While he drinks your beer in your house your know-it-all brother-in-law spouts out “There’s no consensus about climate change.  And anyway everybody knows that volcanoes belch out more CO2 than humans.”  You could respond with a sharp wack to his temple with the remote control or you could whip out your iPhone and tap the app for Skeptical Science. 

Also available on-line and via Android, Skeptical Science lists 119 one-line responses to combat climate “skeptics” and “disinformers”.  Each response links to the supporting scientific references.  The counter to “…no consensus about climate change”, is “97% of climate experts agree humans are causing global warming.”   To add credibility to your rebuttal, a click on the answer links to a basic 500 word explanation.  If you need to pull out the big guns you can click on the intermediate level of response for a more detailed explanation with charts, peer-reviewed research etc. 

 Skeptical Science is the labor-of-love of Australian John Cook.  He notes that “Scientific skepticism is healthy.”  In fact skepticism is at the core of the modern scientific method.  The ideas of scientists are tested and retested.  Evidence is challenged and scrutinized in the crucible of honest scientific examination.  Critical to the process is peer-reviewed research, the purpose of which is to advance science in the direction of consensus understanding. 

All of scientists who hold a common understanding about the impact of human activity upon climate embrace the integrity of the scientific process described above.  Outside of this scientific process are those self-proclaimed experts who present non-reviewed opinions as facts.

John Cook deserves our appreciation for addressing a complicated subject in a clear and efficient manner.  His website draws an active global participation every day.

The focus of the Climate Club dinner held in April was a discussion with scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) about the challenges they face dealing with aggressive attacks on their work on climate change.  The organizer of the event, John Lormon, noted that “The science community is generally not organized or culturally equipped to respond to politically motivated attacks on their findings.  If these attacks are successful in challenging the credibility of the science, they can be used to establish claims that can negatively impact California’s economy and jobs”. 

Those in attendance were of diverse backgrounds, but by the end of the evening I sensed a common denominator of extreme frustrated concern.   What we learned from SIO Professors Richard Somerville, Ray Weiss, Ralph Keeling and Andrew Dickson was made doubly disturbing by their personal testimony.  It is one thing to discuss climate change denial in the abstract.  It is another to hear the stories of deceit and distortion directed at the life’s work of serious scientists whose only motivation is to “do science” honestly and objectively.  This is not a story of competing theories, but rather one in which established science is ignored or misrepresented.  The complexity and scope of climate change denial is of enormous magnitude.   As the evening ended I was saddened with the sense that none of us saw a clear path of response.   The following month Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway published a book which beams light on the path.

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming will, I guarantee, make you angry.  Oreskes and Conway pinpoint the scientists-for-hire, think tanks and foundations which thread from one denial campaign to another beginning with the tobacco industry’s multiple decade stall on the linkage between smoking and cancer.  The stage is filled with many of the same players who challenged the science behind acid rain, ozone depletion and now global warming.  What is amazing is that denial-for-hire has become a robust industry.  Huge funding from the tobacco industry, oil and others hides behind the artifice of educational foundations and even attorney-client privilege.  Some big-name national commentators have set up “foundations” so that they can receive funding from special interest groups and maintain deniability that they are not journalists for hire. 

Go to Amazon.  Buy the book.  If you already own it, buy copies to give to your smart friends.  Thought leaders everywhere need to know this story.  You can make a difference.

Naomi Oreskes is a professor of history and science studies at the University of California, San Diego.  There have been many reviews written about this important book.  Here’s one by Jesse Kornbluth.

Next 500 is a San Diego-based media website which “takes you inside the most innovative and captivating companies set to one day emerge as Fortune 500 powerhouses”.  Several of Next 500’s high quality videos feature companies listed in CleanTECH San Diego company database.  Each of the engaging videos run about five minutes.  The host is Beck Bamberger of BAM Communications.  Take a click to view the flicks.

Solatube

ZuumCraft

Portable Farms LLC

D&K Engineering

Elliptigo

EcoATM

DriveCam

There is no place in the world where more people are working to advance the science and commercialization of algae biofuel than in San Diego.  Three announcements this week underscore the region’s standing in the quest to develop practical alternatives to fossil fuels. 

On Tuesday the California Department of Labor awarded the San Diego region a $4 million grant to implement new workforce training programs for jobs in the emerging biofuels industry.  The San Diego Biofuels Initiative, a collaborative effort including CleanTECH San Diego, BIOCOM, San Diego Regional EDC, San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) and the San Diego Workforce Partnership, captured the grant.  The San Diego Biofuels Initiative’s proposal, titled the Educating and Developing Workers for the Green Economy (EDGE Initiative), will provide education, training and placement services to unemployed and dislocated workers within San Diego and the Imperial Valley.

Also on Tuesday the Governor’s Office of Economic Development designated the San Diego region as a California Innovation Hub.  The designation clears the way for the San Diego iHub Consortium to apply for stimulus funds from the Federal government.  The consortium has identified biofuels, wireless health and solar power/energy storage as the three areas of greatest job growth potential.

On Monday the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) announced that the region will receive funding of $9 million from the Department of Energy for algae R&D.  A team of seven companies including locals Sempra Energy, General Atomics and Sapphire Energy are adding another $3 million to support the R&D effort.

CleanTECH San Diego’s website lists 37 Biomass Energy & Biofuel local companies in their company database. 

On July 20^th CONNECT presents Algae Biotechnology: Working to Transform Fuel, Food and Medicine with Stephen Mayfield, Director, San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology and John Dove Isaacs Chair of Natural Philosophy Department of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego.  Click here for details.

Two new algae resources

National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap, a 140 page report just released by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the Biomass Program.  (This PDF file is 7 MB).

Also new is a report from the Milken Institute, Scaling Enterprise Finance, The Future of Biofuels, which addresses the question, “How can we facilitate the flow of private capital into the production of biofuels?”  Please e-mail me at glenn@glennmosier.com for a PDF copy of this 40 page report.

By GUEST AUTHOR Mariana Gerzanych CEO |  350Green

Last week the House and the Senate introduced separate but similar bills in support of Electric Cars.  Both are called “Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010″, both have the same outcome but go about it a bit differently.  They will each allocate about $10 billion to fund charging infrastructure and increase consumer tax credits. 

House Will:
-  Give $800 million to five regions.
-  Increase the Fed tax rebate for EV purchase to $9,500.
-  Give Tax Credits for the purchase and instalation of EV infrastructure up to $50,000.
-  Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced the bill.

Senate Will:
- Give $250 million to fifteen cities.
- Increase the Fed Tax Rebate for EVs to $10,000.
- Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Jeff Merkley(D-Ore.) presented the bill.
Both bills look at reducing the nation’s dependency on Oil and follow the recommendations set forth by the EV Coalition earlier this year.  The exact language isn’t available yet; the bills are in the markup stage which means they will look completely different from the original documents.  Several large players are weighting pro and con.  The BP spill is rather unfortunately helping to push it along.

Mariana Gerzanych is CEO of 350Green LLC, a Company that will be installing charging station infrastructure for Electric Cars.  350Green is a partner in the eTec $99.8 mill DOE grant award to electrify the EV infrastructure in 5 markets: San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix/Tucson and Nashville.  You can find Mariana on Twitter @ukr50 and read more of her musings on www.350Green.com/news.

The CleanTECH San Diego Showcase presents Solar Power – The Path to Profitability on Monday, June 14th at the La Jolla Marriott.  Keynote speaker, Daniel Gross is one of the founding Partners of Hudson Clean Energy, a private equity fund with over $1 billion in assets under management focusing on renewable energy and clean technology.  Following Mr. Gross’ remarks will be a panel discussion featuring Dr. Burkhard von Spreckelsen, CEO of Valliant Solar Systems, Scott Sporrer, general manager of Siliken Renewable Energy and Joe Budano, CEO of Energy Innovations.

CleanTECH San Diego’s database of cleantech companies include 47 solar innovators and 129 solar facilitators. 

The networking hour before the CleanTECH San Diego Showcase is a unique opportunity to get face to face with the captains of industry, futurists, venture capitalists and propeller heads who play in the clean tech space.  All you need to do is register and show up with a fistful of business cards.  Click here to make your reservation.

On Wednesday I participated in the latest CleanTECH San Diego SCRUB session.  SCRUB is an opportunity for early stage clean tech companies to present their business plans to a panel of CleanTECH San Diego members.  Four local emerging clean tech ventures made their case to two dozen CleanTECH San Diego members representing a mix of venture capitalists, engineers, marketing specialists, intellectual property attorneys as well as local leaders from industry, research and government.  The objective of SCRUB is to provide feedback and assistance to take each company to the next stage. 

This week’s SCRUB showcased four distinctly different clean tech businesses.  350 Green intends to provide developmental infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations.  Butler Sun Solutions has developed a solar assisted hot water system, featuring “do-it-yourself” installation options.  Home Town Farms plans a vertical organic urban farming model that has the capacity to reduce water and energy consumption.  WaterSmart Systems provides resources to water utilities to help optimize water conservation.

In January the SCRUB featured Shrink NanoSolar, Eco ReBox, and Vari-Ro Technologies.  In the past six quarterly SCRUB sessions CleanTECH San Diego has provided advice, introductions and critical evaluations to 21 future clean tech stars.  If you have a clean tech enterprise that would benefit from a good SCRUB you should forward your business summary to Shaina Brown at shainab@cleantechsandiego.org

On Thursday, 255 members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel laureates, made public an open letter striking out at the orchestrated effort by a small network of climate deniers that has deliberately sought to confuse the public’s understanding of the dangers of climate change.  Signers include eight scientists from University of California at San Diego.  The statement is direct and elegant.  Click here for the full text.

Recently I had the honor to be included in a group brought together to discuss the communication challenges discussed in the letter.  In attendance that evening were four scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who have spent decades dealing first hand with the study of climate.  It was a wide ranging discussion.  One concept that I took away was that the science we use to make decisions is the best science we have at hand.  Like climate science, medical science is imperfect and essential.  If my surgeon tells me that 95% of medical specialists are 95% confident of the efficacy of a recommended procedure, I will use that information to make my decision.  Even if my choice were to side with the minority viewpoint, I would make a decision.  What I would not do is revert to the no-decision mode of “the jury is still out” and “there is still some debate”. 

Our scientists need and deserve our active support.  The April 12th issue of The New Yorker noted, “No one has ever offered a plausible account of why thousands of scientists, at hundreds of universities in dozens of countries would bother to engineer a climate hoax”.  “The message from scientists at this point couldn’t be clearer: the world’s emissions trajectory is extremely dangerous.  Goofball weathermen, Climategate, conspiracy theories—these are all a distraction from what’s really happening”.  Indeed.

Coal is cheap.  Coal mine disasters are not.  In West Virginia on April 5th, the worst U.S. coal mining accident in 40 years came at the cost of 29 lives.  Fifteen days later the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded and caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico.  Eleven lives were lost.  Oil rig disasters are not cheap.  In fact, lives are lost in the process of us enjoying most every economic aspect of our lives whether it is the construction of a high-rise or trucking toys to Wal-Mart. This is a dramatic way of saying that the all-in cost of every economic event is greater than the financial cost paid directly by the user. 

The cost paid by the user plus the externalized costs equals the all-in cost.  If you were to ask the residents of the Montcoal, WV, the all-in cost of coal is about $50 per ton plus the loss of their husbands, sons and fathers.  For a Louisiana shrimper the all-in cost of oil is $80 per barrel plus the loss of his income for years. 

There are externalized costs associated with every source of energy whether it is coal or solar, wind or oil, nuclear or cow dung.  The only universal reducer of externalized costs is “to consume less energy” either through energy efficiency or frugality.  As a society we will be better able to make rational decisions about energy production and use if we have a clearer vision of the externalized costs associated with the various sources of energy.

I am at odds with the climate change deniers and with the strict environmentalists.  However, I would no more attempt to change them than I would try to persuade a Red Sox fan or a Yankees fan to switch allegiance to their rival.  It just isn’t going to happen.  What the Bostonian and New Yorker have in common is their love of the game.  What I share with the climate change deniers and the strict environmentalists is a belief that there are consequences to our choices of energy sources.  Clearer information about the externalized costs of all the energy options will bring all parties closer together. 

To climate change deniers I say that it is not inconsistent for them to maintain their skepticism while at the same time embrace those changes which will encourage the shift away from fossil fuels.  Let’s give everyone the information to make decisions on an apples-to-apples Read the rest of this entry »

Getting up to speed in cleantech is like learning a new language.  Lesson one for algae begins at the website for the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB).  I found the Q&A to be particularly useful. 

Algae lesson number two is the Algal Biofuels Symposium 2010 “The Science to Support Algal Biofuel Commercialization” to be held this Friday April 23rd at the Salk Institute in La Jolla.  This all day event features a dozen of the top experts in the field of what many believe will be the leading alternative fuel for transportation, algae biofuel.  Just $25 covers the event including lunch and a hosted reception.  Click here for details. 

You will want to become a SD-CAB Associate Member.  Click here to join for $100.

For five more useful algae resources see Algae spoken here which was posted below on October 21, 2009

By GUEST AUTHOR Mariana Gerzanych CEO |  350Green

San Diego won a 1 in 30,000 jackpot when it became a city that both GM Volt and Nissan Leaf electric cars will be introduced in this fall.  Nissan dropped the price bomb last month, the war that promises to be fierce has begun.  Leaf ended up at $20,280 MSRP after a $7,500 Federal Tax break and $5,000 CA Rax rebate (or a $349/month lease).  The price astounded many, including competitors like Mitsubishi that immediately responded by dropping the price for their all-electric iMiev by $6,700. 

Even though the Leaf is priced unexpectedly low, Nissan is still making a profit.  The most expensive component of the car is the battery at $12K, which leaves $20K for the car itself.  The Leaf is an all-electric vehicle with a 100 mile range, while GM Volt is a plug-in hybrid: after 40 all-electric miles an internal combustion engine extends the range to 300 miles.   

GM’s price strategy remains a mystery.  It gets interesting because Nissan will have a significant economy of scale advantage since it plans to build 50K Leafs globally in its first year, and ramp up to 200K by 2014.  The price is a function of production volumes.  The demand depends on the price; likewise the price they set depends on the supply (their production volume).  GM is not planning to come even close to these production numbers, and demand for the Volt will by far outstrip the supply for quite a while. 

Most likely the Volt will be priced higher and advertised as a different class of vehicles, since it’s a complex machine with twice as many parts.  Initially consumers will be much more comfortable with a 300 mile range.  As we move forward and the charging infrastructure is put into place, let’s hope that Nissan’s high volume plans do not short circuit the Volt.

Mariana Gerzanych is CEO of 350Green LLC, a Company that will be installing charging station infrastructure for Electric Cars.  350Green is a partner in the eTec $99.8 mill DOE grant award to electrify the EV infrastructure in 5 markets: San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix/Tucson and Nashville. “It took us all 5 seconds to decide which city to move the headquarters to” and San Diego has extended a warm welcome. You can find Mariana on Twitter @ukr50 and read more of her musings on www.350Green.com/news.

The press conference which Aptera Motors held on Wednesday achieved its goal.  The Aptera 2e story has all the elements the media desires.  It visual, exotic and cutting edge with an aura of economic suspense.  On top of which, the vehicle is about to be shipped-off to compete for the $10 million Automotive X Prize.  Popular Mechanics’ coverage of the media event hit the techie high-points of the all-electric vehicle which looks like a cross between an albino lobster and George Jetson’s commuter car.  The fact that the two-person transporter has “a coefficient of drag that’s below 0.15” supports Aptera’s claim that the car is an energy miser. 

Charlie Neuman has some great photos on SignOn San Diego of the local solution for energy-efficient transportation.

By GUEST AUTHOR Mariana Gerzanych CEO |  350Green

Electricity providers and consumers have had a good marriage since the 1800s, small breakdowns here and there, sometimes scandals, regulation and deregulation but overall it’s been even keeled. That is until consumers decided they want more, demanding more electricity for their new toys: Electric Cars. Utilities ignored the whim for a decade but are starting to take notice. A study of EV impact on the grid done by ISO/RTO (ummm Power Companies) shows a positive outlook of what’s to come.

The report is unprintable 120 pages, here is the gist of it:

    * Spread out EV charging would reduce the impact on electric load

    * Power companies will need new tools to manage the demand from EVs

EVs will follow Prius sales, clustering by geographical areas, mainly North East and West coasts. This will put more strain on some Utilities and not the others, especially if all those EVs will charge at the same time. Assuming Obama gets his wish for 1 million EVs in 5 years, and everyone plugged in simultaneously: 3,800 MW of additional electricity will be needed, spread the charging over 12 hours and the demand drops to 500 MW. Here is the link to the research study: http://bit.ly/bkCGUg.

The report isn’t earth shattering, it does validate other studies and shows that Electricity providers are starting to think about EVs. It’s a bit on the conservative side though, most analysts project 1 mill EVs by 2015, whereas the report predicts a million by 2017–the Grid better be ready.

Mariana Gerzanych is CEO of 350Green LLC, a Company that will be installing charging station infrastructure for Electric Cars.  350Green is a partner in the eTec $99.8 mill DOE grant award to electrify the EV infrastructure in 5 markets: San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix/Tucson and Nashville. “It took us all 5 seconds to decide which city to move the headquarters to” and San Diego has extended a warm welcome. You can find Mariana on Twitter @ukr50 and read more of her musings on www.350Green.com/news.

Clean technology is a big tent which covers things as diverse as 25-story wind towers, 10 acre algae ponds and processing plants which convert ocean water into drinking water.  The common thread is efficiency.  Anything which can be done can be done better.  Inspiration for many cleantech innovations emanates from solutions which have evolved in nature over eons. 

While man has been keying off nature’s designs for millenniums, it has been only recently that the process was given a name, biomimicry.  (The word is not even in the Microsoft Word spell-check I am using).  Biomimicry is the science of taking inspiration from nature, its systems, processes and elements to solve design problems in a sustainable matter.  Biomimicry has a substantial, robust connection to both cleantech and San Diego.

Cleantech applications of biomimicry include super-efficient wind turbines modeled on the fins of humpback whales, energy-efficient buildings designed after termite mounds and lightweight building materials based on the structure of an abalone shell.  Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, MIT researchers are developing a process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases.  Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

San Diego-based Biomatrica’s technology enables the storage, transport and assaying of DNA, RNA, proteins, cells and virus samples at room temperature without degradation, allowing labs to reduce their reliance on freezers and drastically reduce shipping costs.  Currently, more than 98% of all biological materials are protected from degradation through the “global cold chain” storage on which the world spends more than $34 billion annually.  The founders of Biomatrica, Rolf Muller and Judy Muller-Cohn, got their inspiration while visiting a toy store.  They observed sea monkeys, which are really brine shrimp that are in a dried state but come back to life when rehydrated.

The phenomenon that makes a butterfly’s wings shimmer is the same process used in Qualcomm‘s mirasol displays.  The display works by reflecting light so that specific wavelengths interfere with each other to create color.  The innovation offers low power consumption and superb viewing quality for mobile devices.

Last October, the San Diego Zoo and the Biomimicry Institute held the second annual Biomimicry Symposium in San Diego.  Janine Benyus, an eloquent proponent of biomimicry, is the president of the Biomimicry Institute.  Her presentation was the high point of the two day event.  We can anticipate that the San Diego Zoo will continue to be a key player in this fast growing field.  Like the Zoo, the City of San Deigo is also committed to building on the region’s strengths in the field.  An active champion for biomimicry, Jacques Chirazi is the Program Manager of the Cleantech Initiative in the Mayor’s Office. 

On April 20th CONNECT will present Exercising Your Imagination through Biomimicry.  The presenters will be Lee Hagey, Ph.D. Biomimicry Expert, Zoological Society of San Diego, Project Scientist, UCSD School of Medicine and Jon Prange Venture Business Manager Zoological Society of San Diego.  Click here to register.

To learn more about how technology imitates life, visit the websites for the Biomimicry Institute and Bioneers.

Click video for 2009 Biomimcry Conference

By GUEST AUTHOR Lee Barken, IT practice leader at Haskell & White, LLP

Peter Fusaro knows environmental finance markets.  As Chairman of Global Change Associates, Fusaro is an energetic and tenacious green markets cheerleader with over 34 years of government policy and industry experience.  When he took the stage at his 9th annual Wall Street Green Trading Summit last week in New York City, audience members perked up and paid attention. 

From carbon markets to green energy loans and Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, more than 225 professionals gathered at this conference to learn about a variety of innovative financing mechanisms.  “This conference has always been the practitioners’ conference,” said Fusaro.  “This is about people doing things: innovative things, risky things, pushing the envelope and moving forward.”

 Restarting the Green Engine

 If the path to economic development is paved with green technology, some suggest that the car is in neutral.  Unfortunately, for the past few months, the political machine of Washington has been consumed by partisan wrangling over medical insurance.  Now, with the healthcare debate behind us, there seemed to be a renewed sense of optimism among conference participants.

 “The lack of interest in carbon is appalling, Read the rest of this entry »

The Graduate.  It’s 1967 and Ben Braddock gets career advice.

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you.  Just one word.

Benjamin: Yes, sir.

Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?

Benjamin: Yes, I am.

Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?

Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?

Dustin Hoffman as Ben spent the rest of the movie being distracted by the archetypical cougar and never got around to seeking gainful employment.  A current-day sequel would find a 65 year-old Ben advising his grandson to seek his fame and fortune in the ripe opportunity of energy storage. 

The certainty of long-term expansion of energy storage as an industry segment is driven by huge needs which exist on both the supply and demand side of the equation.  Giant utility companies are mandated to dramatically increase the production of electrical power from alternative sources of energy.  The two largest sources, solar and wind, share the problem of intermittency.  Unlike coal and natural gas generated power, solar and wind have an uneven output which is to varying degrees challenging to forecast.  Until recently this was of manageable consequence for most utilities because wind and solar were a small percentage of their total input.  But what happens when these uneven sources move towards 20% as mandated in California?  For many utilities the peaks of need are satisfied by natural gas “peaker plants” which are fired up to meet demand on the electric grid.  During periods of low demand wind turbines can be idled to avoid excess power into the grid.  Both of these alternatives underutilize the production capacity of the capital equipment.  With efficient energy storage a higher portion of power produced can be utilized and production capacity can be designed to more closely approximate average demand rather than peak demand.  Just these two important needs present a life-time of opportunity for the development of energy storage. 

Ben Braddock’s grandson will also find a target rich environment of opportunities for energy storage on the demand side of electrical consumption.  As smart grids are installed, electrical utilities will be able to flatten out consumption using technology to influence consumption behaviors via pricing and information.  The Nissan Leaf automobile in our garages will be used as a reserve of electrical power to be sold back to the utility.  Excess electricity from PV solar panels on the roofs of our homes will flow into energy storage for future use or to sell into the grid.  Energy storage systems in cars, homes, businesses, substations and in the field become a stabilizing buffer to smooth out the variations of both production and consumption.  It’s a business proposition as compelling as plastics were 43 years ago.

Energy storage systems are as big as Lake Meade and as small as a AAA battery.  Included are:

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
Superconducting magnetic energy storage
Flow batteries
Conventional batteries (e.g. rechargeable electricity storage system)
Gas holder
Grid energy storage
Fuel cell and hydrogen technology
Gravitational mass
Capacitors (e.g. rechargeable electricity storage system)
Electromagnetic mass
Mainspring
Thermal energy storage
Solar chimney
Compressed fluids (e.g. compressed air)
Flywheels
Vacuum storage (in rush generation technology)

CleanTECH San Diego’s database of cleantech companies lists nine companies in the energy storage sector.  Sempra has stated their interest in compressed air as a large capacity energy storage system for wind and solar.  San Diego is one of only five cities in the U.S. selected to participate in the EV Project.  1000 Nissan Leaf automobiles owned by San Diego business and individuals will be driven and monitored in the best possible test lab, the real world.  Maxwell Technologies is a leading producer of ultracapacitors and power systems for consumer and industrial electronics, transportation, telecommunications, and electricity generation industries.

The wealth of opportunity in energy storage which young Ben Braddock III faces is supported by a simple but enormous truth.  The amount of electricity produced by any utility is substantially greater than what is ultimately consumed.  Some is lost in transmission.  A greater amount is wasted because of the mismatch in time of supply and demand.  Energy storage addresses the mismatch.  As the cost of electricity escalates the economic advantage of “waste not” becomes more compelling.

There are frequent meetings in San Diego about smart grid, smart meters, energy storage, etc.  On April 22^_nd the San Diego EDC and CleanTECH San Diego will present, Earth Day Brilliance Found in Smart Meter Opportunities.  Click here for details.

To meet renewable goals, California utilities can buy power from Arizona households. It’s a new ball game.

By GUEST AUTHOR Lee Barken, IT practice leader at Haskell & White, LLP

To meet their renewable standards, California utilities are now able to look outside the state. What happens next should be interesting.

California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) mandates minimum renewable energy thresholds in a utility company’s electricity mix. In California, that minimum is 20% by the end of 2010. Utilities can obtain a three-year extension, and most will ask for that, but 2010 is still the official deadline.

Why an RPS?

According to the Public Utilities Code, Section 399.11, an increase in renewable resources “may promote stable electricity prices, protect public health, improve environmental quality, stimulate sustainable economic development, create new employment opportunities, and reduce reliance on imported fuels.”

However, these lofty goals overlooked one important element: execution.  Drafting a law mandating a 20% renewable mix doesn’t Read the rest of this entry »

Last December I participated in a two day Discover Imperial County tour organized by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Council.  It was a first-hand opportunity to experience the remarkable energy and agriculture wealth of the Imperial Valley.  (See my posts of December 6th and 8th below).  The EDC has scheduled a one-day version of the trip for April 9th.  The $195 fee includes meals and transportation.  This is a must-do for everyone who is interested in the vast base of cleantech opportunities which exist in the Cali Baja Mega-Region. 

The Imperial Valley is an energy cornucopia.  I doubt if there is any comparable space in the world that can harvest energy from solar, geothermal, water, wind, algae, biomass and piped-in natural gas. 

To register contact Emily, Events Manager, at 619-615-2969 or en@sandiegobusiness.org

OR click here to register online.

Since October of 2008 CleanTECH San Diego’s website has hosted a RSS Feed which archives news about cleantech companies and events in San Diego.  This month the 1000th item was posted to the list.  The accelerating flow of stories provides further evidence of San Diego’s global reputation as a cleantech cluster. 

In addition to the convenience provided by the CleanTECH San Diego’s RSS Feed, the list is of value to anyone who wishes to research the cleantech experience in San Diego.  A linear approach would be to start with the most current story and click your way back in time. 

 Using Google you can search the list in a manner which is more efficient than a general Google search.  For example, a Google search of “CleanTECH San Diego” and “solar” yields over 100,000 results.  A search limited to only the CleanTECH San Diego RSS Feed generates 47 unique stories.  This focused approach narrows the results to only those stories which are about innovative solar in San Diego.  The format for the search is: 

 site:news.cleantechsandiego.org  solar. 

 The story selection process for the RSS Feed seeks to identify all news reports which are both cleantech and San Diego with an emphasis on innovation.  To add utility, the list is screened to minimize story duplication and the inclusion of items of small consequence.  The result is a fingers-on-pulse tracking which is both timely and thorough. 

 Click here to access the CleanTECH San Diego news archive and to subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Nature or nurture?  There is no doubt that the innovation gene is prevalent in San Diego.  However, a strong case can be made for San Diego’s environment of collaboration as the dominant force for success in technological creation.  Two new resources announced within the last two weeks support that argument. 

Calit2 Federal Funding Portal @ CONNECT

The enormity of the funds originating from Federal programs and grants is both an opportunity and a problem.  The smart people of UCSD have automated the process and are collaborating with CONNECT to make the resource available to local innovators and entrepreneurs.  Working with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) CONNECT has developed a new set of tools to help member companies and local entrepreneurs identify federal research funding opportunities.  Click here to access Calit2 Federal Funding Portal @ CONNECT.

The X Lists

Last week Xconomy rolled out the X Lists, “the region’s best resource for innovators and entrepreneurs”.  Much of the entrepreneurial process is about accessing information and identifying people who have answers as efficiently and quickly as possible.  The X Lists are a great place to begin the journey from not-knowing to knowing.  Click here for Bruce Bigelow’s description of this valuable resource.

The overused words-of-wisdom about real estate are location, location, location.  Maybe the same should also be said about entrepreneurial innovation.  The cornucopia of resources available at the San Diego location provides a winning advantage to those who seek to grow their enterprise through innovation.

In his blockbuster best seller of 2008, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” Tom Friedman describes “the astonishing expansion of the world’s middle class through globalization” which challenges our planet’s capacity to provide for the basic elements of food, air and water.  Simply, the rest of the world wants what we have and they want it now. 

Less walking:

China is now the number one car market in the world.  First time buyers account for 70% of purchases in China.  On the other hand, the auto fleet in the United States is shrinking. For the first time since World War II, more used cars were scrapped than new cars sold in 2009. 

More talking:

The number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide is projected to reach 5 billion this year.  Ten years ago only 10% of Russians had a cell phone.  Today there are more Russian cell phone accounts than there are Russians.

Looking and feeling marvelous:

In five years toothpaste consumption in India has increased by over 40%.  Cosmetics maker Avon Products saw Latin American sales rise 29 percent while North American sales fell 7 percent during the most recent quarter.  South Korea is the leading consumer of Spam outside to the United States.  Over 40 percent of the Spam sold in South Korea is in the form of gifts and it is the only country in the world that sells Spam in boxed gift sets.

OK.  The Spam item is silly, but the point is that there are significant changes in global consumption which are happening at an alarming rate.  The politicized arguments about global warming have become distractions to the indisputable fact that a larger global population is consuming at an ever expanding rate.  On this we all agree.  The solutions which address this all consuming consumption are the same as those put forth to address global warming.  Let us focus on those truths we all support and acknowledge that this planet is not too big to be permanently ruined by man.

On Wednesday the second CleanTECH San Diego Showcase event: WIND POWER – Leading the Renewables Revival was held at the Marriott in La Jolla.  After the active networking session the 240 attendees heard Jim McDermott, Managing Partner of US Renewables Group, give the opening presentation followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Jim Walker, Vice Chairman, Board of enXco, Ian Gardner, CEO of Helix Wind, James Sahagian, VP for commercial development with Sempra Generation and Steven DeWolf, principal of Wind Tex Energy LP.

McDermott noted that wind power represents about 75% of the renewable energy produced in the United States.  Currently wind is a close second to natural gas for newly installed production capacity.  Like all projects which are capital intensive, wind power construction suffered with the collapse of credit markets.  Some deals are now being done, but on more conservative terms.  Key hurdles continue to be the on-again, off-again government support in the form of tax credits and loans as well as the onerous delays caused by environmentalists. 

Intermittency is the renewable energy term to describe the uneven production of power by both wind and solar.  Dr. Walker stated that as wind power becomes a larger portion of total energy production it should be considered part of the base load with natural gas as the go-to energy to fill in the gaps.  He noted that the bulk of wind energy production Read the rest of this entry »

Critical to the success of any regional technology cluster is the presence of an engaged legal community.  The rapidly expanding roster of clean technology companies in San Diego has the benefit of a strong base of intellectual property legal talent which has served our life science and high tech hubs for more than a generation.  Like every other aspect of local technology advancement, our institutions of higher education have provided intellectual stimulus.  Recently the University of San Diego School of Law began publication of the San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law.  This is the first academic law journal in the United States dedicated to addressing the challenges surrounding both climate-change and energy law issues.  Volume 1 includes eleven articles in 344 pages.  Click here for the table of contents. 

 The University of San Diego’s Second Annual Climate & Energy Law Symposium will be held on April 9, 2010.  The program will explore various regulatory approaches being proposed and adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Click here for the agenda and more information.  The symposium is co-sponsored by the Energy Policy Initiatives Center (EPIC) and the San Diego Journal of Climate and Energy Law.

From the iconic Italian novel, The Leopard, comes the insight, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”  If innovation is to remain the fuel for the economic engine of the United States then the process of innovation will have to change.  Duane Roth, CEO of CONNECT, supports a new paradigm for innovation which emphasizes a “distributed partnering model” with a focus on advancing products rather than companies.  This parsed approach would concentrate talent, capital and intellectual property in a manner which would potentially have greater efficiency and less risk, and therefore be easier to finance.  The old model of huge, fully integrated companies would be replaced by entities distinctly concentrated in the product functions of discovery, definition, development and delivery.  Coincidentally, San Diego has scores of companies which would be very happy to see this innovative approach to innovation blossom. 

Recently Roth contributed an Insight & Opinion article for the Xconomist Forum.  Click here to read Addressing the Innovation “Valley of Death:” It’s the Products, Stupid!

 You can also check out the paper authored by Roth and Pedro Cuatrecasas of UCSD presented by the Kauffman Foundation. 

 The press release from the Kauffman foundation is here.

By GUEST AUTHOR Lee Barken, IT practice leader at Haskell & White, LLP

With southern California in the midst of thunderstorms and tornado warnings, attendees at the 6th Annual Clean-tech Investor Summit listened intently to conference chair Ira Ehrenpreis remind the audience that “we choose Palm Springs as the conference location for the past 6 years because of the wonderful weather here.” 

Despite the cancellation of 3 speakers due to weather related travel problems, the January 19-21 summit convened over 400 industry professionals to reflect on 2009, opine on 2010 and network with piers.

Networking, as it turns out, was a major attraction for attendees.  As one Private Equity managing partner said to me: “I’m here to meet up with colleagues and see old friends.”  Another popular theme, as shared by one clean tech company exec I met: “We’re here to look for funding.”

Flipping through the conference attendee list (provided to all participants) reveals an eclectic mix with concentrations in two communities: Capital Providers (Venture Capital, Private Equity) and Read the rest of this entry »