Green Notes

Notes will be updated from time to time, information listed is not meant to be an exhaustive source of data.

Rule of Thumb: Criteria for Consideration
- The Market Need
- The Mission
- Knowledge to Start
- Capital Required
- Timing to Start
- Special Challenges

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Fueling Green Energy

(1) Fuel Cell Backup Power
-   Provide fuel cells for backup power, emergency power, and mobile power
-   Business to sell and/or distribute
-   Capital - $$
-   Timing to start - months to years
-   Find a product to sell and/or distribute, and target the right market

Additional notes:
ABI Research, Power Air Corp (Zinc Oxide) - zero/low emissions, US Fuel Cell Council, ufcc.com, Wintergreen Research - Stationary Fuel Cell Market Opportunities, Strategies, and Forecasts, 2006 - 2012, wintergreenresearch.com

• Developing new technologies
• Distributing new fuel cells being produced
• Licensing technology to sell and adjust to new uses, targeting a specific market niche, such as fuel cells for office use, cabins, etc.
• Leasing of fuel cells and renting them on short-term basis as mobile power for special events.
• Marketing in urban areas worldwide where electrical power is uncertain.
• Suppling backup power to crucial computing and communication systems.
• Providing power for emergency response.
• Setting up cogeneration for fuel cells that produce significant heat, capturing both heat and power to increase efficiency.

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(2) Solar
-  Mobile power, freeing people from power grid
-  Build solar into ubiquitous mobile power source
-  Knowledge to Start: Solar, electrical, design, engineering
-  Capital - $$
- Months to years
- Finding a specific need and designing the right product for the market

Additional notes:
Sierra Solar Systems (solar charger), iSun (iPod charger), Solio (Berkeley CA), Powerfilm (Ames, Iowa)

• Developing solar bags, briefcases, etc.
• Integrating laptop solar chargers with high-efficiency laptops
• Using small solar panels in electronics and small appliances
• Retailing solar gadgets

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(3) Seeding Entrepreneurial Green Careers

- Reduction of a company's carbon footprint
- Businesses to outline their business risks related to environmental impacts and climate change (Ref: Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002): how do these business risks affect the rules of financial disclosure. Biz are required to describe their climate/carbon fooprint, what programs are in place to offset that footprint.

Additional Notes:
 Google's Bill Weihl, Climate Savers Computing Initiative, Jason Kovak

• Minimize Environmental Risks
• Compliance
• Green business opportunities

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(4) Green Philanthropy Management
- Greatest environmental impact per dollar invested
- Non-traditional accounting system to measure value to society

Additional Notes:
New Philanthropy Capital (London), The Centre for Effective Philanthropy in Massachusetts, effectivephilanthropy.org , GiveWell, givewell.net,  Holden Karnofsky, Elie Hassenfeld

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Karen Wayland, Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), Roger Ballantine

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(5) *Green Technology Transfer

Additional Notes:
Aurora Biofuels, Matt Caspari, algae-derived biofuels, UC Tech Transfer, ucop.edu/ott,

The FLC Technology Transfer Desk Reference from the Federal Labouratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, May 2006, [ federallabs.org/pdf/T2_Desk_Reference.pdf ]

* Impt to form a consolidated database of green patents

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(6) Green Lawyers
Additional Notes: Bill Sloan, Morrison & Foerster (Cleantech Legal Practice), mofo.com, Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean, wendel.com

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(7) Building Green Buildings and Businesses

Additional Notes: architecture2030.org, cool roofs, Berkeley National Laboratory, reflective coatings (little or no VOCs), Endurance Building Systems (Houston, Texas), Carlisle Syntec, waterproofing & heatproofing membranes, Dinyari Inc., dinyari.com, Bill Shevlin, infrared pigments in green paints, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Bill Miller, Jan Kosny

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~ Work-in-progress ~

Cleantech VC investments hit record high in 2008

Via EE Times Europe
8 Jan 2009

Clean technology venture capital (VC) investments last year in North America, Europe, China and India totaled a record $8.4 billion, up 38 percent from $6.1 billion in 2007. Three of the top five funding rounds focused on thin-film solar ventures.

The 2008 total represents the seventh consecutive year of growth in clean technology venture investing, according to the Cleantech Group which tracks the sector.

"As expected, clean technology venture investing slowed in Q4 08, but it is important not to miss the forest for the trees," said Nicholas Parker, executive chairman, Cleantech Group. "In 2008, there was a quantum leap in talent, resources and institutional appetite for clean technologies. Now, more than ever, clean technologies represent the biggest opportunities for job and wealth creation."

Preliminary results for Q4 08 suggest venture investment commitments worldwide of $1.7 billion across 99 disclosed investments, the smallest quarterly total in six quarters. Q4 08 was down 35 percent from Q3 08, but only 4 percent off what was achieved in Q4 07, despite a much more difficult economy.

Solar accounted for almost 40 percent ($3.3 billion) of total clean technology investment dollars in 2008, followed by biofuels at 11 percent ($904 million) and 9.5 percent, or $795 million in ventures focusing on transportation, which includes electric vehicles, fuel cells and advanced batteries.

Regional share
The five largest VC rounds in 2008 included $300 million raised by NanoSolar, $219 million by Solyndra and $200 million by SoloPower, all U.S. companies and all for thin-film solar ventures, followed by $177 million raised by Finnish group WinWinD Oy for wind turbines and $140 million by U.S. group Solar Reserve for concentrated solar thermal.

European and Israeli companies raised $1.8 billion in 146 disclosed rounds, up 43 percent from 2007. Europe and Israel accounted for 21 percent of the global total.

The most significant country growth was seen in Germany ($383 million invested, an increase of 217 percent from 2007) and Israel ($247 million invested, an increase of 224 percent from 2007), both led by very large solar deals.

Germany overtook the United Kingdom as the country receiving the most venture capital in 2008, helped significantly by the region's largest deal of 2008, the $133.7 million investment in Berlin-based solar thin-film manufacturer Sulfurcell Solartechnik.

The United Kingdom's decline in total investment ($337.8 million, down 11 percent from 2007) left it second in the country league table, with Israel moving into third place from sixth in 2007.

In 2008, U.S. companies raised $5.8 billion in 241 disclosed rounds, up 56 percent from 2007. U.S. companies accounted for 68 percent of the global total. Canadian companies raised $159 million in 14 disclosed rounds, down 58 percent from 2007.

Chinese cleantech companies raised $430 million in 18 disclosed rounds last year, up 22 percent from 2007.

China accounted for 5 percent of the global total, and the country saw steady gains in clean technology investment, with solar accounting for 60 percent of the total, reflecting the continuing migration of solar module manufacturing from Europe and the United States to China.

- John Walko

Hemlock Semiconductor raises US$3 billion to build chip and solar cell materials

Via Venture Beat, CleanTech:

Dean Takahashi | 15 December 2008


Ever since solar cells took off a few years ago, there has been a shortage of silicon in its purest form. That’s because polycrystalline silicon is used to make both semiconductor chips and most solar cells.

Because of that, the Hemlock Semiconductor Group has been able to raise $3 billion to expand the production of polysilicon at two major manufacturing sites. The group will invest that money to build a new factory in Clarksville, Tenn., and to add to another one in Hemlock, Mich.

About $1.2 billion will go toward the new site in Clarksville, and another $1 billion to the Hemlock plant. The rest of the money will fund further expansions. Together, those factories will be able to produce 34,000 metric tons of polysilicon per year. Construction will begin immediately.

The numbers involved give you a sense of the scale of the business and a sense for how much polysilicon is needed to fuel the world’s growing appetite for solar power. Altogether, the Hemlock Semiconductor Group has announced investments of $4.5 billion in the past five years. From 2005 to 2015, the company will have increased its production capacity ten-fold.

The shortage of polysilicon has driven up prices for various kinds of chips and driven a lot of solar start-ups to focus on thin-film technology that doesn’t use polysilicon. The Michigan expansion will add 13,000 tons of capacity to the site, creating 300 permanent jobs and 8u0 construction jobs. The expanded plant is expected to begin production in 2011. In Clarksville, the factory will initially produce 10,000 tons of polysilicon. The site is expected to employ 500 people at first and then 800 at full production of 21,000 tons a year. The construction will create 1,000 jobs.

Most of the production will go toward solar cell production, but both factories will be able to make polysilicon for electronics as well.

Hemlock Semiconductor and Hemlock Semiconductor LLC are joint ventures of Dow Corning and two Japanese firms, Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp.

Green-tech Startups

Via EE Times Asia:

11 December 2008
Small is beautiful for green-tech newbies

Green Tech

Les Fritzemeier heads up a tiny solar-energy start-up that most people have never heard of, Wakonda Technologies. But rather than worry about being steamrolled by the sliding economy, he feels like he's in a great spot.

"In a lot of respects, the best time to start a company is in the middle of a recession, assuming you've got money," he said. "Our target is to go to market when most people expect the economy to turn around."

Without a doubt, the recession and lower oil prices are hurting many companies in clean tech, a situation likely to slow what has been a frenzied pace of innovation.

But investors and entrepreneurs say that so far, smaller green-tech firms appear to weathering the storm the best, allowing them to continue developing new energy technologies.

To a large degree, that's simply because younger firms, in general, demand less capital to operate. Those green ventures most vulnerable are the ones that need late-stage funding--the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to build a biofuel plant or solar-manufacturing line, they said.

Across the board, though, investors and entrepreneurs report that the valuations of green-tech start-ups—once considered in bubble territory—are going down, and there is a growing emphasis on having cash.

"What's out there is a level of nervousness in every business," said Mitch Tyson, CEO of Advanced Electron Beams, which makes equipment to make industrial processes more energy- and water-efficient. "People still don't have a good sense of where the bottom is."

Seeking new sources

As a result, green-tech entrepreneurs—after being lavished with money and attention for the last three years--need to get creative with how they fund their ideas.

Consider Qteros, a young firm with a potential breakthrough process for making ethanol from agricultural waste, such as corn stover. One of its initial investors, ethanol maker VeraSun Energy, declared bankruptcy, shutting it out of any follow-on round.

Other sources of money, including BP and George Soros' fund, filled the void. But the added work—compounded by cautious lenders—strung the process out from six months to nine.

"This Wall Street meltdown is having effects on early-stage green-tech companies getting the money they need to grow," said Jonathan Gorman, the manager of business development at Qteros. "There was a huge due diligence process, with outside scientists, as we looked for money, which they probably wouldn't have done before."

In another case of Wall Street colliding with green-tech garage start-ups, one newly formed firm nearly lost an investor when he lost half a million dollars on the stock market.

Late last month, SunRun, which installs and finances consumer solar-panel purchases, secured a $105 million commitment from U.S. Bank, but it wasn't as easy as it would have been a few months ago: one investor said getting a bank to sign on to a tax equity fund was like getting on "the last helicopter leaving Saigon."

Fritzemeier of Wakonda Technologies seems have gotten the timing right too: he was fortunate enough to raise money in July, before the financial markets' meltdown.

He's optimistic about the future because demand for technology that reduces the cost of solar electricity will remain strong, even in a down economy. The company is trying to develop disruptive solar-cell technology by combining low-cost, thin-film manufacturing techniques with very efficient cells.

Like most people in clean tech, he's eager to see the shape of the Obama administration's energy and green-job initiatives.

"The continued emphasis on renewable energy and economic development from the incoming (Bush) administration may put additional support in place to accelerate our efforts," Fritzemeier said.

Flight to quality
Certainly, being in the right industry helps a small company's chances. While biofuels are closely tied to falling commodity and gasoline prices, products that save energy can appeal to cost-cutting businesses or utilities looking to make the electricity grid more efficient.

"We feel better that we're in the efficiency business selling to businesses," said Robert LeFort, the CEO of Ember, a wireless-networking firm that has shifted its focus to smart-grid products. "That's better than putting something on the shelf at Wal-Mart, and hoping the consumer picks it up. It's the lesser of two evils."

As more bad economic news comes out seemingly every day, many predict that the best companies—with paying customers —are the ones that have the best chance of thriving. A number of successful companies, including Google and Cisco Systems, were founded during an economic downturn.

Nicholas Parker, executive chairman of the Cleantech Group research firm, said the difficulty in getting financing in the coming year will thin the ranks of clean-tech start-ups and, from an investment point of view, result in a "flight to quality."

Advanced Electron Beams' Tyson is out, trying to raise another $20 million to $25 million Series C round, and he's gotten a commitment from existing investors and a good reception from others. The interest could well stem from the fact that the company already has customers using its product.

"I say to potential investors, 'We have a product in the field now and look at the customer base—the market risk is low,'" he said. "Knock on wood. So far, my experience, has been typical of normal times."

- Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog.

Book: The Art of Sustainable Investing

Via Renewable Energy World:

8 December 2008
Cary Krosinsky & Nick Robins, Authors

Our new book, Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance, published by Earthscan in the UK on November 10, and Stylus Publishing in the U.S. on December 8, was conceived in the early summer of 2007 before credit markets crunched and the world economy experienced perhaps the worst financial shock since the Great Depression.

Its scope and purpose were also designed in advance of the UN Bali conference, which after years of inertia, laid the groundwork for a global deal to confront climate change. These two apparently unconnected developments symbolize the need for patterns of finance and investment that are truly focused on long-term value creation, and away from the short-term focused vision that has arguably led us to the immediate financial crisis we face.

Fortunately, a shift in this direction is already underway with the rapid growth in sustainable investing practice over the past two decades. Today's rendition of sustainable investing covers all asset classes and all regions of the world. It has strong links to the pioneering ethical and socially responsible investment communities, but goes a number of steps further by placing the pursuit of financial returns in the context of the world's economic, environmental and social challenges.

Over the past 30 years, a range of terms, notably social, ethical, green, responsible, socially responsible and sustainable — have been used to describe the emerging practice of incorporating extra-financial factors into investment decision-making. One woman's "ethical investing" is another man's "socially responsible investing," and one firm's "responsible investing" is another manager's "sustainable investing."

On reflection, this embarrassment of semantic richness is perhaps understandable for a rapidly evolving approach, where the final form has yet to be settled. In such a fluid field, we are well aware of the dangers of false precision.

Indeed, one of our contributors, Rod Schwartz, when trying to pin down socially responsible investment, revived John Morley's dictum that "if you want a platitude, there is nothing like a definition."

Yet it is also our strongly held view that not resolving these terminology disputes has led to a misperception that investing with one's values inevitably leads to underperformance by definition, which could not be further from the truth, as our book details in greater depth.

Sustainable investing in our experience combines two profound appreciations. The first is that the best way of generating risk-adjusted returns in the 21^st century is to fully incorporate long-term environmental, social and economic trends into investment and ownership decision-making. The second is that achieving global sustainability requires the full recasting of the world's capital markets.

If the first speaks the language of financial value at the micro-level, the second refers to the imperative of structural reform at the macro-dimension. Sustainable investing thus provides an agenda for action for purely financially motivated investors eager to mitigate risk and benefit from upside opportunities, as well as for civil society organizations aiming to achieve social and environmental progress.

It encompasses the growing numbers of individual investors who wish to ensure that social and environmental factors are included in the ways they allocate their savings. It also draws on the rising tide of institutional investors who appreciate the growing financial materiality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

Added to this are cleantech investors who identify major potential for capital growth in companies providing solutions to mounting environmental constraints. And alongside these are investors explicitly seeking social as well as financial returns from new avenues such as microfinance. What unites these apparently disparate groups is an acknowledgment that value can now only be created on a long-term basis through fresh approaches to financial analysis, fiduciary duty and capital market regulation.

Currently, we observe five distinctive investment styles:

• Ethical Investing: described as "an approach to investing driven by the value system of the key investment decision-maker." and drawn from The Social Responsibility of the Investment Profession by Julie Hudson. In many cases, this equates to traditional social investing in the U.S. as well as to much of current socially responsible investing, and applies mostly to individual investors as well as to charities and foundations that have values as part of their mission.

• Responsible Investing: described as "an approach adopted by institutional investors to start taking ESG factors into account in pursuit of their fiduciary duties to clients and beneficiaries."

• Cleantech investing: defined as the surge in investment into environmental sectors such as energy efficiency, pollution control, renewable energy sustainable transport, as well as waste and water management. Linked to this is the fast-growing practice of "climate change investing," which may supplement clean tech with allocations to sustainable forestry, as well as in some cases to nuclear power.

• Social investing: described as "an approach to investing that seeks to generate social as well as financial returns." While ethical investing tends to focus on the consistency of investments with the investor's value system, social investing examines outcomes in light of the impact on others, often those most disadvantaged in society.

• Sustainable investing: described as "an approach to investing driven by the long-term economic, environmental and social risks and opportunities facing the global economy." What distinguishes current practitioners of sustainable investing from the other approaches is the conviction of their commitment to systematically integrate environmental, social and economic factors into the valuation and choice of assets and the exercise of ownership rights and duties. [For example, Joe Keefe of Pax World defines sustainable investing as the "full integration of environmental, social and governance factors into financial analysis and decision-making." See Keefe, J. (2007) ‘From SRI to Sustainable Investing', Green Money Journal, Summer 2007]

In the book, we use these distinctions to compare the financial performance of different types of funds.

Sustainable investing is also distinct from the investment mainstream, not least in its approach to time horizons. We would describe the mainstream as "an approach to investing that applies conventional financial theories to the valuation and selection of assets and the exercise of ownership rights."

Clearly, as the importance of environmental and social factors becomes part of the conventional wisdom, so the investment mainstream will adopt aspects of the sustainable investing agenda. Indeed, a growing share of the world's capital assets is already incorporating at least parts of the sustainability agenda.

The McKinsey Global Institute has calculated that the value of public equities, as well as corporate and government bonds, amounted to some US $120 trillion in 2006.

Our "rule of thumb" estimate is that at most between one-tenth and one-quarter of this figure is now on a sustainable investing trajectory, but with the bulk of this limited to early stage shareholder engagement rather than active deployment of capital.

[The upper band of this estimate is drawn from the 2008 assets under management supporting the Carbon Disclosure Project of US$67 trillion. To deal with the issue of double counting, we have simply halved this figure and then compared it with the overall total given by McKinsey. The lower band is derived from the assets under management supporting the UN Principles of Responsible Investment, which in May 2008, amounted to some US$13 trillion.]

One final clarification. SRI started out standing for "socially responsible investment." More recently, it has begun to spell out "sustainable and responsible investment." For us, the evolution of this acronym describes the generational shift that is now underway, and when we use SRI as a catch-all, we mean it to cover the five investment styles we have identified.

To date, sustainable investing has proved itself as a powerful addition to the investment landscape. The years ahead, however, are set to be increasingly dynamic as sustainability emerges from a niche to transforming the rest of investment management, in the process becoming the new mainstream.

Cary Krosinsky is Vice President for Trucost Plc as of June 2008. Trucost has built the world's most extensive database of more than 700 emissions and pollutants of more than 4200 public companies around the world and uses this data to help portfolio managers understand their carbon footprints, helping lower them while maintaining and enhancing performance.

Nick Robins (left) is Head of the HSBC Climate Change Centre. Nick has 20 years experience in promoting sustainable development and corporate responsibility in financial markets, business and public policy research.

Nick Robins and Cary Krosinsky are authors of Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance.

REC Solar Helps Wine Country Pack & Ship and J&L Wines Chill Wine with Power from the Sun

Via Renewable Energy World:

7 December 2008

REC Solar installs a 46.4 kW solar electric system on state-of-the-art wine distribution center

Paso Robles, CA

J&L Wines' warehouse announced this week the completion of a 46.4 kilowatt solar electric system, installed by industry leader REC Solar, Inc. The temperature controlled wine storage and distribution facility is the first of its kind to utilize clean, renewable energy from the sun. The REC Solar electric system will dramatically lower energy costs for the 28,000 sq. ft. warehouse, which uses extensive electricity for temperature control, electronic surveillance, and its computerized inventory management system

“J&L Wines’ decision to go solar is a natural extension of the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability,” said Angiolo Laviziano, REC Solar’s President and CEO. “J&L Wines will generate about 70% of their facility’s energy needs with clean, renewable energy from the sun and will reduce their electricity bills by almost 75%.”

Previously, business owners Lorraine and John Alban worked with REC Solar to install three solar electric systems at one of their other businesses, Alban Vineyards. Alban Vineyards installed a 36 kW system for the winery production facility, an 11.6 kW system for the agricultural water pump, and one for the Alban’s home.

According to Lorraine Alban, President of J&L Wines, “My husband, John Alban, and I believe solar is a wonderful energy source for countless reasons. Our experience using REC for the installations on our home, winery, and water well have all been very positive. When you factor in that we really like working with local businesses, REC is just about perfect for us.”

J&L Wines is quite unique as a wine distributor. They independently operate their own warehouse and all deliveries are made from their fleet of refrigerated trucks. Thus they are able to ensure the wines they sell are in their hands from when they leave the winery to when they reach the restaurant or retailer. The warehouse that is home to both J&L Wines and Wine Country Pack & Ship is conveniently located on Ramada Drive, at the Highway 101 and Highway 46 West intersection in Paso Robles. For more information please visit www.recsolar.com www.jandlwines.com or www.winecountrypackandship.com

About REC Solar, Inc.

REC Solar is an industry-leading solar power provider specializing in grid-tied residential and commercial installations. With a local presence in all major solar markets in the USA and millions of watts installed, REC Solar is committed to lowering the cost of solar power through efficient processes, innovative products, and outstanding customer service. REC Solar is among the nation’s largest solar integrators and currently has over a dozen offices throughout 6 states (AZ, CA, CO, HI, OR and NJ). For additional information on REC Solar visit www.recsolar.com or call 1-888-OK-SOLAR (888-657-6527).

About J&L Wines, Inc.

J&L Wines Inc. of Paso Robles started in 1981 as J. Eberle Wines. The company’s name and mission evolved with the emergence of the wines from the central coast. Under the ownership and guidance of Lorraine Alban, its mission has been to select wineries representing the best of their region. Employing eight regional sales people, J & L Wines is proud of its excellent reputation for professionalism and prompt, dependable, personal service. The company endeavors to work closely with suppliers to develop sales programs that produce results. This has helped many of the J&L Wines’ brands become very well established in the region. The sales personnel focus on making appropriate placements which serve to enhance and build the wineries they represent. For more information please visit www.jandlwines.com or call 805 239-1377.

About Wine Country Pack & Ship

Wine Country Pack & Ship (WCP&S) excels in delivering premium fulfillment services to wineries with consumer-direct shipping needs. The company is a joint venture between Lorraine Alban and Maureen Herrera. Services encompass wine clubs, release shipments, tasting room orders, e-commerce orders and more. WCP&S simplifies the fulfillment process for our customers and helps build their brand in the consumer-direct market. For more information please visit www.winecountrypackandship.com or call (805) 227-7117.

Contact:

Isabelle Christensen

REC Solar, Inc.

(650) 815-6778

ichristensen@recsolar.com

Lorraine Alban

J&L Wines, Inc.

(805) 239-1377

Lorraine@jandlwines.com

Maureen Herrera

Wine Country Pack & Ship

(805) 227-7117

Maureen@winecountrypackandship.com

For Further Information

• REC Solar
• J&L Wines
• Wine Country Pack & Ship

World's Largest CIGS Thin-film Array Goes Live

Via Renewable Energy World:

Arizona, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com
5 December 2008

Global Solar Energy, a manufacturer of Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells, announced the full operation of a solar electric array using CIGS photovoltaic (PV) technology. The 750-kilowatt (kW) system, located at Global Solar's manufacturing facility in Tucson, Arizona will help power its manufacturing plant.

The system is financed, owned and operated by MMA Renewable Ventures LLC. Solon Corporation, a fully-owned subsidiary of Solon AG, produced and installed the PV modules and designed the array. Covering 310,000 square feet at Global Solar's manufacturing plant, the system features a ground-mounted solar array that uses 6,600 Solon solar modules incorporating CIGS thin-film solar cells.

Global Solar is purchasing the power generated from MMA Renewable Ventures under the terms of a long-term commercial financing agreement. The thin-film solar power system will generate more than 1.1 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable electricity annually.

"This operational solar array is a monumental step in America's energy revolution," said Olaf Koester, Solon Corporation's CEO. "CIGS technology will contribute to driving down solar energy prices, bringing renewable energy to the masses."

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) helped fund the project through its agreement to purchase the renewable energy credits generated by the array's clean energy. The credits will help TEP pursue goals established under Arizona's Renewable Energy Standard, which calls on electric utilities to work toward securing 15% of their power from renewable resources by 2015.

Yvo de Boer, UN climate chief calls for green technology 'revolution'

Daniel Nelson, 28 November 2008

Environmentally sound technologies need "a revolutionary push", says Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

On the eve of the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland, he said: "Incrementalism is the enemy of fundamental change. We are really going to need a major fundamental shift, and technology has to be at the heart of that.

The transfer of "green technology" from industrialised to developing countries is one of four building blocks of the climate negotiations, the latest round of which begin on Monday (1 December). The others are global warming mitigation, adaptation to change and finance.

The importance of technology transfer was reinforced at a meeting held in Beijing, China, earlier this month (November) in the run-up to the Poznan meeting. It was attended by de Boer and finished with a declaration specifically calling for developed countries to improve technology transfer.

Zhang Ping, director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, recently mooted the establishment of a new fund to support transfer of clean technology. Norway has suggested raising money for technology transfer through auctions of national emission rights.

On the mechanics of technology transfer, de Boer said, "There has been some discussion on a technology leveraging facility … to assist in supplementing private sector initiatives that involve clean technology with public funding to install technologies that are even more advanced."

In Beijing, he also spoke of the need to ensure that intellectual property rights (IPRs) were not a barrier to large-scale commercialisation and deployment.

But these and other proposals — including a detailed submission by the G77 (the bloc of developing countries in the negotiating process) and China — are either bargaining tools or undeveloped ideas.

"Expectations are very low," says Mattias Söderberg of humanitarian non-governmental organisation DanChurchAid, who will be lobbying in Poznan.

"Poland is just a part of the journey towards the climate change summit in Copenhagen next year. There will be negotiations, but I don't expect big conclusions or specific agreement."

And William Blyth, Associate Fellow with Chatham House's Energy, Environment and Development Programme, said the technology negotiations process was "symbolic and rather sterile", with little progress in a decade of talks.

"I don't think transfer takes place because of the existence of a fund," he noted. "Transfer occurs through licensing and investment. Even on intellectual property, seen as a thorny issue, my view is that in the real world IP doesn't stop deals being made."

= = =

Q&A: Clean technologies with Yvo de Boer

Daniel Nelson, 1 December 2008

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, has been involved in climate change policies since 1994, for the Dutch government, the European Union and the UN. At the last climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, in 2007, he warned delegates that failure to reach an agreement on tackling global warming could "plunge the world into conflict".

Now de Boer says that getting technology transfer policies right must be one of four central planks of climate policy (See 'UN climate chief calls for green technology revolution'). He tells SciDev.Net what he hopes to achieve over the next 12 days at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.

You have called for a 'revolutionary push' for environmentally sound technologies. What do you mean by this?

Incrementalism is the enemy of fundamental change. We really need a major and fundamental shift, and technology has to be at the heart of that shift.

The economic reality is that the shift is not going to happen unless we succeed in incorporating the cost of pollution into prices — otherwise many of these technologies will simply not be affordable.

You have suggested a 'technology leveraging facility'. What is this?

Before the financial crisis, the Economic Energy Agency calculated that over the next 25 years we will be investing US$20 trillion in order to provide the energy that the world needs to grow its economy — about half in industrialised countries and half in developing countries.

Our estimates are that 85 per cent of that investment capital will come from the private sector, so the challenge is to use limited public sector resources to ensure that private sector investments go in the right direction.

For example we have some experience of the Clean Development Mechanism, which allows rich countries to undertake emission reduction projects in developing countries, and we see a very large percentage of the investment — 90–95 per cent — is commercially sound private sector investment. But a small public sector component pays for the technology that can't make it into the market on its own. So there, you are in a way using public money to catalyse private money in the right direction.

On top of that, we are not going to solve everything through markets. We will need intelligent tax policies and standards in a number of countries as well.

What do you mean by 'green technology'? Does it include nuclear?

I have never seen a credible scenario that gets us to the types of emission reductions that the scientific community is calling for without nuclear energy being a significant part of the energy mix. Having said that, nuclear energy is a clean technology in the eyes of some and very dangerous in the eyes of others.

Another key aspect is carbon capture and storage. I don't see how countries like China and India, with an abundance of coal, are going to power their economies without using that coal. The question is, how can you capture the CO₂ that results and store it either in aquifers or empty gas fields? Many people feel that it is a highly controversial technology, but I don't see how we are going to get to the desired results without using that as well.

We will need a full mix of investments in different technologies. I don't think we have the luxury to pick and choose.

What is the most we can hope for in terms of negotiations on technology transfer in Poznan?

Poznan is not going to be spectacular. It is a halfway point between Bali and Copenhagen (the December 2009 UNFCC conference, which is supposed to conclude negotiations). But it is important in at least three ways.

The first is that, during 2008, countries have been coming with ideas of what should be part of a Copenhagen agreement and all those ideas are being pulled together for the first time in a single document for Poznan. So I expect a significant step change in the process, with governments much more focused on identifying the options that need to go into an ultimate agreement.

Secondly, Poznan is the first time that ministers are meeting since they launched negotiations in Bali. So it is an important moment for them to take stock of where things stand and provide guidance for the future. My hope is that they will focus that guidance on how to design mechanisms and the institutions that will make it possible for developing countries to engage further on this issue.

Thirdly, I hope Poznan will mark the launch of the Adaptation Fund, which is important to developing countries and will provide real money for them to adapt to the inevitable impact of climate change.

Are you worried by the economic climate? U.S. Senator John Kerry recently said, "We are not going to be in the position we were two years ago", in terms of undertaking technology transfer or economic assistance.

I think that's correct. The financial crisis will have an impact in the area of climate change, as in every other area. The challenge we face is to design a climate regime that over time becomes self-financing.

If you begin to auction emission rights in industrialised countries — and that's the intention both in Europe and the United States — and if you introduce a 'polluter pays' approach, and if you then use some of that revenue for cooperation with developing countries, the money for international cooperation on climate change will be generated from within the regime itself, rather than having to go to finance ministers in these difficult times.

How big a barrier to technology transfer are intellectual property rights?

Many developing countries mention it as a major barrier. If we can think about creating mechanisms in Copenhagen that make it possible to buy down the intellectual property rights of some new technologies — for example, wind and solar technology — it would be an important step forward.

Perhaps even more critically, we need to design mechanisms that make joint research and development between rich and poor countries possible. Both China and India have become major producers of renewable sources of energy, so it's not a matter of all the technology being in the North and none of it being in the South: it's more a matter of finding affordable ways for developing countries to get access to that technology.

The Clean Development Mechanism has already demonstrated that it can be effective.

Are you disappointed with the rate of progress of the technology transfer negotiations?

The mood has certainly changed. For many years, developing countries have been saying the North needs to transfer technology and the developed countries have been saying, "We don't own the technology, it's owned by the private sector". Now there's a broad realisation that without an advance on technology cooperation, we are just not going to get a result and that is making everybody take this issue much more seriously and look for real ways of advancing it.

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Israeli cleantech companies prove natural fit in California

Via Israel21c:

By Karin Kloosterman
November 19, 2008

The American economy has been flipped on its head, yet companies, authorities and investors in California know that the current financial woes can't stop the advancement of clean technology. The future of the world depends on it. And Israel, they realize, may be a part of the solution.

As a recognized leader in the industry, California's green business movers and shakers invited a dozen of Israel's most promising clean technology startups to the United States last week. The mission was to familiarize the Californians with the opportunities presented by a handpicked group of Israelis, and to help the Israelis position themselves and polish their business plans.

Organized by the California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) and the Cleantech Group, the participants in the "CICC Israel Cleantech Company Showcase" were selected by a steering committee that included some of the industry's most prominent organizations - including PG&E, the California Public Utilities Commission and Israel Cleantech Ventures - who chose from a range of Israeli companies that could help fulfill California's desire for energy independence, and an environmentally friendlier future.

The Israeli companies chosen from over 40 applicants included: 3G Solar, BotanoCap, Canarius, Cequesta Water, Coriolis Wind, CellEra, CES - Computerized Electricity Systems, Emefcy - Bio Energy Systems, HCL Clean Tech, Metrolight, SOVNA, and Tigo Energy.

The companies were chosen based on needs in California. "Ultimately, the top 12 were floating to the top in terms of the number of points they got during the steering company selection process," says Shuly Galili, the executive director of the CICC, a US-based NGO. "We made sure there was a good selection: solar, water or wind; energy efficiency or renewable energy, water technologies etc."

Positive feedback, continued dialogue

From November 11 through the 14th, the participants met prominent Californian bodies including the California Public Utilities Commission, General Electric, Google, Applied Materials and venture capital funds including VantagePoint Venture Partners, US Venture Partners, Virgin Green Fund, and Greylock Partners. Although it's too early to assess what partnerships, investments or joint ventures will come from the meet, Galili and the Israeli executives who participated are very optimistic about the future.

"I can tell you that there were a number of places where the companies received positive feedback from potential partners and interest in continued dialogue," Galili tells ISRAEL21c. "This is the first time that a lot of these companies [in America] were exposed to Israeli cleantech. I think that these [participants] will be back for additional meetings based on this trip, which allowed for a first encounter. I have no doubt that these companies will have a lot of follow-up.

"Despite the financial meltdown in the US we saw very positive interest from investors, who wanted to do follow up. There is a potential, and this particular space in California is not experiencing a meltdown. As a side note, some of these [Israeli] companies are very early stage companies. I think the point here was to allow them to have a very wide perspective to position their companies - to help them be smart business-wise."

Californians head to Israel in June

According to the CICC, California and Israel are a natural clean tech fit. And this recent showcase meeting allowed California-based investors and companies to have a first taste of what Israel does, adds Galili, noting that Californian reps will be expected to come to Israel next June.

One of Israel's "clean dozen" to visit California, included Cequesta Water, an Israeli company that has developed innovative new solutions for sludge dewatering and wastewater treatment for small production plants.

David Waimann, the president of Cequesta Water tells ISRAEL21c: "The trip was magnificently organized and the most impressively organized sales trip I have ever been on. California will always be the center for cleantech investment in the world, particularly northern California, Silicon Valley.

"We met all kinds of very interesting people from the financial and project world. Two particular funds want to receive more information," concludes Waimann.

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Technology Links:

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Israel Science and Technology

Globes - Israel's Business Arena

The Marker

Standard and Poor's Israel

Israel High Tech TV

American Technion Society

Israel High-Tech and Investment Report

Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD)

Israel-U.S. Binational Science Foundation (BSF)

Israeli Research Institute for R&D (MATIMOP)

The US Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF)

Israel Association of Electronic and Information Industries

Innovation Israel program: Creative summer for American high school students

American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science

Ben Gurion University

Britain, Abu Dhabi sign clean energy agreement

Via New Energy World Network:

Britain, Abu Dhabi Sign Clean Energy Agreement 6th November 2008

Britain has teamed with the Gulf state of Abu Dhabi to secure a mix of reliable and green energy supplies for the UK and which could see hundreds of millions of pounds pumped into the green energy revolution.

The announcements were made during a visit to the Gulf by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.

They include a memorandum of understanding between the UK and Masdar (the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) to develop renewable energy and low carbon technology such as wind, carbon capture and storage, as well as solar and marine energy.

The agreements form part of the UK’s efforts to diversify its energy supplies and tackle climate change by promoting a global move towards renewable and low carbon technology.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, ‘I applaud the vision and leadership which Masdar has shown in investing in the development and deployment of low carbon energy technologies. The UK looks forward to collaborating with Masdar through this agreement, bringing together the best of British and Abu Dhabi expertise for the benefit not only of our two peoples but for the world as a whole.’

Miliband added, ‘As every country tackles the twin challenges of energy security and climate change, both oil producing and oil consuming nations need to diversify our energy economies. Low carbon sources - from wind and solar through wave and tidal to carbon capture and storage - can provide a new engine of global economic growth. So this partnership represents a significant contribution to our sustainable prosperity.’

Dr Sultan Al Jaber, CEO, Masdar, said, ‘Securing a sustainable energy future is a challenge that requires the collaboration of governments, NGOs and corporations from around the world. This collaboration with the UK Government is very much in line with our leadership’s vision of cooperating with other governments and organizations from around the world.’

In January 2008, Abu Dhabi announced it would invest $15bn in Masdar, to work with a range renewable energy companies and utilities.

The deal included a £250m cleantech partnership between Qatar and the UK, to be run by the Carbon Trust.

6 November 2008
Copyright © 2008 newnet

An electrifying solution for wastewater treatment

Via: Israel 21c

By Karin Kloosterman
October 12, 2008

Industrial and municipal waste doesn't go away when we flush it down the drain. It takes an enormous amount of energy for treatment plants to process it, while massive environmental and financial costs go into disposing of the leftover sludge.

Now, two Israelis are about to change the way we look at wastewater, by turning its constituents into a valuable source of power.

Emefcy (M.F.C Microbial Fuel Cell) was founded in 2007 by Eytan Levy and his partner Ronen Shechter. It aims to harness a bacteria found in nature that produces electricity as it decomposes organic matter.

Electric bacteria known to science

"The idea was found about 100 years ago, that certain bacteria under certain conditions have the ability to generate electricity," Levy tells ISRAEL21c. "The reactor has to be structured in a certain way, and generate it while consuming organic matter."

Over the years teams of scientists tried to harness the power of the bacteria. "But it was never turned into a product, possibly due to the natural barrier between academia and industry," explains Levy, Emefcy's CEO.

Levy and his partner revived the idea, and are now working with a leader on microbial fuel cells, Bruce E. Logan from Pennsylvania State University. To optimize electricity production, the eight-man Caesarea-based company has created a network of tubes made from a special polymer - the cathodes - and a network of carbon brush anodes that together promote bioelectrochemical reactions.

The net result is that bacteria form an electrical conductive biofilm over the surface of the anodes and cathodes, decompose organic matter, and produce electricity at the same time.

This bioelectrochemical reaction is performed by three main bacteria, Geobacter sulfurreducens, Shewanella oneidensisand Rhodoferax ferrireducens, already present naturally in wastewater effluent. The company's main goal, however, is to give the "electrifying" bacteria optimal conditions to digest the human and organic industrial waste in sewage treatment plants.

While the charge from each bacterium is tiny, about half a volt, the company can step it up to 220V, while each kilogram of organic contamination can produce 1-kilowatt hour of electricity, says Levy. In large industrial wastewater plants, Emefcy's solution can produce megawatts of electricity. A real power plant, Levy says.

Tiny volts that add up

He believes the enormous cost savings of about 30-50 percent per year on various practices, can allow a power plant to achieve a return on investment (ROI) within two to three years. The solution has a number of financial benefits, he points out: the sale of generated electricity, treatment plants save money on aerating the sewage, the process reduces the amount of raw sludge for disposal by up to 90 percent; and working with this system can generate carbon credits.

The Emefcy solution can be an add-on to existing plants, and is expected to be on the market by 2010.

Levy and Shechter are specialists at inventing solutions for making the wastewater treatment market more efficient, and environmentally sound.

Before Emefcy, they founded AqWise, a company which specializes in creating tiny plastic beads to house and aerate bacteria, in order to increase the breakdown of biological waste in treatment plants. Today AqWise has 30 installations around the world.

With Emefcy, Levy and Shechter plan "to reinvent the wheel in the wastewater world," says Levy. "We realized we were incorrect," he explains. "Treatment plants are spending energy to purify wastewater and there is something wrong with that. Wastewater has energetic value."

Emefcy has received seed funding of $1 million from Israel Cleantech Ventures, additional undisclosed support, and a grant from the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel.

Trends For Mega Cities Like Seoul

Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (2008, September 1). Trends For Mega Cities Like Seoul. ScienceDaily.
Retrieved 2 September, 2008

ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2008) — Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is a typical mega city: vast, pulsating, noisy and full of exhaust fumes. This is the setting in which Fraunhofer researchers are developing new building concepts and IT solutions that will save energy, cut pollution and make living in the city a more pleasant experience.

A Fraunhofer Representative Office will shortly be opened in Seoul to coordinate these projects.

Housing as far as the eye can see – Seoul is one of the world’s mega cities. South Korea’s capital city has undergone exponential growth over the past few decades: Its population has quadrupled in fifty years. Ten million people live within the city boundaries today. If the count is extended to cover the metropolitan region surrounding the city, it comes to over 20 million. The population growth has had a dramatic impact on the environment, bringing about a huge increase in traffic noise and air pollution.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon is no longer willing to stand by and watch this happen. If things go as he would like them to, Seoul will soon be a green city with clean air – a role model for other mega cities that are contending with similar problems. The city is investing in innovative technologies and building projects, and it is supported in its ambition by Fraunhofer, one of Europe’s largest research and development institutions. On September 3, a Fraunhofer Representative Office will be opened in Seoul to coordinate projects between the Fraunhofer Institutes and their Korean partners. One of its core activities will be to develop technological concepts that make life in tomorrow’s mega cities easier, kinder and more pleasent to the environment.

Trend 1: Using renewable energy sources

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg are now developing an energy-efficient demonstration building on behalf of the city of Seoul. It will be designed to incorporate all the principles of modern energy-saving technology, and will be heated and cooled using sustainable energy sources.

“The building will show the population what kind of potential there is for using renewable energy. We are planning to build seminar rooms, research facilities and private dwellings that will demonstrate the technical possibilities for gaining energy from sustainable sources, but also for saving energy,” explains Professor Volker Wittwer, deputy director of the ISE. “We want to demonstrate that the zero-energy house is feasible, averaged out over the year, and that it is pleasant to live in: It will be equipped with the latest building technologies and integrated in the usual national power supply networks.” Construction work on the new building is to begin next year – in time for the annual convention of the mega city working group in Seoul. “Our goal is to produce an exemplary building that will provide an incentive for industry to invest in low-energy technology,” adds the researcher.

In the “zero-energy house” project, his team is contributing their know-how on the utilization of alternative energy sources such as sunlight, geothermal heat, or wind.

Trend 2: Energy efficiency and comfortableness

The quality of living can be improved even in existing buildings. In the spring of 2008, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP in Holzkirchen signed a cooperation agreement with Samsung Engineering & Construction, one of the largest construction companies in Korea. “We are aiming to increase the comfort and energy efficiency of residential buildings,” reports IBP-reseacher Dr. Andreas Holm.

Over half the population of Korea today live in high-rise apartment blocks that were built in the last few decades. By German standards, these buildings are poorly insulated. The residents require a great deal of energy to heat or cool the rooms. Overheating in summer and the growth of fungus are also a problem.

The causes are now being systematically examined. By the end of this year, the researchers from Holzkirchen will have equipped 24 apartments in Seoul with sensors that monitor temperature and humidity 24 hours a day. With the aid of these readings, the experts can simulate the indoor climate and make recommendations on how to increase energy efficiency and comfort. “Our goal is to cut the loss of energy even further by using better-insulated windows and facades, at the same time creating a pleasant indoor climate for the residents without unnecessarily pushing up the costs. We are keeping the mass market in mind,” sums up institute director Professor Klaus Sedlbauer.

Trend 3: Acoustics

One highly critical research topic in Seoul is soundproofing. The traffic in the streets of the capital city produces an incessant background of noise, and the high-rise blocks are not well soundproofed. New laws are now to give the citizens more peace and quiet. A new regulation on reducing impact noise – which is incidentally far more stringent than the regulations applicable in Germany – has been in force since 2006. The acoustics experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP in Stuttgart are now cooperating with Korean engineers to devise innovative, soundproof building materials. “We have developed a novel composite-based insulation system that meets the Korean requirements and opens up new prospects of high-quality soundproofing in Germany,” reports Dr. Philip Leistner, head of the acoustics department. “But when it comes to buildings, the interests of large Korean enterprises such as LG Chemicals and Samsung actually go a lot further than that. What they want to achieve are holistic, sustainable concepts for residential and working areas in buildings. This is one of the big issues for the future at Fraunhofer as well. And it applies not only to Korea and Germany, but all over the world.”

Trend 4: Citizen-friendly administration

Services for citizens is another area in which the city of Seoul plans to employ state-of-the-art technology in future. The objective is to make dealings with public authorities simpler, more convenient and less complex. “The National Information Agency NIA is developing special IT services for the government which will not only provide information and reproduce application procedures online, but will also directly involve the citizens themselves and accept their inquiries and reports,” explains Nils Barnickel of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems FOKUS. In collaboration with Korean IT experts he is currently planning a research project in the field of telephone-based e-government services.

The two sides have signed a memorandum of understanding in which they have agreed to develop a range of services for the mega city that will be similar to the planned service hotline in Europe. In future, all European citizens will be able to obtain comprehensive information and assistance in their dealings with public authorities, including the end-to-end handling of application procedures, simply by calling 115. Seoul would like to offer this attractive service to its own 20 million citizens.

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Adapted from materials provided by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, via AlphaGalileo.

Plextronics Signs MOU to Supply Its Solar Cell Technology to Korean Manufacturing Company

Plextronics, Inc. announced today that it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Parts & Fasteners (KPF) to create a research and development center for organic photovoltaic process development in Korea. The agreement specifies that Plextronics will focus on advancements in its active layer inks for solar cells and to provide certain baseline device and process technology to the new R&D facility, which will be built outside of Seoul.

Upon reaching a definitive agreement with Plextronics, KPF's role would be to develop advanced process technology using Plextronics' inks and device and process technology.

"Our strategy is to participate in R&D centers with manufacturing customers all over the world who we believe could be major manufacturers of OPV products," said Andy Hannah, CEO of Plextronics. "This venture with KPF is our first step in this strategy."

Jim Dietz, Vice President of Business Development at Plextronics, said, "We fully expect that the advancement of Plextronics' ink performance and design will help accelerate world-wide commercialization of OPV systems. That's very exciting for us and for our industry."

4th June 2008