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Green Light Distrikt
Green Light Distrikt is about entrepreneurship focused on the cleantech sector. Edited by Chris Williams with frequent guest posts from friends, experts and industry insiders from clusters across the globe. Our goal is to provide a place where cleantech entrepreneurs in various clusters across the globe can learn from one another. Green Light Distrikt is creating the "Hitchikers Guide to Clentech" to provide a resource for cleantech entrepreneurs. Read more
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November 21st, 2011
Update on GLD UK: Trends, blooms, philosophy and crowdsourcing
TOPICS: CleanTech Events, EnergyBar, London
I want to give you all a brief update on the Green Light Distirkt over in the UK. Since the founding of GLD in London more than six months ago, things have been going from strength to strength. GLD UK has so far, hosted five fascinating Energy Bars, with speakers each bringing their own unique twist of insight.
May – The start!
May was our inaugural Energy Bar in London; the first small step in building up traction in the UK. Conveniently, Chris Williams happened to be travelling through Europe completing research for the development of the Hitchhikers Guide to Cleantech. During his stop off in London he dropped by to give a talk on the founding of GLD and his latest projects. The event was a fitting start for GLD UK to host our first Energy Bar with the GLD founder in town. Continue Reading >
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November 18th, 2011
Cuts, cuts, cuts! How to Halt a UK Solar Boom
TOPICS: Government Policy, London, Solar
Back in April 2010, the UK government introduced the feed-in tariff (FIT); a new scheme to incentivise uptake of distributed renewables throughout the country. A set tariff (different for each technology and size) is given to the generator. For example the smallest scale solar pv tariffs were set just above 40 pence per kilowatt. These are planned to gradually decrease over time, in line with a falling cost of technologies. Recent announcements indicate the cost of solar in the UK has fallen by 30% since 2010, in line with a global fall of 70% since 2008.
On an average home installation of 2.5 kW, this translates to around £1,000 untaxed, index linked income guaranteed for 25 years to the home owner. Installations of this type typically cost £10,000, so one would expect the average installations of this type to provide 15 years of income. An interesting proposition, no?
November 1st, 2011
What I Learned at the Harvard Business School Energy Symposium
BOSTON -Like in today’s U.S. electoral politics, energy is an overwhelmingly partisan issue. On one end are the oil and gas types such as Dr. Matthias Bichsel (Shell), who believe that conventional energy can supply the world with all its energy supply now and in the future. On the other end are the clean energy types such as Bill McKibben (350.org), who believe that we must move entirely to renewable energy in order to avoid the worst impacts of global climate change. While both sides may be right, the former will break the planet and energy security and the latter will break the economy – neither will provide a secure, healthy and prosperous world for future generations.
The answer is clearly somewhere in between, and that’s what I appreciated most about the open-minded dialogue I found at the recent Harvard Business School’s Energy & Environment Symposium, where I attended presentations about cleantech, distributed generation, unconventional fuels and global energy policy. All of these areas and more, according to Matthew Nordan of Venrock, “are bursting with opportunity.” There are some big names below – from the CEO of A123 Systems to a high-level policymaker at the World Bank – read past the break for the transcript of the day’s presentations and join the Green Light Distrikt Facebook group for updates on new events, blog posts and more.
October 31st, 2011
5 Common Problems with Cleantech Prototyping and How to Solve Them
BICEP -
The following post is the start of a series focusing on making Boston a world class city for clean energy prototyping. Read more about the Boston Institute for Clean Energy Prototyping.
Clean energy is a tough business. As entrepreneur Eric Smith put it, we’re really good at leveling mountains and burning coal. So competing with coal and natural gas on price will require every ounce of innovation we can muster.
But unlike information technology, energy technology is often expensive to prototype. For some energy innovations, the prototyping stage is so fraught with expense and uncertainty that it becomes a barrier, preventing good ideas from achieving commercial success.
For the past few years, I’ve studied clean energy prototyping. Much of my work has been with startups, including several in the Boston area. I’ve helped companies design and build prototypes, and interviewed founders on the challenges they faced during the prototyping process. Many of the same themes keep cropping up, so I’ve put together a review of some of the most common mistakes to avoid:
October 25th, 2011
Two Awesome Events for Boston Area Cleantech Entrepreneurs
TOPICS: BOSTON, CleanTech Events, EnergyBar
I find that great events have three things in common. First, a very specific topic for a specific group of professionals. Second, you walk away having learned something and had an expectation of what you were going to learn when you RSVP’d. General networking is great but by itself can be boring. Third, a great crowd. The learnings from the crowd can often be better then the ones gained from the speakers, but you still need both.
In November, I’m helping to organize two events that will be extremely useful for professionals and entrepreneurs interested in the cleantech space in the Boston area. Each event is targetting a different and growing part of the industry.
HeatSpring Renewable Energy Meetups
The first is the HeatSpring Renewable Energy Meetup. It’s specifically targeted at professionals who are marketing, selling, designing or installing geothermal heat pumps, solar pv, or solar thermal systems. We’ll be having 6 presenters that will share best practices they’ve learned in the industry.
RSVP Here: http://heatspringmeetup.eventb
Date/Location. Sea Dog Brew Pub. Woburn, MA. 6pm – 8pm. Nov 29th
Green Light Distrikt and Energy Bar are hosting the 4th Energy Bar. The theme is how to scale a venture after initial sales. High growth cleantech companies have specific challenges to overcome in building sales after initial sales. The presenters will discuss common obstacles and how to overcome them. Presenters will be @cleantechvc, Rob Day, and Mike Feinstein VP of Sales and Marketing at Digital Lumens.
Details here: http://energybarboston.eventbrite.com/
Date/Location. Greentown Labs, Boston, MA. 5:30pm-8:30pm Dec. 1
October 24th, 2011
The Plan to Make Boston The Leading City for Clean Energy Prototyping
BICEP -BICEP is the Boston Institute for Clean Energy Prototyping.
It’s run by me, Ethan Labowitz. My goal is clear: I want to make Boston a world class city for clean energy prototyping. A world class city has the resources and knowledge to build the most high quality prototypes the fastest, for the least amount of money, and with the fewest errors. While Boston has great engineering talent, many of young engineers lack experience in actually building effective, low-cost prototypes.
What is BICEP’s goal?
Make Boston the best place in the country to prototype a clean energy product. Simple.
What specifically will BICEP do to complete this goal?
BICEP will work to quantifiably decrease prototyping time and costs by offering shop training, reduced rate fabrication and consulting services, and free office hours.
Why is BICEP’s mission important?
The more prototypes that are built and tested, the greater likelihood of building a product that will sell. Products that sell create companies. If the company builds their prototype in Boston, they are likely to stay in Boston.
What is the problem with Boston right now?
While Boston produces a high number of engineers, few recent graduates have any of the hands-on experience needed to build a prototype. This often causes them to make simple, yet costly mistakes and use private contractors that are not experienced in clean energy prototyping. Experienced engineers are too expensive for young companies with no revenue.
What is BICEP’s solution?
1 – Offer discounted shop services that are subsidized from donations. BICEP will become a 501c3 and accept donations and grants from organizations and government agencies that see the value in Boston becoming a cleantech prototyping hub.
2 – Offer open office hours, so any cash-strapped startup can get valuable prototyping advice on a first-come, first-served basis.
3 – Cleantech Prototyping Academy – BICEP will host short, intensive workshops for students and professionals who are interested in the space but lack hands-on knowledge.
4 – Be a non-profit. Being a non-profit is key to success because it will allow BICEP to be more transparent and share lessons learned from prototype to prototype. By not making the same mistakes twice, BICEP will be able to further bring down the costs and time to build prototypes.
What is BICEP’s business model?
All businesses, whether non-profit or for profit, must make money in order to succeed. Here’s how BICEP will make money:
1 – Charge money for workshops
2 – Charge money for shop services
3 – Accept donations from organizations, foundation, government and private companies that understand the benefit of building quality prototypes
What is BICEP working on RIGHT now and how can I help?
1 – Building a shop
2 – Schedule office hours
3 – Creating relationships and schedule for Cleantech Prototyping Academy.
If you’d like to help with any of these initiatives or keep up to dates with BICEP’s status, let me know:
October 21st, 2011
What You Need to Know About Ethanol, Part I
Business Insights -Ethanol is so five years ago. 2011 is the year of electric cars and shale gas. Or is it? Considering the following:
- Since 2004, U.S. ethanol consumption has grown four-fold, while gasoline consumption has been flat.
- Driven to cut the national deficit, politicians are increasingly advocating for the reduction or elimination of government supports for ethanol. Two such House bills were introduced earlier this month.
- The Obama Administration supports both the ethanol mandate and increased fuel economy. Since ethanol delivers fewer miles per gallon than gasoline, this will lead to an inevitable clash between the Administration’s energy and economic priorities.
- “High energy prices contribute to high food prices by making food production more expensive and encourages more people to use grains like corn to make ethanol, which also drives up corn prices” (Slate).
So even though ethanol isn’t the sexiest energy story of 2011, it’s incredibly relevant to the politics of energy, food and global trade. Read past the break for the full story and join the Green Light Distrikt Facebook group for updates on new events, blog posts and more.
