Clean Tech
2009 Global Venture Capital Survey
Last modified on 2009-09-19 23:48:18 GMT. -1 comments. Top.
According to the 2009 Global Venture Capital Survey released in June Clean Tech and Medical device & equipment will be the fastest growing sectors worldwide over the next three years. Both sectors are not much of a surprise based on the aging population and global warming coupled with the energy scare a few years ago.
Small wind energy for your home
Last modified on 2010-02-22 02:14:53 GMT. -1 comments. Top.
64.04 KW/hr is the average power my residence generates per month with a wind class of 2 which equated to 4.9725 m/s wind speed per month. The utility rates are about .15 cents per KW in the area which means I’m saving just under $10 bucks a month or a $120 a year (roughly). That would probably be the average of my monthly utility. I can’t say spending $4500 bucks before rebate incentives is worth 1 free month a year at the current electricity rates.
In New Hampshire the incentives for small wind renewable energy is not as beneficial as the rest of the country which can range from 30% – 60% in rebates on equipment and installation cost. If you’re curious about incentives in your state check the Database of State Incentives for green and energy initiatives. If you are lucky enough to apply 50% or greater rebates within your state to the honeywell small wind purchase and have greater wind class speed than 2 you have a viable supplement to your energy needs.
There is still room in the market place for small wind energy products priced in the $1000 to $2000 dollar range for residential solutions for blokes like me and you. Combine the price point with some rebates and you have a real product and a huge market. Go get’em entrepreneurs!
Algae-based fuel is startup central
Last modified on 2009-07-20 18:13:23 GMT. 3 comments. Top.
Algae based fuel startups are now running the gamut of most biofuels. Ranging from biodiesel, gasoline, jetfuel to ethanol (a lot cheaper than the corn derivative to boot). Fortune Magazine did a nice piece on “The next big thing in energy: Pond scum? stating the trials and tribulations of Cambridge, MA based GreenFuel Technologies. The business model behind GreenFuel is capturing CO2 emissions from contaminating companies and promoting algae growth that can be used for fuel as an end product.
The curious setup is an experimental bioreactor that takes the stuff of pond scum – algae – grows it like mad, and turns it into “biomass” that can be processed into fuel for cars and trucks. Even better, the GreenFuel system could help to clean up coal too.
Another company according to VentureBeat a Flordia-based self-funded startup called Algenol Biofuels, will produce nearly a billion gallons a year of ethanol by 2013. The startup just signed a deal with a new Mexican company called BioFields to build a refinery.
Also Sapphire Energy a San Diego startup claims it has created an actual crude oil like substance that can be processed and transported by existing refineries and burned in your actual gas tank…..WOW! Talk about shaking up the oil industry.
So what is driving all the algae based startups?
Exorbitant energy prices for one, but the real impetus is probably DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) a federal program launched last November to enable the cost-competitive production of military jet fuel from both cellulosic and algal sources.
Two quotes from Fortune sum up the program nicely:
In a move that galvanized biofuels entrepreneurs, The director of the program, Douglas Kirkpatrick, says he thinks major questions about algal fuels’ technical feasibility will be answered in “the next three to five years.”
That sounds about right: Algae-energy research is bubbling with new ideas and talent and is beginning to get backing from venture capital. “In the past the money in this area went only to academics,” says Matt Caspari, CEO of Aurora BioFuels in Alameda, Calif. “Now it’s reaching entrepreneurs who are applying technologies that didn’t exist ten or 15 years ago.”
The algae fuel push is not just for the venture capitalist and startups, Shell is throwing some weight behind algae to produce diesel fuel as well. This space is getting hotter than an algae plume in the Sahara desert.
Carbon Emission Reduction is next commodity!
Last modified on 2008-06-08 15:11:56 GMT. 1 comment. Top.
We all know that “green” is the new “black” and social responsibility for climate change is becoming everyone’s duty. The reality is carbon emission reductions and other climate change agenda will be a result of the next financial revolution and windfall profits rather than a social duty to reducing our carbon footprint on the planet. It’s not a surprise big business and investors are flocking to this sector. According to Fortune magazine “Carbon Finance comes of age”
Last year traders bought and sold about $60 billion worth of emissions allowances, mostly in Europe and Japan, where governments regulate greenhouse gases. If, as expected, regulation comes to the U.S., this country’s carbon-trading market is expected to be worth $1 trillion annually by 2020. That’s why investment banks, utilities, industrials, and hedge funds – among them GE (GE, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPNV.L), and AES (AES) – are rushing into the business of carbon finance.
The new wave of carbon reduction is regulated by the Kyoto Protocol regulated by the United Nations under a program called Clean Development Mechanism or CDM. Thirty-six industrial countries (not including the U.S.) have agreed to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions over time. The key ingredient is that polluting nations do not have to reduce the pollution at the actual source but rather, in part, by financing “clean development” projects in other parts of the world.
Both Fortune Magazine and a recent radio piece on NPR explore interesting examples of how a Carbon Emission reduction CER functions as a commodity.
Take a Company X that gives off the harsh HFC23 gas, a product that is almost 12,000 times more potent than 1 ton of carbon dioxide (as far as global warming goes). Company X has a few choices:
1. Apply for credits under the CDM (which is a red tape nightmare) to obtain reduction money
2. Contact a company like EcoSecurities and have reduction method not only funded but a monthly income based on how many CERs are produced.
A great example of a successful CDM would beWorld Bank seals record CDM China deal from Carbonpositive.
Although the creation of a CER credit is interesting both the CDM and CERs are plagued byadditionality . This is when the reduction would have happened anyway, without the financial incentives offered through the CDM. Wikipedia states the following:
A crucial feature of an approved CDM carbon project is that it has established that the planned reductions would not occur without the additional incentive provided by emission reductions credits, a concept known as “additionality”.
CERs through the CDM can cost up to a couple hundred thousand dollars for compliance. Certianly not making the effort for everyone. The little guy can still fit into the equation with Verified Emission reductions (VERS).
From the EcoSecurities site VERS are the following:
In voluntary carbon markets, activities that reduce GHGs produce Verified Emission Reductions (VERs), that can be sold to companies or individuals wishing to voluntarily reduce their impact on the environment. Purchasing VERs can be an effective means of offsetting the part of a company’s carbon footprint where it is not in a position to reduce its emissions directly.
The existence of a voluntary market for emission reductions can support smaller-scale, sometimes village-level activities – which cannot withstand the costs of compliance with Kyoto (certifiers, validators, consultants etc.) but deliver real emission reductions and significant sustainable development benefits.
Examples of technologies that would produce VERS:
• Windpower
• Geothermal power
• Solar power
• Run-of-river hydroelectricity
• Biomass electricity generation
• Energy efficiency
• Animal and agricultural methane capture and utilization
• Landfill gas to energy
• Forestry
The reason is trend is so interesting is the wave of startups that will flourish from the value-chain of reducing carbon emissions. Startups will be at every stage of the game and revenue streams will go beyond just the gas reducing business model through subsidies, credits and a commodity exchange. We had the dot-com run, we had the real estate run and now we have the carbon reduction run. The best part is we are at the ground floor.
