We announced today that last night Texas based synthetic biology CO2 to products startup Cemvita Factory edged energy forecasting software startup Amperon and Stanford cooling materials startup SkyCool for the 2021 Cleantech.org $100K GS Beyond Energy Innovation Prize. Jeff Wolfe of energy storage company Veloce Energy, and whose executive team comes from market leaders Tritium […]
The market continues to move aggressively. A number of notable new energy transition venture funds have closed despite the pandemic. We are tracking around $6-7 Billion in energy transition private venture capital raised since the pandemic started or expected to close this year. Tracking favorably to support venture investment even compared to the cleantech investing […]
Cleantech.org announced today that it has selected the 6 Finalists for our GS Beyond Energy Innovation Challenge in the following categories: Digitization of Energy, eMobility in Cities, and New Fuels. The finalists will pitch in a virtual pitch event on July 21 with the top team winning the cash award of $100,000 with no strings, […]
I’ve been investing in cleantech since 2001, founded a bunch of startups, and have a good stack of exits to my name across every cleantech investing wave. In fact my last 4 investments have all exited. Not sure I’ll ever be able to say that again. And renewable power is cheaper than fossil. It’s fun […]
Cleantech.org, the first, and one of the top portals for technology commercialization in cleantech, has hosted an innovation challenge competition, with a $100K cash prize for the best energy startup product in Digitization of Energy, eMobility in Cities, and New Fuels. The semi-finalists were announced today. As founder and Chairman of Cleantech.org and one of […]
Co-published with Energy Transition Ventures The Energy Transition is the term of art that arose out of the climate and cleantech sector in common use in corporate board rooms and policy circles around 2015 to 2020 to describe the shift, and the secondary effects and impacts, from changing the source of the majority of the […]
100 years ago my great grandparents were also angel investors – in Infrastructure, Media and Bee tech They invested in media, ag / cleantech, and infrastructure. Lest you think angel investing is new or VCs are smart – it really hasn’t changed much in a century. In the 1920s my great grandparents were active angel investors […]
by Neal Dikeman, chief blogger, Cleantech Blog Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been the electric vehicle darling since almost the day it launched. I’d argue there are some really neat aspects to its product and strategy, but it is far from a resounding market leader in EVs. The Range and Battery Scale Advantage There are a couple of […]
Analysis of 2014 financial results and valuation of Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA)
For my birthday, I told my wife I want LED light bulbs. I know, right? You’re thinking how cool is that! If you’re thinking anything else, just keep it to yourself. A bit of history. I like light. I hate waiting for CFLs to warm up. We need floodlight style for recessed lighting, and A […]
I get this every time I discuss EVs. Something along the lines of oh, you shouldn’t be including PHEVs in with EVs, they don’t count, or are not real EVs, just a stopgap etc. I tend to think PHEVs may be better product. At least for now. And I follow the GM’s Chevy Volt vs […]
I do like the Model S. I think Tesla is doing terrific things to the car industry, direct to consumer, aggressive EV range, great looking car. My friends who have one love it. The company is proving it has legs. But, as to the recent market run-up, not to be catty, but are you SERIOUS? […]
For a project we are working on, we have been analyzing EV and HEV historical sales performance. The numbers are striking. In the US Hybrids took until their 6th year to achieve 100,000+/year in unit sales and 1% in market share of new vehicles sold. Electrics and Plugins are currently on pace to do that […]
Kior, one of the farthest along cellulosic biofuels producers shipped its first drop in cellulosic biofuels from its pilot plant, but was way below its prior production targets. And Biofuels Digest reports it is now considering a smaller scale expansion of its pilot before launching its long announced commercial plant in Natchez. This sounds like […]
Bill Ford is talking about innovation today at the Ford Trends conference. He started with two quotes that struck me: Henry Ford – “If I’d asked my customers originally what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. ” Bill Ford – “The car industry back then was the ultimate disruptive industry.” Ford says […]
Last night I was at a dinner with Ford CEO Alan Mulally at the Ford Trends conference in Detroit. After taking a couple of questions on electric cars, emissions, and mileage standards, Mulally touted the C-max platform with the words: “I want to tell you a funny story”. The punch line of which is as […]
Wow. This has been a really interesting few months in cleantech. First Solar announced a $0.99 cent/Wp target within 4 years for installed with trackers utility scale in its investor deck. That equates to around $4-5 henry hub gas price in a new combined cycle gas plant. The scary thing is that best utility scale […]
I had a chance to wander around the Offshore Technology Conference this week and chat about some of the technologies on display. OTC is still heavily a mechanical engineer’s conference. Despite the high tech nature of the industry, in large part vendors are not yet leading customers, and steel still rules the day in technology. […]
Simple Thoughts on Aggie Muster Written on Muster’s Eve April 20th 2013 the year of the birth of my daughter Softly call the Muster, gently call the Roll. Another year is passing, time will take her toll. My family is remembered, as I’ll be remembered too. Remember me my brethren; I am remembering you. Softly […]
Energy storage is still the rage in cleantech. But after the collapse of A123 and Beacon, and the spectacular failure on the Fisker Karma in its Consumer Reports tests, fire in Hawaii with Xtreme Power’s lead acid grid storage system and with NGK’s sodium sulphur system, and now battery problems grounding the Boeing Dreamliners, investors […]