Out of four teams competing at our Rising Star Showcase, the Carlsen Center announced that Folsom-based Core Envision was selected as the winner in the Sustainability category of the Accelerate California competition sponsored by CalOSBA.  The win includes a $50,000 prize.

Core Envision’s innovation is a relatively simple and low capital-cost method to build homes faster with dramatically less labor and substantial savings in the amount of lumber (and trees) required.  Mauro Sica, the founder of Core Envision, is an Italian immigrant, architect, and construction manager with a strong background in software and prefabrication. Over the past decade, Mauro has focused on making the framing process faster, clearer, and more efficient.  What many outside the construction industry don’t realize is how much room there is for improvement. Studies show that only 37% of on-site time in residential construction of the structure — the framing — is truly productive, and that 7% of all framing lumber — millions of trees — is wasted each year. The rest is lost to blueprint confusion, jobsite delays, rework, and waiting for missing details. It’s not that people are doing anything wrong — it’s that the process itself is increasingly complex.  Core Envision was created to solve this hidden but critical problem — with a relatively simple and low capital-cost method that builds homes faster using fewer labor hours and significantly less lumber.

Mauro and his mentor and co-author of the “bible” on framing, Nick Ridge, had a realization that changed everything–instead of sending prefab components to the jobsite, why not send more intelligence?  The result was Core Envision’s two-step method:  (1) software to read complex blueprints that translates them into clear tablet instructions; and (2) custom pre-marked layout tapes that can be stapled to standard lumber showing exactly where every cut should go.

The early results have been impressive.  In using his system to build 4 demonstration homes, Mauro saw construction times drop from 8-10 weeks to frame a typical home to just 2 ½ weeks.  The amount of now-very-expensive lumber was cut 7% simply by making optimal use of each piece and avoiding mistakes.  Moreover, the shortage of experienced carpenters was overcome by enabling less-skilled workers to work with clearer instructions. 

Mauro has been seeing a lot of interest from major builders and from custom builders.  Unlike manufactured pre-assembled components, Core Envision would save time and money on one-off custom homes as well as tract homes, giving homebuyers new flexibility in a more affordable home. He sees the big box home stores as a good outlet as well, serving a DIY market.

Congratulations and best wishes to Mauro and the Core Envision Team.

Congratulations to  CEO Linda Zhong and her team for the outstanding presentation at our Rising Star Showcase on October 22.  She showed how their latest technologies for making anodes and cathodes for batteries avoided half of the capital cost (with an 80% smaller footprint), eliminated toxic solvents entirely, cut energy consumption for the process by 70%, and improved power density dramatically.  One of the judges called it “impressive”, and another asked why all battery manufacturers had not adopted her new technology since it was so clearly superior.  Ultimately, it was up to the audience of over 80 people to cast their votes, and they overwhelmingly chose LiCAP.  Here is a copy of her presentation.

The runner-up was Kevin Wolf and WindHarvest, who made a strong case that with his innovation to capture near-ground turbulent wind, a huge amount of new capacity could be added in both existing wind farms as well as in new locations where the big tall turbines simply are not appropriate. Here is a copy of his presentation.

In all, we had ten companies presenting, and we received many positive comments about the high quality of them all.  Each company also had an exhibit table where people could find out more about them.  Here is a copy of the program for the event.

On September 4, 245 people attended the fourth Pitch Elk Grove competition, five times the number at the first event and double the number from last year.  It is now one of the biggest in the area.  Nine finalists presented their ventures to a panel of judges that included investors and business leaders from across the region, all MC’d by the high-energy JDM of Right Box. Companies competed for $20,000 in total prize money.  There were two clean tech companies among the nine finalists, Resolv and Soar Optics.

Rocklin-based IGH Naturals (Rich Foreman) won the top prize earning $10,000 for its Humolyte electrolyte product designed to help chemotherapy patients avoid severe treatment side effects.

EnlitenAI (Himanshu Misra) of Tracy won second place and received $5,000 for its artificial intelligence–driven clinical decision support tool for neurology care. Third place went to Sacramento-based Rely (Heather Rankow), which was awarded $2,500 for its one-click renter data sharing platform. The $2,500 award for Best Elk Grove Startup went to Soar Optics (Steve Barnett), which is developing technology to detect microplastics more efficiently and more economically.

Sam Ruderman, CEO of Resolv, made a good presentation of his app to assist builders and developers claim energy rebates more easily, making their projects more attractive to buyers.  We expect to see Sam back in future competitions.

The City of Elk Grove created Pitch Elk Grove in 2022 to showcase the region’s growing startup community. In addition to the competition, the city has launched programs such as the Startup Elk Grove Incentive Program and the Economic Development Incentive Program to provide entrepreneurs with technical support, financial resources, and site selection assistance. 

CleanStart is presenting its Showcase of Rising Stars on October 22 at Aggie Square, starting at 2 pm.  Be sure to mark your calendars for this event.  We will have ten companies presenting, all who have a shot at becoming a significant growth engine in the region.

In 1993, Mike Hart bought his first railroad with a bold vision: to create an emissions-free freight locomotive. More than three decades later, that dream has become reality. At a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony, the first diesel switcher locomotive was officially converted to run on hydrogen fuel cells and compressed hydrogen—marking a historic milestone in clean freight transportation.

This breakthrough is just the beginning. The plan now extends to converting 250+ short-haul switcher locomotives across California, each potentially eliminating the need for 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel every year. Switcher locomotives, which move railcars for loading, unloading, or reorganizing trains, are the perfect starting point for hydrogen rail. Unlike long-haul freight trains that would require extensive fueling infrastructure, switchers can be powered with just a few hydrogen refueling stations located in railyards. A two-hour refuel once a week makes this model both practical and scalable.

The ribbon-cutting event drew nearly 200 people and widespread coverage from major outlets like Fox 40 News and KCRA, underscoring the significance of this clean rail innovation.

Mike Hart is no stranger to pioneering clean technology. He is also behind the FastOx waste gasifier, which produces a hydrogen-rich synthesis gas from municipal waste. Communities and even the military are exploring FastOx for sustainable waste management and clean energy production. Beyond creating methanol, clean diesel, or syngas for power plants, FastOx technology could also generate hydrogen on-site—fueling the very locomotives now being converted.

After decades of development, the pieces are finally coming together: hydrogen locomotives, efficient fueling strategies, and a sustainable hydrogen supply chain. What started as one man’s vision is now a model for zero-emission freight rail—and a step toward transforming how goods move across the country.