Clean Tech Increasing its Share in the Global Economy

Although the global economy continues to struggle, clean technology investments are on the rise. North America saw a 30 percent increase, while worldwide investment increased by 13 percent, according to a new report published by CleanTech Group LLC.



Sundrop Fuels Takes Off

A Colorado leader in bio-derived fuels was Sundrop Fuels. The Longmont-based company develops synthetic fuel production systems which use highly concentrated solar thermal energy to turn gasify biomass. Sundrop Fuels reported raising $175 million from various venture capital partners in 2011, which accounted for 5 percent of all North American clean tech capital in 2011.


Larger Industry Trends: Solar, Efficiency, Transportation and Bio

While solar energy and energy efficiency saw the largest investments in terms of deals and dollars, transportation and biofuels / biomaterials seem to be moving more out of a research stage and also reported profitable investments.


North American Investments Gaining Traction

North America led the way in investments for 2011 as Europe and Israel dropped 30 percent in their investments for the year. China ranked second after the U.S. for investments and ranked highest in IPOs. The highest IPO for the year was Chinese state-owned hydropower company, Sinohydro. It raised $2.12 billion on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.


Bright Future Ahead

Predictions based on historical information have 2012 as the most financially prosperous and beneficial year for clean tech. Despite the still weak global economy, a shift to investing in clean tech has become clear for those wanting a successful and profitable long-term investment.

CCIA Welcomes New Board Appointments

(Left: Chas Eggert) (Right: Steve Hane)

The Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA) is happy to announce our 2012 board chair and vice chair appointments: Charles R. (Chas) Eggert as chairman, and Steve Hane as vice chairman.

Eggert and Hane, both CCIA founding board members, will fulfill traditional roles on the trade association board and bring unique cleantech and venture capital experience to the positions. For CCIA this will be a great opportunity to further take our organization into a leadership position for cleantech in the country.

Eggert is President and CEO of OPX Biotechnologies, a company that uses proprietary Leading EDGE™ technology to produce bio-derived chemicals and fuels to help industries better compete in the global economy with lower costs and higher returns. Prior to leading OPX Biotechnologies, Eggert was the president of Specialty Polymers Group, a $500 million revenue division of Akzo Nobel. He began his career with Monsanto Company where he progressed through a variety of leadership roles. Eggert also serves as a board director of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and is a founding director and past vice chairman of CCIA.

Hane will serve as the Vice Chair for CCIA’s board. Hane is currently president and CEO of Ampulse, a solar energy company that focuses on better efficiencies and performance for crystalline-silicon thin-film solar photovoltaic technology. Hane currently serves on the advisory board of the University of Colorado's Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, and is a founding board member of CCIA.

Both Eggert and Hane bring expansive executive and investment capital management experience to the cleantech industry.

“We’re excited to have such esteemed business executives assuming leadership of our board and bringing such a wealth of industry, fundraising and venture capital knowledge,” said Christine Shapard, Executive Director of CCIA. “The benefits will be great for CCIA as a whole and all our members.”

Can't Miss Events in January

CCIA has a big week next week! Below is a list of our sponsored events next week. Stay informed on efficiency, financing your startup and meet with investors.

Energy Connections – Focus on Efficient Buildings

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 7:30 - 9 a.m.

Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
1445 Market St., Ste 3200
Denver, CO 80202

Join us for the first Energy Connections Meeting of 2012. This session will focus on the challenges and opportunities of the green building market.

Guest speakers include:

• Anne Hayes of Westfield
• Tim Heaton of Coolerado
• Steve Bachar of Silver Bullet Water Treatment
  and others.

Network, gather with like-minded CEC and CCIA members and share issues, develop partnerships, and make new connections.

This is an invitation-only presentation for CEC and CCIA members.

Register for Energy Connections or learn about how to join CCIA

Financing Your Cleantech Startup

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2:30 - 6:00pm

Colorado Center for Renewable Energy Economic Development (CREED)
14062 Denver West Parkway
Building 52, Suite 300
Golden, CO 80401

Get valuable information on how to finance your cleantech startup. Don’t just ask for money — ask for the right money and in the right way. Speaker Tim Reeser of Aravaipa Ventures will discuss the ins and outs of financing models, strategy and the challenges to cleantech startups. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insight to the business side of your cleantech startup.

Register now for Financing Your Cleantech Startup

REGISTRATION DEADLINE ALERT

Jan. 27 Deadline: CREED Investor Access Breakfast

Event Date: Feb. 16

CREED Headquarters
14062 Denver West Parkway
Building 52, Suite 300
Golden, CO 80401

Cost: CCIA Members $35
Non-Members: $50

It’s your chance to present your business to investors after a continental breakfast and presentations from our speakers. Applications to present are due by Jan. 27 and presenters will be notified by Feb. 10.

Register for Investor Access

For information about these and all CCIA events, visit our events page.

Becoming Part of the Advanced Energy Economy: A Q&A with CCIA’s Executive Director Chris Shapard

Recently, Colorado Cleantech Industry Association announced it was becoming a charter member of the Advanced Energy Economy. Described as “a chamber of commerce for clean energy businesses,” CCIA Executive Director Chris Shapard talks about what the AEE is all about:

Q: What is the Advanced Energy Economy?

A: AEE is focused on the creation and support of regional economic organization focused on advanced energy growth and innovation. The founding members believe that national energy strategy will be defined out of regional development – a bottoms up approach rather than a top-down push. The AEE is enabling a platform for states and regions to share best practices and build technology partnerships, much like we do in Colorado now, but on a national scale. It is our goal, through CCIA’s involvement with AEE, to elevate our regional cleantech successes to help create a national dialogue focused on economics, competitiveness and national security.

Q: Why do we need the AEE?

A: All energy discussions to this point either focus in favor of jobs or the environment. AEE transcends that discussion by focusing on the business and economic impact of all forms of clean technology. With global energy consumption projected to rise more than 50 percent by 2035, future prosperity depends on new ways to meet the world’s energy needs. Advanced energy includes any solution that moves us toward the goal of energy that is affordable, abundant, and secure. Rather than favoring specific technologies, advanced energy is inclusive in nature and to be judged by the benefits it provides in the field and in the marketplace.

The AEE will help us take industry best practices that we know work on a state and regional level to guide national policy creation. It’s a really timely effort for Colorado considering Governor Hickenlooper’s bottom’s up approach to economic development. In addition, AEE provides financial assistance to chapters along with communications, policy, research and data support. These additional resources will allow CCIA to expand its capacity in 2012, and helps to increase our efforts around commercialization support for the universities and roll out an executive education institute.

Q: How is the AEE funded?

A: It is funded by individuals, foundations and corporations. AEE has already reached funding in the eight figures and are on target to hit their funding goals over the next three years.

Q: How is the AEE working on the Federal level?

A: From our perspective, the AEE will give Colorado’s cleantech cluster a more substantial voice in Washington. The platform they are creating enables us to partner with other clusters to play a role in DC when it is appropriate. Furthermore, when AEE formed, they merged with the Clean Economy Network (CEN). CEN had a very active advocacy organization and we are fortunate to have the combined experience of the AEE and CEN teams to provide us with eyes and ears on the ground in DC.

Q: How is AEE working with other cleantech organizations?

A: AEE is working with other cleantech organizations in a variety of ways. Many organizations like ours – those that are already established, recognized clusters in their state or region – are becoming chapters of the AEE. These chapters are then the main conduit of contact between member companies and the national organization. In areas where there is not an established principal organization, AEE is actually helping to establish chapters. In yet other areas, where there may be multiple organizations, AEE is working with those groups to establish a single voice for the region. There are currently nine states within the AEE network, and by March of 2012 we expect the number of active chapters to have doubled.

Smart Grids Are a Feasible Solution But Major Education Initiative Needed

A recent study has suggested that some American consumers may be warming to the idea smart grids to manage utility delivery. Smart grid initiatives mostly focus on an attempt to modernize the current utility grids. However, there are several misnomers and inaccuracies in the information that is currently widely available to the general public. The disparate and at time incorrect information has divided consumers into distinct groups with varying degrees of support for smart grid initiatives.

The study found that most people fit into one of five categories: Concerned Greens, Young Americans, Easy Street, DIY & Save, and Traditionalists. Each of the groups represented ideals of mostly socio-economic sects and factors. The research found, for example, that the Concerned Greens were vehemently protective of the environment and completely open to smart grids, while the Traditionalists fell on the opposite side of the spectrum and recognized no reason for energy reform.

Furthermore, the research yielded results exposing the major motivations behind those in a great economic divide. For the Easy Street consumers with higher incomes, they were less motivated to alter their lifestyles or habits. Interestingly, the DIY & Save group also show little motivation for change as their main goal was to provide for their families. In both groups, a lower importance on the environmental impact of their lifestyles was evident.

Finally, and possibly the most influential group, Young Americans, disclosed that they were interested in change and willing to adapt, but needed more education about the environmental payoff and economic benefits of a smart grid initiative before they could rally behind the idea.

Understandably, a significant factor in creating more support for smart grid initiatives and modernizations will include a push for education. Public awareness of the benefits, the realities of the modernization efforts and a frank discussion of the environmental and economic effects will need to drive future rhetoric and efforts.

Thank You to Colorado's Cleantech Community

As we head further into the holiday season, we want to take this opportunity to say "Thank You!" to all of our members, partners and colleagues for your support throughout 2011. We, the CCIA team of staff and volunteers, greatly appreciate your support throughout the year. Because of your partnership, we've had a very successful year working on your behalf. Following are a few highlights.

Earlier in the year, with intense lobbying from the CCIA, the Colorado General Assembly passed a $20 million funding stream for the clean technology grant program to provide seed stage funding to Colorado cleantech companies and proof of concept funding for university research projects. Governor John Hickenlooper signed the bill at a Colorado Cleantech Research awards event on May 26.

CCIA’s relationship with NREL became more formalized with the opening of the NREL- and State of Colorado-sponsored Colorado Center for Renewable Energy Economic Development (CREED), a multi-tenant facility catalyzing the growth of Colorado’s cleantech industry. CCIA is one of the anchor tenants at the CREED facility and partnered with NREL during 2011 to offer industry programming including an Entrepreneurial Series and Finance Accelerator Series. These series will continue with the strong NREL-CCIA partnership that’s been created.

In early November, CCIA helped launch the national Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) network in Denver, along with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. CCIA is one of the founding chapters of the AEE, an organization dedicated to connecting clean technology companies and clusters around the country, and bringing attention to the energy technology solutions offered by these companies. In addition to the nationally covered launch, CCIA hosted an industry awards gala attended by 500 of the who’s who in Colorado’s cleantech community that was keynoted by Kevin Skillern, head of GE Energy’s Venture Capital unit.

It’s through your support of the CCIA that we have been able to accomplish all that we have this past year. CCIA is industry-led and industry-focused and we look forward to the continued growth of Colorado's cleantech cluster in 2012. We have an incredibly busy schedule ahead - classes, sector events, the annual dinner, the research awards - not to mention a busy legislative session and the addition of the AEE programs. Please keep an eye on our calendar of events - trust us, it will be a busy year! If you would like to get involved with the CCIA, please email us.

GGP Energy Builds Successful Commercial Energy Efficiency Technologies

When words like scrappy come up in a conversation, the last thing that may come to mind is the cleantech industry. However, it’s an ideal word to describe Scott Charter, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of GGP Energy.

To call Charter a self-made man would not only be putting it mildly, but it’d be a bit of an affront. Charter is much more than that term can hope to encompass. He landed in Denver to attend DU law school with little more than sheer drive and a van he resided out of in Denver’s Washington Park.

His background in IT led him to data centers where his keen observations kicked off his cleantech career. “We knew we were spending a lot of money at our commercial data centers,” said Charter of his company’s energy consumption. “We saw that clean tech was a wide-open frontier that we had some experience in because of our data center experience.”

Charter and his business partner, Michael Hollander, struck out to change the way commercial buildings use energy. They found a way to introduce to companies “unique technology to lower energy costs in a commercial building,” says Charter of GGP’s basic mission.

For one, Charter and Hollander have brought the H2OFlow technology to market. This remarkable technology eliminates the need for maintenance chemicals to be used in commercial cooling towers. Not only does the technology make for environmentally friendly water use, but it also significantly reduces the cost of operating and maintaining the cooling tower.

Ultimately, it’s been beneficial that Charter is a scrappy guy. When it comes to making it in the cleantech industry he offers the following advice: “Make sure you’ve got the stomach for it. And I mean that. It’s not always an easy path to ho. We went from a company that was very east to start up because we sold a commodity. Our new company [GGP] we now trying to educate people saying hey, consider doing something differently than you’ve done it since 1920.”

Convincing commercial building owners to open themselves up to the new technology has its challenges. “Its easy to follow the pack. A crowd mentality—you’ll never get fired for buying from a major company. Getting people to change from what they’re used to is difficult,” said Charter.

However Charter and Hollander have come up with creative approaches to entice new customers to try the H2Oflow system. “Installation is for free, we’ll remove it for free. We have to earn their business every month. We’re so confident that our engineer will bring a coffee cup and drink out of the cooling tower,” says Charter of their commitment to the technology.