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5 Award-Winning

Green Technologies from

 the Clean Tech Open 2008

The envelope, please—the California Clean Tech Open, the Oscars of the green business world, took place at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts last week. Standout clean-tech startups in six categories received $100,000 “startup in a box” packages to help bring their sustainable visions closer to fruition. Here’s a glimpse at some of this year’s luminaries.

By Elizabeth Svoboda

Published on: November 10, 2008

 http://www.bottlestone.com/

 BottleStone

Winner of California Clean Tech Open! We would like to give a special thanks to the CCTO Green Building category sponsors: Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. President and CEO Michael Looney speaks to ABC News.

BottleStone is a beautiful, new green surface material made of 80% post-consumer recycled glass. BottleStone provides a green alternative to stone slabs offering the same warm aesthetics of natural stone materials.

http://www.electradrive.net/

Winner of the Transportation Award at the 2008 California Clean Tech Open, ElectraDrive is commercializing an invention to enable the mass conversion of existing cars and light trucks to electric drive.With ElectraDrive, you can benefit from the size and functionality you need from your vehicle, without being tied to the pump.

• Mile-for-mile, electric power is less than one-tenth the cost of gasoline.
• We are already energy-independent when it comes to electricity production.
• An ElectraDrive conversion will liberate your vehicle from foreign oil, and reduce pollution.

At a Glance
ElectraDrive replaces a vehicle’s gas drivetrain.
All-electric traction provides instant torque.
Drive electrically around town, plug in to recharge.
Never worry about running out of juice on longer trips: an onboard generator charges the battery pack.
Fill up only six times a year.
Improve reliability, extend vehicle life.
ElectraDrive will adapt to cars and light trucks of all sizes.
Configure the system to meet your driving needs: performance, efficiency or a blend.

http://www.viridisearth.com/

VIRIDIS EARTH TECHNOLOGIES

Viridis means green. Located in the San Jose Environmental Business Cluster, Viridis Earth Technologies seeks innovative solutions that encourage human activities with minimal impact   on the fragile environment.

Currently, we are developing simple but environmentally effective technologies to reduce the energy consumption of air conditioners. Please contact us for more details.

 

 http://www.cleantechopen.com/app.cgi/teams/directory/view_team/1/242

Focal Point Energy

Solar Hot Water and Steam Generation for Industrial Applications

Competitions

2008 Renewables Winner

Address

1450 Koll Circle, Ste. 105

San Jose, CA 95112

Contact

Taber Smith
1450 Koll Circle, Ste 105

San Jose, CA 95112
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Description

Focal Point Energy is making a solar hot water and steam generator for industrial applications. In the western US alone, roughly 18 Billion Dollars is spent heating hot water and steam for industrial applications, such as pasteurizing milk. Most of the time, the sun is blaring down on a nearly empty rooftop. Heating water and steam with the sun is very efficient, which can provide the short payback necessary for many of these low-margin businesses. But these industries need large roof systems that are easily installed, maintained, & repaired. Focal Point Energy has developed a roof-mountable, large-scale, high-temperature solar water and steam heater that is low-cost, light-weight, and easily connected into existing industrial boiler systems to provide clean heat without interruption or contamination. Focal Point is changing the way industries generate heat!

 http://www.cleantechopen.com/app.cgi/teams/directory/view_team/1/254

Solar Red

We dramatically lower the cost of residential PV

Competitions

2008 Green Building Runner up

Contact

Joe Augenbraun
609 Gloucester Lane

Foster City, CA 94404
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Description

Solar hardware costs scale with volume and innovation, while installation costs do not. Because of this, installation will soon become the dominant cost of residential PV systems. The current trend is to lower installation cost by making small evolutionary changes to the existing process. Solar Red disrupts the residential and small installation ecosystem by cutting the cost of installation in half.

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