Clean tech industry and Serious Materials

There are many fantastic companies in the region. Many of them are focused in the solar industry of course but there are many, many others. Spur in San Francisco developed an excellent report on local cleantech industry.


One of the most interesting clean-tech companies in the region is Serious Materials in Sunnyvale which takes aim at building materials - windows and drywall. ThermaProof windows and EcoRock drywall. EcoRock takes dramatically less energy to produce. 200 trillion BTUs of natural gas a year go into producing conventional gypsum drywall in the US. That technology is very, very old. EcoRock portends a huge leap forward.

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group interviewed Kevin Surace, President and CEO of Serious Materials earlier this month. It's an informative interview - check it out:



The quote from Surace: "After 100 years, you finally have a choice." EcoRock is in alpha and becomes more widely available Q1 2009.

Interestingly, Surace states that in 2008 LEED commercial was 12% of all commercial starts, but even more remarkable 41% of all dollars went into LEED commercial development. In other words, bigger commercial development projects are more likely to be green buildings. That's an extraordinary and positive sign. Let's hope it holds up in 2009 even amidst the downturn.

Port of Long Beach awash in cars

Samtrans to focus on higher density zones

Samtrans, the peninsula transit agency, will focus attention on service where there are more residents.

SamTrans is looking to improve its bottom line by supporting high-density housing near transit corridors and reinventing its services over the next five years, according to a report issued last week by the agency.

The District Strategic Plan 2009-2013 outlines the challenges that lie ahead for the transit agency — the umbrella group for SamTrans and Redi-Wheels — and sets new goals for the next five years. The most critical issue facing the agency is a growing structural deficit at a time when the demand for transportation services is increasing, according to the agency.

The report focuses on fixing the agency’s budget deficit, reinventing the SamTrans core services and linking transportation and land use investments.

“There is a growing wish for communities that are increasingly walkable, bike-friendly and transit-oriented. To meet that desire, we need to expand the vision of this agency to that of a mobility manager,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Scanlon said in a letter to the public regarding the report.

Both logical and better for the climate . And given the increasing number of such communities throughout the peninsula the opportunities should be quite good (though the peninsula nowhere has anything that can be really described as "high" density there are an increasing number of higher density developments).

High-speed rail on track

Funding prospects for high-speed rail appear good

But transportation officials say that California's high-speed rail project seems to be on a fast track to a hefty federal contribution - perhaps as much as $15 billion to $20 billion.

That optimism in the face of a dire economic outlook is the product of the priorities of President-elect Barack Obama's administration; the likelihood of a big federal infrastructure investment; growing concern over climate change; the volatility of gas prices; Californians' backing of the $10 billion high-speed rail bond measure and strong support for the project from the state's potent congressional delegation, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Message from Santa

Stand Up to the Skeptics in Your Family

After a few rounds of eggnog, the conversation at the holiday dinner table could get a little passionate when the topic turns to things like the environment and climate change. If you’re looking to hold your own but keep things civil, the Sierra Club has a Holiday Survival Guide. Check out how to best approach all of your family members -- everyone from your right-wing uncle to your super-duper liberal sister.

I know from my experience, I try to simply tell my counterpart that we should agree to disagree. And then I quickly shift the conversation to football. It’s a better strategy than getting the f-bomb thrown at you.

But I’m also a firm believer in not letting people get away with claiming that climate change is some sort of hoax concocted by Al Gore. As long as you know for sure that your conversation will remain respectful, you might want to check out this guide on how to talk to a climate change skeptic.

On a related note, someone recently wrote into Miss Manners about dinner table talk.

Dear Miss Manners: I sometimes find myself in social gatherings where people are discussing some social or political issue with a single point of view clearly preferred by most or all other members of the group, when it is a point of view I cannot bring myself to share.

I am aware that sometimes (as in the case of climate change), this occurs because my scientific background and sometimes (as with discussions involving sports) has more to do with an inclination toward contrariness.

My personality traits aside, is it rude to respectfully share a fact that flies in the face of the apparent group consensus?

Or is it better to remain silent and allow the discussion to continue on its course with more and more agreement?

My wife is (possibly properly) horrified by my exchanges. Who’s right?

Gentle Reader: Miss Manners can imagine your words about the environment being said pleasantly, in the clear spirit of “Well, there is another side to this,” in a free-wheeling conversation among dedicated but open-minded friends.

But your wife’s reaction worries Miss Manners. It seems only too likely that you are enjoying your dissensions far too much. That is your cue to stop.

Sears piloting home energy audit service

Only in Southern California at this point through their Blue Climate Crew Home Energy Solutions but this could be a good sign. If successful it could well mean a national roll-out. With 925 stores, many in middle America, this is a good thing.

Updated: It's worth noting that Sears' audit is more sophisticated than the light-weight audit offered by utilities. Here they do the full pressure test, infra-red, etc.

Billions into typewriters on the eve of the PC

Of the auto bailout, Thomas Friedman writes:

It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into improving typewriters on the eve of the birth of the PC and the Internet.

What business model am I talking about? It is Shai Agassi’s electric car network company, called Better Place. Just last week, the company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., announced a partnership with the state of Hawaii to road test its business plan there after already inking similar deals with Israel, Australia, the San Francisco Bay area and, yes, Denmark.

Updated x2: Tesla factory delay? But Chrysler may show sign of life

Tesla's road to fruition has more turns than Highway 17.

Tesla Motors' plans to build an electric-car factory in San Jose could be delayed by the proposed Big Three auto bailout, a high-ranking Tesla executive said Wednesday.

That's because the government money Tesla needs to build its $250 million factory off Highway 237 in North San Jose may be headed for Detroit to rescue General Motors and Chrysler from bankruptcy.

But the situation remains fluid, and Tesla remains hopeful that the $450 million in loans it has requested will be granted, Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla's vice president of business development, said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

The factory is slated to build Tesla's 4 door Model S sedan.

It seems Tesla has been banking on funds which are supposed to be aimed at the development of clean cars.

Congress authorized a $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program in 2007 to accelerate the construction or retrofitting of auto plants that would build high-mileage vehicles, and it appropriated the money for the program in September of this year. Startups such as Tesla — as well as Ford, GM and Chrysler — sought funds from the program.

The problem is that now Congress is considering using those funds for bailing out the big three - and perhaps not replenishing the funds despite assertions that it would. Sadly the track record of Congress standing up to Bush is remarkably poor.

There's certainly a reasonable question about whether Tesla is the best use of those funds given their limited impact high cost cars, but they are driving key innovation with broad applicability. But the worst of all possible worlds would be that the money go to the big three without any real innovation. Despite GM's incessant talk about the Volt, it is the auto industry's version of vapor-ware - perennially delayed promise.

But a lot of voices are pushing to ensure the funds are used to green automobiles. Word is that Chrysler is going to promise to offer hybrid or all-electric versions of all its cars (now if only I could find the link again...)

Updated: We better get moving before the Chinese eat our lunch. BusinessWeek profiles BYD's plug-in electric car that is already on the market.

Updated 2: Chrysler is planning to offer electric cars across their entire product line. We can only hope that "production intent" becomes production execution. More from Motor Trend.

Sustainable Spaces: pimp my home!

Got an old home you want to retrofit to make it more comfortable and reduce your energy costs. These are the folks to call. Cool video on their site walks through a whole case study. Financing available too.

Th!nk in trouble

This is a major downer. I've been looking forward to their cars - including having a chance to own one myself.

Think Global, the innovative Norwegian electric car company, has temporarily halted production of its City urban runabout and laid off half its workforce as it considers a sale to survive the credit crisis, Think CEO Richard Canny told Green Wombat Tuesday.

“Think is in a situation where we can’t grow anymore,” Canny said from Think’s Oslo headquarters, where the management team was still working at midnight. “We have started an emergency shutdown to protect our capital and our brand. We’ll need a new and stronger partner, whether that is a 25% owner or a majority owner or someone who buys the company.”

Let's hope they can find a white knight. Google is suggested...

GreenWombat has the story.

Water out of thick air

Water looms in the background as an even bigger challenge than energy given the globe's like 50% increase in population coupled with reduced fresh water supplies due to climate change. Like the Sierra snow pack, snow and ice caps are retreating globally as shown in this study of the Himalayas which provide water to some 40% of the world's people. But what if we could produce water right from air? This company in southern California is doing it.

LBL's Chu to be Energy Secretary

Nobel laureate Dr. Steven Chu, Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and former Stanford professor, appears slated to become the next Secretary of Energy.


Appears to be a stellar choice. More at the OilDrum

Update from Poznan

Just in from Bob:

... Hope all is well with all of you... random Poznan notes follow, pix attached.

§ Poznan is a mid-size (600,000 people) city in central Poland (33 million) notable for few, minor historic events, industry and regional higher education (130,000 students). It is cold, grey and feels dour. Poznan is on the peripherary of the world economy and society -– the airport is so small it has no taxiways or jetways, just one big runway and one smallish terminal.

§ On the other hand, Poznan and Poland deserve a break. This city and country are between Russia and Europe. It was leveled in WWII and has regularly been a part of major conflicts for centuries.

§ But the people (800 employed locally to host the event) have been unfailingly charming, helpful and hospitable. Really nice. Few speak English…

§ And Poznan has the best public transportation system I have ever seen in a small city. Easy and fast to get anywhere – and free if you are a delegate!

§ Poland is, however, both critical in the climate talks and screwed. Screwed because it is an economically struggling nation totally powered by coal, and their only reasonable near term (couple of decades) alternative is natural gas from their historic enemy, Russia. It is critical because it is a relatively important screwed country – to the extent that Poland commits to action it provides outsized international moral leadership.

§ COP14 has 11,000 participants from every country, every major corporation involved in climate (e.g traditional and alternative energy producers) and every major NGO involved in climate. It’s a giant trade fair. Hundreds of meetings going on, lots of booths, exhibitions and presentations. Half the meetings are closed (e.g. G77+China, actual working group negotiations) and the other half open (briefings and giant plenaries where results are announced).

§ The negotiations are unprecedentedly complex. Many interested parties each with their own positions, many formal working groups. Indigenous peoples, island nations, G7, G40, G77, 500 youth delegates, industry. More acronyms than you can imagine AWG-KP, FCCC/AWGLCA, SBI, SBSTA, REDD, BINGOS, TUNGOS, YENGOS and ENGOS (environmental groups – us). Most people here are very knowledgeable/sophisticated about all this, as well as the positions of every significant country and the linkages between those positions. Many people here have been working on climate full time for more than a decade. If you’re not really into climate, this is not a place for you.

§ e.g. “Since the creation of the SPA in the GEF Trust Fund, and the establishment of the LDCF and the SCCF, GEF-administered funding for adaptation has totaled about $310 million.”

§ This conference is about politics, morals and economics - not science. Science was completed at the IPCC in Dec 07 and ongoing updates inform the participants.. Everyone here accepts 350ppm CO2 (1.5degrees Celsius increase), some are trying to hold the world to 450ppm (2 degrees – huge disasters) but many/most are trying to hold us to 550ppm (3 degrees – global catastrophe).

§ The debate is about burden sharing (or as I call it, burn-sharing), equity, technology transfers and economics. It is about adaptation as much as mitigation. If a single storm (Katrina) can move hundreds of thousands of Americans from Louisiana to Texas, who takes care of the millions that will move from Bangladesh to India?

§ The medium term context is that the world needs to reduce C02 in half while increase energy supply by 50% - implying huge increases in both conservation and renewable energy. But keep in mind that the US is only ½ as energy efficient as Japan, and China and India are only 1/10th as efficient.

§ The global economic crisis is not slowing the work on climate solutions here – in fact it may be accelerating it. What used to be huge numbers to combat climate change have been exponentially dwarfed in scale by the economic stimulus the world is putting forth for economic recovery – which makes the money for climate solutions seem really practical. And there is the linkage between investments in alternative energy and infrastructure and economic growth – something everyone is trying to exploit.

§ Poznan is setting the stage for 2009. In addition to UNCCC’s two major Copenhagen meetings (2 weeks each), and the G8 and G40 meetings on climate, there will be at least two other UN sponsored multi-week meetings on climate as well as major initiative in the US, EU and many other countries and regions around the world. Some people will spend literally half of 2009 in national and international climate meetings.

§ The goal is to reach a post-Kyoto agreement in December in Kyoto. It will likely call for emission targets of 25%-40% below 1990 (Kyoto was 10%) by 2020, and have some vaguer goals for beyond that. With the addition of REDD (reductions in emissions from the destruction of forests), the technology transfer and economic aspects, this will be a vast agreement.

§ Things don’t stop with that December Copenhagen agreement. After that there will be rounds where specific ‘rules’ and ‘mechanisms’ are determined, a global ratification process/initiative, and then of course the actual implementation of everything.

§ Among the many meetings we attended was a briefing by the US delegation. These people are losers and embarrassing. And while the mood (and the city) are both dour, there is hope. The jerks that are still blocking American domestic and international progress will be gone. Obama will have a seismic impact on these talks and thereby the future of the world.

And the players:

Spectacular drop in gas prices, means?

Gas prices have done an extraordinary drop.

Gas is down to as low as $1.59 a gallon at stations in Stockton, Turlock and other cities in the Central Valley. The San Jose average is at $1.96 a gallon, while statewide the typical price is $1.92.

Kansas City motorists are paying all of $1.43 on average, and in some places as low as $1.29.

Never have we seen prices fall this far, this fast. The San Jose average is down $2.63 since the record high of $4.59 a gallon in June. And prices have fallen about $1 just in the past four weeks. Every day, drivers cruise by their favorite filling station and find a lower price than the day before.

The main reasons: the falling cost of crude oil and the horrible economy, which contributes to declining demand. Crude oil sold for under $47 a barrel Wednesday, down from $147 in July. Each $1 change in the price of oil translates into a 2.5-cent change at the pump.

Gas may drop further. Other factors have included the strengthening dollar and reduced speculation. Little discussed is how the gas price spike at the beginning of the year may have been a major factor in the downturn (even as the depth of the downturn is driven by the broader structural housing and credit crisis). The speed and depth of the fall are primarily a signal of how bad the economic downturn is.

But the truth is out there that this is a temporary condition. As a minister of the United Arab Emirates recently noted, "the age of easy oil is gone forever." This may sound contradictory but the reality is that the economic slowdown is masking the profound change we're undergoing in which the highest quality, most accessible and largest stores of petroleum have been depleted and we're now moving to less accessible, lower quality and more expensive stores.

The situation is creating contradictory signals. VC investment is continuing to soar in clean-tech because the structural problem is still there. Consumer behavior is mixed - probably more driving with domestic vacations but people don't have the money for new vehicles, especially expensive ones like the Hummer.

Fortunately, innovative initiatives like Better Place continue to move forward.

San Mateo's public education initiative

Just before Thanksgiving San Mateo launched a new public education campaign around climate. SMART, San Mateo Acting Responsibly Together, was made possible to a BAAQMD grant.

Initially, the campaign will focus on encouraging residents to carpool, use mass transit or bike and save energy in their homes by unplugging devices and using energy-efficient bulbs. San Mateo employees will also visit farmers markets and other city events to educate the public about the program and hand out water bottles and SMART fact cards, which city officials hope will eventually be good for discounts at local businesses, said Benjamin Goldstein, of the city manager's office.

Rancho Cordova-based municipal consulting firm PMC designed the campaign, which includes an online carbon counter for the city. Residents can start using that tool Monday to calculate their yearly impact on the environment, and the city will use the data to chart its progress, said Mary E. Hewitt, the project's manager at PMC.

Several similar efforts are underway on the peninsula. This is a good thing but it remains essential to nudge the cities forward on more substantive structural changes (such as green building standards). While encouraging better choices is good, those choices become more meaningful when good choices are available especially on the higher impact areas (ie: being able to buy a green home!)

More on the city's SMART website.

Foreclosures and retrofits: San Jose opportunity?

East San Jose has been ground-zero for foreclosures in the Bay Area.

Let's hope the city is tapping the new federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program for energy retrofits in regions hit by foreclosures. For folks still trying to scrape by without losing their home this could be a real boost. Green For All has the story.

"Killing God's Green Earth"

The latest from the Alliance for Climate Protection - a middle America message:


More at the Alliance.

SF Chron Columnist Slammed by Climate Scientists Worldwide

Over the weekend, one of the most respected climate change blogs in the world asked the question, "Why don't op-ed columnists get fact checked?" after SF Chron writer Debra Saunders wrote this column that attacks and distorts the scientific consensus. Saunders penned the piece after interviewing NASA scientist and RealClimate.org contributor Gavin Schmidt.

[S]ince her questions were straightforward, I answered them as best I could. Indeed in her subsequent column, she quotes me accurately and in context. However, the rest of her column shows none of the same appreciation for basic journalistic standards.

Coulomb begins national network

On the heels of Better Place's recent local announcement and UC Berkeley's report on economic benefits of electric cars, Campbell-based Coulomb Technologies is beginning to setup its national network of resellers for its charging stations.

It's worth noting the Coulomb's model is completely different but potentially complementary to Better Place. Whereas Better Place offers a subscription to swap batteries on demand in service stations, Coulomb is establishing charging stations. It seems likely that both will be useful and needed.

Hayward moving on green building

The city of Hayward is set to move on green building standards.

construction of new homes and significant additions to both residential and commercial properties will have to achieve a GreenPoint Rating.

That's done by earning points for various environmental factors on a checklist. There are five categories: energy efficiency, resource conservation, indoor air quality, water conservation and community.

Using high-efficiency lighting and bathroom fixtures are obvious examples of how points can be earned, but the list also takes into account things such as the housing's proximity to public transit lines and using native plants as foliage.

A home must meet minimum requirements in each category and score at least 50 points to be GreenPoint Rated

The minimum standard is consistent with that recommended by BuildItGreen and the Home Builders Association of Northern California however it is lower than that adopted by Palo Alto, San Francisco, and several others.

Superbulbs out of Redwood City

New clean-tech startup SuperBulbs aims to address one of the biggest opportunities in energy efficiency.

SuperBulb’s first product is the 4″x2″ A19 bulb. It produces the same lumen output as a 60W incandescent bulb, and like incandescents, can be screwed into a light system, has a sturdy casing, and is dimmable. Unlike compact fluorescents, however, SuperBulbs says the A19 uses no mercury, turns on instantly, is more efficient than a CFL and has a minimum average life of over 20,000 hours.

Earth2Tech has the story.