Cleantech Blog

TVA Privatization: An Idea Whose Time Has Not Come, And Is Not Approaching

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:30:06 +0000

For those who are irate about the U.S. government intervening in the energy markets, you’ll have to go back a long time to find when that was not the case. To illustrate, rewind 80 years: in the 1930′s, the Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt looked at the physical and economic backwaters of southern Appalachia and [...]

Survey of Advanced Energy Business Executives

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:40:31 +0000

In April, the Advanced Energy Economy Institute (AEEI) released the synthesis of a survey of executives in the advanced energy sector conducted by PA Consulting to suggest priorities for U.S. energy policy. The report, Accelerating Advanced Energy in America, outlined business challenges and policy challenges thwarting the growth of the advanced energy sector, in order [...]

Speed in the Oil Patch – Automation at the Wellhead looks like Cleantech

Neal Dikeman — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:59:24 +0000

I had a chance to wander around the Offshore Technology Conference this week and chat about some of the technologies on display. OTC is still heavily a mechanical engineer’s conference. Despite the high tech nature of the industry, in large part vendors are not yet leading customers, and steel still rules the day in technology. [...]

Reporting from Omaha

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:41:57 +0000

Over the weekend, I attended the annual shareholder’s meeting of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) in Omaha to hear the wit and wisdom of CEO Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. For five hours on Saturday, Buffett and Munger fielded questions from panelists and investors on a wide range of topics. A good synopsis [...]

ABB’s New Solar Star

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:59:35 +0000

Over the weekend, ABB (NYSE: ABB) announced the $1 billion acquisition of Power-One (NASDAQ: PWER), which makes a wide spectrum of power conversion electronics equipment. Notably, Power-One is a major player in the market for inverters, which convert DC power into AC power. In turn, inverters are important for synchronizing DC-based technologies such as batteries, [...]

Simple Thoughts on Aggie Muster

Neal Dikeman — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:53:14 +0000

Simple Thoughts on Aggie Muster Written on Muster’s Eve April 20th 2013 the year of the birth of my daughter Softly call the Muster, gently call the Roll. Another year is passing, time will take her toll. My family is remembered, as I’ll be remembered too. Remember me my brethren; I am remembering you. Softly [...]

A Tale of Two EVs

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:58:14 +0000

Albert Einstein once said: “Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Pundits always pursue the former, but often fail to uphold the latter. Such has been the case recently in regards to the prospects for electric vehicles. Will electric vehicles be commercially successful or won’t they? As often happens, there is superficial evidence [...]

Who’s Got Nest?

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:34:38 +0000

Like most other tech sectors, the cleantech world is subject to fads that are overhyped — meteoric rises, sometimes followed by spectacular flameouts. It seems like we humans like to create heroes and then tear them down. There’s a particular tendency to sing the praises of the latest “hot company”: the one that has the [...]

Failing The Course: Energy Economics and Subsidies

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:35:15 +0000

When I was a young lad in college, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the early 1980s, I took a course in energy economics taught by Prof. Morris Adelman. I was an anomaly: there were probably no more than a handful of courses then being taught in energy economics in the colleges and [...]

First Institutional Project Finance Capital Raised for Urban Agriculture

Jigah Shah — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 01:46:13 +0000

NEW YORK, NY, March 6, 2013 – It was announced today that prominent renewable energy investor Clean Feet Investors has provided BrightFarms with a $3M project equity facility; this investment is believed to be the first institutional project finance capital for a company focused on scalable, commercial urban agriculture. Clean Feet seeks to help socially [...]

Fracking: Where Do You Stand?

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:26:49 +0000

In the energy sector, there are few topics that generate more debate today than the relative merits/demerits of fracking. To see just how strongly-held yet evenly-divided opinion is, check out this online debate moderated by The Economist and sponsored by Statoil (NYSE: STO). The question is framed simply: “Do the benefits derived from shale gas [...]

Strategic Drivers for Acquisitions in the Water Sectors

Paul O`Callaghan — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:53:50 +0000

I recently read an article by Chris Gasson of Global Water Intelligence which was thought-provoking and insightful. The article addressed a number of issues surrounding water technology company acquisitions and raised a question regarding what problems companies are looking to solve through these acquisitions. In my experience advising large water companies’ strategic acquisitions activity, I have identified [...]

Chinese Food For Thought

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:11:43 +0000

As I posted a few years ago, so many of the best opportunities for cleantech to have immediate benefit can be found in China. Every day, evidence accumulates supporting this thesis. Of course, this winter’s air pollution crises in Beijing and other cities made global news. More gruesome was last week’s discovery of nearly 7,000 [...]

Cleantech Venture Fertility

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:20:53 +0000

I try hard to stay on top of a wide range of developments in the cleantech world. Maybe I spread myself too thin, sacrificing depth for breadth, as I scan through a lot of journals and attend a lot of events to see what’s new and interesting. Even so, I’m continually surprised by the number [...]

Crowdfunding Coming Of Age In Cleantech

Dallas Kachan — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:43:02 +0000

With early stage capital for cleantech innovation becoming increasingly scarce, crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and a new crop of clean/green ones are beginning to emerge as significant sources of funding for selected next-gen clean technologies. Hurdles remain, particularly for investors seeking returns, but I’m more optimistic about these sites’ usefulness to cleantech entrepreneurs than I used to [...]

Pollution Solutions

Richard T. Stuebi — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 02:59:04 +0000

In the January issue of Pollution Engineering, Roy Bigham and Josh Foster have compiled their list of “10 Top Technologies for 2013″. Summarizing their summary of the new-and-nifty that the environmental industry should monitor: Self-healing plastics that rush in to repair cracks and voids. Obviously, this would have significant implications in a wide variety of [...]

Japan Sets its Sight on Water

Paul O`Callaghan — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:53:15 +0000

Japan has the 3rd largest economy in the world and is the 4th largest exporter. They produced prominent technological advancements, from reliable and fuel efficient cars to flat screen televisions. Now, Japan is taking interest in water technology markets and innovative water companies. Napoleon said, “Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake [...]

Water: The Big Issue for Fracking

Richard T. Stuebi — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:06:18 +0000

On February 13, the Cleveland office of the law firm McDonald Hopkins hosted a panel to discuss the pivotal water issues facing producers of oil/gas from shale via fracking. In addition to three MH attorneys, the panel also included Jeff Dick (Director of the Natural Gas and Water Resource Institute at Youngstown State University), Samuel [...]

The Powerful Capabilities of AEP’s Dolan Labs

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:55:52 +0000

Thanks to the efforts of Chris Mather, co-head of the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center, I was able to gain a tour of the Dolan Laboratories, located just outside Columbus, owned and operated by American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP). This facility is now highly unusual for the electric utility industry. Back in the day, a [...]

Student Cleantech Entrepreneurship in the Buckeye State

Richard T. Stuebi — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:54:40 +0000

On January 29, I spent a day inside a ballroom on The Ohio State University campus in Columbus serving as a judge for the Ohio Clean Energy Challenge, presented by the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio and NorTech. This contest pitted student teams from universities and colleges across Ohio pitching their clean energy business [...]