In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

SOLAR, HYDRO AND WASTE PROCESSING START-UPS WIN AWARDS

In Business, July-August, 2006, Vol. 28, No. 4, p. 17

Ten start-up companies convince venture capitalists and industry experts that their firms “have the right stuff” to build new renewable power businesses.

OFTEN ENERGY entrepreneurs in solar, hydropower and waste processing convinced industry leaders and venture capitalist judges that their businesses can make clean energy competitive with conventional sources. Their presentations led them to win the Finals of the 2006 Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition of the MIT Enterprise Forum in Cambridge, Massachusetts where 40 start-ups competed. The Competition provides training, mentoring, plus $125,000 in prizes and services to clean energy entrepreneurs with the goal of building a thriving clean energy industry in Massachusetts.
The winning team - Stellaris Corporation - expects to build a vibrant company in Lowell, Massachusetts, capturing its share of the growing $11 billion market in annual worldwide solar energy panel sales. The company's solar technology uses passive optics, eliminating the need for direct sun light. By capturing more solar energy with two-thirds less PV material, Stellaris can reduce manufacturing costs at least 40 percent. The technology also allows transparent design that can be used in windows and tiles and installed via conventional construction techniques. The corporate team includes Jim Paull, president and cofounder; Lee Johnson, COO and cofounder; and Tom Ward, marketing and sales vice president. They won $15,000 cash, plus $25,000 in office/incubator space, and $7,500 in legal services. “Winning this competition will greatly increase our visibility with potential investors on both coasts,” says Paull, “confirming that we are on the right track.”
Second place awards went to Solasta (The Eagle Axis), a Boston College faculty team developing ultra high efficiency solar cells using nanoscale elements. Its technology increases efficiency of solar systems from a current high of 12 percent to a potential 35 to 70 percent efficiency. The other second place award went to Feed Resource Recovery that will collect food and other organic residuals from farms, restaurants and supermarkets, using an anaerobic digester to convert waste to fertilizer and biomethane gas for sale to electricity suppliers. Both of these companies won $5,000 cash awards, $25,000 in incubator space, and $5,000 in legal services.
The two third place winners won $2,500 cash awards and $12,500 in office/incubator space. These firms are: NatEl of Grapevine, Texas which converts underutilized low-head dams for hydropower generation with its Linear HydroEngine technology that is rated “more fish-friendly;” Synergetic Power Systems - an MIT-student team - intends to install parabolic concentrated solar collector systems on large flat-roofed buildings to power their HVAC systems, and provide back-up and peak demand power.
Explained Linda Plano, Chairperson of the Ignite Clean Energy Competition: “Investors are a tough audience. Everyone wants to talk to them, everyone wants their money. They can usually pick and choose their investments. So it's critically important that an entrepreneur be able to catch an investor's imagination and hold it for ten minutes by getting them excited by the opportunity.”
OTHER FINALISTS
The remainder of the finalists in the Ignite Clean Energy competition were: BiOctane - Proposes to design and develop a biodiesel and ethanol refinery. The two-step refining process, using waste oil and waste glycerol coupled with methanol recovery, can produce biodiesel, ethanol and hydrogen under one roof at a lower cost.
Hydrophen of Cambridge, Massachusetts - Harvard University team proposes to use a nanomembrane technology for oxygen permeation to produce high-purity hydrogen from water, with increased efficiency and lower cost due to its high production rate per surface area.
Oceanwind Technology - Has developed system for offshore wind farms using a floating platform design that eliminates on-site construction costs, reduces sea-bed disturbance, and allows for deep-sea deployment away from scenic areas. Platform design also minimizes risks from heave and roll movement caused by extreme wave and wind conditions
Phototaxis Solar - Will build solar-panel covered roofs over existing parking lots, targeting eco-conscious firms first, saving them the cost of construction and maintenance. Phototaxis will then sell the business the “green” electricity, and lease covered “GreenSpot” parking spaces.
Radiant Apparatus - Develops low-cost, multifunction solar energy harnessing systems that are highly portable and can be used for disaster relief. Inflatable multitool uses solar concentrating for heating and cooking, purifying and pasteurizing, rainwater collection, etc.

CLEAN TECH COMPANIES HIT MAINSTREAM MARKETS
SMALL TO MID-SIZE venture-backed companies with green ideas are achieving business success while overcoming environmental problems, writes Martha Shaw of Earth Advertising about a mid-June meeting of investors, financiers and economic developers that took place on Wall Street. “Emerging clean tech companies (with solutions to air, water and soil degradation) have a clear advantage that attracts investors,” says David Kirkpatrick, managing director of SJF Ventures based in Durham, North Carolina which organized the panel. “In my opinion, the kind of ventures we see here are going to be the big players in the next century.”
One such company is Cambridge Water Technology that can purify millions of gallons of water per day and is working in markets from China to the Chesapeake Bay. CEO Charles Hamlin is among the founders comprised mostly of MIT graduates. Cofounder Jeffrey Wolfe of Global Resources Options, a solar energy firm, says that people generally prefer clean electrons over dirty ones. “We're making that option more available.” And the CEO of Zipcar, Scott Griffith, notes that revenues for his company have increased tenfold in the past two years, as Zipcar has forged partnerships with some of the world's top auto brands.
Last year, investments - according to Martha Shaw - in clean tech grew 35 percent to a record $1.6 billion in North America. Stressed an attendee at the Clean Tech event; “People are beginning to realize a new paradigm. An investment means improving one's living standards and future. If you make a million dollars but the air you breathe and the water you drink have been degraded, you are essentially lowering your life expectancy. That's not a good deal.”
Anne Claire Broughton, executive director of SJF Advisory Services, is as interested in the jobs created by clean technology as the investment opportunities. These are the social returns - “local businesses that hire local people so that when the company succeeds, the employees succeed as well.”