Svetlana Doneva    www.fin24.com

Johannesburg – The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) said the majority of the R71bn earmarked for funding investment over the next five years will go to new businesses.

That’s according to IDC CEO Geoffrey Qhena, who addressed media at the presentation of the development funding company’s results for the year to end-March 2009.

This goal is in line with the IDC’s strategy to promote entrepreneurship in South Africa and, if implemented, will reverse a recent declining trend of funding of start-ups.

The funding of start-ups and expansions made up the largest portion – 52% – of funding granted in the 2008/09 financial year. The total amount of funding approvals in this period was R10.8bn.

However, the proportion of funding to this segment declined from 75% in the previous financial year. Qhena said this was partly due to the redirection of funds to companies in distress and a 38% increase in funding approvals for investments in the rest of Africa.

The IDC has already identified new candidates for early stage project development. Most of these are in line with the organisation’s aim to promote green and renewable energy sources.

Examples of these include solar power generation, electric vehicle batteries, bio-ethanol and wind power generation.

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Monitoring how much power your home uses isn’t just frugal but an “in” and green idea. Google and Microsoft are already players in the home energy market but Apple is looking to change the game with two patent applications.

There’s a simple reason for Apple to get into the smart grid market and that’s money. Cisco anticipates the smart grid market that includes smart appliances and smart meters to be bigger than the internet and valued at $100 billion.

Apple’s foray into smart meters is a lot like their launch of the iPod. MP3 players were already out in 2001, but Apple put their Steve Jobs spin on existing technology and ended up dominating the market.

The system leans heavily on HomePlug Powerline Networking, a method that turns a basic power plug into a delivery system for audio and data. Plug in a cell phone or fridge in a HomePlug socket and it will be connected with every other plugged in device in the home via broadband internet.

The information from each item would be sent to a central location or what Apple calls a “Smart Home Energy Management Dashboard System.” Could this “dashboard” be code for the long rumored tablet? Apple’s not saying but it would certainly be gadget catnip to Apple fanboys, electronics nerds, and green minded consumers.

Users would be able to track their energy usage or plan to do specific tasks at off peak times, like running a dishwasher. Forget to shut off the porch lights? Turn them off remotely through the dashboard. The proposed device could not only work in homes but small businesses as well. Idle desktop computers and laser printers could be powered down to help save cash.

Google’s PowerMeter has seen a lot of success but there’s one little problem. Many utilities haven’t signed up for the project or are developing similar in-house programs like Michigan’s Consumers Energy. Apple’s dashboard and use of the HomePlug system could function outside those used by the utility or for those that aren’t Google PowerMeter partners. Add in Apple’s design team and the dashboard may be a major force in the home energy market.

Google is a search engine, an advertising company and now a cellphone maker. But a green energy company? That too, said Bill Weihl, Google’s so-called green energy czar, in an interview with Jeffrey Marlow of The Times on the Green Inc. blog. He said:

Some people might look at that and say, ‘I don’t see any relationship between that and Google’s business.’ And then maybe five years later they’ll say, ‘Whoa, it’s a good thing you guys thought about that.’

Google is interested in making renewable energy less expensive than coal in part because Google, with its massive servers, uses so much energy itself, and because the founders and many of the employees simply care about environmental issues, Mr. Weihl said.

Google has invested $45 million in alternative energy since 2007, including in solar companies eSolar and BrightSource Energy, though the primary goal is not to make money, Mr. Weihl said:

We’d be delighted if some of this stuff actually made money, obviously; it is not our goal to not make money. All else being equal, we’d like to make as much money as we can, but the principal goal is to have a big impact for good.

In the interview, Mr. Weihl also discusses Google’s problem with coal, the technologies it thinks will solve that problem — concentrated solar thermal, enhanced geothermal and high-altitude wind — and what he thinks Google can do to address climate change that other companies can’t. He says:

I believe that the problems we’re facing are solvable, but they’re not going to solve themselves. And solving them is either going to require spending a lot more money on energy than we’re spending today, which I think is probably a non-starter, or it’s going to require major technological innovation. That’s where I think Google can help.

When Google started talking about its energy management web tool PowerMeter earlier this year, a big hurdle quickly became apparent: The search engine giant’s market for the device would be limited to consumers whose utilities are deploying smart meters (meters that have two-digital communication). That’s a small piece of a very small pie, given only a little over 6 percent of U.S. electricity meters are smart. But now Google says it’s able to bypass the smart meter and today the company tells us that it has signed up its first device partner, Energy Inc, which makes The Energy Detective (TED).

The good news for consumers is that we can start using Google’s free energy monitoring software that much sooner. People that own, or plan to buy, Energy Inc’s latest gadget, the TED 5000, can opt-in to use PowerMeter as its online interface and connect with their Google account and the iGoogle gadget. Google says no data will be sent to the customer’s Google account unless they decide to opt-in. The TED 5000 costs around $200 (up to $300 with additional features), can be bought online here and requires an electrician to install.

Google has been working on the strategy of partnering with device makers for PowerMeter for a while. Back in April Google’s Tom Sly told me that the company was actively talking to gadget makers to work with PowerMeter, and Sly told us today that they’ve been talking with Energy Inc for about a year.

The advantages of bypassing the smart meter aren’t just the quick deployment times of these energy management devices. The set-up could also offer the customer more detailed and quicker energy data than data coming off of smart meters. Devices like TED are connected to the user’s home broadband connection and, working with PowerMeter, can be quickly displayed to the customer in almost real-time. TED 5000 will show energy data via PowerMeter every 10 minutes.

In contrast, many utilities are building smart meter networks that can significantly delay the time it takes the energy information to reach the customer. As we pointed out in this article, utilities today are largely designing smart grid networks to collect data from smart meters in a time frame that ranges from between every 15 minutes to an hour, then bringing that data back to a collection point on the network. From that collection point, many utilities are only bringing data back to the utility back office where the numbers are processed and packaged for consumers once a day. So the info coming off of smart meters will often be from the previous day’s energy use.

Utilities say the delay comes from the fact that they have to bring the data back to the control center, process the information and connect it to the user’s billing account. Remember most utilities’ networks aren’t exactly robust given cost constraints and the fact that information technology hasn’t traditionally been their strong point (though hopefully that will change in the coming months and years). From the perspective of the utility, the data that goes directly from TED to PowerMeter and to the consumer (bypassing utilities’ networks) probably won’t be considered “revenue-grade,” predicted Google’s Sly, meaning the utility won’t likely run a billing program around it.

But Energy Inc and Google have both been working directly with utilities, and TED and PowerMeter can be incorporated into utility networks in a variety of ways. President and CEO of Energy Inc, Dolph Rodenberg tells us that about 40 percent of its sales come from utilities, but declined to name its utility customers. Energy Inc was actually founded back in 2001, before energy management was a hot topic anywhere.

Why is close to real-time energy data important? Carrie Armel, research associate at Stanford’s Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, told me back in June that the more frequently energy data is given to the consumer, the more engaged the consumer is likely to be. Changing energy consumption will come from a behavior change, and our brains are hardwired to respond to quick feedback, said Armel. In addition I think an ecosystem of innovation and new applications that can help change consumer behavior can more easily be built up around a robust network that delivers close to real-time information (for my comparison to GPS and real time information, read here).

The TED-PowerMeter combo only works for North American customers and the deal isn’t exclusive for either PowerMeter or TED. Google hopes TED will just be the first of many devices it will work with — and that this announcement will bring in more energy gadget makers (so reach out to them folks). But given TED is Google’s first gadget partner for PowerMeter, the device will give the company a sizable early platform for this early version of PowerMeter (there are already thousands of TED 5000’s on the market). In line with Google’s “no business model” strategy for PowerMeter, Google isn’t making money off of the TED devices that will use its web tool.

Google will be able to bring a lot of new users to Energy Inc, and Energy Inc’s Rodenberg called what Google can do for TED in terms of “public awareness” outstanding. PowerMeter will be able extend TED 5000’s functionality by linking its energy management service to computers or even mobile devices, and enable users to compare their energy management to the PowerMeter community (not large today, but could someday be sizable). The PowerMeter deal will also likely help with any financing deals — Rodenberg tells us the company is in the process of raising funds, but not via the traditional venture capital route.

At the end of the day I’m glad Google has finally bypassed the smart meter — it seems like a more fitting place for the disruptive web firm than being forced to develop its tool around slow-moving utility partners that sometimes don’t get the benefits of information networks. And we’re even more excited that PowerMeter is now available for anyone that wants to buy a TED 5000. You can bet I’ll be testing this out right away.

By Katie Fehrenbacher Earth2tech

When people talk about renewable energy, they usually mean that the main source from which the energy is derived—wind, the sun, ocean waves and tides, the never-ending heat below the Earth’s surface—is available in endless supply and either remains relatively constant or continually regenerates as part of the planet’s natural cycles.

For renewable energy to be sustainable, however, the mechanisms we use to convert the raw energy to usable power have to be just as renewable as the source from which it is drawn. Currently, most of those mechanisms—from solar cells to hydrogen fuel cells—contain enough non-renewable material to make them the weak link in the renewable energy chain.

That idea was highlighted at the Financial Times Energy Conference in London a couple of weeks ago and reported in New Scientist magazine. Solar cells convert sunlight to electricity, but the most efficient solar cells rely on indium, a rare and expensive mineral that is in short supply worldwide. Hydrogen fuel cells, among the most promising alternative vehicle-fuel technologies, require platinum, which is even rarer than indium.

Scientists are hard at work on alternative ways to make renewable energy truly renewable, by finding new ways to convert the energy to electricity or other types of power without the need for components that may not be available when needed. Unfortunately, many of those breakthroughs may be years away—and at a time when the world is looking to renewable energy to slow global warming and replace fossil fuels before supplies are exhausted. Clearly, we have a lot more work to do.

Larry’s Environmental Issues Blog

By Larry West, About.com Guide to Environmental Issues

Energy-efficient technology for batteries, grids and power storage will be trendy in 2010, according to a study released Wednesday on clean energy technology.

Even as the use of solar and wind power expands, conserving energy and using it more efficiently will draw more interest from companies and investors, the PricewaterhouseCoopers study found.

Only a small fraction of all power consumed in the U.S. comes from renewable sources, but they have gained favor globally as governments and businesses seek to curb pollution and the use of fossil fuels.

Partnerships will continue being formed across industries, with utilities working with car makers or a communications firm with a meter manufacturer to develop a two-way system for delivering smart grid data.

The predictions come as the renewable energy industry appears to be recovering slowly from the recession, said Tim Carey, a partner and U.S. clean tech leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The industry lost momentum as credit markets dried up, natural gas prices fell and demand diminished during the recession. Some companies were forced into bankruptcy while others shelved plans and cut jobs.

Capital markets remain challenging for renewable energy firms, said Joseph Muscat, Ernst & Young’s Americas clean tech director.

In the first nine months, venture capital and private equity investors put $1.6 billion into clean tech companies, with amounts increasing each quarter, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Yet the total still lagged the first nine months of 2008 by 48.7 percent.

The U.S. government has yet to disburse the bulk of stimulus money that has been earmarked for renewable energy programs. About $24 billion has been allocated to date, with $57 billion projected in 2010 and $56 billion in 2011, Muscat said.

The industry could see immense growth as utilities push to meet mandates to provide a percentage of electricity from renewable resources.

The two analysts said watch for these other trends in 2010:

_ Investors will begin to see large corporations take a stronger interest in clean technology and seek ways to reduce carbon emissions and offer green products and services.

_ Improvements in smart grid technology will make it easier to deliver renewable energy power to transmission lines.

Associated Press