—
If your company is looking for $1 million or $100 million in financing - consider attending, as the Forum provides an exceptional opp for growing companies to prepare, refine, and present their business to a wide range of investors. Presenting companies are selected by a committee that includes venture capitalists, investment banks, and energy experts from across the United States. The best presentations are awarded with cash prizes and commercialization services from NREL. Since 2003, Forum presenters have raised more than $2 billion in growth financing.
The Forum features three days of business presentations, networking, and educational sessions to promote the advancement of clean energy companies.
Attendees will obtain a preview of the world’s best entrepreneurial companies in sustainable energy technologies, and the opportunity to meet investors and NREL technologists; it’s an opp to potentially secure financing and understand leading investors’ strategies; receive one-on-one mentoring from investors and the nation’s premier business incubators; and refine your own strategies through detailed feedback and dialogue with the investor panel - not to mention to network.
Each applicant receives:
One complimentary professional registration to attend the Forum; exposure to over 80 venture investors during the Forum selection process; valuable and direct feedback from investors evaluating the business plan during the selection process; and the opp to see how similar companies present their own growth strategies to attract financing.
Applications DUE by July 31, 2009
To discover more about the Forum and to access the application process, please visit the website: http://cleanenergyforum.com
For additional information, please contact:
Robert Writz
303-275-4152
Robert.Writz@nrel.gov
Maura Lohrentz
303-275-4471
Maura.Lohrentz@nrel.gov
It’s great to see Tendril garner this funding - and another sign of real momentum in all things smart grid…
]]>Greener By Design is for anybody tasked with rethinking their industry, rethinking their company’s strategy, rethinking their product lines, rethinking what goes into their product lines, to the rethinking of product design - from the chemicals to the materials to the composition of the materials.
Part classroom, part thought leadership forum, Greener By Design is a fascinating place to plant yourself for a couple of days. You’ll get a chance to listen and you’ll also get a chance to role up your sleeves and interact.
Joel Makower, Pete May, and the rest of their team have assembled some of the best creative minds in design, and it shows. From Amnon Levav’s presentation (Amnon is MD of SIT International, btw), which was more like a class, as we were all put to work — to listening to Peter Arnell, chairman and chief creative officer, Arnell, walk us through the design process of the Peapod — one can’t help but come away feeling like you’ve had an opportunity to step outside of the box and see things through a new lens.
The Peapod, for example, was taken from concept to the street in 6 months. Just the idea of it - a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle - one that doesn’t go about 25 miles per hour, is fascinating. What city or neighborhood street allows you to go above 25 anyway? Peter told us yesterday that he has pictures of people with big smiles on their faces when they saw the car go by on the road. The car literally makes people smile — it’s got a smiley face of a grill, and it’s utterly charming. “Adorable” is the word Peter used. One things for certain: we definitely need more smiles in this world, so let’s hear it for the Peapod.
One thing came across loud and clear — across the board yesterday: green has won its place front and center in the design process. Concepts such as “dematerialization” (where you might introduce a service instead of a product); or “revalorization” (where you recover value from a product’s life cycle -think Patagonia, or Xerox’s asset recovery program), and “detoxification” (think Method Home) hit me as I sat down in my first session.
It also was very clear that companies continue to develop their relationships with their retailers, finding it incredibly advantageous in the product design process to work closely with their retailers, to get from one product innovation to the next.
Key conversations from the conference you’ll want to check out, as well as companies of note:
- -Joel Makower in conversation with William McDonough. Check out McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, if you haven’t already.
-David de Rothschild’s Plastiki, a boat made entirely out of Self reinforcing polyethylene terephthalate (SRPET).
-Check out Ohio State’s Center for Resilience. Very interesting.
-Go see what Sustainable Minds is doing. Fascinating company.
-Take HP’s Voodoo laptop. Now take just the box it comes in and consider that. Part of the design process the team went through was to unconstruct the “box” - so the team created a box that would purposefully be reused by consumers — no SKUs on the outside, no logos. The box has since been used for filing everything from office materials to kitchen utensils.
-Walmart continues to push the envelop in sustainability. It’s expected that the company will be coming out at some point soon with some semblence of a universal sustainability index for products. While Walmart’s Rand Waddoups, senior director of business strategy and sustainability at Wal-Mart, wasn’t at liberty to speak further about the subject when he got asked about it by Marc Gunther, what he did say is that the company will next be asking suppliers about the chemicals in the products being supplied to Walmart. “The vision is that every product has behind it information to allow us to be much more intelligent - bringing clarity to the question of ‘what is sustainability?’”
Full coverage of the conference can be found here. And if you weren’t able to make it this year- I’d highly suggest you add it to your to-do list for next. Greener World Media is soon to hit its 10 year anniversary mark, so stay tuned. The organization has more in store.
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This morning I was one of several bloggers briefed about a new report by the Military Advisory Board (MAB) of CNA, a non profit research organization which operates the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research.
The topic of discussion was a new report by issued by the MAB and CNA entitled “Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security”
On the call were Vice Admiral (ret.) Dennis McGinn, former Commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Warfare Requirements and Programs, Admiral (ret.) John Nathman, former Vice Chief of Naval Operations, and General (ret.) Gordan Sullivan, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff.
I’ve included the press release below from the briefing so as to get this out the door faster than I can otherwise think and type tonight.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW REPORT FROM TOP MILITARY LEADERS FINDS CURRENT US ENERGY POLICY POSES SERIOUS THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY
Study Finds Fossil Fuels & National Grid Threaten Military, Economic, Climate Security
Identifies Critical Opportunities for DoD Leadership & Innovation
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 18, 2009) – America’s energy posture constitutes a serious and urgent threat to national security — militarily, diplomatically and economically, according to a blue-ribbon panel of top-ranking retired admirals and generals. In a report released today entitled “Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security”
Moving beyond recent studies on the dangers of imported oil, this new report finds that fossil fuels, as well as the nation’s fragile electric grid, pose significant security threats to military mission and the country, and are “exploitable by those who wish to do us harm.” Issued by the Military Advisory Board (MAB) of CNA, a nonprofit research organization, the report identifies a series of “converging risks” associated with future energy choices, and concludes “diversifying our energy sources and moving away from fossil fuels where possible is critical to our future energy security.”
“It’s a sobering but honest, and necessary assessment,” said MAB chairman General Charles F. “Chuck” Wald, USAF (Ret.). “As military planners and as responsible public servants we cannot turn a blind eye to the dangerous realities of our energy situation. The current recession is no excuse for inaction. If we don’t address the fossil fuel issue now, we will see more price volatility, with steeper spikes and shorter cycles between spikes. We are already paying a penalty for not looking into the future.”
“There is a relationship between the major challenges we’re facing. Energy, security, economics, climate change – these things are connected,” former U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gordon R. Sullivan said in the report.
Due to the destabilizing nature of increasingly scarce resources, the impacts of energy demand and climate change are likely to increasingly drive military missions in this century, according to the report. The first priority for the new Administration, the MAB recommends, is to clearly and fully integrate energy security and climate change goals into national security and military planning.
“Increasing demand for, and dwindling supplies of, fossil fuels will lead to instability. In addition, the effects of global climate change will pose serious threats to water supplies and agricultural production, leading to intense competition for essentials,” said MAB member Vice Admiral (ret.) Dennis McGinn, former commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, and deputy chief of Naval Operations, Warfare Requirements and Programs. “The U.S. cannot assume that we will be untouched by these conflicts. We have to understand how these conflicts could play out, and prepare for them.”
The MAB, which produced the landmark 2007 report “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change”
The 2007 report found that climate change constitutes a “threat multiplier” because projected impacts will exacerbate existing security risks. Building on the 2007 report, the new report states, “Our approach to energy and our approach to climate change have profound impacts on each other – and both have impacts on our national security.”
National security risks resulting from the current U.S. energy posture identified in the report include:
U.S. dependence on oil – not just foreign oil – weakens international leverage, undermines foreign policy and leaves us vulnerable to unstable or hostile regimes.
Inefficient use of and over reliance on oil burdens the military, reduces combat effectiveness, and exacts a huge price tag – in dollars and lives.
U.S. dependency on fossil fuels undermines economic stability critical to national security.
A fragile domestic electric grid makes US military installations, and their critical infrastructure, unnecessarily vulnerable to incident, whether deliberate or accidental.
Looking forward, the report identifies the following converging risks associated with future energy choices:
The market for fossil fuels will be shaped by finite supplies and increasing demand. Continuing our heavy reliance on these fuels is a security risk.
Regulatory frameworks driven by climate change concerns will increase the costs – both economic and geopolitical – of using carbon-based fuels.
Insecurity driven by ongoing climate change has the potential to add significantly to the mission burden of the U.S. military in fragile regions of the world.
“In our view, confronting these converging risks is critical to ensuring America’s secure energy future,” the report states. “Consistency with our emerging climate policies should shape our energy and national security planning; we should not pursue energy options inconsistent with our national response to climate change.”
The Military Advisory Board calls on the Department of Defense (DoD) to take a leadership role – for government and the nation – in transforming America’s energy posture. “By addressing its own energy security needs,” the report finds “DoD can stimulate the market for new energy technologies and vehicle efficiencies.”
The Military Advisory Board outlines “A Roadmap for Energy Security” to help focus DoD’s investments in a strategic manner in order to mitigate its highest energy-related risks and optimize fiscal resources through a series of priorities.
Priority 1: Energy security and climate change goals should be clearly integrated into national security and military planning processes.
Priority 2: DoD should design and deploy systems to reduce the burden that inefficient energy use places on our troops as they engage overseas.
Priority 3: DoD should understand its use of energy at all levels of operations. DoD should know its carbon bootprint.
Priority 4: DoD should transform its use of energy at installations through aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency, smart grid technologies, and electrification of its vehicle fleet.
Priority 5: DoD should expand the adoption of distributed and renewable energy generation at its installations.
Priority 6: DoD should transform its long-term operational energy posture through investments in low-carbon liquid fuels that satisfy military performance requirements.
“Confronting this challenge is paramount for the military; to achieve the endstate, we must have a national approach,” the report states. Securing America’s energy future will require the active and consistent participation of governments at all levels, as well as that of all Americans, according to the report.
CNA is a non profit research organization which operates the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research
]]>Project, in idea stage, could cost $27B for 1st phase
By Mariana Alvarado, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona
A Tucson company wants to send you someday on a sun-fueled ride from one end of the state to the other.
The idea of a high-speed train that runs on solar power is still in its early stage, but the project’s creators are pitching the idea to area cities and potential investors.
The idea is to start a train system that connects Tucson and Phoenix in a first phase. In the future it would extend north to Grand Canyon and south to Nogales. The cost for the first phase alone is estimated at $27 billion. It could start operating in 2018.
Retired civil engineer Bill Gaither and business partner Raymond Wright set up Solar Bullet LLC in Tucson in hopes of designing and building the 220 mph solar bullet train, which would run on four tracks. The innermost two tracks would be reserved for nonstop travel from Tucson to Phoenix, going 116 miles in a half hour, said Gaither. The other tracks would serve six intermediate stations in Chandler, Maricopa, Casa Grande, Eloy, Red Rock and Marana, extending the Phoenix-Tucson travel time to approximately 60 minutes, according to the project outline.
The rail could open up new opportunities for economic development in those cities, said Gaither. The train would require 110 megawatts of electricity and would operate with solar power generated from overhead panels. It would have a dedicated right-of-way.
Wright and Gaither met in 2008 during a Tucsonans for Sensible Transit meeting and worked together on the project. They are currently working independently. Wright has recently consulted with the engineering department at the University of Arizona to propose the system for federal funding. He figures his timing is right, given President Obama’s push for alternative energy transportation projects.
Gaither is looking to city officials at each of the intermediate stations and asking them to put up $5,000 toward the $35,000 needed for an economic and tax revenue analysis before the project moves forward. He is also organizing a workshop later this year for the intermediate cities.
A local transportation official said the solar-train idea may be worth further study but faces major obstacles.
“It’s a really fascinating concept. The price tag is quite high,” said Gary Hayes, executive director of the Pima Association of Governments and the Regional Transportation Authority.
Hayes said he’s met the solar-train organizers to talk about the concept, including the possibility of local government support for the economic analysis. He noted that a Tucson-Phoenix passenger train has been talked about for years, and the state Transportation Department is conducting a study of the concept under a U.S. grant. But Hayes said arranging the billions in government funding likely needed for the train would be tough, especially since the Tucson-Phoenix route was not on a list of priority high-speed rail corridors released recently by the Obama administration.
“First and foremost, you’d have to get on that list and then go from there,” Hayes said. Still, he’s not ready to dismiss the idea out of hand. “I would characterize it as, if you’re going to plan, plan big; if you’re going to dream, dream big,” Hayes said.
]]>It’s almost 40 years since the advent of the first Earth Day. And since that first Earth Day, look at the shift in the role technology’s played: rather than being used as a way for us to consume more, more conveniently, and at an ever-accelerating pace, we’re now looking to technology to help us “conserve,” “preserve” and “reuse”.
One could even go so far as to say that, since that very first Earth Day, the clean tech sector as a whole has crossed that infamous “Chasm” – not as a single company, mind you, but as a collective. That said, though, the realist in me would also like to note that clean tech is not yet quite as big a part of mainstream consciousness as I’d like to believe. I watched Al Gore speak to the House Sub Committee on Energy this morning. Had you watched it, too, you’d understand what I mean. There are too many companies still struggling to get to the chasm, let alone cross it.
Over the long term, the energy efficiency gains and cost savings, health and environmental savings from deployed clean tech solutions should make any long-term thinking company with a rainy day fund realize that investing in such technologies now means they have a better chance of being around 10, 15, 40, 50 years down the road. You have to admit: “brand longevity” as a concept starts to look and sound a little different when you think about how high the cost to maintain “as is” truly is. But there are those disbelievers still. More dangerous and dark than that: ignorance. Those that choose to be ignorant and those that are through no fault of their own. But where it’s darkest, even a little light shined in can change everything.
So to all those companies (and behind them, the individuals), who have put money, time, sweat equity and brainpower into creating this generation of clean tech - it’s impossible to celebrate the promise of Earth Day, and Earth Week, without thanking you.
Elke and I believe it’s absolutely imperative that we continue educate the masses. People, en masse, eventually demand meaningful changes. Just look to the history books. We have gone through, and are still going through, some dark times. But at the same time, I’ve never seen such magical bright opportunity. It’s a time of incredible creativity, with incredible talent working on amazing solutions, and to boot - there’s a younger generation that wants in on the battle for Earth now. Young energy. They’ll continue to demand changes that only clean tech can provide. And just look around - there are more clean tech companies today than I can shake a stick at today - from environmental compliance software companies, to those that enable consumers to manage their energy consumption in real-time; from renewable energy solutions to alternative fuel vehicles; from electric cars to ecologically safe pesticides; from green building materials to next gen waste management companies, to carbon sequestration technologies; from biomass technologies to new water treatment technologies…the list is long. We’re witnessing the growth of new markets grow, companies being birthed while others are dying - and policy shifts that are taking progress to the next step. It’s clear that this fundamental shift is a tide that’s roaring in, and anything in its way isn’t going to make it out in one piece.
Clearly, this maturity of clean tech means both new opportunities and new challenges. For some in clean tech, the conditions are absolutely ideal. They’re in the right place at exactly the right time. However, even if that is the case, their long-term success will rest on their ability to actively educate and engage companies — whole communities, in fact — in dialogue about all the ways they (and the planet as a whole) will benefit from their products and services. And it’s taking each of us. Whether you’re volunteering to do so, or an employee in a clean tech company - we’re all needed to effectively spread the word about how clean tech addresses our long term prospects of survival.
The environmental challenges that we must collectively address are far more complex than they ever were back in the 1970s when this whole movement started in earnest. Because of this, the education process must continue, albeit at a different level.
It’s clear that “one size does NOT fit all” any longer. People expect conversations that are on target with their needs, not general messaging blasted from corporate megaphones. Moreover, policy and regulation changes are driving selling opportunities as much as buying behavior, and this will continue to have an impact on sales cycles. The implication is that the really big opportunities will accrue to companies that hire sales and marketing execs who are extraordinary strategists with a keen ability to filter information, who can deliver targeted messages about products that deliver real, immediate, seeable value to customers. You have to be able to articulate to your target customers all the benefits of your technologies – and where they’ll see the return, and how, and what that means for their business.
It’s also true that the baseline of knowledge corporate teams must now operate from is shifting; it’s more complex. A detailed understanding of what the new administration’s government credits, subsidies, and state and local incentive packages mean for your business is key. Right now, everyone I know is scurrying around, making sure they have a handle on where the stimulus package money is going, and trying to figure out how it’s going to flow out of municipalities, and how to get access to those funds at some level. You really have to do your homework; it will pay off.
You must target your messages, audience by audience, to maximize the return on your marketing and sales investments. At a more basic level, with the new channels out there, it’s easy for those who aren’t paying attention to miss a connection to a potential customer, simply because they haven’t explored these new channels. There are areas of opportunity hidden even in distressed sectors. Here’s a piece of unsolicited advice: assemble a strategic sales and marketing team focused on addressing the different market constituencies by filling in knowledge gaps. Take responsibility and assume you have to teach your customer or prospect what they need to know to be successful. The key is to assemble your partners, your suppliers and your customers, and go forward as a single, unified force. Let Earth Day, and Earth Week, remind you of how and why to go forward. It was a great grassroots initiative that gave Earth Day its foundation.
We must all continue the conversation – with our customers, employees, partners, investors and prospects. Properly engaged, armed with the right knowledge, corporate and consumer buyers will take this whole thing mainstream. Look at what’s happened with Earth Day: enhanced via social media to truly global proportions, Earth Day today is now an important annual event. And this one is special.
Keep the faith. Ask for help where you need it - it’s there - whether from your pr firm or otherwise. And stay focused.
Here’s hoping everyone has a great weekend – and happy hunting to all.
Elke, btw, is a VP with Sterling Communications. To contact her, call 415 350 5053.
About Sterling Communications, Inc.
Sterling Communications, Inc. — the Inside Agency(SM) — is an independent, full-service public relations agency that has a 20-year track record of generating visibility and enhancing the brands of technology companies across a variety of sectors. The Agency has worked successfully with industry pioneers in silicon, software, systems and ecosystems — from back- office IT solutions to global cleantech organizations. Sterling’s communications professionals take the time necessary to really understand not only the client’s product or service, but also the client’s overall business, the broader competitive landscape and the important market dynamics at play. Founded in 1989, the company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, with additional offices in San Francisco and Seattle. More information can be found at http://www.sterlingpr.com.