Despite tumultuous times for the industry, 2012 marked a banner year for clean technology in San Diego. Numerous organizations within the region’s cleantech cluster – from startups to multinational brands – made significant strides in continuing San Diego’s leadership in the global advanced energy economy. CleanTECH San Diego, a regional non-profit member
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Every year around this time since 2007, as executive editor of a leading global cleantech research and news service, I’ve contributed to predictions on what to expect in the year ahead in cleantech.
We’ve kept that tradition alive here at Kachan & Co. We don’t claim a perfect track record, but we’ve been eerily prescient and nailed some biggies a
Eilat Eilot, Israel’s international yearly event in the renewable energy arena, is underway now in Eilat. The event kicked off with EnergyVest, the investment summit of the conference, on November 26th.
We spoke to one of the organizers of the event, Ophir Gore, Director of the Renewable Energy and Alternative Fuels Department at Israel NewTech.
Following Through on Sustainability is Easier When You Have the Carrot and The Stick – Just Ask Japan
written by Susan Gladwin
In October 2011, the Japanese Cabinet—still reeling from the Fukushima reactor meltdown earlier that year—approved an energy white paper calling for reduced reliance on nuclear power and increased emphasis on renewables.
A little over a year after the approval of that policy, I wondered to myself if Japan was sticking to its goals, or if—with the immediate shock of the Fukushima disaster receding—they had “fallen off the wagon”?
Far from losing steam, the desire to create a more sustainable way of life in Japan enjoys considerable momentum. And in large part, their success is due to the presence of both a carrot and a stick.
The carrot takes the form of in incentives provided by the Japanese government. Industry Minister Yukio Edano approved Japan’s feed-in tariffs for renewable energy—including solar, wind, and geothermal—in June 2012.
The tariffs are among the highest in the world. It’s ¥42 (US$0.525) per kWh for 10 years for systems less than 10 kW; and slightly less—¥40 (US$0.50)—for larger systems, but for 20 years. The rate will be reviewed annually for subsequently connected systems.
Japan is currently the world leader in cleantech patents, with companies like Sky Electric and Futaba Industry making exciting developments in wind turbines and solar panels, respectively. Sky Electric creates small-scale micro-generators that enable high output even with a gentle breeze, while Futaba Industry creates metal frames that can raise and slant large solar panels in snowy areas to maximize their solar efficiency.
If feed-in tariffs provide “the carrot,” “the stick” is provided by the general populace, who are intent on holding politicians’ feet to the fire.
In June 2012, more than 1000 Fukushima citizens filed a formal complaint to have criminal charges filed against the nuclear reactor officials for failing to prepare for the disaster and delaying the release of data on the spread of radiation. In July 2012, the country launched its first Green Party, in response to the desire to have a party that that puts nuclear abolition and other green policies at the top of its agenda.
There’s even a popular band called Ski which is standing up to nuclear power with their song “Free From Nuclear Power Plant,” which is currently a big hit in Japan. Instead of singing about relationships, or having fun, or other typical pop song subjects, these girls are singing about meltdowns and radiation exposure. Not your average Top 40 sing-along.
The lesson for other countries is that takes a combination of factors—the involvement of both the government and the general citizenry; the presence of both the carrot and the stick—to make sustainability a way of life rather than a fleeting fad. Anything less, and you risk falling off the wagon.
The European Union has been committed for years to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 (compared to 1990).
As we have seen in a recent article, reaching such targets is very plausible and wouldn’t need much additional effort from the 15 historic members nor the enlarged 27 countries Union.
Hutchison Water, through its Hutchison Water Israel E.P.C Ltd. company, announced last week the acquisition of Kinrot Ventures, a technological incubator founded in 1993 as part of the Israeli Incubator Program, from Aqua Agro Fund LP, which owned the incubator
Now That the Cleantech Hype is Gone, the Real Venture Investment Opportunity Begins
written by Walter Wang
The bubble has burst. The hype and euphoria of 2008 and 2009 is a distant memory. Fueled in part by the externality of the stimulus handouts from the stimulus package, and the (now fleeting) spike of natural gas and oil prices, cleantech has experienced its own mini dotcom era now followed by a dot bomb phase.
The politicization of Solyndra, the fracking revolution
I subscribe to a great number of free online newsletters that cover cleantech at a fairly broad level, and though I certainly don’t read every word, I do glance through them. If you have a spare minute, I would ask you to check out this article from SmartGridNews, and tell me what you think.
In California it’s San Francisco. In New England, it’s Boston. Now, 2012 is proving that Georgia is rising as the cleantech epicenter of the South. This year we witnessed IKEA flip the switch on two large scale solar installations and Quality Technology Services announce a more than $1 million investment in solar for their Atlanta and Richmond data centers.
What do the cleantech companies ElectronVault, SEaB Energy, and BlackGold Biofuels all have in common? Female executives at or near the top of the food chain.
Marissa Mayer, the recently appointed CEO of Yahoo, drew a lot of attention because of her gender and the fact that she was pregnant when she took the position at a major company.
It’s no wonder she stood out: females make up a relatively minuscule 4 percent of Fortune 500 chief executives . And a pregnant CEO is even rarer: while some of those female CEO’s have had children prior to reaching the top spot, Mayer might have been the first ever pregnant CEO of a Fortune 500 company .
But in my experience working with the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program, the idea of a female executive is positively unremarkable—even a pregnant one.
“I can’t tell you how many high profile women I’ve met in this space,” agrees Linda Maepa, a Caltech grad and chief operating officer of ElectronVault, a manufacturer of battery systems that can be used to efficiently store and distribute energy. “I think there’s something about the intersection between renewable energy and long-term problem-solving that draws women. For example, the head of the battery program at GM is a female, as is the founder of battery technology company Boston Power.”
Maybe Linda’s on to something here, because our next exec also plays in that same intersection. Sandra Sassow heads UK-based SEaB Energy, a provider of on-site containers that generate renewable energy from waste. Like many others, she was drawn to clean tech by the idea of improving on the status quo and giving back to the planet—all while taking a company from startup, to first products, to first revenues.
Does successfully growing a business leave time for family? Absolutely. Sassow says: “I have four children (three daughters and a son), and I have worked full time all throughout. I hope I am a good role model for my three daughters especially, as they face some of the same challenges that I have faced.”
Emily Landsburg, CEO of BlackGold Biofuels—another renewable energy company focused on generating energy from the fats, oils, and greases in wastewater—is hopeful that people will see that there is no conflict between being a C-suite executive and being a mother. “If I had Googled ‘pregnant CEO’ two and half years ago, when I was pregnant with my son, I would’ve gotten a blank page of results,” says Landsburg. “That’s pretty sad. We need more visibility for female CEOs so that we can get to a point where people don’t give a second thought to the fact that a CEO is a female or is pregnant.”
Fortunately, these three women are doing their part to move things in that direction simply by leading their companies to success. The sooner we reach the point Landsburg describes, the better. Not just because studies show that companies with a high representation of women on their top management teams have better financial performance – but because the problems that cleantech is looking to solve are too big not to draw upon all the brightest available minds in the workforce.
And while ElectronVault, SEaB Energy, and BlackGold Biofuels might not be Yahoo-sized at the moment, keep watching this space: you might just spot the next Marissa Mayer.
Last October, Popular Mechanics reported that non-practicing entities (NPEs) may have “bled companies for half a trillion dollars” between 1990 and 2010. Sometimes called “patent trolls” by their detractors, NPEs are generally defined as companies that obtain most of their revenue from the licensing and/or enforcement of their intellectual property.
The public relations machine that works so hard to generate doubt about climate change and the extreme weather events it causes must have its hands full at this point. 2012 was a year in which the United States had no winter, a March with most of the country above 80 degrees F, floods in its three largest rivers, a horrific drought all summer, and
There’s a compelling and thought-provoking book making the rounds called Clean Tech Nation that should make its way to your must-read list this Fall.
Authored by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, the thrust of the book is that the U.S.—long a leader in various technological revolutions—is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to clean technology leadership.
To wit: the UK is the world’s number one generator of offshore wind power. China has become the world leader in wind turbine and solar panel manufacturing. And Germany added more new grid-connected solar PV and produced more biodiesel in 2010 than any other country in the world.
Obviously, Pernick and Wilder weren’t interested in strapping on a pair of rose-colored glasses before examining the global cleantech landscape to see who’s taking a leadership role. But that’s part of the appeal of the book: it doesn’t pat the U.S. on the back for what it has accomplished; it explores how much further the country can—should, and needs—to go.
The book outlines a seven-point action plan, a mixture of policy prescriptions, investment strategies, and government recommendations, to help the U.S. regain its leadership position and truly become a “Clean Tech Nation.”
I concur with the authors’ position that a sustainable future depends on the transition to a clean global economy, and that the U.S. needs more committed leadership and action in this direction.
But in becoming a cleantech nation, the United States—and China, and Germany, and all other countries—must also aim to be a sustainable clean tech nation. We’ve seen what can happen when cleaner technologies aren’t designed with full consideration of sustainability throughout the product lifecycle: toxic and difficult-to-recycle mercury in compact florescent light bulbs is just one example. Renewable energy, electric vehicles, advanced materials: any advancements in clean tech need to be part of a whole systems approach. Otherwise, we end up substituting one set of problems for another.
Since as much as 80 percent of a product’s environmental footprint is determined during the design phase, design has a crucial role to play here, and the right software—such as the tools provided through the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program—can help ensure that the environmental footprint of a clean technology is actually sustainable.
Getting clean tech “right” is of vital importance because of the urgent nature of environmental challenges that the globe is facing. Witness the recent attempts by Peruvian citizens to save their critically important glacier water-supply by covering the glaciers in sawdust. While environmental challenges might not affect other countries as visibly or obviously, they are just as crucial, ultimately, to security and safety.
Pernick & Wilder’s book went to press in January 2012, so understandably they weren’t able to fully capture and comment upon the latest ups and downs of the clean tech industry, of which there have been plenty. But the silver lining is that amongst the volatility, costs are increasingly being driven down for clean tech, making it easier for countries to adopt new technologies as they become available.
Now more than ever, the world can benefit if the U.S. moves quickly and regains a leadership position when it comes to development and deployment of clean technology. But let’s all be sure that its quest to reclaim the crown is done in the most intelligent—and sustainable—way possible.
A generation of businesspeople is emerging that is primed to change the way consumers consume. These businesspeople are both technologically literate and have a conscience to act sustainably beside their business ambitions.
The previous generation of consumers were sold to