San Diego has become a hotspot for clean technology, with barrels of resources directed toward solar, wind, biotech, and other “enertech” sectors. In fact, so strong is the emphasis on energy technology and clean energy that when the non-profit coalition Cleantech San Diego launched last year, the group took off like a rocket (an environmentally friendly rocket, no doubt). The organization’s goal, says president and CEO Lisa Bicker, is to create an “eco-engine” for clean technologies in San Diego.

So how big is that eco-engine the organization is trying to foster? Last year, just as Cleantech San Diego was forming and to help it kick off, the U.C. San Diego Extension’s GlobalConnect compiled a comprehensive list of clean technology companies in the greater San Diego area. The list, which you can find in this report on Cleantech’s site, was used to create the map below (click on the map for a larger view). It comprises 148 companies in 11 different sectors. By my count they include: agriculture (3 companies), air and environment (6), energy efficiency (15), energy generation (67, including solar giant Kyocera and local utility SDG&E), energy infrastructure (7), energy storage (7, including Sanyo), manufacturing/industrial (6), materials (4), recycling and waste (13), transportation (8), water and wastewater (19), and cleantech solutions providers (3).

Among the larger companies: 3E, Kyocera Solar, and local utility SDG&E, as well as hybrid-electric engine developer ISE Corporation and battery technology company PowerGenix. And, of course, there’s an electrifying (so to speak) list of startups, including , Kai BioEnergy (an algae-into-fossil fuels venture), Aquaverde (residential greywater systems) and Envision Solar (creators of a photovoltaic carport system).

The 148 companies are spread throughout San Diego County, with 97 of them in the city proper. Nathan Owens, Director of Regional Assessments for GlobalConnect, says there haven’t been any updates to the map since it was created, but that he has since identified 27 additional companies. “There’s already 175 cleantech companies in San Diego,” he says.

We’ve already written about one new interesting startup, Sapphire Energy, which is working on oil-producing algae and whose backers include Bill Gates’s investment arm, Kirkland, WA-based Cascade Investment. But if you know of any others that should be added to the list (or any that should be removed), leave a comment or send us a note at tips@xconomy.com

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Metaplace, the open-access virtual world that allows users to build and share their own animated communities, said today that it has collected $6.7 million in new financing, raising the startup’s funding total to $9.4 million.

The funding hails from four investors: existing backers Charles River Ventures and Crescendo Ventures, as well as new financiers Ben Horowitz and internet guru Marc Andreessen (best known for his role as Mosaic co-author and Netscape founder).

The San Diego-based company was started under the name Areae, Inc., by two Sony veterans who specialized in massively multiplayer games, Raph Koster and John Donham. Now officially known as Metaplace, the company has just begun invitation-only beta testing.

In a press release issued today, Koster says that the company’s aim is to create an open-platform space in which users can create a system of interlocking worlds, combining “the ubiquity and ease of the Web with the immersive and addictive nature of video games.”

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San Diego-based MicroPower Appliance has received an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Tech Coast Angels to help support its development of a battery-powered, Wi-Fi video camera. According to Mike Elconin, the San Diego network president of Tech Coast Angels, ultra-low powered, wireless video cameras have a number of potential applications, with Internet-based video home security systems at the top of the list.

Elconin confirmed the Tech Coast Angels’ investment, which was reported this morning by socalTECH.com, saying that a video-monitoring system that doesn’t have to be hard-wired is an area with huge potential. MicroPower Appliance has developed an innovative way of cycling energy to the camera, reducing its power consumption to less than 10 milliwatts, about one five-hundredth that of other wireless security cameras.

Compared to other systems currently on the market, the technology should also decrease costs of installation (no hard-wiring required), eliminate the need for huge battery packs, and allow the camera to remain charged for up to a year. Other potential uses include military applications, commercial security networks, and even helmet cameras for skateboarders and snowboarders.

Tech Coast Angels is the primary investor so far; Elconin says that the company is continuing to raise money now that the initial funding round has ended.

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San Diego-based Adventrx Pharmaceuticals (AMEX: ANX) announced today that it had cut its workforce by nine people, and that its CEO and President, Evan Levine, had resigned effective October 17.

The cuts represent 27 percent of Adventrx’s staff, and the company says that it is restructuring so as to direct all resources toward its two lead product candidates, ANX-530 and ANX-514, both novel emulsion formulas of cancer drugs already on the market. Among the programs being set aside is ANX-510 (CoFactor); a Phase 3 trial of the drug as part of a combination of treatments for colorectal cancer which was recently discontinued.

Adventrx says that until the company procures further funding, the majority of its efforts will be aimed at submitting FDA approval applications for its two lead product candidates, and it may delay any activities related to product launches.

As of June 30, activist investor Carl Icahn was reportedly Adventrx’s largest instructional holder, with a 3.8 percent stake via Icahn Capital Management and another 1 percent under his own name.

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