The mission of the Cleantech Open is to find, fund, and foster the big ideas that address today’s most urgent energy, environmental, and economic challenges.Finalists were selected in each of six categories by teams of judges at an all-day event at the San Ramon campus of Cleantech Open Global Partner Chevron. Each category winner received a prize package worth $30,000 in cash/investment and services (and a handsome framed certificate). A listing of the categories and the 36 semi-finalists is here.
One of the six California finalists will be named the California Regional Winner and receive an additional $20,000 in cash/investment and services, and go on to compete with the other regional winners.
On November 17th in San José one of the five regional winners will be crowned National Winner at a National Award and Expo event and will get a $250,000 prize package of investment and additional services.
And The Winners Are . . .
In the Air, Water and Waste category: FogBusters, who have developed an oil/water separator to help food processors and similar companies remove fats, oils and grease from their wastwater streams. The extracted oil can be sold as biodiesel feedstock, and the cost of wastewater treatment can be significantly reduced.
For Energy Efficiency: Suntulit, developers of advanced technologies to affordably improve energy efficiency. Their first product is SMART HVAC, which provides homeowners with the comfort of an expensive multi-zone system and greater efficiency than existing energy management solutions.
In Green Building: Stramit Strawboard, makers of green strawboard building panels with better insulation and higher strength properties to replace gypsum based sheet rock.
In the Renewables category: Pure Solar. They are developing a laser processing technology targeting <15 cents per watt manufacture of c-Si wafers for solar cell production.
The Smart Power winner was SmartSense, which is working to commercialize the first wireless sensor that can both predict and detect faults in underground utility distribution systems.
The Transportation award went to Pressure Sentinel, makers of a $25 device that keeps tires at optimum pressure automatically. Using the Automatic Tire Inflation System, trucking companies could save $1000 per truck per year on gas, tires, and tire-related expenses caused by routine maintenance and emergency road calls.
Finally, Bellweather Materials was selected as the most sustainable of all the California entries. They are a triple bottom line company that transforms sustainable agricultural waste into green building insulation. Using wool that has no market in the U.S., they have developed a simple, easy-to-use and install insulation batt for buildings.
Congratulations to these California finalists, and to all the other regional finalists from the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountain, North Central and Northeast regions. See you at the National Awards and Expo event on 17th November!
An Open letter to the Cleantech Open:
ReplyDeleteIs the CleanTech Open an open contest?
It is disturbing to read reports online that imply that the Cleantech Open is rigged like the DOE funding has been.
When companies sponsor and decide on cleantech contests, when those companies are opposed to cleantech or who have invested interests in making sure only their version of cleantech moves forward and all others are stalled, is that fair?
Where is the 100% transparency in your contest? How do you guarantee that the rigging that Solyndra, Tesla, Fisker, Abound and similar “winners”/taxpayer losers isn’t happening with your “contest”?
Where are each and every note from their reviewers published? Where is the bio and financial disclosure of each of the reviewers?
The players seem to be the same. The past “winners” and “losers” seem to match the same list as the list of “connected” and “unconnected” companies. Kind of like a mob deal, right?
Does an unaffiliated open call to the public validate the winners? Why isn’t there one? It looks like Deloitte and Chevron and banks tell the organizers who is going to win, how can they prove to the public that is not the case?
The world is waiting for your response in an open letter posted on this website. Most applicants won’t even apply to the contest because it looks fixed.
Bay Area Technology Alliance