Sierra Energy Raises $33 Million!

Sierra Energy Raises $33 Million!

A constant feature of CleanStart’s reporting has been Sierra Energy.  At our Cleantech Meetups and in our Progress Reports!  Congratulations to Mike Hart and the entire Sierra Energy team!

They also have a desire to build more community in the region by encouraging research. We look forward to Sierra Energy continuing to be a game changer.

Read more about it here.

 

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center

Top Global Cleantech Companies Booming

Top Global Cleantech Companies Booming

Every so often it’s nice to get a little perspective on the cleantech industry.  The Cleantech Group just published a review of the top 100 cleantech venture-backed companies in the world and it has some interesting insights.  Over 13,900 companies from 37 countries were nominated to be in the list, an all-time high since the Cleantech Group starting doing these reports in 2009.  The final 100 selected represent over $16 billion in venture and growth investment since inception, representing 532 investment rounds involving 371 investors.  The 100 have 15,000 employees, fewer than one might have guessed, but understandable given how many of them are software companies.  

The 100 were broken up into 6 categories

Category

Number of Companies

Total Venture and Growth Investment ($B)

Agriculture & Food

12

$1.90

Energy & Power

40

$1.82

Industrial & Manufacturing

5

$0.95

Materials & Chemicals

9

$0.25

Resources & Environment

13

$0.77

Transportation & Logistics

21

$8.37

 

Clearly the transportation category is dominating all the others.  This wasn’t true even 5 years ago, so this has been a swift rise. The biggest equity investment in the whole set comes from this category – Lyft with a $600 million total.

It is inspiring just to read through the list of the 100 companies and realize the tremendous creativity they represent.  When one then realizes there were over 13,000 more that were nominated but not chosen, the scale of the worldwide effort going into cleantech is stunning.  To me, it was a surprise.

There were some notable trends revealed.   Decarbonization, decentralization, and “digitalization”  (IOT, Big Data, massive sensor and control networks) are the themes driving innovation in the Energy & Power sector.   Interest in biofuels has waned considerably. At the same time “carbon-to-value” companies have blossomed. These are companies that capture carbon dioxide and convert it into valuable products.  That’s a big change. In 2004, the idea was treated as laughable. Now it’s generating revenue, and a big part of creating the “circular economy”.  

The 40-page report discusses highlights from each of the six sectors and is a wealth of information.  Great stuff on each page. Anyone thinking all the innovation in cleantech has already been done clearly has not been paying attention.  Also, if you are thinking of pursuing a cleantech idea, the report provides a lot of market intelligence and summary competitor info. Well worth the read. 

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.

Electric Vehicles Support Local Jobs

Electric Vehicles Support Local Jobs

The developing industry around electric cars creates jobs.  Building new manufacturing and supply chain infrastructures and investing in the new vehicle technologies by default adds jobs to the economy.  However, a legitimate question is, does Electric Vehicle(EV) adoption and use affect jobs outside of these new investments. Aggressive growth goalsia in the future adoption of EVs, will trigger a change in where households incur expenses.

In the past 5 years a host of economic papers have detailed the effect of EV adoption on national and local economies.  The findings all suggest adoption of EV can and will result in substantial job creation. Nationally an estimated 1.9 million more jobs in 2030 and a 16 times more return on changing consumer spending.  The largest job driver of local jobs with the adoption of EVs will be the spending changes as people shift from gas and oil purchases to clean electric fueling. 

 

The average gas station sells $7,000,000 of fuel per year. 

Currently, the average cost for driving a car with an internal combustion engine (ICE) car 10,000 miles a year is  $1,657.  This is money spent on gas and maintenance such as refueling and oil changes.   While these expenses help your local gas station and service center stay in business, most of the money flows out of the local economy to outside Oil Producers.  Half of the oil consumed in the US comes from overseas. As consumers shift to EVs, these expenses are repurposed. 

EV consumers will, on average, incur $522 for fueling and gain $1,135 in savings.  The two together apply $1,657 to the local economy in terms of electric energy production, retail, private services, and construction.   The savings, from owning an EV, become expenses in goods and services that, locally, create more jobs. A dollar saved from ICE vehicles and spent elsewhere is actually 16 times more job intensive.    

If California reaches Governor Brown’s goal of 1,000,000 EVs on the road by 2020, assuming savings don’t change, an additional $1.2 billion dollars will remain in the California economy.

Combine all EVs and switching to electric has contributed nearly 200,000 jobs to the California economy.  In The first half of 2019 with approximately 75,000 EVs and HEVs purchased in California, we are on pace to add another 50,000 jobs by switching to Electric Vehicles in 2010.

Looking at the evidence, the move to electric cars will help local economies.

If you want to get more involved in Electric Vehicals in Sacramento, check out Sac EV, who helped me with this report.

 

Sources”

  1.  Goleta , “Governor Brown Announces $120 million Settelment to Fund Electric Car Charging Stations Across California”, 23 March 2012, <https://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=17463>
  2. Roland-Holst, David “Plug-in Electric Vehicle Deployment in California: An Economic Assessment”, September 2012
  3. Wescott and Werling, “Economic Impact of Electrification Roadmap”, Electrification Coalition, 2010
  4. “California Auto Outlook”, Auto Outlook, Inc., August 2015
  5. “Your Driving Cost”, AAA, 2018
  6. Gas/Diesel Fuel Station Revenue (2012) Gasoline (7,748 stations, selling 13,571M gallons total or 1.75M each) times $4.03 / gallon – $7M per station.
Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center

Three Regional Companies in Cleantech Open West Competition

Three Regional Companies in Cleantech Open West Competition

Recently CTO West announced its group of teams accepted into their accelerator and business plan competition program for 2019.  Three local teams were included, the largest number so far in this annual program. They will be competing for over $100,000 in prizes.  The three teams are:

RePurpose Energy–Reusing electric vehicle batteries to store solar energy

Empow Lighting—Developing LED lighting film for low-cost retrofits of fluorescent lights using thin and flexible LED lighting sheets that can snap into existing fluorescent light fixtures, with 50% energy savings

ZYD Energy–Developing efficient thermal energy storage solutions for buildings 

CTO West awards prizes in eight categories as well as a Grand Prize.  You can read more about all the companies here.  In addition, the teams participate in a “bootcamp” to learn how to improve their business plans and pitch presentations.  Selected teams get a lot of exposure to investors, mentors, and allies. This is great news for the companies and for the region.  Congratulations to all. 

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.