archive for the ‘cleantech’ category

The wastewaters of innovation (literally!)

30 November 2011 | Leon Wong

Billing itself as the world’s largest annual water quality exhibition, the 84th Annual Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) draws 20,000 people from all over the world and has almost 1000 exhibitors. Because the show provided an opportunity to meet with a wide spectrum of wastewater players -- from utilities, corporations, manufacturer reps, and consultants to investors, analysts, and non-profits -- I wanted to share some of what I heard while showcasing our hydrodynamic separation (HDS) technology platform. Especially because I think the comments reflect the nature of innovation in the wastewater industry today.

The commoditization of cleantech…and the role of innovation

15 September 2011 | Leon Wong

Many cleantech businesses -- despite their capabilities, technical advantages, and bankability -- are being forced into one price war after another, causing margins to erode, valuations to drop, and in some cases, businesses to close. An offering might be patented and have a unique design, but it may be a commodity. This is especially the case in cleantech, where the final end product is typically electricity, clean water, fuel, or light: a commodity. Commoditization happens. The key is discerning early warnings, and tackling commoditization through strategic innovation.

How to build a cleantech portfolio (or: just about anything)

6 April 2011 | Scott Elrod

[contributed post to SmartPlanet] When PARC, a Xerox company, became an independent subsidiary in 2002, we were free to consider entirely new directions and industries. Cleantech was one of our first efforts to take the deep competencies and expertise we cultivated solely for Xerox, and apply them to problems and needs for other clients. But how did we align our idealistic motivations – concern for the environment, desire for impact – with commercial realities? Here are some of the strategies that helped us resolve conflicting goals and move from possibility, to reality... including knowing WHAT to start, and knowing WHEN to stop.

The electric vehicle — is it finally time?

24 June 2010 | Serdar Uckun

Arguably, the all-electric powertrain will be the most significant disruption in automotive technology since Henry Ford introduced the first assembly line over 100 years ago. So far, the gasoline- (or diesel-) powered internal combustion engine has been a tremendous success despite its limited efficiency, particulate matter and CO2 emissions, complexity, and maintenance demands. An all-electric powertrain, however, would eliminate many common failure modes associated with internal combustion engines. The recent introduction of plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles have sparked a new wave of public interest and heightened expectations -- is it finally time for electric vehicles to displace the internal combustion engine for good?

Scaling, collaboration are keys to maintaining U.S. cleantech edge

7 April 2010 | Scott Elrod

[EE Times invited this post from Scott Elrod, who directs our cleantech program.] PARC was recently invited to present transformative ideas at an energy technology conference sponsored by ARPA-Energy, a new Energy Department agency charged with funding high-risk, high-payoff technology. The agency recently set a benchmark in government efficiency by reviewing 3,700 project proposals from across the U.S. in record time, ultimately funding 37. I’ve shared some of the innovative ideas I saw at the technology showcase in another post, but the key questions that persist are: Can the U.S. sustain an edge in clean technology? What clean tech technologies will win, and what’s needed to get us there? How can an industry focused on IT make the transition to a completely different technology and market: energy technology?

Energy Innovation Summit: highlights

9 March 2010 | Scott Elrod

Organized by the the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy ("ARPA-E"), the inaugural Energy Innovation Summit that took place recently in D.C. brought together key players to spur the networks that will, according to the organizers, "bring about the next Industrial Revolution in clean energy technologies, in the way the U.S. has led previous revolutions in life sciences and information technology". Participants included venture capital investors, technology entrepreneurs, large and small corporations with an interest in clean energy technologies, scientific researchers, and policymakers/government officials. For a nerd like me, the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit was a candy shop. If you couldn't be there (or even if you were!), read on for what I consider the most noteworthy morsels from the event...

Vehicle-to-grid: Does it make economic sense?

10 February 2010 | Serdar Uckun

Vehicle-to-Grid is a fascinating concept that appeals to venture capitalists and energy economists alike. Imagine millions of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids connected to the power grid, storing excess energy generated by wind farms at night and selling power back to the grid during peak demand hours. But is V2G truly a win-win-win -- that is, does it make economic sense for PHEV/EV owners and manufacturers? Given the battery depreciation economics, Lithium-ion may not be the right chemistry for V2G. It might be wise for us to focus our attention on more feasible ways to integrate renewables into the grid.

Preventing energy waste in data centers

29 January 2010 | Serdar Uckun

Data centers are energy vampires. Approximately half the energy consumed by data centers today is simply wasted in order to accommodate occasional peak demand such as viral videos or breaking news. But we're now entering the "third wave" of data center efficiency advances: software managing hardware (the first wave was hardware such as HVAC, and the second wave was software such as virtualization to consolidate processes on fewer centers). PARC has developed a suite of energy management solutions which are based on model-based optimization and control to "adapt" energy use to resource needs.

It’s the market disruption, not the disruptive innovation

28 January 2010 | Jennifer Ernst

Disruptive innovation is about market impact. No business model or new technology is intrinsically disruptive. It's the application in the market, and the reaction of the consumer, that determines whether something is disruptive or not.