Live Near a Waterway? HydroVolts Can Power Your Home
Posted by Amie Vaccaro November 20th, 2009 
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Hydrovolts develops modular hydrikinetic turbines for use in canals & other waterways
At Tuesday’s Academy Awards of Cleantech (The Cleantech Open), attendees were all abuzz about Seattle-based HydroVolts, winner of the $20,000 Cleantech Open sustainability prize. HydroVolts has created a floating in-stream hydrokinetic turbine that generates distributed renewable energy anywhere around the world. Hydrovolts’ vision is to provide renewable energy to millions of people around the world who live near water. The turbines are designed to drop into moving water, such as irrigation canals, spillways, tidal currents, wastewater flows, streams, rivers and other waterways. Energy is collected from the force of moving water rather than pressure, operating like an underwater paddlewheel, so the turbine is safe for fish, unobtrusive, non-polluting and of course, renewable. Each turbine can power 1 to 10 homes along the waterway and is about the size and cost of a small car. The technology is modular, scalable and simple to deploy. Check out this video to learn more.
Self Reporting Doesn’t Cut it: Why We Need a National GHG Measurement System
Posted by BC Upham November 20th, 2009 1 Comment
Say you’re the Mayor of San Francisco. You’re spending million of dollars every year to increase energy efficiency, install solar panels and encourage the use of electric cars — all in an effort to lower your city’s greenhouse gas emissions, in line with (hypothetical) newly-enacted Federal greenhouse gas reduction guidelines.
Meanwhile, the (hypothetical) Mayor of Sacramento, who doesn’t believe in global warming, and certainly doesn’t believe in spending a dime to reduce the city’s carbon footprint, has completely ignored the GHG guidelines, and then lied about it on self-reported greenhouse gas inventories required by the Feds.
Both cities benefit from reduced emissions, but only one is spending the money to do so. How fair is that?
Not very. Which is why Congress is currently considering a National Greenhouse Gas Observation and Analysis System being considered. The system would consist of a network of hundreds of greenhouse gas monitors that could analyze GHG concentrations on the regional, state, and even local level.
Ecofactor Smart Thermostat System Wins Cleantech Open
Posted by BC Upham November 20th, 2009 0 Comments
A maker of thermostat data systems that claims to be able to reduce heating and cooling costs for buildings by 20-30 percent won Grand Prize at this year’s Cleantech Open, one of the leading environmental technology competitions in the country.
Ecofactor makes integrated systems that calibrate a residential or commercial thermostat for maximum energy efficiency without having any noticeable effect on comfort. The system uses information from 24,000 data points, such as local weather, typical customer behavior and the design characteristics of a home or business to control the thermostat, which is connected to the Internet via a broadband connection.
As National Prize winner, Ecofactor took home $250,000, including $100,000 in seed capital. This is in addition to $100,000 the company won as California regional finalist in October. Started in 2006, Ecofactor has raised angel funding, and currently in negotiations for its Series A round, according to Earth2Tech.
Cleantech Open runners up were: Alphabet Energy (waste-heat recapture); and MicroMidas (transforms raw sewage into biodegradable plastic). Earlier in the day, audience members at the Awards Gala voted Alphabet Energy as the People’s Choice business competition winner.
Why Genea Energy Made Forbes List Of Most Promising Companies
Posted by Gina-Marie Cheeseman November 20th, 2009 0 Comments
Southern California-based Genea Energy is ranked number 13 on Forbes’ America’s Most Promising Companies list. Doug Schneider, Genea Energy’s CEO, said, “Forbes saw in Genea a special potential for growth, and that just echoes what our management team has been saying all along. We have a very special business — we’re just beginning to see its potential, and that’s exciting.”
Genea Energy offers a “highly interactive way of controlling and optimizing energy consumption in commercial office properties.” One of the company’s services, the Building Optimization Solution, provides building owners with a “web-enabled technology platform” that controls energy consumption and businesses processes.
Notes from the Cleantech Open Awards Gala
Posted by Steve Puma November 19th, 2009 2 Comments
At the last minute, I decided to attend Tuesday night’s Cleantech Open Awards Gala, and was pleasantly surprised at just how many companies with game-changing technologies were participating in the event. From the finalists to the runners-up to last year’s winners, the promise of what was on display was truly astounding, and gives me quite a bit of hope that we have a strong chance of beating some of the enormous challenges that are facing our environment.
EcoFactor, the competition’s overall winner, humorously presented an amazingly simple concept: a web-enabled thermostat that automatically and continuously adjusts the temperature of your home based on local environmental conditions. According to the company, more than half of households with programmable thermostats do not program them. The company’s technology avoids that problem, providing 25 percent or more energy savings with a hands-free solution.
While EcoFactor certainly has a very innovative product, I was simply shocked that they managed to beat out fellow finalist New Sky Energy, whose carbon-negative C02-to-building materials process appears to be an almost magical solution to excess carbon emissions. New Sky’s revolutionary chemical technology takes carbon dioxide from the air, combines it with polluted water, salts and renewable energy and ends up with carbonate-based building materials, in the form of bricks, tiles, laminated wood composites and others.
Data Storage Startup, Energy Manager, Win GreenBeat Innovation Contest
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor November 19th, 2009 0 Comments
The winner of the Innovation Competition, held as part of the GreenBeat 2009 conference in San Mateo, California, today, is actually a pair of winners.
The judges could not quite settle on one of the 11 entrants and so instead awarded both Locust Storage, a startup (just out of stealth mode today) and CPower , which provides businesses energy management services, as the co-winners.
As Asia Outpaces America in Cleantech, US and China Agree to Cooperation
Posted by BC Upham November 19th, 2009 1 Comment
Obama’s recent trip to China felt like a bit of a bummer, with the Times pointedly portraying the President as a solitary figure, wandering alone on the Great Wall — and getting stone-walled by the PRC’s leadership.
But behind the scenes, hard-working diplomats hammered out agreements on what could be the basis for an important partnership between the world’s two largest polluters on clean technology, ranging from carbon capture to electric cars and more.
And it couldn’t come soon enough, as a new study calculates China, Japan and South Korea will spend $502 billion on clean technology over the next five years, $337 billion more than the US, which the authors warn is in grave danger of being left behind.
What To Do With Paper Waste That’s Not Recyclable?
Posted by Scott Cooney November 18th, 2009 2 Comments
Most paper waste is recyclable. The margin may not be terrific on recycled paper products, except for clean white office paper, but it is usually sufficient to create secondary markets for most paper waste.
The problem arises, however, when that paper is contaminated with food or for some other reason is not recyclable (pizza boxes anyone?). Not only does this potentially contaminate other paper that may be recyclable, but it creates a waste management challenge to municipalities.
So besides using it for campfire kindle, what can we do with it?
EV Tech Center Abuzz Over an Electrified Future
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor November 17th, 2009 0 Comments
Photo courtesy Southern California Edison
Electric vehicles and the changes they promise to bring to our transportation infrastructure are making lots of headlines these days, but to Ed Kjaer, the director of Electric Vehicle Tech Center, EVs are old hat.
Kjaer drives an electric Toyota RAV-4 every day. He’s logged 83,000 miles on the rig, which he drives to Southern California Edison’s Pomona facility, home of the EV Tech Center. And when he gets to work, it’s all EV, all the time. It’s clear from talking to Kjaer that he’s an EV advocate. But EV technology is about more than just zero-emission vehicles. It’s about a new approach to energy management and storage.
Step inside the EV Tech Center and the first thing you’ll notice, aside from shiny new electric concept cars from the likes of Ford and other carmakers, is an electrical buzz—similar to the buzz you’ll hear walking past power lines in a rain storm. Must be all those power and battery systems that researchers in the lab are putting through their paces. Of particular focus, not surprisingly, are banks of automotive grade lithium-ion batteries.
SolarCity CEO Says Solar Installation Biz Splitting into Big Guys and Little Guys
Posted by BC Upham November 17th, 2009 0 Comments
Solarcity CEO Lyndon Rive said in an interview Friday that he is seeing a growing market schism between the thousands of small, local solar panel installers and a “half a dozen or so” national players that can provide “a trusted brand focusing on scale and services.”
Rise of the Brand Names
Solarcity, which the 32-year old Rive co-founded in 2006, has grown to be one of the leading solar panel installers in California, and perhaps the most recognizable solar installation company in the country.
The solar panel industry is still one where success is measured in the thousands of customers, not millions or billions, however, and despite its high-profile status in the news media, solar installers are still in a very niche business.
Business Not As Usual: Twitter Commentary On Corporate Succession Planning
Posted by John Laumer November 15th, 2009 0 Comments
- When corporate executive change gossip spills outside the pages of financial pages of record and onto thousands of cell phones, something big and new is going on. Wouldn’t you know, the first big example has something to do with maintaining a company’s green image. See Vattenfall Wakes Up to VattenFAIL Reputation: Did Twitter Help Topple CEO? for discussion. Business significance: U2/C3
Join me at the Academy Awards of Cleantech
Posted by Amie Vaccaro November 12th, 2009 1 Comment
This year’s Cleantech Open Awards Gala (Tues Nov 17th in San Francisco) is not to be missed. Along with Bill Roth, I’ll be covering the event for TriplePundit. Last year’s event was phenomenal and this year promises to be bigger and better.
The Cleantech Open launched in 2006 and has grown tremendously since. The mission is to “find, fund and foster the big ideas” that address today’s toughest challenges and to date 125 cleantech start-ups have benefited from the organization’s funding and resources. A tribute to the the organization’s strength in finding and nurturing high potential companies, Cleantech Open startups have raised $130 million in private funding, and have created 500 jobs to date. Each year the quality of the applicants has grown as well — a good sign for a still quite nascent industry.
This year’s gala brings together finalists from three Cleantech Open regions – California, Pacific Northwest, and Rocky Mountain - to select a winner, who will receive $250,000 in cash and services. From the all-star line-up of contending start-ups I’m excited to learn more about:
- How Green Lite Motors commuter vehicle gets 100 miles per gallon
- How Micromidas converts raw sewage into biodegradable plastic
- How SunTrac Solar makes a solar hot water heater which captures 50 to 70% of solar energy
- How Alphabet Energy plans to convert waste energy into electricity at low cost
- How tru2earth’s Life Cycle Roof Tile made of recycled plastic bottles is as cheap as asphalt and captures rainwater
- Plus interact with 120 cleantech companies at the pre-gala expo. Register here.
Who are you rooting for?
Overheard at Opportunity Green: LA Having “Serious Conversation” About Feed-in Tariff
Posted by BC Upham November 9th, 2009 0 Comments
Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for Energy and the Environment Romel Pascual said during a panel discussion at Opportunity Green 2009 that Los Angeles has begun a “serious conversation” about a feed-in tariff for the city. Feed-in tariffs, or FiTs, provide cash rebates for renewable energy fed into the grid — above the normal cost of electricity.
FiTs are popular in Europe; German has had a program for several years. But there are few places in the US with an FiT, Gainsville County, Florida, being one. If LA, the country’s second largest city, with the largest municipal electric utility, created an FiT, it would have a profound effect on the small-scale solar power market.
Pascual echoed acting Director of Los Angeles Water and Power Director S. David Freeman, who also mentioned an LA FiT at an Opp Green keynote speech this morning. The idea has come up in public meetings held to discuss LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s ambitious environmental goals. Said Pascual, “it’s on the drawing board.”
Freeman also mentioned LA possibly building large scale solar plants in the Owens River Valley, which was first reported in Triple Pundit last summer.
Cap-and-Trade: The Real Deal from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Posted by Shannon Arvizu November 9th, 2009 1 Comment
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce may actually have a better idea than a cap-and-trade bill for cutting emissions. And, contrary to popular opinion, they do recognize climate change and the need for clean tech development.
This past week I interviewed Dan Letourneau, the Communications Director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as part of a clean car web radio show called the EVCast. What I learned was quite surprising, given the amount of negative attention the Chamber has been getting lately from environmental groups and the green media.
It appears that the main reason the Chamber opposes a cap-and-trade bill in Congress is because it believes that it will not do enough to help businesses incorporate clean tech into their operations. It has issued an official statement detailing its position and has created an affiliate Institute for 21st Century Energy to develop what they call a “common sense energy strategy.” Letourneau remarked that the Chamber has, in fact, proposed 88 different policy recommendations to Congress that reflect real-world approaches to helping businesses curb emissions.
So – what is the real deal here? Is this just a facade to cover up prior opposition to clean energy…or does the Chamber have a valid point? As I’ve written on TheCleanDeal, a climate treaty should work directly to implement clean technology in the market place. A “cap-and-trade” bill does not necessarily lead to mass market clean tech outcomes. In fact, under Europe’s carbon market system, it has often been cheaper to buy credits than invest in clean tech to reduce GHG emissions.
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