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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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Interviews
March 15th, 2010
The VegaWatt: A $0 BILLION Dollar Waste to Power Invention
TOPICS: BOSTON, Interviews, Renewable Energy
Last month I had a phone interview with James Peret, the inventor of the VegaWatt. In the first part of the audio interview we talked about their ideal customers and industry landscape. Currently, the VegaWatt has a little to no competition in the restaurant industry or even in the micro waste to power industry. Any restaurant that makes more then 30 gallons of grease per month is a perfect customer and there are no other current or feasible more profitable ways for them to get rid of their waste.
In this section James discusses why the VegaWatt is a billion dollar opportunity as there are more then 13,000 restaurants in the United States, then you can easily add all the ones in Canada, and Europe to that number and it becomes clear how the VegaWatt is going to be a seriously profitable invention. James is clearly a small, thoughtful, well spoken and amazing inventor. Not only will it be profitable, but it also has a huge environmental and social benefit.
Have fun listening to our discussion!
The $O Billion Dollar Opportunity
In the discussion we talked about:
-Why getting into every McDonalds is not the Vegawatt’s goal
-The number of us restaurants and how this is a billion dollar opportunity
-The greatest societal benefit is making mom and pops shops more profitable
-How the VegaWatt is an equivalent is increasing revenues by 25% and how that vastly helps local shops
Enjoy!
On a scale from 0 to 10, how awesome do you think to the VegaWatt is?
Leave a comment or question
March 2nd, 2010
The VegaWatt: Taking Over the On-Site Waste to Power Industry
TOPICS: BOSTON, Entrepreneurship, Interviews
The Vegawatt was invented by James Peret in Boylston Massachusetts. The system turns waste vegetable oil in restaurants into electricity and hot water. The value proposition is simple, they can lease a unit for $435 a month and save over $800 in electricity and fuel you need to buy. Or, you can buy it and get all your money back within 2 years. Simple. Profitable. Green.
The VegaWatt was a runner up in our Boston’s Top 10 Clean Tech Companies competition so I decided to interview the inventor, founder, and CEO James Peret as I organize profiling the winning companies (stay tuned for this, we’re going to be gathering some amazing video interviews and content of their offices and clean tech installations)
The interview is in five parts (so stayed tuned for the rest of the parts!) and the first part I wanted to share with you is where we talked about the Vegawatt’s customers, why they might not buy it, and why the system doesn’t really have any competition.
We talked about a relatively few number of items in this section but James goes into depth and provides great insights into the questions I asked and the competitive landscape in the waste-to-power industry. Listen to it here:
Vegawatt’s Perfect Customers and Industry Landscape
In this section we discussed:
-Why restaurants would NOT want to purchase a Vegawatt
-What their perfect customers look like
-What determines how big of a Vegawatt system a restaurant gets
-Why the Vegawatt has NO competition
-The reason that the system is never a primary heating source and is always supplementing a primary system
February 10th, 2010
The Winners! Boston’s Top 10 Clean Tech Companies
TOPICS: BOSTON, Interviews
The results are in! Here is the list, according to you, the community, of your top 10 favorite Boston clean tech companies.
For 2010, I decided I wanted to profile some awesome clean tech companies in Boston. As I started to make my list of favorite companies it became really large, 26 to be exact. Also, I realized I knew what companies I loved but I wanted to know what companies you LOVED. The obvious decision was to create a competition. Thus, Boston’s top 26 clean tech company competition was born. We received over 200 votes and I’ve been in contact with many of the companies already.
In 2010 I will be contacting and profiling one company per month. We received tons of votes but not many questions to ask these companies.
So, I still need your help! If you have time, leave a comment answering the question:
What is one thing you want to learn about these companies or ask their CEOs?
Stay tuned as a profile these companies in 2010. It’s going to be really fun.
Without further ado, voted by you here is the top 10 company and the 5 runner ups.
January 29th, 2010
UPDATE: Vote for your Favorite Boston Clean Tech Company
TOPICS: BOSTON, Interviews
Voting for Bostons top clean tech companies is going well, but I need more questions to ask the companies.
We started this competition 4 weeks ago because we wanted the communities feedback. I know the companies that I LOVE but I wanted to know who everybody else LOVED. So, we decided to create the Bostons Top 26 Clean Tech Company competition out of it. If you haven’t voted, but are interested go to the link and vote for your TOP 3 favorite companies. The companies with the Top 10 votes will be profiled in 2010 started in February.
The feedback has been amazing, we’ve received over 200 votes and I’ve already been in contact with Alteris Inc, Wakonda Technologies, Big Belly and the Vegawatt about profiling them.
Here’s the one problem. I have not received a lot of questions to ask the companies. I have plenty of questions that I want to ask but I really want to answer questions that you’re curious about. So, I need some questions?
Here’s what I would suggest:
1) Take a look at the Top 26 companies, and vote for your 3 favorite.
2) From the 3 your voted for, what do you most want to learn about them? Put these questions in the comment section of this post.
You’re the best 
January 12th, 2010
Video: What IS and IS NOT working in the Clean Energy Industry – Part 1
TOPICS: BOSTON, Interviews, Local Events
This is the first video post for The Green Light Distrikt and am really excited about it, along with a site re-design that will be completed by the time I return to Boston from Toronto. Last week, I went to a local Boston area Green Drinks event. I met some great people, reconnected with others that I haven’t seen for a while and saw a great discussion by Chuck Levin, Director of New Generation Energy that gives a great snapshot of the energy efficiency and green energy industry. Chuck discusses how the government is affecting the industry, what’s working and having trouble and lastly what New Generation Energy is working on. The posts will be split into two separate posts and I plan to be collecting a lot more great video content of events around the Boston area.
Also, please vote for your Top 3 favorite Boston clean tech companies. The top 10 vote receivers from the list of the top 26 of Boston clean tech companies will be profiled each month on The Green Light Distrikt in 2010 starting in February.
Please leave your comments on the video, I’m excited to hear what you think.
