Green Options

OK, that headline is a bold statement, but that was certainly my take-away from an event last night organized by the California Cleantech Open business plan competition.  The event was called a “Green Building Symposium“, and while there were booths manned by winners in this year’s competition who won for building materials and renewable energy solutions (including Bottlestone, S3 (smart shower system) and Red Solar), the topic of the speakers and a panel discussion was energy efficiency.

You can see and hear the presentations for yourself via an archived video. (Hint: You will need the RealPlayer. Click on “Part 1″ on that page under the title for the December 9th Green Buildings event, and you’ll want to fast-forward through the video of people filing into the room.)

The first keynote address was given by Gil Sperling, from the Federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy, who announced the signing of a memo of understanding with the California PUC to align programs in support of energy efficiency programs.

The second keynote address was given by Dian Gruenich, Commissioner, California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), who described a year-long process that resulted in a strategy plan, which you can download here (all 110 pages of it) or read an executive summary or fact sheet.  The plan’s goals include requiring all new residential construction in California to be zero net energy efficient by 2020 and for all new commercial construction to be zero net energy efficient by 2030. Read that, opportunities for green building materials, smart meters and efficient cooling systems, better windows and insulation, etc.

At the Cleantech Forum XVI in San Francisco on February 27, 2008, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner announced the three venture capital firms chosen to partner with the Department of Energy to place an Entrepreneur in Residence in national research labs. Each venture capital firm will select an entrepreneur to work very closely with a particular lab to speed commercialization of research in renewable energy technology.

I spoke with Steve Vassallo, Principal at one of the chosen firms, Foundation Capital, who explained that the different labs that are part of the DOE own the intellectual capital for the research done in the labs. Although the labs can generate revenue to support further research by licensing the intellectual property to businesses, they are not always eager to do this. For one thing is it complicated. Negotiating a licensing deal can be time-consuming and it is not necessarily the key skill of a group led by top research scientists. Whereas, commercializing new ideas is the expertise of venture capital firms.

With the Entrepreneur In Residence program, the DOE is adopting a model that has worked well for venture capital firms in the past, that is to pay an entrepreneurial person to find a business opportunity instead of just waiting for proposals to come to them. Of the origin of this public-private partnership, Vassallo says, “Secretary Karser is a private-sector guy in a public position.”