Posted on Thu, Nov 05, 2009
by Melissa
In late October, President Obama visited MIT (the astounding leading organization investing in green companies in Massachusetts) to encourage clean energy innovation across America. He reiterated the urgency to immediately address the doubling of global energy demands by 2050, stating that clean energy is the only avenue. Obama recognized the efforts of local politicians, especially Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick, in promoting climate bills.
On the heels of Obama’s speech, BusinessWire held a “GreenTech, CleanTech and Pitching New Energy Technologies” panel discussion today. The event highlighted a Q&A with top green technology and business influencers such as Andrew Brengle of KLD Research & Analytics; Jay Fitzgerald of The Boston Herald; Stephen Lacy of Renewable Energy World; and Curt Nickisch of WBUR radio. The panelists indirectly touched on President Obama’s points from two weeks ago, discussing the importance of green and sustainable technologies that tout efficiencies. With the rise of green IT in Massachusetts, the panelists underscored that it is a cutting edge field, and the state will be recognized as an R&D leader in the segment.
The Q&A covered the challenges and concerns with the U.S. suddenly focusing on this topic when other worldwide leaders made it a priority in the late 1990’s. While the U.S. government is only now beginning to address the need for clean technology, countries like Korea and China have put close to 90 percent of their recent economic stimulus packages toward green energy. This statement heightens the importance of the discussion the constant discussion in the industry – can we keep green manufacturing and cleantech jobs in the U.S.? Can the U.S. hold its own and drive innovation in green tech, while allowing the current energy efficient technologies to mature?
The number of messages and companies is growing by the day – but ultimately, it will be a test of time. In the meantime, we will see everything from biofuel companies to Nike sneakers to Clorox “greening” their mindset, catering to the universal buzz of the newer, “green” way of living. It will be an interesting market to follow over the next year and to witness which clean-tech startups emerge and separate themselves from the pack. Will it be wind? Water? Solar? Whatever it is – I can’t wait. This green stuff is the real talk of our future.
Posted on Thu, Oct 08, 2009
by Melissa
Did you know that venture capitalists have poured $8.7 billion into energy-related startups in the U.S. since 2006? The buzz lately around cleantech being the next “big thing” for the economy is spreading like wildfire. This technology breakthrough has great potential to generate jobs and build industries with little impact on the environment. Could this possibly be bigger than the other big booms that came out of recessions? The telephone and phonograph developed during the depression of the 1870’s, the integrated circuit in 1958 or when personal computers went mainstream during the 1980 slump? An article this week by Jordan Robertson of the Associated Press, “Where’s the next boom? Maybe in ‘cleantech’,” highlights this emergence as a dominant force in venture capital investments over the next few years.
The Obama administration promises that funding in cleantech will create jobs and spur entrepreneurial ideas in the U.S. However, are those jobs available now or will they appear in the U.S. after the products are created and on the market? Organizations also are concerned that this spread of green entrepreneurism and ideas will be pushed overseas, creating further jobs and manufacturing in other countries like China rather than in the U.S. (U.S. letting China take lead in producing energy) Time will only tell.
Metis works with a new ultracapacitor company called Ioxus, meaning “power” in Greek, to promote its product to the U.S. market. Ultracapacitors are rechargeable green energy storage devices that are used to prolong the lifespan of other energy sources, such as batteries. More recently they have become a topic of interest in the green automotive energy world, where their ability to store energy quickly makes them suitable for regenerative braking applications, whereas batteries have difficulty in this application due to slow charging rates. The greatest thing about Ioxus is that they are the first ultracapacitor company with engineering and manufacturing entirely in the U.S. They also are a great example of one of the companies evolving from this next big boom – promoting and educating the importance of green technology. Every little step to making us more environmentally friendly helps – let’s keep it going in the U.S. by creating more products, jobs and ideas that will help build up the economy again so we are all a little more comfortable with the financial system and our future.