Two Coasts Tell Tale of Where We Are

What happened on two coasts in the US the past two weeks speaks to our energy reality. The two coasts tell us where we are.

Both events illustrate the conundrum in which we find ourselves early in the 21st Century and very early in the transition from one primary fuel source to the next.

First the good news: Consent was given by US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday for Cape Wind, the long-stalled 468 MW wind farm project off the coast of Massachusetts. The project was held up by local interests concerned about the appearance of a line of 130 wind turbines located miles off the coast in the Horseshoe Shoal area of Nantucket Sound.

The second was the explosion, sinking, and subsequent leaking of a deep water oil facility last week, which by some estimates is now spewing 5,000 barrels (200,000 gallons) a day into the Gulf of Mexico from below the ocean floor. This spill is set to threaten the Gulf Coast, just five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated that region.

One of these events represents the future of our energy production: Cleaner, renewable, and with a free resource feed stock (the wind). The other represents a variation on the past: Dirty, dangerous, and dependent upon a dwindling feed stock (fossil fuels).

What people forget, however, whether celebrating the victory or decrying the disaster, is that we are not in a position to switch from the old to the new like a light switch in the kitchen.

We are very likely going to need the old to help foster the development of the new -- and our dependence upon the old isn't going away any time soon. Furthermore, because oil is running out, we are likely to see more risky and dangerous ventures to access what's left in the immediate future.

Extracting fossil fuels is a risky and dangerous business, as we've seen with this drilling disaster and last month's coal mine disaster in West Virginia. The sooner we can foster the transition off fossil fuels and to cleaner, renewable source the better off we will be.

But let's not forget where we are in that transition: we are just at the very beginning.

Top 10 Reasons Israel is a Cleantech Leader, from Cleantech Group

Here at thegreenskeptic.com we've been following the progress of cleantech in Israel for some time.

There are many reasons Israel has been an innovator, including, in part, because it has to be. Now, Sustainable World Capital's Shawn Lesser highlights the history of innovation, access to capital, scarce resources and other factors propelling cleantech today in Israel.

Israel, a global cleantech powerhouse, is now attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in cleantech investment every year.

The country gets more from its soil, water, air, and sunlight than most other nations on earth.

Why has such a small country been able to position itself a world leader in cleantech?

The answer, I believe, is a combination of many factors: its history, attitude of the people, ingenuity, and challenges to survival.

Read the full article here: 10 reasons Israel is a cleantech leader | Cleantech Group

Has the Green Movement Stalled? Green Skeptic on Fox Business

I was on Fox Business' Varney & Company this morning for Earth Day.

Tyson Slocum from Public Citizen was also on the program and we had fun talking about whether the environmental movement has stalled:

Your Long-Suffering Audience

The title of this post could be "The companies weren't bad, but their presentations weren't any better."

But I'll go easy. (Hell, I've been guilty too...)

It's not that the presentations were bad, necessarily; well, okay, they were. Yet some had useful information either about the company, the sector, the pain they were addressing, or the solution they proposed. Some even had realistic projections and maybe even a pithy quotable line or two.

Really, I suspect none of the presenters spent sufficient time on their presentations; especially on cutting them. (Wasn't it Pascal who said, he "made this [letter] longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter"?)

Or thinking through their audiences.

Oh, speaking of audiences: If you're doing a keynote, especially first thing in the morning or just after lunch, do something different. Use your OWN knowledge of the topic to craft your points and don't really on someone's data points or best-selling book to get your message across.

And don't assume that the audience either knows too little or too much about your topic. (Especially after you've ask them who they are. If you're going to ask, you need to adjust accordingly.)

Paul Kedrosky posted some good tips for better presentations (or at least quirkier ones), which has my vote: paulkedrosky.com

And, of course, there is always something worth reading at Presentation Zen.

Before you commit a presentation misdemeanor, consider the alternatives. And respect your audience.

Broadcast Your Pitch with Cleantech Investor NEXUS

Here's an interesting concept for cleantech companies that want exposure to potential investors outside their immediate region.

Cleantech Investor, a UK-based publisher of finance, investment and business information for the cleantech space, is offering cleantech companies the opportunity to communicate with potential investors in London and around the world.

At Cleantech Investor NEXUS events, companies give 30 minute presentations to a select investor audience. Simultaneously, the presentation is streamed live on the web to investor audiences around the world. The videos remain available for one year after the event on 3B NEXUS and on Cleantech Investor TV. Companies may also post the video on their web sites.

Presenting companies will also receive a professional profile, crafted by a Cleantech Investor analyst, which is printed in the event brochure and posted on the Cleantech Investor website.  The companies also get to use the piece as part of its fund raising.

Information for companies wishing to present: Cleantech Investor NEXUS (PDF)

I'm not sure this is the most effective way to fundraise, considering that most investors like to keep their investing close to home, but I like the concept of this and other "pitch portals," such as Vator.tv

Related articles by Zemanta

• IRTH Communications, LLC Sponsors 2010 Cleantech Investor Forum (eon.businesswire.com)
• Cleantech Investing Predicted to Shoot Up 35% This Year (treehugger.com)
• Cleantech Funding Directory Lists over 530 Global Green Funding Sources (press-releases-news.com)
• New Cleantech Investing Social Network at Socialgo.com (press-releases-news.com)
• Coverage for Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum (thegreenskeptic.com)

Coverage for Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum

Our 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum got some coverage in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Synergy and critical mass propel local clean tech sector
Philadelphia Business Journal - by Peter Key Staff Writer

Efforts to make the area a clean-technology hub are gaining momentum.  Entrepreneurial interest was in evidence last month at Blank Rome’s 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Between 350 and 400 people attended, up from 150 to 175 last year. Six companies presented and six exhibited, double the number of the previous year, and organizers said 25 applied to present or exhibit, despite no great effort to solicit participants.

"With more awareness and people getting together to bolster it, I think it can certainly continue to take hold," said organizer Thomas Dwyer, who founded a clean-tech practice at Blank Rome with another partner in the Center City law firm, Louis Rappaport.

Another indication of interest is that the clean-tech sector already has a group devoted to it. Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic held six events last year which drew, on average, 200 people.

The alliance was started by Kevin Brown, a senior partner at the Valley Forge office of Hobbs & Towne Inc., an executive search firm specializing in the clean-tech industry, along with Scott Edward Anderson, the founder and principal of VerdeStrategy, which works with clean-tech companies.

"There were a lot of people and companies involved in this space throughout the region, but they didn't know each other," Anderson said.

The region has an impressive and growing set of natural and economic assets to offer clean-tech companies.

The full article (requires subscription) can be found at: Philadelphia Business Journal.

Related articles by Zemanta

• $113 Million Pours in for Cleantech Startups in First Week of 2010 (treehugger.com)
• Clean Technology's Unstoppable Energy (futurelab.net)
• Cleantech Group Releases Report on Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings (prweb.com)

GoodCompany Ventures "UnPanel" Video Now Available

A month ago, GoodCompany Ventures had a lively event at GreenSpaces NY's TriBeCa space, including an "unpanel" on the subject of investment in social innovation moderated by yours truly and featuring Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund, Roger Ehrenberg of IA Venture Strategies and Jacob Gray from Murex Investments.

The video of the conversation is now available:

GoodCompany Ventures / Green Spaces NYC Launch Event from Christopher Bentley on Vimeo.

Or watch it here:

http://vimeo.com/10700032

It's long, but worth watching...