Social Equity, Disadvantaged Groups, and Cleantech Startups

Social Equity, Disadvantaged Groups, and Cleantech Startups

Oct 1, 2019

A big crowd gathered at CleanStart’s new home, Hacker Lab at 2533 R Street, to hear three speakers on what might have seemed an unusual topic for us.  Jose Bodipo-Memba from SMUD, Eugene Lee from the CEC, and Mariah Lichtenstern from DiverseCity Ventures spoke about the importance of spreading the benefits of cleantech beyond the usual set of customers.  Startups need to be aware of this because increasingly funding sources want to know how applicants’ products will benefit disadvantaged communities and groups. Applicants who ignore these questions or give them little thought do so at their peril.  

Mariah had a very specific example.  She works as a reviewer with CalSEED, the CEC-funded program to give grants to innovators to prove their concepts (Phase I grants of $150,000) and then for the best of those go on to build and test prototypes (Phase II grants up to $450,000 each).  These grants are very attractive because no ownership of companies is involved, the money is not a loan that needs to be repaid, and no matching funds are required. On the application, there are five questions to be answered on the broader social benefits of the proposed product.  Mariah noted she was astonished at how cavalierly many applicants were in answering these questions. As a result, those applications were usually disqualified.  

Jose made the point that SMUD is looking to fund clean tech projects specifically in targeted disadvantaged areas.  So far they have funded $17 million of such projects. Cleantech startups seeking a demo project or wishing to find pioneer customers would find SMUD a good source of funds if they could come up with a project that addressed one of SMUD’s targets—EV chargers in disadvantaged neighborhoods, improvement of rental properties, free installations of clean tech on homes, for example.  Jose provided a long list of possible opportunities.  

Eugene Lee referenced a recent report he had commissioned on the barriers to the use of clean tech to disadvantaged areas.  This report was mandated by SB 350. The most recent version is available here (the CleanTech in Low Income Multifamily Buildings or CLIMB Action Plan).  Applicants that could devise projects that overcame one or more of these barriers would improve their funding chances with the CEC in its contracts and grants programs under its EPIC program.  SB 350 also required a companion report on the barriers to disadvantaged groups getting access to clean transportation and mobility options. That report is available here. The same opportunity exists for a cleantech startup to design a demo or a project that addresses these transportation and electric vehicle barriers and submit it for funding to the Air Resources Board from cap-and-trade proceeds.   Moreover, other agencies are beginning to use the “barrier” report as a guide to evaluating proposals they receive. So make it a point to learn more about what doors may be opened to you as you get a better understanding of how to serve disadvantaged groups.  

 

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.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, EY, Stoel Rives, Greenberg Traurig LLP

BlueTech Valley, Buchalter, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State

Charging Meetup

Charging Meetup

Nov 1, 2018

This week our Cleantech Meetup was Spooky popular.  Hosted at The Workshop Sacramento incubator and co-working space near McKinley Park, the meetup filled the place with entrepreneurs, policy makers, scientists and Investors all there to hear about the state of current charging and Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) policy.  It was the best-attended MeetUp so far.

Guy Hall from the Electric Auto Association, a group that has been around for over 100 years kicked off the event by summarizing charging. Then CleanStart welcomed local business success story Clipper Creek. Will Barnett, Director of Sales shared their story of becoming a top charging hardware provider in the US and world. They have shipped over 75,000 charging systems and supplied the internals for another 500,000 convenience chargers for the major EV manufacturers.  They have now grown to 50 employees. They talked about all the different models of chargers they offer, including fast chargers. They clearly are specializing in the Level 2 systems, though, the ones that operate at 220v. Check out our blog from when we visited Clipper Creek this year. Throughout the first presentations we had lively discussion that almost turned into a panel discussion that included all 4 presenters,

Educating the audience on local actions around charging, Dwight MacCurdy of SMUD, discussed all the work SMUD has been doing around promoting the adoption of ZEVs by building EV charging infrastructure. Through rebates, charging locations, and education SMUD has a whole host of programs.

Dr. Elise Keddie introduced the hot topic of Volkswagen’s (VW) Cycle 2 ZEV investment plan as part of the settlement of the fraudulent emissions testing case. She also introduced Tony Gonzalez of Electrify America (a wholly-owned subsidiary through which VW is investing in charging).  With the work SMUD, other utilities, the CEC, CARB, and Electrify America are doing, Dr Keddie said California is leading the way in charging investment but has yet to reach half of what is needed to accommodate the growth of EVs.

This was a great meetup and if you missed out, don’t worry, we still have one left this year on November 27th.  And if you can’t wait till then Check out Green Drinks early November and our Calendar for other events!

Get the Presenters Slides!
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.

Sponsors

SMUD
CMC
RiverCity Bank

Weintraub | Tobin, Revrnt, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig

Profile: Sac Startup Improves Hotel Efficiency Drastically

Profile: Sac Startup Improves Hotel Efficiency Drastically

Jul 9, 2018

What Cleantech company in moving up?  GridRabbit. This year they expect to double their sales.

GridRabbit is real-time hardware and software Smart Room Building IoT System. The GridRabbit System is built with the ability to grow, adapt and integrate new technologies into the platform. The customer can begin experiencing the GridRabbit system just with one type of device, like a thermostat, a year later the same customer can add an in-wall smart switch, voice control device or an EV Charger. All integrated in the same IoT platform. The GridRabbit team is constantly monitoring and adding new features and devices to the GridRabbit system.

In 2010 Smart Grid Billing, Inc. started developing the GridRabbit system and since then installed multiple GridRabbit Smart Rooms all over the over the world. In 2015, Smart Grid Billing, Inc.  in partnership with SMUD installed the GridRabbit solution at two Sacramento Hotels, one of which is the Hyatt Regency Sacramento. Allowing for the hotel to control the energy use in rooms when guests leave. The end-to-end hardware and software solution gives facilities managers more control over a building energy uses. In 2017 Hyatt Regency also installed 26 Electric Vehicle chargers that are integrated with the GridRabbit™ solution, allowing even more energy control for Hyatt Regency. These Electric Vehicle chargers can be automatically adjusted in 5 different levels by the GridRabbit solution, increasing the potential real-time energy control from 500 kW to 900kW.This year they are extending that control having installed a 120 kWh Lithium Titanate SCiB battery solution at the Sacramento Hyatt enabling them to flatten out the duck curve even further.  The Hyatt now buys energy from SMUD at night when it is less expensive, reduces energy use when guest leave, and is nearing a flat energy usage curve.

From a Utilities perspective, like that of SMUD, this is big. Smart Grid Billing, Inc. has proved GridRabbit can be used to reduce energy usage during peak times, flatten the duck curve, and integrate battery storage. This is key to incorporating renewable energy and battery storage into the grid.

GridRabbit platform manages power usage with automated rules that can manage blocks of rooms, individual rooms, and even individual light switches and outlets. This enables hotels to not only reduce usage but also help improve visitor satisfaction, because it is more than just turning off lights when people leave.  Often, after a hotel starts working with GridRabbit, problem areas, hurting customer satisfaction, can be identified. For example, problem AC Units or expired lighting all hurt the visitor experience and GridRabbit can identify these issues in real-time and before a hotel takes hit to its reputation. Some of the GridRabbit hotels have more than 5000 GridRabbit Smart devices installed.  Hotels and companies using GridRabbit are experiencing a 30% reduction in energy usage from the controlled loads.

GridRabbit is an official Trademark of SmartGrid Billing.

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.

Sponsors

SMUD
CMC
RiverCity Bank

Weintraub | Tobin, Revrnt, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig

Storage Meetup Recap

Storage Meetup Recap

Apr 5, 2018

One of the  hottest topics in clean tech is storage.  To date there has been no economically compelling storage solution, but the hope remains that one is on the horizon, and one that will make distributed or customer-site storage installations and electric vehicles even a better choice.  One source put the global market for distributed storage solutions at $2 billion per year now, and able to grow over 33% per year if certain breakthroughs are achieved. That would mean a $10 billion market in 5 years, not even coutning electric vehicles.   We had an awesome discussion of the potentials and perils of this market at our Clean Tech MeetUp on March 29.  The MeetUp was held at Coffee and Coworking, a cool new space on Broadway near the UCD Med Center, hosted by owner Gagan Johal.  Three speakers got the crowd going–Gregg Fishman, SMUD Board Vice President, Deepak Aswani, Senior Engineer from SMUD, and Bob Gregory from Electra Vehicles.  While the CPUC has mandated the investor-owned utilities to contract for over 1300 MW of storage, that mandate did not apply to SMUD. The crowd was glad to hear that SMUD shortly will be opening a process to acquire 9 MW of customer-side storage in the near term, and increasing that to 75 MW if all goes well.  There’s business opportunity locally! Deepak also laid out some trends on how battery costs have been declining, and documented some estimates of how those trends might continue. Steady progress has seen these costs decline every year, but not as rapidly as solar panel costs plunged, nor is such a plunge about to happen. Bob Gregory made a good case for combining supercapacitors and batteries in a single package to bridge the problem that a good storage solution needs to be able to deliver high power quickly but then have lots of energy stored to provide duration and range.  His point was that, while some startups are trying to get batteries that inherently can do both, their problems of heat dissipation and limited life, it is better to use supercapacitors to do what they do best–discharge quickly–and lithium ion batteries to what they do best–provide lots of storage that can be withdrawn slowly.   There were lots of other topics covered–how utility rates may need to change to reflect full value for installed storage, how the peak and off-peak prices are likely to change over time as storage is installed, whether storage could also lead to avoided system expansion costs, among others.   This MeetUp probably had the liveliest Q&A of all such events we have put on so far.   We were glad to hear from some of the attendees that our MeetUps are the best thing going in elevating the visibility and understanding of clean tech and clean tech companies in our region.  If you haven’t taken advantage of one of these sessions, you really should try to join us at one in the future. They really are quite fun–and educational.
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.
Profile: Arch Nexus

Profile: Arch Nexus

Oct 12, 2017

“Our hope is that Arch | Nexus SAC will be an inspiration for others to employ similar methods and create places that enhance the community and respect nature.” – Arch | Nexus

Arch | Nexus SAC, a Sacramento architectural firm, is in the hunt for becoming the 16th building worldwide to gain accreditation by the International Living Future Institute for their Living Building Challenge. The Living Building Challenge is a certification that recognizes a building that satisfies excellence in all seven “Petal” categories of sustainable living, which are energy, water, materials, health + happiness, equity, place, and beauty. In essence, a Living Building Challenge certified building is net energy positive, water neutral, and carbon negative.

Walking into Arch | Nexus SAC and its living ecosystem you are welcomed by “Audrey”, the office’s living flora wall, which recycles used grey water while offering beauty to the building’s entrance. The office space offers an open design for innovation to flourish as employees collaborate under natural light filtering in through the office windows and concentrating skylights. The thermal regulators are the employees (community members) as they are notified by smart sensors on when to best open or close the windows for natural ventilation. Behind the walls of this innovative and sustainable layout is where the true beauty lies. In the backroom of the office, engineering at its finest has taken place as all greywater is recycled and stored for later use, and composting toilets act as the building’s own sewage treatment system. In addition to its water recycling process, the building is powered by a number of solar panels offering a minimum of 105% of the offices energy needs.

Now, the building itself and the technologies integrated into its existence are major contributors to the Living Building Challenge, but the commitment by the members of the office (community) to live and adapt to such an ecosystem is a major driving force. Arch | Nexus SAC seeks to enter into a new era of economy called the Purpose Economy. They state, “It turns out architecture is not about buildings. It’s about the people in and around them. The experiences they have. The purpose they serve. This is our why.”

As a steward for buildings of the future, Arch | Nexus SAC ticks the box on the highest level of LEED certification. The building is LEED Version 4 Platinum certified placing it within the top echelon of green buildings. In an effort to follow their why, Arch | Nexus SAC’s inspiration and leadership of others has been recognized as SMUD has taken them on as a partner in developing the SMUD Living Future Project Accelerator program aimed at increasing awareness and green building developers. The accelerator powered by SMUD will ignite the cleantech and green building industry within Sacramento by providing a platform and mentorship for sustainable thinking to thrive. If you are a developer or a cleantech company, who has technology that could supply and help build a living ecosystem or would like to attend a free Accelerator class or tour on Living Buildings and Zero Net Energy, click on the link below to check out the accelerator further.

Check out the ILFI & SMUD Accelerator
Are you "Deal Ready"?

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cameron is a Sacramento-native who recently graduated with a Masters of Business in both Sustainability and International Business. His goal is to ignite Sacramento's clean tech economy catalyzing the transformation of the region into a global economic hub with CleanStart.