Right now, I’m sitting in a room at the Hope Lodge at 132 W 32nd Street in NYC waiting for the Green Entrepreneurship Summit to start.

If you’re interested in learning about the green scene in NYC, here’s your chance.

If you want to see what’s happening, follow the #greenENT tag on twitter

The event is sold out, but if you want to watch it we’ll be streaming live via ustream. Here is the agenda to event, there are going to be some great speakers. Finally, here is the Green Entrepreneurship Summit Ustream

I have my video camera so I’m planning on getting some more in depth videos that I’ll follow up with.

I love the Boston cleantech scene, but I’m getting a little bored with it. There’s tons of events, business plan competitions and business developments constantly happening but I’m starting to feel like I’m just going through the motions.

Now, I’m really interested in seeing what’s happening in other US cities in cleantech.

I’m going to start with exploring the industry in NYC. I’ve started talking with pros in other cities and two weeks ago I had a great conversation with Erica Grigg who is helping to organize a great event in NYC on July 22nd called the Green Entrepreneurship Summit. The angle is very cool, ‘Scaling Up Without Selling Out’ the goal is to help green business owners who are looking to grow do so, without compromising their ideals. There are some great panelists speaking and I’m looking forward to going to the event. Personally, I’m very interested to see Michael Margolis speak as I’m realizing more and more business is about trust, relationships, and storytelling more then anything else. I’m planning on getting some great content at the event and doing a follow post. If you’re in NYC on July 22nd you should go, if you are fire me a tweet and I’ll be looking forward to seeing you there.

I’m very excited to go to the event and meet some amazing people and learn about what they’re working on in NYC. There are two other items I’m doing to explore the industry in other cities.

First, I’m in the process of recruiting more young industry insiders, working in cleantech in New York City and Boulder. We have one writer in each city right now, and our goal is ten. If you fit this profile, and are interested in joining our community, please contact me.

Second, The Green Light Distrikt is starting its yearly report on the Top 10 US Cleantech Cities. The goal is to crowd-source the research on the state of the cleantech industry and resources in US cities, compile the research, then make it free to the community. If you have any information that may be useful, think you might, or know someone who does, it would be awesome to get feedback. They survey is located on the post Top 10 US Cleantech Cities. Thanks for your help

Chris

From our industry insider, Jessica Manganello

Last Month the IERG (International Executive Resources Group) held a panel on International Clean Tech. This was the follow up to their, equally good, presentation on Sustainable Operations practices in an International Business. Normally, I don’t write about panels, but several of the panelists brought up new issues that I wanted to share.

First off, Francesco Fragasso the CFO of Nuvera Fuel Cells, located in Billerica, Mass and Milan, Italy made the business case for sustainability. When asked if there was a market capable of sustaining investment in clean tech (haha, pun totally intended), he responded by saying that there is a “real market because there is a real need.”

He then went on to say that loving mother earth is not the only or predominant reason for making these investments.
He listed three main points:
1. CO2 reduction/operational savings
2. Source Securitization (the big motivator)
3. Competitive advantage held by technology leaders.

So yeah, preaching to the choir, duh, not telling you anything new. Still, it always makes me smile when I hear a seasoned business person talk about sustainability and clean tech, from an ‘it just makes business sense on every level, get with the program perspective,’ as opposed to the sustainability=hippie-tree hugger talk that generally gets thrown around.

Next up was Eva Thorne a professor at Brandeis University. She brought up Brazil as an international super power when it comes to clean tech, a fact of which I had little knowledge. Brazil produces 89% of the world’s ethanol. What’s more, Brazil produces sugar cane ethanol as opposed to the questionable corn variety. Sugar Ethanol is the most advanced biofuel to date (claims the EPA) with a 61% reduction in total life cycle green house gas emissions. One of the cool attributes is that leftover cane waste can be used to power the plant that is creating the ethanol. Woohoo! Brazil is also a leading user of hydro power and has great potential for wind energy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

The gist of it was, that Brazil has become a global power because of their energy self sufficiency and effective government policy. Their place in the export market has catapulted the country forward. Much of this technology development was due to their Military government seeking fuel sufficiency, ordering the research and allocating the funds accordingly. Dictators don’t have red tape. So there is the silver lining of the military dictatorship—They get shit done. (please hold the hate mail. Yay Democrocy! Happy?)

Finally, there was a lively discussion between the panelists and the audience surrounding hybrid vehicles. The question posed was, if hybrids are so great, then why are they not sweeping the EU market. The panelists focused mostly on the fact that they use Diesel, which can be a very clean fuel. They also brought up that the efficiency of our hybrids is comparable to the efficiency of their diesel vehicles and mentioned that due to government policy their price per gallon has been around $9.00 for years now. The audience seemed to walk away unsatisfied with the general consensus being, ‘why should we bother with a hybrid if the Europeans haven’t gone crazy over them?’

The panel didn’t connect the dots really. The point is that hybrids seem amazing here, but they are still incredibly inefficient. We could do so much better. Most of our hybrids are less efficient on a life cycle basis than a really compact diesel vehicle. Yes, Europe has been living with high taxes, equaling high gas prices for years. As a result, everything including their SUVs and tractor trailers are tiny in comparison to ours. We just can’t beat the efficiency they have had established for years. It is always a little culture shock when I visit France. I feel like a giant for the first few days.

So, that’s all for now. It was really a good conversation and I was happy to have attended. Gotta love it when international executives are having constructive conversations about what they can be doing to develop more clean tech!

Last month on April 20th, we hosted our first Clean Tech Kingpins events at the NEXUS Green Building Resource Center in downtown Boston.

It was a huge success! We had about 40 people, I met with some amazing people working on really innovative project. We saw 4 presentations from true leaders in the industry and a great question and answer sessions after the presentation.

Two pieces of good news. First, we caught it all on tape and I’ll be releasing each presentation with an overview of what was discussed starting today. Second, we’re going to make Clean Tech Kingpins a regular bi-monthly event that will serve as a place for young clean tech pros to recharge, find inspiration, connect with and becomes friends with their peers, and learn from current industry experts. So stay tuned!

Here’s who we had speak, and the order I’ll be writing about each discussion:

• Les Fritzemeir CEO and Founder Wakonda Technologies

• Paul Sellew CEO and Founder Harvest Power

• Chuck Lewin President New Generation Energy

• Jon Abe VP of Business Development Nexamp

Without further adieu, here is Les’s discussion on the current solar PV market, their opportunity, business model, and the future of building integrated solar PV. Enjoy!

Two weeks ago, I wrote a fiery review of NESEA’s yearly building energy conference called Why I Hated the NESEA Building Energy Conference. It received some amazing feedback on both my blog, The Green Light Distrikt and on Renewable Energy World, and made it on The Energy Circle’s week in review. Before you comment on this post, you should see the great conversations we had.

The goal of the post was to get people’s attention so we could help to improve the event. I love NESEA and have been going to the event since I was 16 and think that the workshops for the building industry are second to none. However, I think we can do better at two things 1) Attracting and educating property owners that are actually buying these things and 2) Attracting students and young professionals to the event and 3) Marketing to the huge community of people already interested in the subject

Overall the comments were great. Without question, its a good sign that people came to the rescue of the conference that I was so clearly attacking. It shows that people truly, something we’ll need to improve it.  I was very happy to get comments from Jennifer Marrapese of NESEA, Pam Cargill of Alteris, Erica Brabon of Steven Winter Associates, Chris Kilfoyle of Berkshire Photovoltaic Services, Peter Troast of Energy Circle, on why I was wrong about innovation at the event, how the workshops were amazing, and their thoughts about ‘grey hairs’ at the event. I agree with all of you NESEA is awesome, but I think we can do even better. That is my challenge.

Here’s the test! Now, the goal is to take the energy and make it useful. I’m going to be publicly collecting everyone’s idea, then create a vote and present the top 10 ideas to NESEA’s interim director Jennifer Marrapese.

Here is what I propose.

I want to gather everyone input on how we can improve the conference. In the comments section of this post please leave your ideas.

Please leave them in this format

1) Type of Idea – Ex. New Media Marketing

2) Idea Description – Ex. Get a Twitter account

3) Logic of why the idea will help – Ex. A twitter account will make it easy, cheap, and effective for NESEA to connect with existing communities that are interested in green building and renewable energy.

I’m really looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Chris

Two weeks week, I went to the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) yearly conference called Building Energy Conference 2010.

Honestly, in terms of the trade show, I’ve seen it all. I walked through the show floor in about 30 minutes stopping occasionally to talk to people I know.

My highlight was talking with Peter Troast of Energy Circle who is working on some really cool projects with home energy efficiency. In my perspective, his site is hands down the best store focusing on home energy efficiency, and no he didn’t pay me to say this. The blend of content, education, reviewed products, and strong branding make it second to none. I can’t wait to see how it develops.

Other then Peter, I didn’t really see any innovation, a lot of solar thermal, solar PV, industry associations, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t want to sound like a negative Nancy, but I think I’m just sad that a conference that has so much history and has traditionally been on the forefront of the renewable energy movement is slipping behind. But, we all know that if I thought it was a real problem, I’d do something about it.

Brian Hayden, one of our industry insiders, spent more going to the event and workshops, and he’s going to get you a better overview of what he learned at the workshops.

Here are my two main issues with NESEA Building Energy Conference 2010:

1) Too Old: I don’t have a problem with old people in the general sense, or in business, gray hairs are needed. However, there is SO MUCH INTEREST in these subject from young professionals and college students, especially in Boston, it blows my mind that more of them weren’t there.

2) No New Media: Here’s the real kicker, everyone at NESEA claims to be very forward thinking, but they use the most basic, most expensive and lease effective means of marketing and communication. Instead of leveraging social media to make it easy for friends to share information with their friends and communities they know will be interested in attending the event, NESEA reverts to mailing people PHYSICAL information to their homes.

If you went to NESEA, I’m really curious: what did you think about the event? If you didn’t like it, how do you think it can be improved?

I’m going to be collecting the top 5 ideas and presenting them NESEA leadership for the next conference.

Nothing is more valuable then meeting some face to face. I’ve been going to clean tech events in Boston and they’ve been very valuable for meeting people, learning what’s happening, and getting new perspective.

The new vision for The Green Light Distrikt has become clear in the past few weeks: to unite the clean tech community in Boston. In support of this, may I say noble goal, I’m going to start writing a series of posts about the resources in the Boston area and create a section on the sidebar so you’ll be able to find them easily in the future. You’re welcome

This is a list of my favorite events, in no particular order. If you’re going to go, connect with me via twitter @greenldistrikt and we can connect there. I look forward to it!

• RaaB Restructuring Round table: The restructuring round table is a quarterly event that was started in the 1990s to explore what would be happening in the energy industry after deregulation. The best way to keep up to date is to go to the site and sign up for their newsletter. It takes place on Friday mornings from 9am to 2pm and is always worth it. They always get amazing speakers and you’re sure to learn something new.

• Clean Tech Kingpins: Clean tech kingpins is hosted by yours truly. The first event will be on April 20th at 6pm. We’re having the CEOs of Harvest Power, Wakonda Technologies, New Generation Energy and VP of Business Development at Nexamp speak about their companies, their successes, challenges, and future insights into the industry. There will also be ample time for questions and answers. So, if you have any burning questions for any of these guys please come! Clean Tech Kingpins will be a regular event that will highlight Boston’s most innovative companies and bring together the young professionals currently working in the industry who will be leading it in the future

• Ignite Clean Energy Competition: Otherwise known as ICE is hosted through the MIT Enterprise Forum. ICE holds a yearly business plan competition for early stage clean tech companies. The cool part is they also have a series of great events and make it really easy for others to get involved. Looking for some inspiration or a company to get involve with? ICE is the place for you.

• Boston Sustainability Group: One of the best, but least known about groups in Boston. Boston Sustainability Group could be considered underground. We meet at The House of Blues for a couple hours, every couple of months. There’s always great speakers and the attendants are normally the whose who of the Boston CSR industry. You need to RSVP and there’s only a small capacity. If you’re interested, connect via twitter @greenldistrikt and I’ll forward you to email so you can RSVP. I don’t feel comfortable giving out people’s email via the blog.

• MIT Energy Club: The MIT Energy Club hosts some great event themselves and also have a great calender with other events going on. I noticed the events tend to have more of a technical perspective. If you’re technical, this will be perfect for you. If you’re not, it will be good for you to learn some of the mum-bo-jumbo.

• Young Professionals in Energy: Known as YPE, this is a national organization with local chapters. The Boston chapter is great, tons of events, they’ve done plant tours in the past. One of the best parts is that there is some formal organization, so things get done really well. I’ve found YPE to be great to connect with people already in the industry.

• NEXUS Green Building Resource Center: NEXUS is hands down THE BEST place to learn about green building in Boston. They have samples, a resource library, experts on staff. They have green building events running constantly, so if you’re interested in the industry check out their calendar.

• Green Drinks: Green Drinks is very informal, yet very fun event of those interest in the ‘green’ industry and those working in it. The events are held bi monthly are a great time.Keep up to date by following @greendrinkBOS and watching the Green Drinks eventbrite page, you can also join the mailing list here.

• Net Impact: Net impact’s tag line is “a global network of leaders who are changing the world through business’ and the Boston chapter is no different. Keep in mind there are many student chapters across Boston, but only one professional chapter. You must join the organization to be able to come to the events but they’re well worth it. Net impact tends to attract more of a CSR crowd, but I’ve also met some great people that work in consulting, marketing and many other places. If you want to get tapped into the leaders of the Boston CSR industry, this is the place.

Last week, I wrote about how Building Efficiency will be BIGGER than the Solar Industry in Massachusetts, this is a follow up to my original post.

With huge money flowing through ‘Cash for Caulkers’ (or HomeStar), Massachusetts DOER, and the utility companies to promote building efficiency, we should have a huge reduction in energy consumption and lots of new jobs soon, right?  Right?

Maybe.

Phil Giudice, Commissioner of MA DOER said that policy makers on the state and federal level are worried about the scalability of this massive national effort.  As he put it, “there is a tremendous amount of building science that goes into basic weatherization projects.”  It takes years to develop the craftsmanship and skill it takes to become a great building performance contractor.  There are a finite number of people qualified to do this work, and right now that number isn’t big enough.

But it’s not just the contractors.  Homeowners and building owners need to be motivated to participate.  The early adopters have already raised their hands – now we’re trying to convert the masses and it’s going to take a herculean effort to educate this enormous group.

So here are the two questions everyone is dying to answer:

1. How do we motivate building owners (both residential & commercial) to invest their time and energy into making their building more efficient?
2. How can we make sure the money we spend on building efficiency pays off?

I’d love to hear thoughtful responses to these questions…

On January 8th I attended a Breakfast Meeting at Foley Hoag with Phil Giudice, Commissioner of the Massachusset’s Department of Energy Resources (DOER).  It was a dynamite presentation that touched on smart grid, solar, biomass, and a variety of other interesting topics -  but the thing that dominated the conversation was this: there’s a tsunami of state and federal funds coming available for building efficiency in 2010.  As Phil said, “the money is there and the team is in place – it’s time to have our WOW moment.”  $650 million will be spent by the state to promote energy efficiency in each of the next three years (solar photovoltaic incentives through the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center will be about $12M this year and that will create 30% growth for the solar industry in Massachusetts).  That’s compared to $150 million in 2008, and doesn’t include incentives offered by the utilities.  These numbers could get bigger as the federal ‘Cash For Caulkers’ program details come into focus.

So What?

Policy conversations about climate change, energy independence, and job creation are all converging on this single initiative.  The pieces are in place for a huge amount of money to flow through the building efficiency value chain and there are still plenty of holes to be filled.  Somebody has to execute and make all of this happen.  If you have an interest in building efficiency there may never be a better time to get actively involved.

Last week, I posted the first part of a discussion by Chuck Levin, the Director of New Generation Energy where he discussed what is working and what’s not working in the clean energy industry. At the end of the discussion Chuck began to discuss how New Generation Energy addresses some of the places that are currently not working in the industry. In Part 2, Chuck continues to discuss what a ‘perfect world’ would like to, in terms of increasing clean energy production and efficiency and goes more in depth with how New Generation Energy approaches the situations, the role of certifications, and how their Renewable Energy Notes work. See a details description of the talking points below the video. Enjoy!

Remember VOTE for your TOP 3 favorite Boston Clean Tech Companies. Voting ends in February and the top 10 companies will be profiled each month in 2010

In Part 2 Chuck discusses:

• What a perfect world would look like

1. Economical way to apply expertise to small business owners and non-profits and why that doesn’t currently happen
2. Identifying areas to attack
3. Financing
4. Measuring

• How non-profits have an advantage
• Programs they’ve adopted

1. Renewable Energy Notes
2. Walk through the doors and act as project guides
3. Connect corporate donors to non-profits
4. Combine loans with donations from existing channels, take advantage of government money
5. Ground to Roof upgrade program, how they organize it and get corporate sponsors

• How certifications can help affect the actions of small businesses
• What characteristics the certification needs
• Addresses how Renewable Energy notes work

I found Chuck’s discussion on the role of certification very interesting and important. One of the main issues with the ‘green’ movement right now is a lack of clarity of what is or is not green, this is the role of certifications.