Over July 20-22nd, Kris and I had a the pleasure of attending the Nano Energy Summit. Once again we’re reminded about the tremendous potential in Colorado to adopt and lead in new sciences such as nanotechnology. The summit was great snapshot of how two domains (Nanotechnology and Renewable Energy) are converging.  Here is the summit summary as published on their site:

The Nano Renewable Energy Summit is a gathering of world-renowned experts at the intersection of renewable energy and nanotechnology, with a specific focus on the business, commercialization, and economic development potential of emerging technologies in the renewable energy and sustainability sectors.

Nanotechnology is enabling green tech to be more competitive.  There was a consistent theme at the summit, essentially that nano/material science is consistently being applied to improve efficiency of existing products from solar panels to battery/storage technologies. Another theme was that countries with strong R&D in nanotechnology can use this competitive advantage to build the next generation of renewable products and services.

Here is a quick synopsis for some of the companies that presented at the conference.

Nanobattery company “mPhase” presented on their product portfolio of batteries and their applications. A key part of their intellectual capital is harnessing the use of the nanotechnology “electrowetting“. This  effect is evident in nature and allows materials surfaces to become porous or superhydrophobic based on the “lotus leaf effect“. It’s behaviour is employed to inhibit/enable current flow between materials in a battery. Also their product research allows for improvements in “energy density” and will help “eliminate discharge”. A historical note was made about the Baghdad battery and how we are in a truly new era of  battery improvements. Their product lines involve emergency and portable batteries that could be hand-cranked or shaken for power.

QuantumSphere Inc. (QSI) presented on their innovations in nanomaterials that help improve existing processes. Again material sciences and applied nanobehavior is engineered to improve efficiency. QSI licenses their Intellectual Property on processes and materials and this IP is used, for example,  to reduce expensive materials (30-50% reduction of platinum) or to improve energy efficiency (30% improvement in Alkaline electrolysis hygrogen production using nano-nickel/iron coating). Another application the company has produced is one that employs nano-silver. This material provides improved characteristics for water filtration and anti-microbials. Solutions also were presented to improve power-density of zinc-air and lithium-ion batteries with improved nano-material catalysts. The below quote to help with some of the characteristics that companies seek to improve:

A battery’s energy density is the amount of energy it can hold, while power density describes how quickly energy can be drawn from the battery at any given moment.

In the area of green construction,  companies such as RavenBrick has developed a technology “RavenSkin” to improve the thermoreflectivity of glass and building components (large panels are rated the equivalent of R11 insulation). This technology would be used in both home and commercial building components. While Prism Solar is improving photovoltaic (PV) efficiency by using solar concentration with a sandwiched holographic layer in front of the PV cell.

Luna Innovations is another company looking to improve the efficiency of solar panels through nano technology. They are looking to grow Organic solar cells that will bring down the cost and weight with their patented TRIMETASPHERE® nanomaterial. This material is based on buckyball “cage” structures and has both positive chemical and biological attributes for solar allowing for 5-6% efficiency but at $1/watt.

Kris and I both looked forward to hear Governor Bill Ritter who presented  as a Keynote speaker. Political legislation has a significant impact on the green economy. Colorado is a progressive state for adopting green legislation. One of the biggest recent achievements in this area, has been when Colorado voters made history by  voting directly for the renewable energy portfolio standard Amendment 37.  In this same vein, Governor Ritter gave us some statistics to think about: we’re the 6th sunniest state, the 9th windiest. We’ve got some of the best R&D in the world with significant contributions in Aerospace, Life Sciences and Energy research. Colorado was rated by CNBC as the 5th best state for business and the 10th best for nanotechnology. As far as benefits, Mr Ritter spoke for the state government,  acknowledging not only the economic benefits of renewables but also the residual benefits of a clean environment.  Governor Ritter  mentioned his trade mission trip to Spain. The state government has been active trying to attract key foreign companies to Colorado. A couple of great examplesa has been Vesta from Denmark and Abengoa Solar from Spain which setup a plant in Denver for development of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology. He also shared his experiences from a recent trip to the Arctic which included multiple world leaders. They discussed amongst many things the environment. Some of his takeways were that it was evident that technology is critical to renewable energy improvements and these are coming from material science and nanotechnology.

Another keynote speaker was the Director-General, of the Russian corporation of Nanotechnologies.  Russia is working to build a significiant portfolio of nano-technology companies. They are expecting to invest 10Bil in Nanotechnology in the coming future and are looking for foreign investment to be included in this portfolio. Many of the traditional western capalistic tools are being employed there, such as providing low interest loans, infrastructure access and access to capital and seed money.  Russia has formally introduced itself as a part of the new generation of countries investing heavily in renewables and nanotechnology .

Welcome again to another blog entry for our green tech meeting.

New Meeting Location

You’ve all probably received Kris’s email notifying us we’re moving our meeting to larger forum in a different building. We’re in the ATLAS building (part of the engineering faculty) for the rest of the year.  The auditorium holds 150, the lobby is large, both are well appointed. To get to the ATLAS building, park in the Euclid lot, exit the lot on the east side, and walk north along 18th Street about a hundred yards. Here is a CU map which show both the parking lot and the Atlas building.

Announcements

• Linda from the Boulder Innovation Center - is looking for new team members
• Boulder founders meetup is looking for speakers/members
• Northern Colorado entrepeneur network meeting in Ft.Collins looking for speakers/members
• Stephen Boulter is organizing a Green Product Showcase – 5 day event – before the Democratic National Congress in Denver and is looking for green company’s to host their products

David Stark EverSealed Windows, Inc.
Super-Insulating Vacuum Windows

Energy efficiency is a significant area for green entrepreneurship and  EverSealed Windows has targeted the both commercial and business segment of window construction. Dave indicated the following on energy loss in US buildings

30% of a typical building’s annual energy budget is lost through windows. Since buildings account for 40% of America’s energy consumption, 12% of our energy goes out the windows.

Of that lost energy there is a potential to save 2/3 of it with efficient window designs. The market for insulated glass units (IGU) windows/doors in the U.S. is approximately 15 Bil and there is a handful of vendors that compete with various different approaches.

EverSealed produces a double pane window that is vacuumed-sealed. Known as Vacuum Insulated Glass Unit (VIGU) it has excellent insulation characteristics. The glass insulation acts like a thermos and keeps the contents inside either hot or cold.  In order to make double pane glass hold a vacuum without spacers, EverSeal had to develop technology to bond glass and metal alloys together hermetically and allow for flexing of glass over various temperature ranges. This technology has been tested extensively to ensure the seal will hold over 25 years. For normal windows, 40% lose their seal after 15 years and this is where significant energy loss occurs.

ESW has secured the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as well as the DOE’s two leading facilities for Windows. In the are of R&D, they have collaborated with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO and the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA.

Competitors use techniques  such as inert gas (e.g. argon) and/or coatings with low emissivity (Low E) to help insulate the interior of a home. Alpen Energy Group, has coatings that filter based on light wavelengths. Anderson Windows also  has high performance windows (Low 4E). EverSeal rates their window as a R10, where a norm single pain window is R1. Compared to their competitors their R rating is quite good and EverSeal competes well on the seal/cost variables. With 6 patents EverSeal has a strong position and expects to license their IP to larger manufacturers for a unit royalty.

Jennifer Sullivan – Entegrity Wind Systems Inc
Commercial Scale Wind Turbines

A local Boulder company, Entegrity Wind System, designs, builds and installs wind turbines for commercial businesses to help offset their electrical costs. Their wind turbines are “behind the meter” and distributed energy source located on the business’s property. With local generation, businesses can save the 9 cents per kWh they normally pay to their utility when the wind is available and draw from the utility only when the wind is not available. Their typical customers are business that have big electrical loads, such as a school or water treatment plants that may require 50-80 kw (up to 500kW). They are national leaders in the <500 kW space. Entegrity has a vertically integrated strategy that has been vetted with NREL.

Entegrity sees a considerable growth, especially in states were wind is plentiful Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma and there is less legislative entanglements around wind turbines. They sold 70 units this year and have a significant pipeline of sales. Yet with all the backlog, it will be critical to maintain quality while ramping-up manufacturing to meet demand. Entegrity has 15 years of experience and expects to maintain 30% annual growth through 2020.

In the future, they see Alaska, Hawaii and the Caribbean as growth areas for wind technology. Along with other wind and solar competitors, Entegrity expects to invest in technology to provide a better value proposition, such as monitoring and demand management. For example, Entegrity has developed an iPhone application to remotely manage some aspects of the wind turbines operations. They are looking at “leasing”" as a line of business . Also since Entegrity manufactures all parts including the blades, they expect to improve their designs and cost margin. Although their design is “in-phase” with the grid they have not built systems that will feed back into the grid.

Stephen Boulter – StudBuster
Interior Wall Metal Stud Recycling

At the beginning of our meeting, while those of us enjoyed some of food and beverages, Stephen had a demonstration of his StudBuster creation running. The studbuster is used to compress steel studs,  typically removed from a building before a demolition or a remodel. It’s value is the dual benefit of cost and energy saving since compressed studs saves trips and the number of dumpsters used for disposal of the material.

In the demolition industry, especially for large industrial buildings with multiple floors, the cost of removing a steel stud is 7-10 times the cost of originally installing it.  Steel studs can be separated from other waste and be recycled. With the compression of the stud, the construction/demolition company will find it faster/cheaper/easier to manage the extracted stud.

Dr. Anthony Catalano – TerraLUX Inc
LED Based Lighting Solutions

TerraLux is a local Boulder company that was incorporated in 2003 and works on technology enabling LED lighting for various applications. A number of company members, including Dr. Catalano worked at NREL facility in Golden, Colorado. Their team has core competencies in the areas of electrical, mechanical, optical and thermal engineering and as well as research around the area of LEDs.  With products both OEMed to other product companies and direct retail sales, TerraLux is building a significant product suite. With significant cadre of experts, innovation with new product lines is also a part of the company’s growth.

TerraLux holds significant IP and has 3 patents and have have had sales and growth shortly after their first year of research and development. They  are working with a number of strategic partners such as industry heavy-weights Arrow and Phillips. Some of TerraLux’s OEM products are in the areas of architectural lighting, medical/dental devices and consumer products such as sewing machine lights.

TerraLux technology is available in commercial products today. They’re most well-know product is the LED replacement lightbulb for MagLite flashlights. They provide light instruments for HVAC/plumbing as well as LED work lights for non-specialists. Their products are available in stores, such as Handy Hardware, Home Hardware and McGukins in Boulder.

With demand for custom work, TerraLux have developed state of the art technology using LEDs. They have engineered lights that can output up to 600 Lumens. LEDs are providing capabilities in lighting that significantly save energy and provide better lifetime characteristics. LEDs are 6-10x more efficient the incandescent. They can last 20-100K hours and compared to incandescent it runs extremely cool (100C) whereas incandescent runs at 700K. Along with the above characteristics and more competitive brightness characteristics LED is starting to grow in market share. Today LED is only 1.1 Bil of a 57.7 Bil industry.

Currently TerraLux is working actively on their strategy for growth and to increase their valuation so that they attractive acquisition target for a large lighting manufacturer. Their future solution porfolio will include work on LED replacements for fluorescent, mecury-vapour and new speciality lighting products for highly volatile environments (e.g. refineries) and medical lightning applications.