Investors are always looking for the next millionaire-maker. For quite a while now, various Internet businesses have received tons of venture capital because investors considered them good bets to make money over time. But now, even mainstream investment publications are recommending cleantech as a better investment.

Yesterday, The Motley Fool published an article recommending investors take a good close look at cleantech. The Fool's main audience isn't venture capital firms or professional investment groups, though. This major website — past partners include AOL — provides financial information for the layperson. Most of its readers are just people looking to manage their own money and perhaps make a few investments for retirement.

The Motley Fool is pointing to cleantech stocks as good picks for average investors, the sort of people who only started investing in various internet-based businesses as they became household names. While these investors may not recognize the three solar energy stocks that the article discusses — Trina Solar, SunPower and First Solar — many cleantech companies are becoming recognizable names. Just the word 'cleantech' is starting to make some investment opportunities popular with average investors. Mutual funds focusing on cleantech stocks or moving towards cleantech investments, like the Fidelity Magellan, are seeing good returns and more investors. 

Cleantech has gone mainstream, at least for investors.

Image — The Motley Fool