Biofuels, based on non-food feedstocks, are huge right now, and bound to get bigger. There are certainly not without issue, as many don't seem to be very resource efficient, but if they can be brought to a reasonable point of their net energy consumption and cost, they may prove to be one the most efficient ways to harness the sun's energy for use in applications like cars and airplanes. From the Green Car Congress Website:

"California-based Cobalt Biofuels has raised $25 million in equity to accelerate the commercialization of its cost-effective biochemical process for biobutanol production. Cobalt says that the advantages of its process are based on advances in microbial strain improvement, fermentation reaction management, and separation technology.

The Series C equity round was co-led by LSP and Pinnacle Ventures and included both new and existing investors. The Series C round had strong participation from Cobalt Biofuels’ existing institutional investors, including Pinnacle Ventures, Vantage Point Venture Partners, The Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund and @Ventures. New investors included LSP and Harris and Harris. Fouad Azzam, General Partner of LSP, will be joining the Board."

Green Car Congress: Cobalt Biofuels Raises $25 Million to Commercialize Biobutanol:

A powerful, if a bit optimistic, outlook on the new energy economy. A good friend and I were out kayaking the other day, and he raised the idea that after 9/11, Bush had perhaps the best opportunity ever to work on divorcing us from oil. If he had said, "We need to go after Al Qaeda, and we need to become energy independent.", he would have had nearly the whole country behind him. Of course he didn't. But now, in 2008, with the financial markets in turmoil and people in crisis, it's another chance to build the national support needed to make this switch. And if the clean tech world is going to reach it's full potential, we need to have national support for things like a more efficient grid. Now is the time to strike. We need to prove that saving money, making our country stronger, and helping the environment, all go hand in hand.

It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the United States. To begin with, shifting to renewables increases energy security simply because no one can cut off the supply of wind, solar, or geothermal energy. It also avoids the price volatility that has plagued oil and natural gas in recent decades. Once a wind farm or a solar thermal power plant is built, the price is stable since there is no fuel cost. Turning to renewables will also dramatically cut carbon emissions, moving us toward climate stability and thus avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate change.

October 15, 2008: New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States:

Referring to Shell, the article says this:

The oil titan has quadrupled its budget for renewable-energy projects this year, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Similiar to what I posted earlier about the influence on oil, I think these guys increasing their influence could be major. Even 2-300 Million a year would be a considerable investment for this sector.

The article:
Greentech Media | Shell Boosts Renewable-Energy Spending

Here is what I wrote Friday about oil companies and Clean Tech or Green Tech:
http://www.cleantechdealflow.com/2008/10/what-you-dont-know-about-energy-can.html

Tesla makes a cool car, but a low volume 2 seat sports car that sells for 100K will never be mainstream. Getting a major manufacture to build a small but useful city car, all electric, will make a big difference. BMW is building between 500 and a 1,000 all electric Mini's. With a claimed range of 150 miles, and 0-60 times of around 8.5 seconds, it should be pretty fun to drive, certainly a reasonable city car.

Unfortunately, others have built all electric vehicles in limited numbers, that never made it to real production. Hopefully the Mini will be an exception. Look at the prices for the EV Rangers and EV Rav4 on eBay, and there certainly seems to be some demand.

Autocar - Revealed: Electric Mini

This study isn't focused on Clean Tech, but is a more general study of VCs' attitudes. It shows a drop in confidence for the third quarter, hardly a surprise given the current economic situation. Of course, the study only started 4 years ago, a pretty short time really. I personally think we are in the ultimate "disrupted market" right now. There will be big losers, but ultimately, there will be huge winners too.

In a study released Wednesday by the University of San Francisco, Mark Cannice, founder of USF’s Entrepreneurship Program, found that venture capitalists’ confidence is at its lowest level since the university began surveying venture investors in 2004. In total, San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists’ confidence in the third quarter was measured at just 2.89 out of a scale of five, down from 3.07 in the previous quarter.

Business Technology : More Gloom in Venture-Capital Land:

Batteries are the weak point in many clean tech ideas. They tend to be heavy, inefficient, and not very environmentally friendly. But systems like electric cars and thousands of other products depend on them. To paraphrase an old saying, Build a better battery, and the world will beat a path to your door.

A group from Portugal has come up with some early new technology that might help with this. They use gelatin to make a jelly from an ionic liquid.

Read more here:
‘Ion jelly’ for better, cheaper batteries | Cleantech Group

Don Dodge writes an interesting blog post about starting a company during a downtime, it includes: "Customers are willing to try new things to save money in bad times. When things are going great they don't want to take risks on a tiny startup. If you can save them money in bad times...they are happy to deal with a startup."

I'd add to that. Companies that offer a genuine energy savings, good for the environment and good for the pocketbook, will have a big advantage. These gains are seen by customers as PR bonuses, and money savers. That said, if your business model needs 300M in capital costs, that could be much harder to raise.


Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Start a company in a recession? Absolutely!:

Chrysler Aspen hybrid and Dodge Durango hybrid have managed an EPA-estimated 20 MPG city and 22 MPG highway rating.

Reasonably impressive numbers. Not great, but for a big SUV, pretty good numbers. Off course, if people buy this when all they really need is a small car, there is no net gain. But for those of us in the Clean Tech world, I'm willing to bet there are some suppliers making money off this thing, and that that technology, if applied to other vehicles, will yield even bigger results.

And of course, for many startups, big companies like Chrysler might be the best option for an exit, so things like this provide evidence that they are focusing on the right things.

Dodge Durango Hybrid: Aspen, Durango Two-Mode Hybrids Hit 22 MPG Highway

Clemson University will lead a $1.2 million bioethanol research project to find the best way to produce plant-based fuels in South Carolina and the region. The US Department of Energy awarded the grant to Clemson, which will collaborate with DOE’s Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken.

The purpose of the grant is to assess the potential of switchgrass and sweet sorghum as feedstocks.

Green Car Congress: Clemson University to Lead $1.2M Cellulosic Ethanol Project:

Regulation can drive business, or stifle it. California has set ambitious new climate change plan, and being as that California is the center for Clean Tech in the U.S., companies here or hoping to sell here are going to be affected by it.

California published a radical climate change plan this week, outlining its intention to have its wide-ranging policy proposals formally approved by the end of the year and up and running by 2012.

California sets out green vision - 17 Oct 2008 - BusinessGreen

Neal Dikeman is a partner at Jane Capital Partners and CEO of Carbonflow. He makes an impassioned and very reasonable argument that Silicon Valley investors and start ups should be looking out for, learning from, and respecting the oil companies.

Oil companies have tons of money, and tons of experience selling energy. I've said before, and firmly believe, that when oil companies refocus on providing energy, not oil, they will be the force to be reckoned with. Of course, Neal seems to make this a warning to clean tech companies. I think it's more of an opportunity.

For the last 5-7 years, web start ups seemed to have their biggest exits when companies like Google or Ebay bought them. I think that's the model for energy related start-ups. A cellulosic ethanol company shouldn't really think of themselves as being a competitor to Chevron, they should make themselves so profitable and interesting that Chevron would want to buy them. At which point they gain access to all the Chevron gas stations. That is the future. Cleantech won't be putting the Chevrons and Exxon-Mobils out of business, but it has the possibility of making them many times cleaner.

And that the big fortunes made in cleantech investing todate have not been made on high risk early stage technology bets, but on 10 or 20 year old technologies who were in the right place at the right time when the policies came in. Or the low cost manufacturers of mature known technologies (think corn ethanol or wind developers and Chinese solar manufacturers) who moved fast when policies moved, making hordes of 'that's not a venture' bets. Disruptive technology has never been the winner.....

....
So while you fight the good fight to develop technology to change the world, don't forget, be humble, learn what can be learned, build what can be built, and walk softly, because the elephant in this room floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee, and he has yet to take the field.

Cleantech Blog: Cleantech Venture Capitalists Beware - What You Don't Know About Energy Can Kill You:

So who is going to be the first Silicon Valley VC to fund a kangaroo farm, and sell the offsets?

Professor Ross Garnaut was recently commissioned by the Australian government to produce a 600-page study on global warming, in which he stated that the agriculture industry should be required to buy permits for exceeding the recommended amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The resulting higher costs of raising cattle and sheep could potentially prompt farmers to turn to farming kangaroos instead, as they release much less methane due to different workings in their digestive system.

Eating Kangaroo Could Reduce Global Warming Effects- Environmental Graffiti:

Meanwhile, according to at least some analysts, neither the rising price of oil nor the financial crisis has taken much steam out of investments in 'clean tech,' which attracted $2.2 billion in investments in the first half of 2008 and is expected to account for 11% of total investments. And investing in energy efficiency programs, and renewable energy technology research and development, is increasingly being seen as the best hope for a new industrial revolution that would create millions of jobs and reverse the economic slide.

With Oil Under $70 Again, What's It Mean for Green? - thedailygreen.com:

Congratulations to these guys. I met Zach and some of the rest of the team when we were competing in the California Clean Tech Open against them a few years ago. I thought at the time it was a strong product, good timing, and a good plan. Plus, genuinely nice people. Happy to see them getting along well.

Adura Brightens With $5M for Lighting Management � Earth2Tech:

SolarWorld has opened one of North America's largest solar cell manufacturing facilities. The new plant is located in Hillsboro, Oregon and is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.

SolarWorld Opens 500-MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Facility

"OwnEnergy Inc., a company that enables landowners to develop and own wind farms on their land, has completed its Series A round of financing. EnerTech Capital Partners led the round, with Contour Venture Partners and the New York City Investment Fund adding to their existing commitments to the company. The amount of financing completed was not made public."

OwnEnergy Completes Financing Round:

Pretty cool. I wonder who this includes though. Is it counting Toyota for the Prius, or just companies that are solely in business to address these issues? If it's the latter, I'd expect the real number to be many times bigger.


Cleantech >businessgreen.com

I've spoken to several Green startups that are committed to providing truly green products, but few have the cash to invest in things like Green office space, green vehicles, etc.  Especially at the earliest stage of the game.  Foundation Capital in Menlo Park puts many of it's Green start-ups in the headquarters building, which they aim to have LEED's certification for it.

Practicing what the sell, I like it.
Foundation Aims to Be LEED-Certified VC - Earth2Tech

Smart Meters make sense to me, and if I bought a new place with one, I'd be happy about it. But seriously, how hard is it to come up with a schedule for your regular thermostat?

From the article:

"Ordinary, old-style programmable thermostats, if used correctly, save homeowners about 15-20 percent of their heating or cooling bills on average," said Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of ecobee, in a statement. "But it takes a rocket scientist to figure out how to program them, so people don't use them and don't get the energy savings they could."

Really? Rocket Scientist? It took me about ten minutes to figure it out the first time, and now an adjustment takes a few minutes. I adjust mine a few times a year. Do we really need $400 touchscreen thermostats?



ecobee unveils its first smart meter | Cleantech Group

Electric cars are coming. When the worlds largest commercial vehicle manufacture get's involved, it's a sign of growth for sure.


Electrovaya, Tata Motors to make electric Indica | Cleantech Group

Anyone in or visiting the bay area with an interest in Science and Green buildings would do well to visit the California Academy of Sciences. I went a few weeks ago, and it was well worth the visit. The exhibits are good, but what really struck me was the building. It was gorgeous, and standing on the Green Roof, looking at the native California plants, and knowing that they are not only beautiful, but serve the function of helping control temperature, I was struck. It just makes sense, and it's hard for me to imagine why any commercial or public building should not be built like this.


California Academy of Sciences


Oh, and if you want just some really cute webcam action, check out the Penguin Cam.

Strategic investing is not a new concept, it's been around for years. It's generally when a corporation has an investment or incubation unit that focuses on products the parent company might need. So, for example, the IBM strategic investment units would invest in business software start-ups, but likely not in a new automotive company. Makes sense from several levels. First, if the start-up is a big success, then they make money. They can also more likely provide meaningful support and validation. And if the venture fails, there may be people, technology, or ideas that are useful to the parent company, so it decreases slightly the down-side risk.

DHL has launched a new strategic investment program, seeking to fund start-ups that posses technologies that will help DHL meet it's specific goals of reducing carbon output by 30% in 12 years. Nicely done.

http://www.businessgreen.com/

Aren't we all?

They've raise $12.5 Million in the past, have a new pilot plant coming online ina few days, and one of their founders developed the technology that helped make Evergreen Solar succeed. Seems like a strong combination if the new technology proves to work.

1336 Tech

earth2Tech has good article about the startup.

One of the big issues with Hydrogen is the misconception that it is an energy source. It's not really, there isn't much floating around in usable form, so it has to be created from some type of input. Many of us might remember the old high school experiment, where electrolysis was use to extract Hydrogen from water into a couple of upside down test tubes. This normally was dramatically displayed with a flame and a little tiny explosion.

It works, but it very energy inefficient. To do so at a commercial scale would require lots of energy, and would be very expensive. Hydrogen can also be made from natural gas, which is better, but still far from perfect. In an article on Green Car Congress, they report on a new process for making Hydrogen. It's pretty heavy on the science, but the gist of it is that they use microbes to extract hydrogen from dirty sewer water, getting a high percentage of Hydrogen recovered with a relatively low energy cost and without using expensive cathode materials.

GreenCarCongress.com

A new website is coming that aims to make it easier for providers and consumers of energy efficiency products, in particular solar, to connect.

Seems like just the thing we need.

Wattbot Launches Site to Speed Up Clean Energy Adoption � Earth2Tech

From CleanTechnica, an thorough and good explanation of why "clean" coal is anything but clean.

Both Presidential canidates say they support "clean" coal, but should they?

5 Dirty Aspects of “Clean” Coal : CleanTechnica