What should we make of the Blackstone Group's decision to shutter its green tech fund?  The fund was launched 3 years ago, and was able to secure $90 million from Western European investors last summer, but the effort apparently stalled out. There may have been some execution problems.

The goal was to raise $500 million which would be invested in firms past the seed VC stage but not too far past, according to Fortune. The news was somewhat surprising because the rest of the VC industry seems to be pulling out the big guns with their green investments.

Worldwide venture capital invested in green technology companies hit $2.57 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 52 percent from the previous quarter, according to data from the Cleantech Group, a global research firm based in San Francisco.

The first quarter marked the second-highest quarter ever for green tech VC investment. The results reflect some sizable later-stage growth, which is where the Blackstone Group wanted to make an impact.

Many think that soaring oil prices has stoked interest yet again in alternative energy sources. The Japan nuclear crisis may serve as yet another catalyst.

According to Fortune, the Blackstone fund will transition into a larger technology group. "No word yet on the plans of managing directors Walter Vester or Richard Troyer, who worked with Kiggen on the platform. All three men had joined Blackstone from AllianceBernstein."

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