World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers: Embracing Disruption

The World Economic Forum made its selection of Technology Pioneers for 2010 last month.  The Energy and Environment group is an impressive list:

BioFuelBox BioFuelBox builds, owns and operates modular bio-refineries that recycle brown grease and trap grease and waste water sludge for companies and cities, converting it into premium clean burning fuel for local use. It eliminates the waste streams on site and shares part of the fuel profits with its customers. Steve Perricone, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer www.biofuelbox.com Bloom Energy Bloom Energy aims to change the way the world generates and consumes energy by converting a wide range of renewable and traditional fuels into electricity through a highly efficient electrochemical reaction, rather than combustion. K.R. Sridhar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer www.bloomenergy.com Boston-Power Boston-Power is pioneering the use of lithium-ion and other materials capable of powering end applications ranging from portable consumer electronic devices to electric vehicles. Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Founder and Chief Executive Officer www.boston-power.com Care Electric Energia CARE has designed a turbine system that generates energy from the natural flow of a river, without any alternation of its natural state. It provides fish passage facilities and does not dam the normal flow of materials in the river, conserving the fauna, vegetation and ecosystem. Johann Hoffmann, Founder Epuramat Epuramat’s technology promises to revolutionize waste water treatment. Its Extreme Separator achieves an efficiency of up to 99% in terms of solid/liquid separation of organic and inorganic particles in wastewater and liquids – and it does it in only one treatment step. David Din, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer www.epuramat.com eSolar eSolar aims to become the first solar electricity company to reach parity with the cost of fossil fuel. It hopes to achieve that goal with technology that concentrates the sunlight of mirrors of one square metre to produce steam at centralized towers. Bill Gross, Founder and Chief Executive Officer www.esolar.com Lehigh Technologies Lehigh Technologies manufactures very small, micron scale, engineered rubber powders from material derived from scrap tires using a proprietary, cryogenic, grinding technology. These powders are novel materials that are currently used in the manufacture of new tires and other rubber goods. Alan Barton, Chief Executive Officer www.lehightechnologies.com Metabolix Metabolix aims to create a new class of materials that can serve as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics. It has developed bio-based and biodegradable plastics using both engineered microbes and engineered bio-energy crops that grow bio-plastic directly inside leaves and stems. Richard P. Eno, President and Chief Executive Officer www.metabolix.com Serious Materials The construction industry is responsible for 52% of C02 emissions worldwide, which is more than automobiles, transportation and industry combined. Serious Materials is tackling the problem with high tech building materials that include super insulating products. Kevin Surace, Founder and Chief Executive Officer www.seriousmaterials.com Vihaan Networks Limited (VNL) VNL has developed a solar-powered GSM system specifically for remote and rural areas where people have less than US$ 2 a month to spend on their phone bills. Its base stations, which cost one-quarter of traditional equipment, only require as much energy as a 50-watt light bulb. Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer www.vnl.in

The Technology Pioneers program is the World Economic Forum's way of identifying and integrating companies – normally in a start-up phase or in their first rounds of financing – from around the world that are involved in the design and development of new technologies. The innovations of these companies reflect society’s attempts to harness, adapt and use technology to change and improve the way business and society operate.

Each year, hundreds of innovative companies from around the world are nominated, and approximately 30 are recognized as Technology Pioneers in three categories:

1. Biotechnology and Health
2. Energy and Environmental Technologies
3. Information Technologies and New Media.

For more information on the Technology Pioneers, visit the web site or download the brochure.

Is Green Tech Investing Making a Comeback?

Image via Wikipedia

Tuesday was a big day for green tech investing news: Khosla Ventures announced it had successfully raised $1.1 billion in capital for renewable energy and clean tech investments and the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department announced the first round of "Recovery Act" funding of $502.6 million.

Does this signal the beginning of a public-private investment bonanza for green tech? Only time will tell. But a lot of us are glad to see all the new green economy talk finally turn into action.

Mr. President-Elect, Bring On the New Green Economy, But Be Practical

Now that the election is over and Americans have selected Barack Obama as our next president, it is time to get back to work.

I'm not going to dwell on the historical heft of this event; many people have and will.

Suffice it to say that, regardless of your politics, you had to be proud to be an American last night. We are truly the land of promise and opportunity.

And it is opportunity that I hope President Obama will focus on when he takes office in January.

Now is the opportunity to transform our economy from one based upon greed, deception, and pollution to one of green, transparency, and solutions.

We heard a lot from both candidates about the new green economy, a new energy economy, during the campaign. Much of it was aspirational and not entirely pragmatic.

As he moves forward with his plans, I'd like Mr. Obama to live up to this statement from his speech last night:

"I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree"

It is time for us to get a realistic path forward for the new green economy, which is the best way to turn this economy around and move America forward again.

But it is important to take pragmatic steps within the limitations of the current economic climate.

We need real answers about how Mr. Obama plans to move this economy toward its green future. The goals he outlined in the campaign -- 5 million jobs and $150 Bn -- may not be realistic in the short term.

But in tempering his ambitious goals, I hope Mr. Obama will stick to his guns on going green.

It is important to our future that we have realistic, measurable goals and strong leadership at this time -- now more than ever -- especially on alternative energy, climate change, and overhauling the financial sector.

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On Panic and an Opportunity in the Midst of Crisis

"Can't you understand what's happening here?" George Bailey says in "It's a Wonderful Life," as the crowd gathers in the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan to make a run on their accounts.

"Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not. That's why. He's pickin' up some bargains. Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've, we've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other."

The scene ends with the financial wizards of the BBB&L toasting the last two dollars they have before closing time. Hope springs eternal, even in the worst of times.

I kept thinking of that scene during the past few weeks and, while there are comparisons to that earlier era, the "Debtpression" is different from the Depression. And while the seemingly socialist tools of nationalizing banks and credit institutions seems like a "New Deal," I don't think it is the answer and may end up being a raw deal.

We need to rethink the whole premise of our economy and of what growth looks like, and what our country is built upon. For far too long, our economy has been built on unsustainable growth, and greed.

When housing starts are the bell-weather of growth and consumption fuels the GDP, what do we expect? What do you do when new housing slows down? Make loans more available to those who can't really afford the mortgage you're selling. And extend their credit so they can buy more things to fill up those houses. How long could that have gone on?

We need to rethink the foundational elements of our growth. Why can't growth be equivalent to healthy communities, to greater efficiency, and improved and better uses of existing infrastructure? Why can't our economy be built on sustainable innovations?

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and author of the popular blog, A VC, wrote today about the effects of the economic downturn on his portfolio companies. And (pardon me Fred if I've misinterpreted) it seems that he actually finds opportunity for these companies in the challenging times we're facing.

He writes, "Much has been written about how the 'nuclear winter' of 2001-2003 led to many of the innovations we've been tapping into since. Clearly the capital efficiency revolution was fanned in the nuclear winter. When capital is scarce, smart people figure out how to do more with less. So first and foremost, let's all take advantage of this capital efficiency to get our costs down and build businesses with even more operating leverage. And hopefully there are new tricks out there that we can use to get even more capital efficient."

Gregor Macdonald, an oil analyst and energy sector investor, who also focuses on the coming transition to alternatives, seems to share this view of a leaner, more efficient financial engine.

"What’s needed now is a flowering of smaller investment banks and private equity, to fund the next wave," he writes on his blog Gregor.us. "The financial landscape should become 6 inches high, and 3000 miles wide. We are going to have to cut in the opposite direction, from the current consolidation in US banking. And it will take time. But I think what the country needs is to see a lively investment community in all major cities. Not just New York and Silicon Valley."

Greater capital efficiency and more dispersed investment community. Lean business models and more operating leverage. Sounds more sustainable.

I can't help thinking that out of this crisis -- if we can avoid the noise and abject panic -- can come a new path; a second chance, really. A path that is fundamentally about triple-bottom value creation, where profits are good, but so is people and the planet.

And I keep thinking, as I know Gregor does, that the three areas crying out for investment and that could provide a foundation for a new economy are energy, infrastructure, and new financial service models. Really, a new green economy.

"We invested in the wrong things," Gregor writes. "We invested in the wrong infrastructure. We invested in things that are now paying us little, in the way of return. I’m certain a new era dawns for energy and finance. The investment failures of this decade have likely made the ground fertile, to make it happen."

So, I'm trying to pay attention to a different kind of noise right now -- although it has been tough. It's a bunch of conversations, dialogues, monologues, and even rants by people a lot smarter than me in this arena. It's happening in a community that has a gathered on services like Twitter and StockTwits and Disqus. And it's a more hopeful noise. Concerned, yes, but already beginning to think about what happens post-panic.

As Andy Swan put it in his blog tonight, starting to move from despair to opportunity:

Despair : Opportunity

Fully Invested : Cash Heavy
Short Term : Long Term
Employee : Entrepreneur
Noise : Vision

STOP leveraging your bottom-calls.
STOP thinking in terms of next week or next month.
STOP just being an employee.
STOP listening to the noise.

START raising money.
START thinking about 2012
START thinking (and working) like you own the place

START FOCUSING.

To which, I can only reply (and did), "Amen, brother."

We can get through this thing all right, as George Bailey told the investors of BBB&L. We've, we've got to stick together, though, have faith in each other, and stay focused on a vision and a plan for 2012.

What is the New Green Economy?

Tonight, I was asked what does the New Green Economy look like?

My answer was in part that last week the old economy finaly died after an incredible run.

Now it is time for an economy that is built on sustainability, inclusiveness; about high quality green collar jobs -- real jobs here in the US, the kinds of jobs that can't be exported overseas. (That means installation, efficiency, and greater R&D.)

It's about prosperity as much as it is about the health of the people and the planet.

The new green economy is, ultimately, about investing in our future.

What does the New Green Economy mean to you?

Is It Time to Green Financial Services?

"I'm hoping the financial services sector catches on to the green trend," Frank Baldassarre, president and CEO of e3bank, told the crowd at today's forum sponsored by the Pennsylvania Green Growth Partnership in Hershey.

Green building has caught on in a major way over the past decade. Now, 14 percent of US municipalities over 50,000 in population have programs promoting green development, according to Shari Shapiro, a lawyer with Obermayer, Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel in Philadelphia.

But the financing of those projects hasn't caught up with the building community.

"Until two years ago, I didn't know what LEED certification was," Baldassarre, a former senior vice president with Fox Chase Bank, who is launching one of the first green banks in the country. "It just wasn't something bankers were thinking about."

Baldassarre and others, such as Florida's First Green Bank, Shore Bank of Chicago, and New Resource Bank in San Francisco, are trying to change that.

"Bankers lack the knowledge to go green," says Baldasarre, who referred to "building as the bones and financial services as the circulatory system" of our economic body.

Perhaps the time is coming for the blood running through that circulatory system to turn from red to green.

My 3 Take-Aways:

1. The knowledge gap is a niche worth exploring;
2. There is another emerging niche associated with the real need for a diversity of green financial products and services; and
3. The tipping point is upon us.

-----

Addendum: Something Howard Lindzon (it's Howard's birthday tomorrow, so I'm giving him a shout-out) pointed me to today seems to support the idea of mining this niche. It comes from Roger Ehrenberg of InformationArbitrage.com:

"Investment Banking 2.0 will be the re-emergence of the boutique, the focused, nimble, high-touch firm that was the bedrock of capital formation in the early years of the stock market boom.

"Because these mega-firms being created at the urging of the Treasury are not sustainable. They'll live just long enough for investment banking losses to be absorbed by the commercial bank's larger capital base, after which the best talent will flee for greener pastures."

Greener pastures, indeed.

(Composed on BlackBerry; updated with links 9:29 PM)

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Time to Bring on the New Green Economy and Retire the Old Dead One

Image via Wikipedia Perhaps it's time to sound the death knell on the old gray economy and create new institutions that can foster the new green economy. A phoenix rising new from the ashes of the collapsing old and exhausted.

The news this weekend is pretty grim. Bank of America (BAC) is buying Merrill Lynch (MER) for $29/share, American International Group (AIG) was one of the subjects of a special weekend session of Wall Street execs trying to save it from certain collapse. The other, Lehman Brothers (LEH) is being left out to swing on its own rope after Barclays broke off talks.

Lehman Brothers has an illustrious history, and was at the forefront of ever major economic development in the US since before the Civil War.

From its humble beginnings as a general store in 1840s Montgomery, Alabama, and as a cotton brokerage in New York City through the railroad bonds and early securities trading, Lehman Bros went on the ride (or push) the wave of boom after boom throughout the 20th Century.

Lehman financed most of the old major department stores, airlines, movie theaters and studios and was on the leading edge in developing technologies like radio and television, oil development, consumer products, the auto industry, electronics, computers and the Internet. Lehman was there, fueling and financing the economy.

As recently as last year, Fortune named Lehman Brothers the "Most Admired Securities Firm." And the formation that same year of their Council on Climate Change, run by Theodore Roosevelt IV, was set to keep them on top of the business implications of global warming and industry's reaction to it.

No doubt they would have figured out how to make green from Green.

But then came risky mortgages and real estate investments, the resulting financial crisis, collapse of their brethren, and concerns about Lehman's financial condition. Last week, the Fed said it wouldn't come to the rescue of the 158-year-old institution.

Lehman Brothers, once a great institution, is probably going to die.

I've been thinking about what made Lehman great over the past century and a half. Clearly it was an eye for what was next in terms of infrastructure and economic drivers. Who has that vision today?

Could it be that we need new financial institutions with similar vision and wherewithal to fund the major infrastructural needs of this young century?

Where are the new breed of investors financing alternative energy, efficiency, and rebuilding the electricity grid so that it can transport energy generated by industrial wind and solar?

Where are the new institutions that can catalyze a new green economy in much the way Lehman did the golden age of the railroad, the economic expansion of the 1950s, or the leading players of the high-tech revolution?

Some are calling for systemic solutions. Perhaps it's time to change the system entirely.

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Clean Tech: Unlocking the New Green Economy

"How do we begin reorganizing the industrial economy?" Umair Haque asked in his Edge Economy essay "A Manifesto for the Next Industrial Revolution."

Haque answers his own question: "By using markets, networks, and communities to alter the way resources are managed: to weave a fabric of incentives for sustainable growth and authentic value creation into the economy – a new economic fabric that's meaningful to people."

I've been thinking a lot about this call to action while developing my new idea to "organize" (to use Haque's term) the green energy financing space. And I've been wrestling with the following questions (among others):

What would it take to infuse new DNA into the way green energy is financed?

Can we redraw the boundaries of value creation in the 21st century?

Can we expand the access to participation in this space?

Can we create a company that is based on the values of integrity, openness, transparency, and "a fierce embrace of what's good" (as Haque writes elsewhere)?

Can we create a company that develops incentives for people to reorganize and manage resources in a way that reduces the barriers to entry for most people?

I'm becoming obsessed by these questions and am trying to create a response to Umair's challenge.

I hope that what I'm working on with a few very smart people will help reduce or eliminate the "clear, durable, structural barriers to efficiency and productivity" in this space.

The pursuit of answers to these questions is one of the reasons I'm leaving Ashoka at the end of this month. I need to focus my time and energy on trying to explode the boundaries of value creation and unlock the new green economy.

Call me a fool, wish me luck – or come along for the ride.

What Are You Doing? Wallstrip Does Twitter

Okay, this is outside my usual subject matter, but I've been a fan of Twitter ever since Fred Wilson sold me on the microblogging service over a year ago. (You can follow me at greenskeptic)

I know a lot of people who don't get Twitter, including some who are near and dear to me. Most think it's an unnecessary distraction; some actually think it's evil.

I used to think the former, but then I became addicted. After many months of using it, I realized the best answer to Twitter's simple question, "What Are You Doing?" is NOT, "Having a sandwich" or "Drinking my 3rd cup of coffee."

It's also a good idea not to answer, "Having a bad day at the office." You never know who is watching...unless they follow you. Like any communication tool it needs to be used judiciously and thoughtfully. (I've learned that lesson the hard way.)

What Twitter does best is allow you

1.) to stay in touch with people you don't get to see or speak to often -- or meet new people with whom you would otherwise not be connected;

2.) to post quick takes on subjects you are interested in but don't have time to write a blog post about, and

3.) to wrestle with business problems, the answers to which may already be out there in the Twitterverse.

I've even used it to ask my followers -- now over 350 people -- to help name my book or my green energy investing start-up. (More on THAT later...)

Recently, a number of us are using Twitter to muse about the rise and fall (mostly fall) of our stock portfolios and to gauge what others are thinking about companies we are interested in.

StockTwits scans your tweets (as long as they contain a stock ticker preceded by $, such as $FSLR) and automatically indexes and displays them with a chart of the ticker.

Now, two of my favorite addictions, er distractions, Twitter and WallStrip have come together, trying to answer the question, "What ARE you doing?"



Shout-outs to Howard Lindzon and Soren Macbeth, who got me into StockTwits early -- another great distraction, er tool.

Clean Tech: Market Folly's How To Play Energy in the Intermediate Term

My blogging pal over at Market Folly (check out his in-depth series on Hedge Fund 13F's here) has been dipping into alternative energy stock analysis now and again, and we've swapped interesting companies to watch and some sector research.

His recent post caught my eye because he's reviewing both the recent Economist special report, which I have read, and a piece in Forbes, which I haven't. And because I'm on vacation in Alaska, I'm going to reblog his post here in hopes that my readers will find it useful:

Check out Market Folly's How to Play Energy in the Intermediate Term. And subscribe to his RSS feed for future reading.

Clean Tech: Simple Questions Require Simple Answers

Technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant Sramana Mitra asked some simple questions in a Forbes.com article last Friday:

"What would it take? What would it take for the U.S. to move to a 50% renewable energy economy by 2020? What would it take for India to become a 100% solar economy by 2050?

"The answer lies in aggressive innovation and entrepreneurship in all parts of the solar ecosystem coupled with resolute policy decisions. And please note that policy alone, without innovation and entrepreneurship, will not solve the problem.

"Take the United States. Building a 100- to 300-megawatt solar power plant costs $750 million to $1.5 billion. To really move the needle, hundreds and thousands of such plants need to pop up all over the country and funnel clean energy into power grids.

"The best outcome would be if technology obviates the need for solar subsidies. 'Eventually, it is a technology race,' says David Chen of Equilibrium Capital, a new sustainability fund and a long-term technology industry veteran. We've seen this for over 30 years in cycle after cycle, whether it is in integrated circuits or disk drives, LCDs or flat panels. Moore's Law, it is called. We will see it again in solar. But in the meantime, policy will need to intervene, and make it worthwhile for investors and entrepreneurs to play in the market.

"In India and China, a distributed power strategy would be ideal. But batteries, which store solar energy captured during the day and release it at night, are still too expensive to be used on a mass scale.

"Here's another question: What would it take to stimulate small businesses to build up solar farms and sell energy into utility grids? I suspect, again, both policy and entrepreneurship would need to go hand in hand."

Simple questions require simple answers.

But, thus far, the simple answers ellude us. What's required is, as Ms. Mitra suggests, for Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, and Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh to "sit down with entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors, and understand through candid exchanges what sort of policy is needed to unlock the enormous entrepreneurial energy that sits boiling amid the ocean of human potential."

These leaders and others would do well to heed Ms. Mitra's advice.

Clean Tech: Wind Energy ETFs Will Soon Offer Investors Opportunities to Tilt at Windmills

Tate Dwinnell at Self Investors, LLC, reported last week both PowerShares and First Trust Advisors have filed docs with the SEC to provide Wind Energy ETFs (exchange traded funds):

"The PowerShares Global Wind Energy ETF requires a minimum market cap of 200 million and will likely include some or all of the big wind players such as Vestas Wind Systems (Denmark), Clipper Steam Turbine (China), Gas Turbine Efficiency (Sweden), Gamesa Corp Technologica (Spain), Windflow Technology (New Zealand) or Wind Energy America of Eden (US).

"The First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy ETF will be made up of 2/3 pure plays and 1/3 of companies with a portion of their sales from wind and include companies of all sizes. Countries with the most installed capacity of wind power include Germany, US, Spain, India and China with China leading the growth by tripling its capacity in 2007 over 2006. Some expect China to be the leader in wind power generation in just a few years.

"Currently, the best way to play wind with a diversified strategy is through the Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (GEX) which lists Vestas Wind Systems (Denmark) as it's largest holding at just under 13% of the fund."

This is good news for investors looking for a way to ride the wind wave. Currently, large-scale wind is one of the most viable alternative energy solutions and is on a par with new coal generation capacity in terms of costs.

Clean Tech: KPMG, AlwaysOn and Vator.tv Launches Online Competition

Readers of The Green Skeptic know how much we like online competitions. Here's an innovative approach from KPMG's venture unit, AlwaysOn, and Vator.tv

They are looking for game-changing players in the clean tech industry. Check out the intro video:




As with all the Vator.tv/AlwaysOn winners, the founder or executive of the winning business plan will be invited to present at the AlwaysOn Going Green in September 2008.

At the event, the winner will have the opportunity to give a six-minute CEO pitch to an audience of AlwaysOn investors and attendees. They will also be featured in AO’s quarterly print "blogozine" and on the Vator.tv and AlwaysOn websites.

KPMG is a global network of professional firms who operate in 145 countries and have more than 123,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. KMPG's purpose is to turn knowledge into value for the benefit of their clients.

Global Climate Change: Tea for the Tillerson, Exxon Shareholders Try to Force Hand

More on the Rockefeller-led shareholder uprising at Exxon in today's New York Times:

The Rockefeller family built one of the great American fortunes by supplying the nation with oil. Now history has come full circle: some family members say it is time to start moving beyond the oil age.

The family members have thrown their support behind a shareholder rebellion that is ruffling feathers at Exxon Mobil, the giant oil company descended from John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust.

Three of the resolutions, to be voted on at the company’s shareholder meeting on Wednesday, are considered unlikely to pass, even with Rockefeller family support.

The resolutions ask Exxon to take the threat of global warming more seriously and look for alternatives to spewing greenhouse gases into the air.

One resolution would urge the company to study the impact of global warming on poor countries, another would encourage Exxon to reduce its emissions and a third would encourage it to do more research on renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind turbines.

A fourth resolution, which the Rockefellers are most united in supporting, is considered more likely to pass. It would strip Rex W. Tillerson of his position as chairman of Exxon’s board, forcing the company to separate that job from the chief executive’s job.

A shareholder vote in favor of that idea would be a rebuke of Mr. Tillerson, who is widely perceived as more resistant than other oil chieftains to investing in alternative energy.

The Rockefellers say they are not trying to embarrass Mr. Tillerson, also Exxon’s chief executive, but think it is time for the company to spend more of its funds helping the nation chart a new energy future.

Read the article in full (requires log-in): Rockefellers

Clean Tech: Water, Water Everywhere; Time to Wade In?

Smarter minds than mine have been wading into water this week.

It's a part of the clean tech space that I've neglected thus far. Time to get a toe in the water and test it out.

Looking into TTEK, AMN, and CCC, thanks to @jmclarty.

Also taking a look at SWWC, AWK, and WTR.

I'm hoping the water is warm...

Wondering what ever happened to eMembrane, which had an interesting nanotech filtering technology.

And curious what's happening with Water Health International.

For another take on water and sanitation, check out Ashoka's Changemakers and Global Water Challenge competition, which just announced its winners: Tapping Local Innovation, the most innovative approaches to providing access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

(And you must check out India's Oscar-wiining director Shekhar Kapur, ("Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," who blogged on "Paani" (Water), his new film about the daily struggle for drinking water in the slums of Mumbai.)

(Disclosure: The author is an employee of Ashoka, but does not work directly for its Changemakers initiative. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

Clean Tech: First Solar Announces Executive Team

The other day, First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) announced new appointments to its executive management team. (Still bummed that they didn't call me, but nevertheless.)

Ken Schultz, John Carrington, and Jim Miller have been named executive vice presidents.

Here's a bit from the First Solar press release:

Mr. Schultz has led First Solar's marketing and business development efforts for more than 5 years and will now move First Solar forward in the newly created position of Executive Vice President, Advanced Development. In his new role, Mr. Shultz will drive innovation and commercialization of new products.

Mr. Carrington has joined First Solar in the role of Executive Vice President, Global Marketing & Business Development, the position most recently held by Mr. Schultz. Mr. Carrington will direct First Solar's global sales and marketing function, including targeted expansions in Europe and the launch of First Solar's entry in the United States.

He brings extensive global marketing experience from his leadership positions with General Electric spanning more than 15 years. Mr. Carrington most recently served as general manager and chief marketing officer of General Electric Plastics (recently sold and re-named SABIC Innovative Plastics). While at GE, he also served as General Manager of automotive marketing in Tokyo, Japan; Pacific Marketing Director in Tokyo; and Commercial Director for GE's Noryl resin business in Selkirk, New York.

Mr. Miller has joined First Solar in the role of Executive Vice President, Product & Global Supply Chain Management. He oversees product management and supply chain activities including material sourcing, product management, and logistics for product delivery and take-back as part of First Solar's end of life module collection and recycling program. Mr. Miller has in-depth supply chain and product management experience, most recently at Cisco Systems as Vice President of Product Operations and as Vice President, Global Supply Chain Management. Prior to Cisco, Mr. Miller was with Amazon.com as Vice President of Global Supply Chain. He has also had management positions at Intel, Teledesic and IBM.

First Solar manufactures solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor process that significantly lowers solar electricity costs. By enabling clean renewable electricity at affordable prices, First Solar provides an economic alternative to peak conventional electricity and the related fossil fuel dependence, greenhouse gas emissions and peak time grid constraints.

For more information about First Solar, see firstsolar.com.

(Disclosure: I hold a long position in FSLR. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

Clean Tech: Gary Kremen's Latest Hot Match, Solar

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Social Entrepreneurs: New Ventures' Call for SME Business Plans

This from Ella Delio of NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise:

Do you run a small-to-medium size enterprise operating in India, Indonesia, China, Brazil or Mexico? Does your company have an innovative business model that delivers strong environmental and social benefits? Are you seeking debt or equity capital in order to grow your business?

If so, apply for the New Ventures program in these countries. The New Ventures program of the World Resources Institute supports the growth of businesses that deliver social and environmental benefits by providing business advisory services and access to capital. Enterprises that have been supported by New Ventures have raised US$120M in capital. Moreover, 98% of New Ventures enterprises are still in operation.

The application deadlines for each country are:

• India: May 15th
• Indonesia: May 16th
• Mexico: June 30th
• China: TBD
• Brazil: TBD
  

For more information and access to the application form, please visit the specific country websites. For an English language version of the Indonesia application form, please contact slall@wri.org.

Salzburg Global Seminar: My 3 Take-Aways from Green Revolution in Africa Dialog

Readers of this blog will note that my "Three Take-Aways" exercise is becoming more formalized. Here are my three from this week's Salzburg Global Seminar "Towards a 'Green Revolution' in Africa?"

1.) A Green Revolution in Africa must be people-centered, including farmer households, consumers, and local communities.

2.) A range of solutions must be considered and deployed, including a judicious use of inputs (inorganic fertilizer, improved seed), as well as a longer-term view that promotes organic inputs to improve soil health and structure and increase production. We also can't rely on monocultures of a few major staples, but must employ the full diversity of locally and culturally appropriate food crops.

3.) Investments are needed to create the infrastructure to improve market access, including significant road development and incentives for entrepreneurial business generation. Without roads, in particular, market access will continue to be limited and success out of reach.

And, finally, words of encouragement from Kofi Annan concerning entrepreneurs in Africa (especially women): "Don't underestimate the entrepreneurial spirit of our African women. Our women entrepreneurs can succeed against any multinational."

My bottom line: An entrepreneurial Green Revolution in Africa is possible indeed.

(En route to Munich from Salzburg. Composed on BlackBerry. Links to follow.)

Clean Tech: Kleiner Perkins raising a $400M-plus 'green growth' fund, says Venture Beat

Venture Beat reports that "Kleiner Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that backed Google in its early days, is planning to raise a 'Green Growth' fund of more than $400 million, to invest in later-stage cleantech companies, according to PeHub.

"The move is a sign of the maturation and realities of the green technology industry. Many environment-related projects, including solar thermal, electric cars and bio-fuel manufacturing, require huge amounts of capital. Kleiner had earlier raised $200 million to invest in early-stage green companies, but it doesn’t have enough money to invest large chucks of cash in more mature companies as they move to manufacturing stage.

"According to the report, which we have yet to confirm, the firm may do select public investments, carveouts and spinouts.

"Kleiner has won considerable stature in the clean technology investing area, since hiring former Vice President Al Gore as a partner last year. Gore, a proponent of stronger measures to clean up the environment, won the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts. Apparently, Gore is among those leading the firm’s effort to raise the new fund."

According to PE Hub:

Al Gore is among those pitching it to [Kleiner’s] limited partners. During a recent LP meeting in New York, KP’s John Doerr reminded attendees that the firm had invested in the first commercial web browser just 14 years ago, which prompted Gore to caution Doerr against claiming credit for creating the Internet.

Doerr is expected to be involved in the project, but KP is also hiring a dedicated team with more experience in late-stage finance.

"They recently hired a team from the Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group that did the initial deals behind First Solar and Horizon Wind," says Anup Gupta, a partner with the Virgin Green Fund. "It was like a five-person team, [but] two left for Hudson Capital."

Is this an indication that Clean Tech and Green Tech is here to stay? We hope so. Bring on the New Green Economy.

Green is Good, baby.