Clean Technology Update

I got an mass email from Marc Gottschalk who is a member of the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Practice of the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professional Corporation.

 

If anyone is interested the California Clean Tech Open final awards event will be held at The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco the afternoon/evening of Monday, October 29, 2007. At the current time some free organizational capacity building courses are being provided to the finalists to help them develop their business plans.

I would have liked to have participated, seeing it as an opportunity to feature the Integrated Farming & Waste Management System developed by ZERI volunteer George Chan, but I found the entrance fee of $250 too high for my budget.

The really useful news is on the solar front, a new $50M fund is being made available through California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to fund solar R&D and deployment.

For more information, please contact Peter Mostow at (415) 947-2051, Kevin Fox at (415) 947-2042, or Jason Keyes at (206) 883-2577.

More details here.

Making the Case for Localization in the Bay Area

I would like to make an extra effort in the coming months to revitalize the BASAC concept that led to the formation of Bay Area Sustainable Action Coalition (BASAC) discussion group.

I do think there is a strong link between oneVillage Foundation’ s (OVF) attempt to create a global sustainable development strategy and the transformation (The idea of Silicon Valley Transformation has been a hallmark of OVF’s two pronged global sustainable development strategy) of the Bay Area towards a major effort to retool its infrastructure and production systems so that they are dramatically reducing ecological impacts from the currently grossly unsustainable levels of activity and consumption today. Its really a way of balancing the need for global change with practical actions towards sustainability that will have an impact in the way we live our lives in the Bay Area.

CO2 captured from automobile exhaust and used for algae production

Reuters reports that several inventors from Wales have developed what they call the “Greenbox.”

This sounds like a big breakthrough. However its not like this is the first time I have read one of these “silver bullet technology” stories.

The fact that these folks are so secretive of course makes it hard to evaluate the viability of the technology.

Devastated Kansas Town To Be Rebuilt As “Eco-Town”

Reuters | July 13, 2007 10:43 PM

The 13-part series, “Eco-Town,” will chronicle the rebuilding of the small town of Greensburg, Kan., which was devastated by a tornado May 4. The town, which has more than 1,500 residents, will be rebuilt as a “sustainable model of eco-living and one that will save it from future environmental catastrophe.”

The project was brought to Discovery by DiCaprio, a noted environmentalist, and Craig Piligiann of Pilgrim Films & Television. DiCaprio will executive produce through his company, Appian Way, along with Piligian…