quantify the size of the environmental industry. Many of the newer companies are privately held. And many "green" products - more efficient power generators, say, or biodegradable plastics - are parts of other industries. But investors are clearly funneling ever more money into green technologies. Last year, the California Public Employees Retirement System, or Calpers, said it would invest $200 million in what it called the "burgeoning environmental technology sector." This year, 27 members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk promised to invest $1 billion in companies with green products. "The environmental industry is about to take off, as more investors realize that they can reap returns from cleaner technologies," said Dan Bakal, director of electric power programs at Ceres, a coalition of investors and environmental organizations that runs the investor network. Unsurprisingly, greater regulation has helped to spur new environmentally-friendly industries. In one sense, the current environmental boon is a replay of the 1970's, when regulations spawned a profitable industry to sell electrostatic precipitators, air scrubbers and other air cleaning devices. New federal rules limiting diesel emissions are spurring sales now, too. But this time, other powerful motivators are at play. The United States did not sign the Kyoto treaty regulating greenhouse gases, but companies feel pressure to reduce gas emissions to do business comfortably in countries that did sign. Moreover, "people know that regulations will come here, too," said Judi Greenwald, director of innovative solutions at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a nonprofit research group. More on how regulation can spur U.S. competitiveness: OMB Watch Issue Brief: Regulation and Competitiveness