The most innovative companies so far this year

By Kirsten Korosec

Google-backed Transphorm Energy and biomass-to-fuels tech company Amyris were among the top 10 most innovative firms in the first quarter of 2012, according to Lux Research.

The Boston-based research firm profiled 328 companies across 15 different emerging technology domains that are posied to impact global megatrends like sustainable energy and infrastructure, materials revolutions and health and wellness. Analysts at Lux Research identify each quarter the 10 most compelling companies and provide a bottom-line assessment of its prospect. Companies are given a rating, such as “strong caution,” strong positive” or “wait and see,” for those that face too much uncertainty for a definitive call.
The top 10 are listed below. Keep an eye out for these companies, one of which landed in my 7 startups to watch forecast.

1. Transphorm (wait and see rating)
The company has developed a power conversion module that uses semiconductor device material gallium nitride — and not the more commonly used silicon — to limit power losses that occur whenever electricity from the grid is converted into usable electric power. Last year, Transphorm and Enphase Energy received $3.6 million to develop a cost effective, high efficiency solar inverter to limit power waste.

2. Zyvex Technologies (positive rating)
The Columbus, Ohio-based company makes nanomaterials that can be used in labs and finished products. For example, the company developed the Piranha, an unmanned boat that’s 400 percent more fuel efficient than similar models, thanks to the verssel’s ultra-lightweight nano-enhanced body.
Lux gave Zyvex positive marks for its savvy business strategy and noted that its one of the few developers to successfully commercialize structural nanocomposites.
3. Clearford Industries (positive rating)
The Canadian company has created an easy-to-install distributed wastewater treatment system that it claims can provide the same performance at a significant lower cost when compared to historic gravity sewers.

4. Accelergy (positive rating)
Accelergy has developed catalytic coal-to-liquid and gas-to-liquid technologies that convert cheap, available feedstocks into jet fuel and diesel. The company is testing its CTL tech in China.

5. Cbrite (positive rating)
The printed electronics company uses novel metal oxide semiconductor materials that could liberate flat-panel displays from dependence on silicon.

6. Amyris (positive rating)
I thought this pick was interesting because the California-based company, which uses genetic engineering to convert biomass into chemicals, fuels and lubricants, recently announced a major management shakeup, revised its production and cash flow targets. The company’s share price has dropped from a high of $30.78 to as low as $2.61.
Despite, its plunging stock price, Lux analysts contend that Amyris still tops the list of bio-based innovators, noting that its biosynthetically produced farnesene readily converts into products relevant to cosmetics, flavorings and diesel-compatible fuels. Lux believes the company’s real challenges aren’t its tech, but slack demand. the research company also warned that scaling up can present any number of problems, even if a company’s approach is conservative.

7. Global Solar (wait and see rating)
Global Solar is a makes flexible thin-film solar modules made out of copper indium gallium diselenide (or CIGS) materials. Last month, the Tucson, Ariz.-based company said it was planning to sell its portable solar products division. The company said at the time it wants to focus on growing its photovoltaic market.

8. Liquid Metal Battery (wait and see rating)
The startup is working to commercialize liquid metal battery technology it invented at MIT for cheap, grid-scale energy storage. The secret to the high-temperature batteries are its liquid components that naturally settle into distinct layers because of their different densities.
9. Encap Drug Delivery (positive rating)
The company makes liquid and semi-solid capsules for poorly soluble drugs, potent drugs that require special facilities and biologics.

10. Controlled Power Technologies (wait and see rating)
The company, founded in 2007 by senior automotive execs, develops and supplies technology designed to improve fuel consumption and emissions in vehicles. Lux noted that its system doesn’t use expensive rare earth magnets and can use cheaper cooling systems.
Photo:
Related:

• The hottest solar markets in early 2012
• Liquid batteries: A renewable energy game-changer?
• Amyris preps biofuel production in Brazil
• Amyris, Shell strike deal for renewable diesel fuel

Read More

When cars looked great, and polluted like there was no tomorrow

By Mark Halper

When I was writing yesterday about the eye-opening possibility that cars could rival electric trains for low CO2 emissions by 2020, I stumbled across a stunning photo collection that illustrates a sort of opposite theme. They’re part of a larger gallery by Wikimedia Commons user Ralf Roletschek.
You many not be old enough to remember the 1959 big finned Cadillac Eldorado or the 1937 Lincoln Zephyr. Perhaps you’ve seen them in the movies. They and the other gems below celebrate an era when cars could look great and not give a damn about CO2 emissions, if you know what I mean.
They’re on display in Volkswagen’s car museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, which is where Roletschek photographed them. Today’s Friday, so think of this post as What to do in Wolfsburg this weekend.
And if you can’t get to Wolfsburg, enjoy the view below. Okay, so beauty is in the eye of the beholder (Is that a BMW or a suitcase? A Bugati or a calliope? A Karmann Ghia or a dune buggy?). Behold already! See if you can figure out how much polar ice each of these 12 icons melted in its day. And thank you, Ralf. Good work:
1964 Jaguar:

1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz:

1937 Lincoln Zephyr:

1924 Lancia Lambda:

1938 BMW:

1931 MG:

1912 Bugati:

What’s this, besides a cyclops?:

How did this get in there?:

As long as we’re going green, a 1956 Citroen:

A Kharmann Gia, from some time ago:

Looks like my neighbor left his van in Wolfsburg:

Thanks again to photographer Ralf Roletschek. There are more cars on his Wikimedia page. Disclaimer: if you don’t like pictures of naked women, close your eyes as you scroll down his gallery (Angela Merkel’s in there too, clothed). Or simply search for the word “autostadt.” Happy motoring.
Note: Top photo now correctly reads “Jaguar,” not “Porsche.” Thanks to readers for pointing out the error. Corrected around 7:45 AM PDT, May 4.
Enough of the past. A glimpse of the future:

• Save the environment: Drive a car

Read More

EcoATM raises $17M to bring e-waste kiosks to you

By Kirsten Korosec
 

The average U.S. household owns 24 different consumer electronic devices, many of which are no longer being used. Some devices end up stashed in a drawer (you know the one). Other obsolete or broken devices — nearly 2.4 million tons in a year according to the most recent EPA figures — are tossed into landfills.
Electronic waste is considered the fastest-growing portion of the municipal waste stream. And yet, inside these devices are valuable resources including silver, gold, aluminum, copper and titanium that could be reclaimed. San Diego-based startup ecoATM has developed kiosks that can be placed in grocery stores and malls to make the electronics recycling process so convenient that consumers will change their wasteful habits.
Earlier this week, the startup announced it raised $17 million in a series B investment round to expand its network of e-recycling kiosks to the rest of the United States. In the past two years, the company has installed 50 kiosk locations throughout California. The new funding will enable mass commercialization and a national roll-out, ecoATM Chairman and CEO Tom Tullie said in a recent statement.
Claremont Creek Ventures, Coinstar Inc. and TAO Ventures all increased their investments in this latest financing round. New investors include PI Holdings, Moore Venture Partners, AKS Capital and Singapore billionaire Koh Boon Hwee. The company also announced it has been awarded a phase II grant for up to $1 million from the National Science Foundation.
The back story
In 2009, Coinstar launched its Next Great Idea challenge, a contest aimed at finding what the name implies. Its first winner was San Diego-based startup EcoATM. Since then, Coinstar has repeatedly invested in the startup. Coinstar founder Jens Molbak sits on the e-waste recycling company’s board of directors.
Coinstar has extensive experience in the automated kiosk business. The company’s first coin-counting kiosk was installed in 1992. It eventually branched out with the DVD rental unit Redbox. The company has approximately 36,800 DVD kiosks and 20,200 coin-counting kiosks in supermarkets, drug stores, restaurants, financial institutions and convenience stores.
How it works
A consumer walks up and places their portable consumer electronics device or handset into the automated kiosk. The used device is valued and then it’s automatically binned inside the kiosk. The user has a few payment options. They can receive a trade-up coupon, gift card, cash or can make a charitable donation. The kiosk requires a scan of your license to prevent theft and fraud.
Photo: ecoATM; thumbnail credit stock.xhcng
Related:

• The ecoATM: Drop off and recycle old devices
• Feds to get tough on contractor e-waste

Read More

Forget public transit: In London, an app that rewards you for walking and cycling

By Mark Halper

New billboards at London subway and bus stops might make you think twice before climbing aboard and clogging up the transit system. They’ll read “re:route,” and they’re aimed at getting you to do just that: To get to your destination through some healthier or more environmentally friendly means, like walking or cycling.
It’s part of a scheme from American company Recyclebank, which has developed a mobile phone app that shows you alternative means of propelling yourself from, say, Picadilly Circus to the Olympic stadium. Not only does it instruct you, but it also rewards you: Use the system, and you collect points redeemable at various retailers and health clubs.



It also shows you how many calories you supposedly burned, and how much CO2 emissions you saved by not using a bus, train, or car.
“It motivates people and rewards them for walking and cycling in London,” Recyclebank director of marketing Rob Crumbie told me by phone as the company was preparing to launch the product, available as of today.
The free app will give a you a number of options - everything from scrapping your journey by “tube” (that’s what Londoners call their underground train) in favor of walking, to how to walk the last portion of a mile by disembarking a stop or two early. And it guides you on where to pick up and drop off a rental bike suitable to your trip - (like many cities around the world, London has a cycle sharing scheme that lets you grab a bike for a short duration).
Many people don’t realize that it can be faster to walk than to take the tube on many trips, Crumbie said. Reroute lets them know that - or reminds those who already realize it.
GPS alerts the system that you’ve completed the journey and have earned points. (Yes, there are ways to cheat it - you could take a cab, for instance). At the moment, re:route issues points for simply using the system. In the future, it will give priority points to those who maximize the walking/cycling/healthy opportunties, Crumbie said.

Transport for London, the city government group that overseas buses and subways, is putting up the ads on bus shelters and at subway stations to help ease the burden on the the transportation system, and hopes that people use it during the summer Olympics that start July 27.
“We’re particularly excited about the potential for this app to motivate people to cycle and walk during the London 2012 Games, when London’s roads and public transport network will be at their busiest,” TfL director planning Ben Plowden said in a press release.

Recyclebank hopes to offer the app in other areas. “You may well see re:route popping up in other cities,” Crumbie said.
The app marks an extension of the New York City-based company’s business model that rewards people for recycling.
Re:route’s rewards points partners include retailer Marks & Spencer (lots of people buy their underwear there), organic supermarket Planet Organic, luxury spa resort Champneys and others.

Photos: London cropped from The Emirr/Collage via Wikimedia Commons. Re:route logo from Recyclebank.

Read More

Safe nuclear: India’s thorium reactor

By Mark Halper

Sunset over Kerala, India, where there is a lot of thorium in the beach sands. Some people think the sun should set on conventional uranium reactors in favor of safer thorium, a substance that is plentiful around the world.

One of my recurring themes on the energy blog here at SmartPlanet is that the world can have a safer nuclear future, provided the industry shifts to altogether different types of reactors and fuel.

I’m not talking about the passive cooling technologies that are bolt-ons to conventional uranium-fueled, water-cooled reactors, although those do augur safety improvements.

Rather, I’m referring to reactors that run on thorium instead of uranium fuel, and/or that depart from the water-cooled designs used in almost all of the 430+ commercial reactors operating around the globe today. They have generic names like “molten salt reactors” and “pebble bed reactors.”

For the next several weeks, I’ll be on the thorium trail, writing periodic updates and insights on the element - named after the Norse god of thunder - that many people believe should replace uranium as nuclear fuel. Thorium trumps uranium, they say, because it does not produce the nasty, weapons grade waste the way uranium does. And the waste is not as long-lived - about 300 years compared to tens of thousands or more for uranium. What’s more, thorium is more efficient than uranium.

Like other alternative nuclear technologies, thorium is not new. In the U.S., Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a thorium-powered, molten salt nuclear reactor in the 1960s. Safe thorium reactors could have defined the nuclear power era, then in its formative years. But the Nixon administration scotched thorium in favor of weapons-friendly uranium. The Cold War was on, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union were building an atomic arsenal…

 

Enough history. For today’s update, I take you to India where late last week, V Narayansamy, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office told the the upper house of Indian Parliament (called the Rajya Sabha) that India will indeed build a thorium reactor, according to India’s Deccan Herald newspaper (my report today is a cyber journey - I was not physically in India, although my feet have been and will be taking me elsewhere on this thorium sojourn).

India will start construction around 2016-17 of a water cooled, thorium-fueled reactor that deploys “heavy water” as its coolant, the paper reports.

Narayansamy’s notification to India’s Parliament last week was a foregone conclusion - perhaps a formality. I noted in my November report on alternative nuclear power, published by Kachan & Co., that India will build a thorium reactor. China is also developing thorium reactors and other alternative nuclear technologies, along with advancing conventional nuclear.

The report shines a little more light on India’s plans.

The Deccan Herald describes the reactor as a “research reactor” based on designs form Bhaba Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, led by R K Sinha, chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission. It will use a “heavy water” coolant. Heavy water reactors -  associated with Canada - use water that includes an isotope of hydrogen known as deuterium. Heavy water reactors can can make more efficient use of fuel than can standard water-cooled reactors.

Some thorium proponents, like Kirk Sorensen, co-founder of Huntsville, Ala.-based Flibe Energy, say that the best way to optimize thorium is to put it into a molten salt reactor, such as the one that Flibe is designing, based on Oak Ridge’s work.

Nevertheless, thorium supporters say that thorium is safer and less weapons-prone even in a more conventional reactor design, such as in India’s case.

India’s thorium reactor will be 300 megawatts. That’s small compared to the gigawatt-plus size of many conventional nuclear reactors. But it’s large scaled compared to the capacity that renewables plants like solar or wind could provide.

And in an interview with The Guardian newspaper last November, Sinha noted that India hopes to export the technology to countries such as Kazakhastan and the Gulf states. The Guardian suggested that Vietnam is keenly interested in the Indian design, which Sinha did not confirm.

“Many countries with small power grids of up to 5,000 MW are looking for 300MW reactors,” Sinha told The Guardian at the time. “Our reactors are smaller, cheaper, and very price competitive.”

The November Guardian story indicated that construction would begin around 2013-14, slightly earlier than what the Deccan Herald stated last week.

India’s Bhaba Atomic Research Centre is named after the late Homi Jehangir Bhabha, who framed a plan in the 1960s for a thorium-based nuclear future in India, a country which possesses a lot of naturally occurring thorium in its beach sands.

Thorium is common around the world. It occurs in monazite, a mineral also rich in rare earth minerals, which are in great global demand and which China currently controls - the mining of thorium thus help solve energy and rare earth issues.

Watch for more thorium postings from me, following my recent participation in a thorium committee meeting in British Parliament, and as I prepare to travel to a thorium conference in Chicago at the end of the month. I also hope to bring you a review of Richard Martin’s forthcoming salute to thorium, “Superfuel,” due out in June from Palgrave MacMillan.

–

Photos: Kerala sunset from Dominic Scaglione via Flickr. Homi Bhabha from Konrad Jacobs/Oberwalfach Photo Collection via Wikimedia Commons.

Read More

LEDs atop Empire State Building

 By Mark Halper

 

Some designers and architects say that LEDs emit a cold, uninviting light. If that’s the case, New York City is in for some frigid nights as 1200 LED (light emitting diode) fixtures will soon replace 400 conventional lamps atop the iconic Empire State Building.


 
Then again, the new lights should have a lot of admirers. Certainly they get a favorable write-up in The New York Times, which applauds them for “much greater energy efficiency, a significantly wider palette of more intense colors, and a lot of panache.”

LEDs are semiconductors that lend themselves to push-button control. The new lights will offer “millions” of color options compared to the 10 colors provided by today’s lights, which were installed over three decades ago for the United States bicentennial, the Times notes.
Reporting ahead of tomorrow’s official announcement by the project’s supplier, Royal Philips Electronics, the Times notes that digitally controlled lighting schemes will allow the building’s operators to display constantly changing, creative lighting that can suit moments such as, say, a baseball championship.
“When the Yankees win the pennant, we can put pinstripes on one side of the building and solid blue on the other,” Philips director of architectural products Jeff Campbell says in the story.
By comparison, today it can take seven workers seven hours to change to one new static lighting arrangment, by placing gels over lamps. The paper writes:

Because the colors of each LED fixture can be manipulated independently and instantaneously via computer, lighting effects — including rainbows, ripples, cross-fades and burst effects — can be created that appear to be animated, continuously moving and changing.
“We’ll have some real fun with our ability to manipulate the new lights,” said Anthony E. Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, an affiliate of the entity that owns the building. …“We want the Hong Kong experience,” he said, referring to the often-dramatic lighting seen on buildings there, but “we won’t be showing TV shows on the side of the building.” …
With the new LED fixtures, bought from Philips Color Kinetics, based in Massachusetts, the Empire State Building will be illuminated with millions of deep, rich colors and subtle pastels, compared with a limited palette of 10 colors from the existing lamps, which also tend to flicker and produce different brightnesses depending on the color.

The installation will be complete by the fall, will save the building’s owners 75 percent in energy costs annually, and will last three to six times longer that existing fixtures, according to the Times.
Empire State Building owner Malkin said it will cost “a few million dollars” to install and will pay for itself in six years.

I think the modern eye will probably adjust to the coolness of LED lights, and like it. Any thoughts?

Photo: Guian Bolisay via Wikimedia Commons.

Read More

DOE: Wireless car charging is the future

 By David Worthington | April 9, 2012, 3:32 PM PDT

  

Delphi and WiTricity are partnering to create a wireless car charging system that may meet the DOE

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is envisioning a future where you can pull into a parking space and be given the option to wirelessly charge your electric car. It just needs somebody to invent the technology.
Up to four contractors will be rewarded with up to US12 million in DOE grant money for innovation in static wireless charging. The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory published the grant opportunity last week.
Wireless charging technology most overcome problems the DOE has identified in today’s solutions including reduced efficiency, high vehicle integration costs, as well as unproven reliability and safety performance, it says. Extra charging locations could reduce vehicle weight, further driving energy efficiency, the DOE noted.
The auto industry also see this need. Auto parts maker Delphi is working on a high-efficiency wireless charging technology in partnership with WiTricity Corp. It has obtained patent rights from MIT to build its solution. Several automakers are also investigating wireless solutions.
The technology that DOE envision creates a very interesting business opportunity. Just imagine restaurants, hotels, and parking garages offering customers the option to charge up while they wait. Park, and an alert on your vehicle’s touchscreen console will prompt you to start the process. A cash transaction wouldn’t even be necessary - payment could be charged to an iTunes like account.
Of course, this type of system is much easier to envision than to build MIT scientists first demonstrated its wireless power transfer system (for consumer electronics) back in 2007. Maybe Delphi’s implementation will fulfill the DOE’s vision, but more people need to own electric cars before your local McDonalds will install charging stations.
The concept of wireless charging hasn’t caught on in the mass market beyond the Powermat concept for cell phones. Apple applied for its own wireless charging patent last year. If any company could advance wireless charging, it’s probably Apple. The DOE’s best effort aside, I think that it’s more likely we’ll see this type of technology in the cell phone market before it takes the automotive world by storm.
Still, it’s nice to see what the future holds.
Related on SmartPlanet:

• With wireless power, charge your EV while driving
• Wireless charging coming to the Nissan Leaf
• Qualcomm enters cable free charging fray
• Recharge an electric car without plugging in

Read More