clean tech

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Avoiding The Cliff Ahead

January 29, 2009 in accelerating change, analysis, consumption, economy, energy efficiency, energy generation, energy storage, green building, opinion, policy, profits by nils | 1 comment

Uluwatu Temple, Bali (HDR)

A cliff in Bali (image by seanmcgrath, CC 2.0 licensed)

My green building and blogging colleague Barry Katz just had a post about James Howard Kunstler on his The Future Is Green Blog. Kunstler is one of the “dystopians” featured in a  New Yorker article last week. Kunstler is not sanguine about what the future is going to look like for us and our descendants. He thinks that not only is global warming likely to cause a disaster, but so is the current, or an upcoming, financial meltdown. Barry writes:

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Green Building/Green Energy Salon in Menlo Park on Thursday

January 26, 2009 in energy efficiency, energy generation, green building, jobs by nils | 4 comments

My Soul

Green things (image by WTL photos, CC 2.0 license)

I’m starting a green energy/green building salon, and the first meeting is this Thursday night (1/29) in Menlo Park. Sign up on this invite/RSVP page to let me know if you’re coming.

If you’re interested in green buildings like me, or are working out how to have a new career in the green economy, you should drop by!

As I’ve mentioned, I have a modest little goal to ensure that all 50,000 housing starts in California in the year 2018 are “zero net energy.” That means they’ll generate as much or more energy as they consume in operation.

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SD Forum’s Green and Clean Dinner Meeting

August 22, 2008 in business benefits, investing by nils | 1 comment

The Image via Wikipedia

I attended the SDForum Green and Clean Dinner tonight. The topic was “Where’s the Money?” Five panelists, representing a VC firm, a bank, an angel funding group, a bridge-financing firm, and an entrepreneur who has raised his money independently, discussed the various sources of funding for clean tech companies. i took extensive notes, and will provide more details later, but for now some of the highlights were:

  • Liquidity may be different for clean tech companies than we got used to for high tech companies during the Internet boom
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Execs See Profits and Higher Quality Through Green Manufacturing

August 20, 2008 in business benefits, profits by nils | Add your comment

U.S.Image via Wikipedia

In a recent survey by Eye For Transport, supply chain executives across a range of industries agreed not only that “greening” the manufacturing process was becoming more and more cost effective, but that they expected increased profits and better quality as a result.

A whopping 95% of the 3,000 North American executives polled agree that green manufacturing will continue to expand, citing increased profits (66%) and improved efficiency and product quality (43%) as key drivers.

43% is not even a majority, but it’s a sign the tide of perception is turning that going green is not a tax, but can result in both bottom line and top line benefits to companies.

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Leading VC talks about investing in energy efficiency

August 13, 2008 in investing, profits by nils | Add your comment

Public Domain. Credit information: Hinode JAXA/NASA

Public Domain. Credit information: Hinode JAXA/NASA

Every day I get emails about “clean tech financing this” and “clean tech financing that” – last year there was over $7 billion in investments in clean technologies in the U.S. In this interview in the San Jose Merc, Paul Holland of Foundation Capital describes some of his philosophy on clean tech investment, including a strong focus on technologies that will reduce energy demand:

“The first lesson is there’s nothing wrong with a capital-efficient investment, even in clean tech. The second lesson is, look what happens when you don’t pay attention to the first lesson.”

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Feds drop some pocket change on the California Clean Tech Open

August 7, 2008 in green building by nils | Add your comment

The California Clean Tech Open, a three-year-old competition for clean technology startups, got a nice little present from the Department of Energy the other day – a $100,000 grant focused on sustainable building technologies.

The Clean Tech Open focuses on an annual “Business Plan” competition, where clean tech entrepreneurs compete for the six top prizes of a $100,000 “startup in a box” including office space, cash, and services. They’ve already awarded over $1.2 million in prizes, and over three-quarters of their winners are still in business and have raised nearly $70 million in funding.

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