CLEANTECH: INNOVATORS AND INVESTORS
The date: November 8, 2007. The event: Cleantech Investing in the Northwest. The place: Seattle, Washington. Our goal: Talk to and interview as many players as possible.
Members of the EnergyRushTV team descended upon the Emerald City from several different places on the west coast. Project leader Paul Steinbroner came over from Wenatchee, Washington; producer/photographer David Okimoto flew up from San Francisco; and producer/cameraman Mark DuMond motored in from Renton, Washington.
After watching a keynote address by Ron Pernick (who we interviewed at the same event the previous year), the team set up for on-camera interviews. First up was Susan Perry of AltaRock Geothermal. We hadn’t dabbled in the world of geothermal energy much thus far, so this was an opportunity for us to gain some fresh knowledge about the subject. And we couldn’t have picked a better person than Susan to give us plenty of information.
She explained in detail about how steam converts to usable energy, how geothermal projects are up and running in locations around the globe right now, and how this steadily emerging energy source can potentially replace 8.5 billion barrels of oil. We received so much information about geothermal that you can expect to see a film on the subject here at EnergyRushTV.com soon.
We also spoke at length with Michael Butler, a dynamic venture capitalist with Cascadia Capital, LLC. He delivered lots of info about the constantly changing nature of “green investing” and how we’re “12 to 36 months away from money really moving in that direction.” The areas Michael sees as “hot” are biomass, water and battery technology. Stay tuned for more.
Next up was Kyle Wang, who came to this country from China, and so is ideally suited to comment on the progress being made there in terms of environmental improvements. Kyle notes that China has tremendous problems, but at the same time is making more progress than many other countries. He also explained how the U.S. is in a great position to help China right now.
Oregon State Senator Ben Westlund came to the conference from Bend, Oregon. Sen. Westlund told us in an on-camera interview how he has developed a keen interest and passion for environmental solutions. He is among a growing cadre of politicians, at all levels of government, who are becoming not just aware of the problems of climate change, pollution and our dependence on foreign petroleum, but are realizing the importance for government representatives to become agents of change.
We spoke with David Kaplan, CEO of V2Green, Inc., which delivers clean-energy technology solutions that enable smart charging control, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services, and real-time communication between plug-in electric vehicles and the power grid. David showed us his “connectivity module” and says the current trend toward developing new technologies to clean up the environment, cut petroleum use and invent new energy is nothing less than “the second industrial revolution.” We tend to think he’s right.
Brad Zenger of the Sustainability Investment Fund 2007 gave us a lot of great information about the economics and science of green technology and investments in same. He spoke of what he calls “past solar income” (petroleum) versus “present solar income” (biofuels), as well as places around the world where sustainability innovation is happening.
We were happy and fortunate to be able to interview Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE). He came to the conference from Washington, D.C., where the non-profit is based. He called the current drive to innovate new sustainability technologies “the greatest engineering challenge of our time.”
Next was Tim Sterns, the senior energy policy specialist for the State of Washington. He talked to us about several economic aspects of green technology and how innovation is understandably “market driven.” A memorable quote: “When lawyers and investment bankers show up at the party, there’s money to be made.” Truer words were never spoken.
Finally, we got Kirk Washington to sit down for an interview. Kirk is a general partner with Yaletown Venture Partners in Vancouver, British Columbia. He explained why he likes to invest in biofuels, because it doesn’t require people to change their lifestyles. Kirk says his firm invests “not in alternatives but in evolutionary change.”
It was a long day, but certainly worth every minute spent at the conference, which was sponsored by the law firm Stoel Rives and Nth Power, a venture capital energy technology fund based in San Francisco. We appreciate their willingness to have the Energy RushTV team as part of the conference for two years in a row.
