Opinion: Why Venture Capital Needs to Back More “Now” Innovations: The current pace of progress won’t help us reach the emission reduction levels needed to avoid the serious climate change impacts forecast for 2050. The solution? Pump as much venture capital into “Now” innovations as we do into new technology.

EcoFactor: Finally a Smart Way to Control Thermostats: The software that 3-year-old startup EcoFactor has developed to intelligently manage connected thermostats is one of those game-changing technologies that makes you think: Wait, the industry doesn’t already do it that way?

Beyond Salt: Desalination Startup NanOasis Eyes Wider World of Clean Water: Startup NanOasis, recently awarded a more than $2 million ARPA-E grant, hopes to not only provide tech for desalination projects in California, but also sell into the market for water filtration systems in developing countries

Tendril Partners With Game Maker; “Eco-Warrier” to Gain Strength as Lights Dim: Tendril Networks, which makes energy-management technology for consumers and utilities, is partnering with an unnamed “major computer game manufacturer” to build a new computer game whose main character, an “eco-warrior,” will gain power as users reduce their energy consumption in their homes.

Applied Materials Buying Advent Solar, Cheap: While the amount for the deal is not being disclosed, it “was done very cheaply,” Lux Research analyst Ted Sullivan told us. “Investors did not get their money back — pennies on the dollar is a very safe assumption.”

Chip equipment maker Applied Materials announced this afternoon that it is acquiring 7-year-old startup Advent Solar. Applied’s solar acquisition investments now total more than $1 billion, including $330 million for Italy’s Baccini and $483 million for Swiss solar wafer equipment company HCT Shaping Systems. But today’s announcement probably doesn’t represent a big uptick in total investments, according to Lux Research analyst Ted Sullivan. While the amount for the Advent deal is not being disclosed, it “was done very cheaply,” said Sullivan. “Investors did not get their money back — pennies on the dollar is a very safe assumption.”

That’s because Advent took a big hit at a bad time as a result of the credit crunch. “It was effectively acknowledged that Advent was a failed company,” said Sullivan. Right when the startup was ready to start manufacturing its cells for solar panels, the crunch hit. “They had to lay everyone off, shut down the fab, and switch to a quote-unquote licensing model,” Sullivan explained, which meant, “We’re essentially out of cash, let us recoup some of the cash and we’ll package up an IP portfolio for you.”

Continue reading this story

The smart grid rollout is gaining momentum, spurred recently by the announcement of $3.4 billion in stimulus funding for 100 U.S. utilities and cities. Swiss meter maker Landis+Gyr has already benefited from this smart grid activity, but the firm has still grander ambitions and announced yesterday that it raised $100 million from existing private investors to fund its “rapid growth in smart metering,” according to a release.

L+G said most of its recent growth has been coming from U.S. business, citing unsurprisingly the stimulus package. But CEO Cameron O’Reilly also said in the release that the firm is seeing business opportunities in Australia, Canada, China and the EU, which recently announced an Energy Package that requires at least 80 percent of homes to have smart meters by 2020 and 100 percent by 2022.

Continue reading this story

About 16 miles down the turnpike in Delaware from the old General Motors where startup Fisker Automotive plans to build an upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicle, Elon Musk, CEO of rival Tesla Motors, yesterday told an audience at the University of Delaware (and more joining via Second Life) that he has “some reservations about the feasibility of Fisker’s approach.”

According to the Delaware News Journal, Musk said, “It’s very tough to create a car company,” noting particularly high hurdles for engineering an electric car, adding, “Fisker is very far from overcoming those.”

Musk’s comments come at an interesting time for the two startups, which have each secured multimillion-dollar conditional loans from the Department of Energy to help accelerate them toward a new phase: higher volume production of more affordable vehicles.

Continue reading this story

One thing is sure: The hybrid, tandem-seat 3-wheeler in the works at Oregon-based startup Green Lite Motors is no Prius. Less certain is whether there’s a market for the 4-feet-by-8-feet vehicle, which features “smart standup” technology that Green Lite President and CEO Tim Miller says will let the vehicle lean smoothly into turns and automatically right itself when it comes to a stop. But Green Lite just snagged one of the coveted regional finalist slots for the national Clean Tech Open business plan competition, and Miller sees a window of opportunity for this kind of vehicle.

The vehicle, now in third-generation prototype and able to get up to 100MPG, according to Miller, is the inaugural model from Green Lite. The design remains several steps away from commercial production, and faces high hurdles to win over consumers accustomed to having either four or two wheels on their rides.

Continue reading this story

One year ago, two key trends dominated the solar industry: economic uncertainty and scarce credit. If solar companies were to survive, they needed to scramble to adapt their strategies to both. Today, the economy is more stable and credit is freer, and so the industry faces two different trends. The first — a supply glut of solar products — has been in the making for years, and it keeps pushing prices down. The second is only beginning to emerge, but could take root: Demand has picked up for solar installations, especially in homes.

That’s the picture being portrayed in solar earnings reports, and the conference calls to discuss them this week. Real Goods Solar said on Thursday that its revenue in the third quarter rose 122 percent compared with the same period last year, including the addition of companies it’s acquired in the past year. Excluding those acquisitions, revenue still grew 41 percent. John Schaeffer, Real Goods Solar’s president, said a lot of the increase came from homeowners. In a statement, he noted that the company saw “the return of strong demand for residential solar” during the third quarter.

Continue reading this story

Updated with clarification and additional information about the utilities’ stimulus funding: Two major California utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison — were noticeably absent from the $3.4 billion in smart grid stimulus grants announced last week, despite both being widely recognized as leaders in the adoption of technologies to upgrade their networks. “More money should have come to California,” said Thomas Bailek, San Diego Gas & Electric’s chief engineer for the smart grid, while speaking at The Networked Grid conference in San Francisco yesterday.

Continue reading this story

Senate Panel Green Lights Climate Bill, Sans GOP: Sen. Barbara Boxer has moved the energy and climate bill out of the Environment and Public Works Committee and onto the Senate floor, despite a Republican boycott of the debate. But that doesn’t get the bill any closer to garnering 60 votes. — WSJ’s Environmental Capital

Smart, Sure — But Does it Fly?: Being smart can only get you so far. Al Gore talked on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart about the “super grid.” Not a bad idea, but Stewart says he needs “a grid that can fly and shoot lasers out of its eyes.” — VentureBeat

Should Chinese-Backed Wind Farm Get Stimulus Cash?: Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on the Obama administration to block stimulus funds for a $1.5 billion Texas wind farm that would use turbines made mostly in China. American and Chinese backers were planning to request $450 million in stimulus funds. — NYT’s Green Inc.

Solar Software Set for an Upswing: Solar companies spend a lot of time talking about making solar installations simple, but they tend to focus on the hardware. The growing solar market presents some good opportunities for software startups like Vela Solaris. — Greentech Media

On the Hunt for Smart Grid Industry Leaders, Innovators: EnerNex and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are looking for more industry leaders and innovators to participate in a panel meant to support NIST’s efforts to coordinate and accelerate development of smart grid interoperability standards. — Smart Grid News

The rate of innovation in clean tech, next-generation transportation, green products and sustainable business initiatives has never been higher. This year, nearly $4 billion in venture capital investment has been poured into green innovation, making it the most active sector of VC investment today. Pushing these new technologies into the market will most certainly help consumers and companies function with a lighter footprint in the future. But what about now?

Consider these market predictions:

• Renewable sources will account for 14 percent of U.S. electricity generation by 2030.
• Hybrid vehicles will number 11.3 million worldwide in 2020, 13 percent of global sales.
• Overall U.S. industrial energy consumption will drop 4 percent by 2030, while chemical companies will cut energy usage by 25 percent.

Encouraging? Yes. But this pace of progress won’t help us reach the emission reduction levels needed to avoid the serious climate change impacts forecast for 2050. The solution? Focus on the “Now.”

Continue reading this story