Speaking at Venture Beat’s Smart Grid conference the other day, VC superstar John Doerr (of Kleiner Perkins) declared that “Greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century.”
Doerr compares the evolution of the Smart Grid to the initial, disorganized adoption of the Internet, but voiced his concern about the U.S.’s position in the global cleantech business.
Doerr said. “Even if you don’t believe in global warming, or if you don’t believe this is going to be the biggest global business… the U.S. is not going to win unless our entrepreneurs start to lead — and not just our business entrepreneurs, also our policy entrepreneurs.”
In underscoring the opportunity, Doerr pointed out that while the Internet represents a $1 trillion economy, the energy business is a $6 trillion dollar economy(!).
And in a soundbite built to stir the passion of pioneering entrepreneurial zeal, Doerr declared, “The super grid is going to be the last great network we build in our lifetimes.”
Starbucks says it has begun implementing an LED lighting conversion program in all of its company-owned stores in the U.S. and Canada, and has already completed installation in more than 1,000 U.S. locations.
The retail giant expects to expand the program to international markets in March 2010, aiming to complete installation in more than 8,000 company-owned stores around the world by the end of 2010.
Once that’s all done, Starbucks projects a 7 percent per-store reduction in energy use. This is a very exciting move by a major corporate entity, and I like the statement it makes about responsible energy consumption. I also like the technology implications here – solid state lighting is viable and can be esthetically formed to meet the needs of all kinds of design environments.
Solid state lighting seems to be finally moving into the mainstream. I’ve recently come across Oree who is developing next-generation planar LED illumination with the first flat, thin, highly efficient light source. It’s cool because it lets lighting companies do some very creative design while still reducing energy consumption.
Oree’s is the kind of technology that could drive widespread adoption of LEDs in growing markets such as general lighting, decoration and LCD panels. I like it.
In a letter written on Sept. 23, the E.P.A. says it will “initiate a new rule-making to explore in detail the information displayed on the current fuel economy label and the methodology for deriving that information.” The E.P.A. letter said consumer labels should “provide practical, usable and meaningful information to vehicle purchasers” interested in battery electrics, plug-in hybrids and “other advanced technology vehicles.”
The E.P.A.’s letter was in direct response to a Sept. 10 proposal from Rainier client ETV Motors, which is working on battery technology as well as a hybrid concept that uses a micro-turbine to replenish an electric vehicle’s batteries. ETV wrote to the U.S. agency because “the world needs the E.P.A. to take the lead. What the E.P.A. does will have a ripple effect into all markets.” The United States, says ETV’s CEO Dror Ben-David, “is a leader in rule-making.”
ETV proposed that consumers be given three pieces of information on electric vehicles: the E.V.’s all-electric range, its energy efficiency in electric mode (expressed in miles a 10 kilowatt-hours) and, for plug-in hybrids, its fuel efficiency when the internal-combustion engine kicks in.
Speaking at Venture Beat’s Smart Grid conference the other day, VC superstar John Doerr (of Kleiner Perkins) declared that “Greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century.”
Solid state lighting seems to be finally moving into the mainstream. I’ve recently come across 
In a letter written on Sept. 23, the E.P.A. says it will “initiate a new rule-making to explore in detail the information displayed on the current fuel economy label and the methodology for deriving that information.” The E.P.A. letter said consumer labels should “provide practical, usable and meaningful information to vehicle purchasers” interested in battery electrics, plug-in hybrids and “other advanced technology vehicles.”
Environmental writer and speaker