Making the Case for Cleantech in the U.S.
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.