Green VC

The Cleantech Open Accelerator and Competition is now accepting applications its 2012 program. This business plan competition has awarded more than $5 million in cash and services to support cleantech startups since 2006.

Startups can submit entries in these categories - Air/Water/Waste, Energy Efficiency, Green Building, Renewable Energy, Smart Power/Green Grid/Energy Storage, and Transportation.  The deadline to enter the 2012 competition is May 8th.

There will also be a National Launch Party on March 23rd at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.  For more information:

• Cleantech Open – Home page
• Cleantech Open – Previous coverage (Green VC)

The Clean Tech Open (CTO), a business plan competition that will provide more than $1 million in prizes for early-stage clean technology startups, recently announced the finalists for its 2011 competition in three of its regional competitions. The finalists are listed below by region.  You can also view a list of all semifinalists here.

These regional finalist teams received a “Startup in a Box” prize package that includes combined cash and in-kind services worth up to $20,000.  They will now be competing at the national competition, which will be awarding a grand prize of $250,000 in investment and services on November 16, 2011 as part of the Cleantech Open 2011 Global Forum. 

California Region
Six category winners and Regional Sustainability Award winner:

• Air, Water and Waste. This category covers technologies that handle anything from air purification to water filtration to new recycling methods. Kiverdi (San Francisco, CA) won with its high-yield gas-consuming microbes that turn waste gas into oil-based products.
• Energy Efficiency. This category deals with anything that saves Watts, or deals in “nega-Watts.” LoadIQ (Reno, NV) won with its energy-management software that determines how energy is used in buildings, and itemizes energy bills to help ratepayers reduce costs.
• Green Building. This category includes technologies that enable commercial and residential buildings to be built and function in a sustainable manner. EnFocus Engineering (Sunnyvale, CA) won with its enhanced zero-carbon light that energizes buildings with sunlight.
• Renewable Energy. This category includes energy solutions derived from the sun, wind, geothermal sources, ocean waves, and more. B2U Solar (San Jose, CA) won with its innovative non-imaging concentrator collector that uses the sun to heat fluids, without the need for mechanical tracking or direct sunlight.
• Smart Power. This category includes technologies that encompass the smart grid, energy control, and battery storage. ECO Catalytics (Davis, CA) won with a process to develop a catalyst material deposition process that reduces fuel-cell platinum costs by 95 percent.
• Transportation. This category includes covers anything that deals with new fuels or new forms/methods of transport. Gridtest Systems (Calabasas, CA) won with electric-vehicle infrastructure test tools that provide automated testing of EV charging stations.
• May-Ruben Technologies (Minden, NV) won the Regional Sustainability Award, an honor given to the team that most effectively incorporated a triple-bottom-line approach to scaling its business. The company has developed a thermally driven heat pump that can increase the energy efficiency of industrial processes such as process heating and cooling, drying, evaporation and distillation.

North Central Region

• Regional Finalist: Atmosphere Recovery
  Gas analysis/control systems enabling sustainable manufacturing and renewable energy conversion.
• Regional Finalist: FORTECO
  Sustainable, lightweight composite framing materials for commercial buildings that saves costs.
• Regional Finalist: Whole Trees Structures
  Green building systems from abundant forest waste and a competitive option to steel and concrete.
• Sustainability Winner: Sheerwind (Invelox)
  Safe, silent, low-cost and high-efficiency wind power generation technologies.

Rocky Mountain Region

• Arbsource
  Phoenix-based ARBSource is on a mission to transform wastewater treatment from a costly liability into a valuable resource. Breweries, confectioners, and many other food and beverage processors are burdened with large electricity expenses to manage their wastewater, often totaling six figures per year. For half the cost, we can offer these companies identical treatment speed and quality with our patent-pending and licensed ARBCell biotechnology.
• GeoTree Technologies
  Lafayette, Colo.-based GeoTree manufactures high performance materials for rehabilitation of infrastructure such as pipes and roads. Using biomimicry, nanotechnology and systems design, the firm has created “green” specialized geopolymer-based solutions.
• US e-Chromic
  Boulder-based US e-Chromic LLC uses an electric field to change the tint of a window, allowing users to control the transparency based on the time of day, temperature, or exposure to sunlight. Today, the current supply of electrochromic windows turn darker in color when activated, consequently absorbing heat. In contrast, the technology being developed by US e-Chromic LLC reflects sunlight, keeping buildings cooler. They can be retrofitted to existing windows, potentially reducing cooling costs by 25 – 30 percent for commercial buildings during air conditioning months. 
• Dragonfly
  Dragonfily, the regional sustainability winner, is a Utah custom manufacturer of patent-pending systems that improve the efficiency of electrical systems in homes and businesses.

The Cleantech Open, a business plan competition that will provide more than $1 million in prizes for early-stage clean technology startups, recently announced the winners of its North Central regional competition (which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin).

The winning teams were:

• EarthClean Corp. (Minneapolis, MN)
• Xolve, Inc. (Platteville, WI)
• Silicon Solar Solutions (Rogers, AR)

These teams will receive a "Startup in a Box" prize package of cash and in-kind services valued at up to $30,000.  They will also be proceeding to the Cleantech Open national competition, which will award a grand prize of $250,000 in investment and services on November 17, 2010.

In addition, NewWater, based in Minneapolis, won the region's sustainability award, an honor given to the team that most effectively incorporated a triple bottom line approach to scaling their business.

"We were delighted to have more than 50 entries in this year's first North Central region competition – which was second only to the California region," said Justin Kaster, the regional director for the North Central region and an investment banker with Twin Cities-based Cherry Tree Companies. "While each entry was innovative and inventive, our four winners represent the best in cutting-edge clean technology and renewable solutions. With world-class training and extensive one-on-one mentoring, our winners now have the comprehensive tools to showcase their business. We're thrilled to see such success in the competition's first year in this region and believe the tremendous strides all our participant companies made will help our region lead in this emerging industry."