5 Cleantech Wishes for 2011
Five things I’d like to see in cleantech 2011.
- A fuel cell in one of my blogger’s houses. This one’s actually in progress, so hopefully it’s a gimme. So come on Marc, we’re waiting for the pictures and the blog!
- More cleantech IPOs. Come on guys, the market’s been rolling, we ought to be able to deliver ONE good IPO or two? We did see RigNet (NASDAQ:RNET) get out in a $60 mm IPO. RigNet’s a telecommunications for remote and offshore oil and gas markets but maybe no one outside of Texas counts it. Of course, a nine year old c. $80 mm in revenues/$25 mm in EBITDA company backed by long time cleantech investor Altira, ought to to make the list. And Chinese LED maker SemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS) made it out in an $89 mm IPO. So maybe the IPO market isn’t dead to cleantech, and after market performance is guaranteed to go badly, at least for profitable companies.
- And speaking of LEDs, I’d like to see lots more of them next year – in houses, on street lights, hanging from Christmas trees. And I’d like to see them brighter and cheaper. And I probably will!
- A major cleantech conference in Houston. Perhaps someday rivaling the OTC – Offshore Technology Conference. When that happens, perhaps we’ll know cleantech has arrived as a real sector.
- Lots of EVs! I admit it, I don’t think much of venture backed EV startups, but I’m really excited to see some EVs. I imagine them like the herd of tractors in the tractor tipping scene from the movie Cars (don’t ask why, that’s just the mental image I have). And since I’m testing driving an Nissan Leaf Electric Vehicle a couple of weeks, this wish is bound to come true. I will definitely be blogging it.
Here’s thanking all our Cleantech Blog and readers and Cleantech.org members for your support. Happy holidays, and good luck in a new year!
I would like to see more honesty and integrity brought to the Cleantech debate on what it means to be truly innovative and disruptive in clean tech…without $50-400 million invested and a multi-billion dollar IPO on the horizon where ignorant consumers will take the beating after VC and market makers exit.
That would be my wish for 2011 as I see a lot of really bad technologies living on government funding that are never going to be commercially viable, but most people buying these IPO's will never see this reality.