Clean Tech Open


Clean Tech Open, a business plan competition that will provide more than $1 million in prizes for early-stage clean technology startups, has announced the winners and runners-up for its 2009 California competition. The winners listed in each of the following six categories will receive a prize package of $100,000 in cash and services.


These winners will compete with the winners from the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regional  competitions for a Grand Prize of $250,000 in cash and services.  The Grand Prize will be announced at the Cleantech Open Awards Gala which will be held on November 17th.


The winners and runners-up of the 2009 California competition are:


Air, Water & Waste Category

  • Winner: Micromidas (Converts raw sewage into biodegradable plastic)
  • Runner-Up: Solum (Agricultural sensing to prevent or reduce fertilizer runoff)

Energy Efficiency Category, Sponsored by Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison

  • Winner: Alphabet Energy (Plans to commercialize a technology developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that captures wasted energy and converts it into electricity)
  • Runner-Up: Powerzoa (Smart plug for residential use that monitors and controls energy usage)

Green Building Category Sponsored by Cleantech Circle and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

  • Winner: tru2earth (50+ year-rated roofing materials made from recycled PET (water/soda bottle) plastic that are energy-efficient, and cradle-to-cradle recyclable)
  • Runner-Up: GreenPyro (A biochar soil amendment to increase fertility, save water and sequester carbon)

Renewables Category Sponsored by Autodesk and Google

  • Winner: Armageddon Energy (Packaged retail residential rooftop solar energy system that is attractive, affordable, and easy to install)
  • Runner-Up: ZERE (Energy plants powered by biomass fuel)

Smart Power Category

  • Winner: EcoFactor (Personalized residential energy management solution for heating, ventilation and air conditioning)
  • Runner-Up: Velkess (Grid-scale energy storage technology)

Transportation Category

  • Winner: FuelSaver Technologies (Increases fuel efficiency in long-haul vehicles such as tractor-trailer trucks and buses)
  • Runner-Up: itMoves (Car equivalent of a netbook; light, small, easy to use, yet with extended capabilities via connection to the information cloud)

For more information: