For the last 22 years CONNECT has put the spotlight on Most Improved Products from local innovators.  This year the competition has drawn approximately 100 entries.  In the Clean Technology category this year’s finalists are On-Ramp Wireless for Ultra-Link Processing Wireless Communication System, ecoATM (formerly reMobile) for ecoATM and Ultraviolet Sciences for UVS Ultraviolet Water Purification Systems.  Two weeks ago On-Ramp Wireless was introduced as one of the founding members of the San Diego smart grid coalition.   

The MIP honor in the Clean Technology category last year went to Reaction Design for Energico.  You will have to wait until December 11^th to learn who gets the trophy in 2009.

For the last few months the quest for biofuel derived from algae has been a hot headline.  San Diego’s prominence as the foremost algae R&D center will draw even more national attention when the 3^rd Annual Algae Biomass Summit comes to town October 7^th – 9^th.  The Algal Biomass Organization is a trade organization formed to facilitate commercialization and market development of microalgae biomass specifically for biofuels production and greenhouse gas abatement.  Attendance of about 1,000 is anticipated for the three day get-together which will include local algae heavy weights Sapphire Energy, Synthetic Genomics, General Atomics, Biolight, Kent Bioenergy and the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology among others. (more…)

is approaching their first anniversary in San Diego.  They have a unique approach in their coverage of local innovative economies.  At this time their focus is limited to three high-tech clusters, Boston, Seattle and San Diego.  We can assume that more cities will be added in time.  In San Diego, Bruce Bigelow heads up the Xconomy news effort.  His frequent coverage of the clean tech sector in San Diego is highly regarded.

Last evening I represented CleanTECH San Diego at a reception in a private residence to honor their Xconomists.  Xconomy has the enlightened strategy of aligning with several key thought leaders in each of their three cities.  The Xconomists are leading technologists, scientists, and business innovators. Click here for the impressive list of San Diego Xconomists who share their views and insights.

This evening I attended a dinner organized by the UK Trade & Investment, in conjunction with CleanTECH San Diego and Global CONNECT.  The UK Trade & Investment is the business development arm of the British government.  The evening’s theme was clean technology and renewable energy in the UK, in particular wind energy, biomass and marine energy.

Many of the story threads of the clean technology take on proportions that are almost beyond comprehension.  The UK’s role in wind energy has a plethora of gee-whiz facts. 

Airtricity, a division of Scottish and Southern Energy is developing two of the world’s larger wind farms.  One is off the Suffolk coast of England (540MW).  An onshore wind farm is located in the Upper Clyde Valley in Scotland (456MW).  Last week the British government announced grants for the construction of the largest wind turbine blades ever built.  Designed for offshore towers 574 high, each blade will be 230 feet long.  With a combined maximum sweep height of over 800 feet the wind turbines will be 300 higher than the tallest building in San Diego.  Each blade will weigh about 67,000 pounds which is equivalent to 22 Toyota Prius hatchbacks or a couple of Rolls Royce Phantoms.

Yesterday I met with the founders of a stealth-mode biomass energy company.  They are local, but their venture is focused on those states in which there is an abundance of lumber and pulp wood. Sawdust, chips, brush and tree parts are feedstock for a variety of carbon neutral energy processes including gasification, pyrolysis and wood pellets.  In our discussion they voiced their concern about the exclusionary nature of the definition of Renewable Fuel Standard. I think the point they raise has merit particularly when you consider that 30% of the land area of the U.S. is owned by the Federal government. I’ve reprinted a portion of their e-mail to me below.

We believe the definition of renewable biomass within the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 should be changed to remove the term “non-federal” from Section 201 (1) (I) (ii) and (iv).  The current definition prevents almost all federal land biomass – such as trees, wood, brush, thinnings, chips and slash (more…)

Understanding the concepts of clean technology finally gives you the chance to use every math, science and economics course you struggled through.  In many respects it is like learning a new language.  Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan are two great reads which provide the building blocks of knowledge for much of clean technology. 

If you have found your way to this blog, you probably have read Friedman’s book.  Subtitled “Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America”, Hot Flat and Crowded pinpoints where we are and, in Friedman’s mind, where we should be going.  Go to Amazon.  Buy the book.  If you already own it, buy copies to give to your smart friends.  It’s less than $10.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma is an enlightened dissertation about everything we eat.  Pertinent to the understanding of clean technology is the first 119 pages about the industrialization of agriculture and the dominant position of corn in our economy and diet.  It’s also less than $10.  Read it and buy it for your smart friends who eat.

Both of these books are huge bestsellers for a reason.  Let us know what other books should be on our list to read and give.

AMAZON Link to Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America

AMAZON Link to The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Today I attended a media event held to announce a major Smart Grid coalition formed by San Diego Gas & Electric with CleanTECH San Diego, UC San Diego and two dozen other entities including tech giants Qualcomm, IBM, Intel, Cisco, and a local rising star, On-Ramp Wireless.  The San Diego coalition is seeking $100 million of federal stimulus funds for smart grid development to benefit the region and to serve as a prototype project for the rest of the world to model.

In August, SDG&E’s parent, Sempra Energy, was recognized by IDC Energy Insights and Intelligent Utility magazine as the #1 “intelligent utility” in the nation in recognition of their work to move their customer base to smart meters. 

General Electric, a member of the coalition, launched “It’s Your Smart Grid”, an interactive educational website.  It is extremely well done.  We need the same for all other categories of clean technology.   Check out “It’s Your Smart Grid”.

Today was huge for the slimy green stuff in San Diego.  The United States’ two largest city newspapers, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, did in-depth reports about the burgeoning algae business in San Diego.  (See “Interest in algae’s oil prospects is growing” and “Algae as Fuel of the Future Faces Great Expectations — and Obstacles”).  Speculations about the commercial viability of algae as fuel, like any other scientific/business development, are purely speculative.  All the expert opinions on ESPN about the next Chargers game have no impact on the outcome of the game.  What we do know for certain about the Chargers and about algae is that the games will be played.  The question is will the championship game be played in San Diego?

Could it be that San Diego is approaching a tipping point (oozing point?) in its quest to become the world’s dominant algae biotechnology center?  At what state of maturation do we say, “now you are a cluster”? 

Minds and money work best when concentrated.  Concentrated brains and bucks are common attributes of all technology clusters.  (more…)

Innovators in San Diego love to network. Connect with CleanTECH San Diego is your opportunity to get face to face with the captains of industry, futurists, venture capitalists and propeller heads who play in the clean tech space.  This should be the largest clean tech networking event in San Diego in 2009. A similar CONNECT networking event earlier this year drew over 600.  All you need to do is register and show up with a fistful of business cards.

Connect with CleanTECH San Diego

Date: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009
Time: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Place: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
12235 El Camino Real,
San Diego, CA 92130

Event will take place in the outdoor courtyard.

Link to REGISTER

Not really. Pearson Fuels opened in 2003 as the nation’s first Alternative Fuel Station. You know their owners as the folks who operate Pearson Ford on El Cajon Blvd. in San Diego. Their menu offers flavors you don’t usually see at your corner gas station, including ethanol, biodiesel, CNG, propane, ultra low sulphur diesel and even electricity.

The boom and bust that represents the ethanol business in our nation’s corn belt is being challenged by alternatives which are not disruptive to the food chain. Today, AE Biofuels Inc. of Cupertino and Pearson Fuels said they have been awarded a $6.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Clean Cities program. The two companies will build and supply 55 public E85 ethanol-fueling stations across California over the next 42 months.

Pearson Fuels will establish the stations. AE Biofuels Inc. will supply the product. The technological focus of the project will be the production of cellulosic ethanol from crop wastes such as corn stover and wheat straw, or energy crops such as switchgrass, sugar cane bagasse and miscanthus. The fuel produced will be identical to the ethanol derived from corn. It’s a win-win. Drivers get their fuel and bourbon distillers get their corn. As near as I can determine, nobody is making whiskey out of switchgrass.

Link to Pearson Fuels

Link to AE Biofuels Inc.