Wednesday, August 01, 2007

California Clean Tech Open Finalists Announced

The California Clean Tech Open (CCTO), America's richest cleantech business plan contest, has chosen fifty finalists in the competition that offers more than $600,000 in prizes.
Each winner in the six categories will receive a "$100,000 Start-Up in a Box" prize package that includes all of the business essentials necessary to help take green technology ideas from a concept to a business.

"The caliber of the executive summaries submitted for this year's contest was exceptional," said Michael Santullo, Co-Founder and Chair of the CCTO. "It was a very tough process for our independent judges to whittle the entries down to the fifty finalists selected. Many fine ideas did not make it to the finals, and we encourage all entrants to pursue their endeavors regardless of their outcome in the competition."

All finalists are invited to take part in a series of comprehensive entrepreneur summer workshops sponsored by the U.S. DOE, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and additionally receive mentoring services from a group of volunteers including successful technology entrepreneurs and other business experts.

Following formal pitches to judging panels, six winners and six runners-up will be selected and presented with their prizes at the grand final event in San Francisco on October 29th 2007.
Finalist profiles are available at http://www.cacleantech.com/.
The finalists are:
Air, Water & Waste category -- Prize Sponsor ENVIRON Foundation: Cascade Clean Energy -- smart microorganisms for wastewater energy recovery EarthGuard -- environmentally responsible plastic packaging Exergy Systems, Inc. -- separation/purification for process chemical and water reuse Friendly Cow Biogas -- proprietary biogas digesters for rural areas Go Green Go -- point of sale consumer waste recycling Microvi Biotech, LLC -- biotech-based water decontamination Nanoaqueonics -- environmentally safe fabric and automobile care products Vision Energy Corp. -- carbon-neutral municipal waste to natural gas conversion Waste Not, Want Not -- waste gasification and carbon sequestration Energy Efficiency category -- Prize Sponsors PG&E, SCE and SDG&E: Ahwahnee Technology -- solid state area lighting -- disruptive alternative to LEDs Aquarian Microsystems -- microvalve for refrigerant liquids increases efficiency Blue Earth Energy, Inc. -- low-power refrigeration and cooling from heat capture Civil Twilight -- intelligent streetlight control system gives virtual moonlight Nila inc. -- LED stage set lighting for the entertainment industry Progressive Cooling Solutions -- Micro Loop Heat Pipe cooler for microelectronics SuperBulbs -- new generation LEDs in light bulb form factor Zee Dynamics, Inc. -- synthetic rubber and rubber plastic compounding Green Building category -- Prize Sponsor Google: BuildFast -- House Kit -- low-income and post-disaster housing E-Mod -- semi-customizable modular home, focused on sustainability Enverity Corporation -- environmental data management software Morgan Digital Works -- website for green home improvement plans ReBond -- recycles post-consumer scrap rubber into new products Redwood Renewables -- recycles waste tires into solar PV roofing tiles Sustainable Spaces -- Bay Area home performance & sustainability experts Vertical Landscape -- load bearing shear walls sustain vegetation Renewables category -- Prize Sponsors PG&E, SCE and SDG&E: 1-Solar -- low-priced long-life inverters for solar PV Ascentool Inc. -- semiconductor technologies to lower PV module cost Hoda Globe Company -- clean thermoelectric energy Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC -- micro wind power from vibrating generator Lite Trough -- concentrating parabolic trough collectors Sereno Solar -- building-integrated solar water heating panels SolarAire, LLC -- solar thermally-driven air conditioning SolarSeal Technology -- weatherproof building-integrated PV arrays Tahoe Water Systems -- self-contained solar/wind based water pumping Smart Power category -- Prize Sponsor AMD: Blue Joule -- Energy Gateway: advanced inverter for "smart homes" Energi.ca -- chipset for smart inverters on individual solar panels Euclid Street Technologies -- distributed thermostat HVAC thermal controls Federspiel Controls -- wireless supervisory control of HVAC systems Grid Saver -- residential appliance remote control and monitoring system Lucid Design Group -- real-time environmental feedback improves energy conservation Transportation category -- Prize Sponsor Lexus: barefoot motors, LLC -- "green" electric all-terrain utility vehicles BGT Biogasoline -- effective heptanone biofuel, alternative to ethanol High Merit Thermoelectrics -- converts truck exhaust waste heat to electricity Hum Cycles -- high performance electric sport motorcycles ICR Advanced Vehicle Engine -- new lightweight powerplant for trucks and buses New American Energy, Inc., d/b/a Mighty Algae Biofuels -- farms algae for biodiesel RFT -- converts farm waste cellulose into methanol, fertilizer and CO2 for sequestration RideSpring -- outsourced web-based carpooling -- an alternative commute solution Syncromatics -- automated vehicle location for transit line efficiency The Last Mile -- cargo-carrying folding scooter to get commuters to the train station

1 comment:

Ed Miller said...

Thanks for shining a light on this small clean tech competition. As a competitor in the event as well as a firm believer that technology will lead the way to a cleaner tomorrow, I hope to see many great companies come from the CCTO.