Greentech business and climate change

First of all I would like to apologize to my “audience” for being absent since August (I can’t believe it’s been that long!).

The truth is we have been very busy in Israel G-Tek; we have executed our first investment in a wind turbine technology company IQWind which was recently named top 100 cleantech company of the world; we are also in the process of negotiating other deals.

Since August I attended the Boston Cleantech forum, went on a business trip to San Diego and then went on to Israel to, amongst other things, be part of Watech (one of the largest water and alternative energy conferences).

Also, since August the book Start-Up Nation came out, becoming an unintended marketing campaign for our fund.

So, let’s get right to the point: WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE’S ROLE IN GREENTECH BUSINESS?

First of all I want to disclose that I don’t consider myself a “tree-hugger”; my business associate is even less of a believer than me, he is into Greentech because he wants to stop oil dollars from going to countries such as Iran and Venezuela.

Regardless of your beliefs in climate change, there is a direct correlation between the truth of climate change and the future of greentech. More specifically, the relation is between people’s perception of climate change and the future of greentech (like my marketing expert wife says “perception is reality”)

Recent scandals in the scientific community have placed a black veil over climate change, bringing more people into the “doubters” side of the equation. But, what if I told you that we are in an almost irreversible path to wipe out humanity from the face of the earth?

If there was undeniable proof of extremely negative consequences, then people’s actions and business decisions would be very different. Perhaps CNN’s show will shed some light into this issue (Dec 9 CNN 8pm EST “Global Warming: Trick or Truth”).

The ugly truth is that the cards have already been played. We are not changing fast enough to prevent a global catastrophe (remember: we need to counter carbon emissions and pollution at a faster rate than they grow PLUS revert the existing damage already affecting the globe; in other words: the counter action has to be many times greater than the existing trend). Therefore we are set in a path to possible human annihilation (I am not exaggerating), our only hope is that we would be able to partially save ourselves with “last minute measures” or that the whole thing of climate change is a scam. What do you think?

GERMAN GIANT SIEMENS BUYS SOLEL FOR $418 MM

“Siemens and Solel are a perfect match. Solel enriches Siemens’ capacities… Israeli companies are very successful, backed by years of experience, development and production of field equipment for the creation of solar energy,” – Peter Loescher, president and chief executive of Siemens.

German industrial conglomerate Siemens is buying Israel’s Solel Solar Systems Ltd. for about $418 million so as to expand its business with solar thermal power plants.

It is Siemens second solar power acquisition in Israel. Two months ago Siemens bought 40% of Arava Power for $15 million.

Solel’s products optimally complete Siemens’ current offering. With the acquisition of Solel, Siemens significantly expands its access to the product technology necessary for the establishment of solar thermal power plants, enabling it to offer about 70% of the components to its clients

“In the future, we’ll be able to offer the key components for the construction of parabolic trough power plants from a single source and to further enhance the efficiency of these plants,” Siemens’ Renewable Energy division head Rene Umlauft said.

Unlike photovoltaic solar panels, which use the sunlight to create electricity, solar thermal power plants use the sun to heat water which then creates the steam required to power a turbine generator which produces electricity to the grid.

Solel is one of the world’s two leading suppliers of solar receivers, – key components of parabolic trough power plants. The company has been active in Spain since 2006, supplying key components for 15 solar thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 750 megawatts. The firm is also active in the US.

Israel ranked #5 on “The top 10 cleantech countries of 2009”

“Israel, the 'Silicon Valley' of water technology, is fast becoming the cleantech incubator to the world (see Israel to export $2.5B in water technologies by 2011). Israel recycles 75 percent of its wastewater, invented drip irrigation, and is home to the world's largest reverse osmosis desalination plant (see Israel plans largest desal plant in $513M deal). Israel certainly isn't the world's biggest cleantech market, but it might just be one of the world's most important centers of cleantech innovation and R&D, with innovative companies such as CellEra, Aqwise, and Emefcy. Better Place is also making Israel the first test-market for a nationwide electric vehicle recharge network (see Electric cars are coming to Israel). Leading Israeli VCs include Israel Cleantech, Aqua Argo Fund and Terra Ventures.”

Read about full ranking at http://cleantech.com/news/5127/top-10-cleantech-countries-2009