Green Tech

Consumers are increasingly demanding better environmental attributes in their digital gadgets, but the consumer electronics industry can go a lot further to make gadgets "green."

Environmental watchdog Greenpeace held a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday to announce results of its second annual survey called "Green Electronics: the Search Continues."

(Credit: Greenpeace)

The good news is that manufacturers are using fewer hazardous chemicals, such as PVC plastic, and are running more electronic take-back programs. Another positive trend is the use of LED screens for notebooks, which are relatively energy efficient and use less mercury than other technologies.

But many manufacturers are slow in adopting EnergyStar energy-efficiency standards or using recycled materials. Consumer electronics companies should also take more responsibility for recycling, according to Greenpeace. (Click here for a PDF of the study.)

The assessment, which follows Greenpeace's ratings of individual vendors issued in November, comes at perhaps the most environmentally themed CES so far.

The show organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, earlier this week issued results of a survey that found that consumers are increasingly looking for green attributes, as are manufacturers looking to differentiate products.

"Green is becoming a purchasing factor," Steve Koening, director of industry analysts at the CEA, told the BBC.

More than half of consumers are willing to pay a little more for products designed with the environment in mind, while 22 percent said that they are willing to pay 15 percent more.

Also telling were consumers' responses to what is considered "green." Over half of those surveyed said they didn't know what the environmental attributes of high-tech products were and 38 percent said they were confused by the "green" label.

That's not surprising given the explosion in green claims in the past few years. And when you consider the diversity of what's considered green tech at CES alone--from power strips that eliminate vampire loads to cell phones made from recycled material--it hints at the many aspects of "going green."

The CES show also hosted a Greener Gadgets Tech Zone and had a "Technology and Environment" session track with panels on electronics recycling and energy use.

Before the conference began, the organizers used a carbon emissions-management software application in an effort to lower the environmental impact of the event.

• Exxon CEO advocates emissions tax -- The Wall Street Journal
  The danger of a cap and trade system, say detractors, is that the system will benefit financiers but not be effective in putting a price on polluting.
• Solar-cell maker halts construction plans for new plant in Hillsboro -- OregonLive.com
  This case illustrates two trends: the difficulty getting loans to build factories these days and the cultural mismatch between start-ups and state clean-energy officals.
• Two Austin employers announce job cuts - Austin American-Statesman
  HeliVolt, one of the most promising CIGS solar companies, has laid off about 15 people, another sign of belt-tightening among clean-tech start-ups.
• SolFocus raises $47.5 million -- press release
  The solar company, one of the first to jump on concentrating photovoltaics, also names CEO.
• Venture capitalist says U.S. losing green race -- San Francisco Chronicle
  John Doerr tells lawmakers that the U.S. lags in green tech, and columnist Thomas Friedman says lack of government leadership is foiling entrepreneurs' work.
• Prius as emergency generator saved bacon, eggs when lights went out -- Green Car Advisor
  The story of how a car battery can act as a power backup. As more electric cars get on the road, expect to see more of this.
• A123Systems to build U.S.-based lithium ion battery mass production facilities -- press release
  Leading lithium ion battery company applies for $1.84 billion in loans to expand manufacturing of car batteries.
• Markey to lead powerful energy subcommittee -- The Boston Globe
  The incoming head of House energy subcommittee calls clean tech the "next technological revolution in America."
• Suntech boasts 1GW capacity amid Tough times for solar market -- Greentech Media
  Chinese solar manufacturer hits important milestone, as higher volumes leads to lowers costs.
• America's untapped energy resource: Boosting efficiency -- Time
  News magazine lays out the case for energy efficiency and reminds us how the greenest technologies (efficiency) are often the dullest.

Shortly after President-elect Barack Obama set a goal of doubling the country's renewable energy in three years, the jockeying over the energy portions of his administration's stimulus plan began.

At a speech at George Mason University on Thursday, Obama repeated his intention to promote the development of clean-technologies such as solar and wind energy, and to upgrade the electricity distribution system to enable smart-grid technologies. Obama said:

To finally spark the creation of a clean-energy economy, we will double the production of alternative energy in the next three years. We will modernize more than 75 percent of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of 2 million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions (of dollars) on our energy bills.

In the process, we will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced--jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings; and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain."

More details on how to fund energy-related programs trickled out after Obama's talk.

In response to a query from The Wall Street Journal, an Obama transition aide said doubling renewable-energy production in the United States is possible through a combination of loan guarantees and, ultimately, a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS).

There are a number of state-level RPS policies mandating that utilities get a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable technologies; the targets in California have set off a race to build up solar-power plants there. During the campaign, Obama had advocated a national RPS at 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent renewable energy by 2025.

Renewable energy from wind, solar, and geothermal is about 24,000 megawatts, according to the aide, which represents about 1 percent of all power generation in the country.

"By providing significant loan guarantees and ultimately, later down the road, a national (renewable portfolio standard), we are confident we will get the wind industry back on track. In addition to the 20,000+ megawatts of wind, we are confident that with the same combination of support and renewable standards, the geothermal and solar industries can install 4,000MW of new power," the aide told the Journal.

After his talk, members of Obama's economic team met with members of Congress, who voiced their concerns with the plan.

"Energy is way underrepresented here in the package that has been discussed," said Sen. Kent Conrad, according to a report at Energy and Environment Daily (subscription required).

That sentiment was echoed by Sen. John Kerry: "I'm very confident that some adjustments are going to be made...We positively--absolutely in my judgment--need to spend more on energy, and I made that point and will continue to make that point."

The entire stimulus plan put forth is structured so that 40 percent of the money comes from direct tax cuts, 40 percent from direct investments in initiatives such as efficiency, and 20 percent directed at states, according to reports.

Overall, renewable-energy companies are optimistic on the potential for policy changes under Obama. In response to Thursday's speech, the American Council on Renewable Energy said it is issuing a call to action to its 600 members to issue plans on how to double renewable energy output in the next three years.

The auto sector is also angling to secure loan guarantees and incentives to establish electric-car manufacturing in the United States, according to a report earlier this week in the Detroit News.

Advocates of underground storage of carbon dioxide at coal-fired power plants are also hoping to restart investment in the Department of Energy-sponsored FutureGen project.

If Daniel Yates, founder and CEO of Positive Energy, hits his goal this year, he'll unplug the equivalent of 75,000 homes.

The Arlington, Va.-based company late last month revealed that it has raised $14 million from New Energy Associates to build up its software service designed to cut home electricity use.

Because of the recession and a growing interest on cutting wasted energy, efficiency is expected to be one of the most active areas in clean tech. Already there are dozens of smart-grid outfits that make Internet-connected meters, networked appliances, or in-home displays.

Positive Energy is taking a somewhat more traditional tack to the same goal, relying on software-based data analysis and plain-old direct marketing campaigns led by utilities.

The premise behind the company is that people would change their behavior--and lower their energy usage--if they simply had more and better information, according to Yates.

"Everyone knows how efficient their car is. But even at the broadest brush stroke, people don't have the ability to talk about their home energy use, and that's a big problem," he said.

The company has developed a hosted software application that takes in utilities' customer data and generates quarterly or monthly reports for consumers on how their energy use compares to people in the same area.

Utilities use the data to offer more targeted efficiency programs. For example, it could offer a wealthy homeowner an incentive to set up zoned air conditioning.

Its first trial in Sacramento, Calif., was effective enough to cut the equivalent of 700 homes' electricity use. That's only a 2 percent energy efficiency improvement, but compared to most typical utility programs, it's very effective, said Yates.

Utilities are notoriously conservative about adopting new technologies. But the hosted software application means they don't need to spend a lot of money upfront or launch a long installation process.

With the $14 million, which follows a seed round from angel investors, Positive Energy plans to enhance its software to crunch data from so-called advanced meters, which give utilities regular updates on energy demand. It will also give consumers more data online, said Yates.

Yates was inspired to get into the energy efficiency business after being struck at how pervasive environmental degradation was during a 10-month trip from Alaska to the tip of South America. He decided to pursue efficiency at utilities through software because it was an area that would have a big environmental impact while playing to his strengths in software.

The company has 10 customers and is seeing strong demand. In the coming year, federal government incentives could boost the growing number of state-level mandates for utility efficiencies.

"The same week that Google put solar panels on their roofs (in 2007), I read another article about how New York had installed 8,000 (efficient) refrigerators in low-income housing, saving five times as much energy at two-thirds the cost of Google's solar panels. That was my 'Ah ha' moment," he said.

WASHINGTON--When politicians are doling out trillions of tax dollars in bailouts and so-called stimulus spending, nobody should be surprised if the line of businesses queuing for cash snakes all the way around the Capitol building. The latest idea: more spending on smart grids.

The idea of a smart grid is an alluring one: A far more intelligent electric power system that takes advantage of technological developments to deliver power in a more optimal, energy-efficient way. A household dishwasher could decide to turn on when prices are low at off-peak times, and plug-in electric cars could feed power back into the grid when necessary.

To make the case that a smart grid is deserving of some serious federal largesse, utility companies and their business partners organized an event here on Thursday that drew hundreds of congressional staffers and random political lurkers (the free sandwiches probably helped). The companies demonstrated "smart" thermostats and smart phone applications to monitor energy usage--and then delivered the punch line: significant checks from the U.S. Treasury are necessary to make all this happen.

Given that electric companies make money from energy consumption, they need some government encouragement to adopt smart grid technologies, they said.

Congressman Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) gave his support Thursday for using stimulus money to invest in smart grid technology.

(Credit: Jay Inslee's congressional Web site)

The federal government should provide "the right incentives to allow the utilities to do the right thing," said Bob Gilligan, vice president of transmission and development for GE Energy.

It is expected, business representatives said, that Congress will soon authorize using taxpayer funds for smart grid technology, if not through the upcoming stimulus package, then in either an energy bill or a separate climate change bill.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who belongs to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Natural Resources Committee, was on hand to endorse the spending allocation.

"We know this is driven principally by private enterprise and private inventors, but Uncle Sam needs to belly up to the bar and be the spark plug for this revolution," Inslee said. "We know the world demands clean energy technology. The world is going to go to the door of the country that will develop these new technologies."

Along with increasing loan guarantee programs and research and development funding for such technologies, the federal government could take steps to incentivize the use of smart grids by decoupling utility revenues from the amount of electricity sold, Inslee said. The development of a smart grid system could also be dovetailed with a renewable energy portfolio standard, he said.

"We should not allow this economic crisis to be wasted," Inslee said. "We intend to use this stimulus package to promote investment in these technologies."

Tax vehicles such as investment tax credits would be cleanest way to spur smart grid use, said Dan Delurey, executive director for the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition, a trade association.

"The smart grid does qualify for stimulus," he said. "It's infrastructure, and it's shovel ready. There will be R&D, but there are technologies out there that will be deployed now."

Better business models and policy frameworks are needed, the business representatives said, before the country can embrace renewable energies like wind and solar, which are not especially useful on a calm day or when the sun isn't shining. The energy produced by those sources, they said, needs to be integrated into a smart grid that can use other sources of power when necessary.

Furthermore, smart grids can let customers know when energy from environment-friendly sources is available.

"We have the opportunity to put into the hands of Americans the means to save our economy money and address a grave threat" such as climate change, said Dan Abbasi, senior director for the investment firm MissionPoint Capital Partners. (Abbasi's company has invested in companies including Trilliant Networks, which sells "intelligent network solutions that power the Smart Grid," and stands to make a handsome profit from Uncle Sam's generosity.)

Smart grid implementation could also result in installation jobs in every congressional district in the country, he said.

The benefits of the smart grid are spread to all energy participants, not just utilities, said Trilliant CEO Bill Vogel.

However, "like the Internet, the government needs to have some influence and then back out to get something started correctly," he said of the smart grid.

"Through innovation and standards, it is the gift that keeps on giving," he said.

CNET's Declan McCullagh contributed to this report

ZeaChem, a company that uses the microbes in termite guts to make ethanol, said on Thursday it has raised $34 million to build its first plant.

The biorefinery, which could be located in Boardman, Ore., will begin operating next year, making 1.5 million gallons of ethanol a year from a non-food feedstock, such as wood chips or grasses, according to ZeaChem CEO James Imbler.

(Credit: ZeaChem)

Investors in the series B round were Globespan Capital Partners and PrairieGold Venture Partners, with follow-on participation from MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, Firelake Capital, and oil refiner Valero Energy.

There are a number of research initiatives and a few companies working with the micro-organisms in termites' digestive tracts to make fuel or other chemicals.

ZeaChem has developed a process to make ethanol from these bugs, rather than try to develop new yeasts or bacteria as start-ups like Mascoma or Genomatica are doing. It also intends to use existing industrial equipment, lowering the technology risk involved.

"One advantage of our technology is that there's no new bug and no new equipment," he said. "It's really an engineering challenge because all of the equipment is industrially proven."

ZeaChem is one of several companies developing technology for cellulosic ethanol, or making the gasoline additive ethanol from non-food sources.

Thus far, though, there are only a handful of cellulosic ethanol plants being tested in the U.S., each pursuing slightly different avenues.

ZeaChem claims it can squeeze a lot of fuel from cellulose, making its ethanol yield 40 percent higher than competing cellulosic ethanol firms. It expects to be able to get 135 gallons of ethanol from a ton of feedstock, according to Imbler.

Its technology uses sulfuric acid to break down the cellulose--the molecules that give plants structure--into sugars. The termite-derived micro-organisms convert those sugars into acetic acid.

ZeaChem also plans to make use of the lignan in plants that's left after the cellulose has been broken down. Using a gasifier, it creates synthetic gas, or syngas. Hydrogen from that syngas is combined with the acetic acid after fermentation to make ethanol, Imbler explained.

(Credit: ZeaChem)

Using the gasification step means ZeaChem's process emits less carbon dioxide than other cellulosic ethanol techniques, according to the company. There's also enough syngas left over to burn and make steam to power the operation, Imbler said.

Imbler said that the process is flexible enough to use different feedstocks, but at this point, its preferred fuel source is poplar trees, which grow quickly and can be harvested cost effectively.

The company plans to break ground on its first facility this year. It envisions production at the facility starting in 2010 and plans to break ground on a commercial-scale plant in 2011.

LED manufacturer Cree has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to supply over 4,200 recessed LED lights for the Pentagon, the company announced Tuesday. Financial details were not disclosed.

Testing commissioned by the U.S. government determined that Cree's LR24 recessed LED lights would offer a 22 percent energy reduction compared with fluorescent lights, and save the Pentagon 140 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

The government also commissioned a cost analysis that showed the lights would yield a payback of less than four years once things like energy savings, maintenance, and the expense of properly disposing mercury-laden fluorescent bulbs were taken into account, according to Cree.

The new lighting will be installed in Wedge 5 of the Pentagon, coinciding with the major Pentagon renovation already under way in that area.

The purchase also happens to follow the advice of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan recently proposed by President-elect Barack Obama in his January 3 address.

As part of his plan to reduce reliance on foreign oil and create more jobs, President-elect Obama has suggested that the government will "renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient."

Analysts have predicted that LED lighting will replace incandescent bulbs, making LED lighting manufacturers a bright spot to watch for within the struggling tech industry.

Before: A Pentagon room before Cree's LED lights were installed.

(Credit: Cree)

After: The same room at the Pentagon after Cree's LED lights were installed.

(Credit: Cree)

Sentilla's microcomputers for monitoring energy consumption are just larger than a dime.

(Credit: Sentilla)

Sentilla, a company that makes energy management technology for industrial and commercial facilities, announced Wednesday that it has secured $7.5 million in Series B funding from Onset Ventures and Claremont Creek Ventures.

The energy-management tech company has patented technology that allows people to use microcomputers to remotely monitor the energy consumption of industrial machines, and allow those machines to exchange data with one another, to collaboratively direct energy supplies to facilities as needed.

The communication between the human monitor and the machines themselves is done through a series of small pervasive computers mounted either at the machine or in the vicinity that can communicate through wireless networks.

Each Sentilla Mini computer is essentially a Texas Instruments MSP430 microcontroller with a TI/Chipcon CC2420 low-power wireless radio that runs on two AAA batteries, according to the company. The computer is roughly the size of a dime and is loaded with Sentilla Point, a Java-compliant software platform.

In corporate-speak this type of service is referred to as a "demand-side energy management solution."

But Sentilla's technology does not only manage industrial machines.

It can also be embedded in commercial spaces or office buildings to monitor things like whether employees turn off the lights in conference rooms when not in use.

The technology was tested for this type of purpose at the Moscone Center in San Francisco during the JavaOne 2008 conference.

About 200 of Sentilla's microcomputers were mounted throughout two convention halls covering about 700,000 square feet. The computers collected data on the number of people exiting and entering the rooms, electricity usage, lighting, humidity, and temperature, then relayed the information back to a main computer via a wireless network.

By analyzing the collected data, Sentilla was able to determine attendee movement and energy consumption behavior, and make recommendations on how temperature controls, lighting, and electricity might better be allocated in the spaces.

Amid the carnage of last year's stock-market performance, shares in clean-energy firms fared worse than others, according to data published Wednesday by researcher New Energy Finance.

That dramatic decline--at one point going below 2003 levels--was despite some of the most advantageous political and economic factors for clean technologies in years.

At its low point in November, the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index (the ticker is "NEX"), which tracks 88 clean-energy global stocks, fell over 70 percent. The index then enjoyed an "Obama bounce" after the presidential election, to end up at a 61 percent decline in 2008.

For comparison, the S&P 500 index fell 38.5 percent last year and the U.S. Nasdaq Composite was down 41 percent.

The downbeat news from the public markets comes on the heels of the year-end data about clean-tech venture capital, which saw funding peak in the third quarter of 2008 and then finished the year sliding down.

Among public companies, the two hottest--and some argue overinflated--sectors within clean tech battered the worst were solar and biofuels. On average, solar shares plummeted 75 percent; biofuels and the biomass sector plunged 68 percentl; and wind fell 56 percent.

The poor performance reflects the fact that the energy business is very capital intensive and sensitive to fluctuations in fuel and commodity prices.

The price of oil plummeted from over $140 a barrel in July to under $40 in December. Meanwhile, the credit crisis made financing harder for projects such as wind farms or manufacturing plants.

The overall clean-energy sector, which has been exploding over the past three years, was also due for a correction, New Energy Finance CEO Michael Liebreich said in a statement.

Yet the demand for clean-energy products and services is still strong, making the long-term outlook good, he argued.

"Worries about climate change and energy security are still on the political agenda, and indeed the latter issue has become even more topical with the dispute over gas supplies between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza. And Obama is not the only leader seeing clean energy as an important element in the programs they are planning, to help stimulate economic activity," Liebreich said.

Meanwhile, the level of venture funding in 2009 could potentially drop after three years of rapid growth, said Brian Fan, senior director of research at the Cleantech Group.

Still, he said, the "fundamental drivers" of energy scarcity amid growing demand and of climate change policies are intact, which should attract more investors.

A Spanish company says it has developed a way to kill the vampires lurking in your living room--the numerous appliances that suck electricity even when they are not in use.

Good for You, Good for the Planet received a patent for a microprocessor-based design that cuts an electronic machine's electricity use to zero. It is now negotiating with several large manufacturers to incorporate the technology into power strips or into appliances, according to President Jorge Juan García Alonso.

Test products are being used at customers, including at a hotel and office building in Spain, according to a report. Commercially available products could be made more broadly available in a matter of months if the company successfully licenses its patent, García Alonso said.

Taking a bite out of electronic vampires could significantly reduce wasted energy. Good for You, Good for Planet says that a TV consumes more electricity per year when it's off than when it's on because the stand-by mode consumes electricity.

(Credit: Good Magazine)

In the U.S., "vampire energy" is about 5 percent of the energy consumed in the country and costs consumers $3 billion each year, according to the Department of Energy. Researchers at the University of California estimate that reducing stand-by power loss could save the U.S. $10 billion.