A few years back, Marin Soljačić was driven from bed by the insistent beeping of his mobile phone. But it wasn’t beeping for him to answer it, it was beeping for him to plug it in. Since that night, the assistant professor of physics at MIT, has been thinking about ways to start his phone charging as soon as he enters his home - without the need for plugs or wires.
Jennifer Chu at Technology Review writes that Soljačić considered using radio waves, but found that most of their energy would be lost in transmission. Targeted methods like lasers require a clear line-of-sight and could be dangerous for anything in their way. According to Chu, he eventually settled on a phenomenon called magnetic resonance coupling, in which two objects tuned to the same frequency exchange energy strongly but interact only weakly with other objects.
Short video and interview with Amory Lovins. I’m so jealous of that guy. He grows bananas…in Aspen! Running time: 2:46
Best quote:
“We do have a national energy policy - it’s basically to keep wasting lots of energy; import it at whatever price, by whatever means necessary; keep stealing from our kids and keep screwing up the climate.”
It is often said that the so-called ‘low hanging fruit’ in the energy puzzle is not wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, or any of the other renewable resources. The cheapest way to create more available energy is to use our current capacity more efficiently. In other words the ‘low-hanging fruit’ is energy efficiency.
I was reminded of this fact recently when I read an interview with the king of all energy geeks, Amory Lovins, at Mother Jones. Lovins was asked the question, “If you had $1 million to invest in the energy sector, where would you put it?” Lovins responded,
“Efficient use. I want to do the cheapest things first to get the most climate protection and other benefits per dollar. Buying micropower and “negawatts” instead of nuclear gives you about 2 to 11 times more carbon reduction per dollar, and you get it much faster.”
While not as ’sexy’ as solar and wind, energy efficiency might be the smartest investment play if you’ve got some cash burning a hole in your pocket (though that’s not really the current trend). And while we here at CleanTechnica do not really fancy ourselves to be professional analysts of Jim Cramer or Tom Konrad caliber, we do keep our eyes on emerging trends in the industry. For that reason it is hard not to pick some favorites. I’d like to share two of my favorite energy efficiency plays with you: Echelon (ELON) and Beacon Power (BCON) .
The powerful winter storms that moved across Europe in March precipitated a considerable spike in electricity supply on the European grid, thanks to continental wind farms.
Wind speeds of 100 mph were recorded across Europe and topped 135 mph at the Czech Republic’s highest mountain, Snezka. The surplus electricity on the grid, produced mostly by German and Danish wind farms pushed prices down by 12% on the spot market.
Traders buying and selling round-the-clock power reported that the ‘day ahead’ price in central Europe’s power market dropped to €49.5 ($76) per megawatt hour compared with €56 at the end of the previous week, according to a piece at Planet Ark. Unfortunately, the article also suggests that sudden drops in electricity prices on the spot market have little effect on end-use rates.
Federal renewable energy tax credits, Congress’ favorite subject to debate but do little about, has once again been brought to the Senate floor. But because the amendment still has no funding mechanism suitable for pay-go rules, I would argue it stands little chance of passage. Pay-go compels new spending and tax law changes to not add to the federal deficit, or if they do, they must create some sort of offset somewhere else in the budget [read more about pay-go].
In a wonky twist that would alter the clean energy incentive structure in this country rather significantly, Senators Alexander (R-TN) and Kyl (R-AZ) offered an amendment (S. Amdt 4429) that would extend the production tax credit for two years (instead of one) for wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, small hydro, and wave and tidal power.
Editor’s note: Many investors see clean technology as a smart bet these days… but how do you get your cleantech business plan in front of the people with the money? Lead Edwards at Ecopreneurist points to one source of advice for clean/green entrepreneurs: universities… and some of this advice is free. This post was originally published on Monday, March 31, 2008.
If you are a scientist or researcher with a great idea for a green business, you should check out what universities have to offer you (even if you are not in school).
As an example of the types of programs available, consider UC Davis’s Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy (GTEA), which provides a free, week-long intensive for science and engineering researchers. Yes, I did say free, and it’s held at Lake Tahoe, Nevada in July—a very nice plus.
According to UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship Assistant Director, Nicole Starsinic, the GTEA combines classroom learning with a team project, which pairs scientists with business school students and professionals. A number of venture capital firms, law firms, and other professionals, which are listed in the Academy’s schedule, devote time in the hope of discovering the cleantech Google.
If you are a scientist or researcher with a great idea for a green business, you should check out what universities have to offer you (even if you are not in school).
As an example of the types of programs available, consider UC Davis’s Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy (GTEA), which provides a free week-long intensive for science and engineering researchers. Yes, I did say free, and it’s held at Lake Tahoe, Nevada in July—a very nice plus.
According to UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship Assistant Director, Nicole Starsinic, the GTEA combines classroom learning with a team project, which pairs scientists with business school students and professionals. A number of venture capital firms, law firms, and other professionals, which are listed in the Academy’s schedule, devote time in the hope of discovering the cleantech Google.
Editor’s note: On Monday, Ecopreneurist’s lead writer Leah Edwards published this post on approaching venture capital firms with a cleantech business concept (with guidance from a member of one of the most influential VC firms in the world, Khosla Ventures). We figured a few of you out there are bouncing around business ideas, and might find this information useful, so we wanted to bring it to your attention.
First of all, don’t worry about the business plan.
I realize that sounds like crazy advice coming from a business consultant. However, I have seen too many entrepreneurs stalled or stressed when trying to write up a business plan when the plan really is not the critical issue. Many green business ventures that would be of interest to VC firms are in the cleantech, new materials, information technology, and life science spaces. If you are an ecopreneur with an idea in areas like these, your most important task is to explain the technology or science behind your idea and whether you have, or can get, the rights to the intellectual property.
Don’t spend your valuable time wordsmithing a long document. Just be able to say:
why your idea works
how it is different from an existing technology or product, or what is being developed by others
how it will change the world, e.g., by dramatically changing a market or supply chain or by creating a new market or standards for how a market operates, etc.
This is not just my humble opinion. I spoke with Khosla Ventures’ newest operating partner Ford Tamer who explained that the firm is looking for leapfrog innovation—new technologies or new business models that can increase the size of a market by five-times or can drive costs down so significantly that entire new markets become available. He says, “We’re interested in ideas that can significantly affect the earth and can build big companies… We have no problem taking the risk if the risk is worth taking—for a huge benefit to society and the ability to be a major player.”
American and European venture capitalists invested more than $3.5 billion in clean technologies — a 13 percent increase over 2006.
But other nations want a piece of the pie; so Indian banks are going to provide Australian companies access to their energy markets in order to grow India’s cleantech sector. Equity funding for development projects is lacking on the subcontinent, but money from Australian investors can help bridge that [...]
First of all, don’t worry about the business plan.
I realize that sounds like crazy advice coming from a business consultant. However, I have seen too many entrepreneurs stalled or stressed when trying to write up a business plan when the plan really is not the critical issue. Many green business ventures that would be of interest to VC firms are in the cleantech, new materials, information technology, and life science spaces. If you are an ecopreneur with an idea in areas like these, your most important task is to explain the technology or science behind your idea and whether you have, or can get, the rights to the intellectual property.
Don’t spend your valuable time wordsmithing a long document. Just be able to say:
why your idea works
how it is different from an existing technology or product, or what is being developed by others
how it will change the world, e.g., by dramatically changing a market or supply chain or by creating a new market or standards for how a market operates, etc.
This is not just my humble opinion. I spoke with Khosla Ventures’ newest operating partner Ford Tamer who explained that the firm is looking for leapfrog innovation—new technologies or new business models that can increase the size of a market by five-times or can drive costs down so significantly that entire new markets become available. He says, “We’re interested in ideas that can significantly affect the earth and can build big companies… We have no problem taking the risk if the risk is worth taking—for a huge benefit to society and the ability to be a major player.”
I remember graduating from college and having that feeling in the pit of my stomach “Damn, now what?” Well, if you’re into clean energy, you may have some good prospects.
Renewable energy businesses are booming, but they’re competing quite intensely for talented people. Writing for Renewable Energy Access, Dawn Dzurilla noted that the “triple bottom line” of People, Planet, and Profit are motivating job seekers to enter the industry. Its rapid growth [...]
