Cluster: Clean technology

Introduction

Clean Technology (or cleantech) is an umbrella term for a class of technologies and services that reduce negative environmental impacts through energy efficiency, sustainability, and environmental protections. Clean technologies and products are expected to be competitive with and even superior to conventional technologies and products while reducing costs, inputs, energy consumption, waste or pollution and offer investors the possibility for significant return on their investment. Clean Technology has increased as an investment sector since 2000 with the rise of awareness of human impact on the natural environment.

The term has been often differentiated from "green" or "environmental" technologies, with the idea of "green" or "environmental" technologies covering regulatory-driven technologies (such as smokestack scrubbers) with limited opportunities for returns. Greentech remains a term often used interchangeably with cleantech.

Although strict definitions of what is included in the clean technology sector differs among industry participants, the most cited definition coming from the Cleantech Group. This definition focuses on investment and includes water purification, eco-efficient production techniques, renewable energy, green technology, materials and chemicals, sustainable and renewable agriculture, and sustainable business.

Resources and Environment

Carbon capture and storage/sequestration

Carbon capture and storage/sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide formed during power generation and industrial processes and storing (sequestring) it so that the carbon dioxide is not emitted into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is often stored underground in depleted oil and gas fields or in deep saline aquifers. Other companies are using the carbon dioxide for commercial applications.

Carbon conversion

Carbon conversion relates to the use of carbon dioxide as a raw material for the production of urea, methanol, polycarbonates, cyclic carbonates and specialty chemicals. Other uses of carbon as a raw material have included plastics, fibers, and rubber.

Environmental monitoring

• Crystal IS

Direct air capture

Direct air capture is a technology used to capture CO2 directly from the atmosphere.

Water and Air

Mining Industry

• Bio-Mine
• MineSense Technologies
• Universal Bio Mining (UBM)

Wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment is the process of treating wastewater from various industries and municipalities with an acceptable environmental impact. The process works to return the treated water to the water cycle. Clean technology companies in the wastewater treatment industry work to create less environmentally impacting treatment processes and use for the effluent and waste.

Recycling

Waste management

• Enerkem
• Veolia

Materials and Chemicals

Green Concrete

Green Concrete (or Clean Concrete) is a technological response to the manufacturing and carbon demands for conventional concrete. These technologies include reduced-carbon manufacturing, carbon sequestering concrete, concrete recycling, environmentally-friendly concretes, mixed-materials concretes and concrete alternatives.

Reducing carbon emissions for the manufacturing of concrete includes the greater efficiency of the conventional concrete industry, technologies capturing and including carbon dioxide from the manufacturing process and mixing it in the concrete, recycling concrete, or the recycling of other waste or cast-off materials (such as fly ash, steel slag, or recycled glass) into the manufacturing of concrete.

Environmentally-friendly concretes are conventional concretes mixed or manufactured to provide an environmental result. The two best examples of these are insulated concretes and pervious concretes. Insulated concretes are considered environmentally-friendly for their energy efficiency qualities in larger buildings allowing for less energy usage in heating and cooling. Pervious concretes allow water to pass through them, reducing wash-out of nearby soil and reducing water build up and the possibility of flooding.

Bioplastic

Bioplastics are plastics made from renewable biomass sources, including corn, potatoes, wood, food waste, agricultural by-products, and lobster shells. The name bioplastic is also applied to biodegradable plastics which break down into natural substances such as water, carbon dioxide, and compost. The two most common bioplastics are polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).

Textiles and Materials

• Sonovia
• Graphene

Energy and Power

Renewable Energy

• BioPower Systems (BPS)
• GaN Systems
• Involt
• NovaSolix
• Terrestrial Energy

Biofuel

First generation biofuels include ethanol and plant oil produced from sugar and starch. Second generation biofuels are produced from non-food biomass called lignocellulose and are called cellulosic biofuels. Third generation biofuels are derived from algae and produce feedstock as well as fuel. Fourth generation biofuels are electrofuels or photobiological solar fuels.

• Proterro

Energy Storage

Energy Infrastructure

Energy Efficiency

Energy analytics and management

• Stem
• Lucid
• EcoFactor
• Simple Energy
• BuildingIQ
• FirstFuel Software
• TempoIQ
• Bidgely
• Enertiv
• WegoWise
• WattzOn
• eCurv
• Awesense
• Opus One Solutions
• ENBALA Power Networks

Petrochemical processing alternatives

• METabolic EXplorer
• Ramaco Carbon
• TerraPower

Coal and alternative uses

• TerraPower
• Ramaco Carbon

Transportation and Logistics

• Proterra
• Gogoro
• Lilium
• Enerkem

Agriculture and Food

• Aerofarms
• Farmers Edge
• Semios
• Terramera
• Agrosight
• Proterro (feed industry)

Food

• Air Protein
• Proterro

• Solar Foods

Digital Agriculture/Digital Farming/Precision Agriculture

• The Climate Corporation

Clean technology associated business

Strategy, development and marketing support

• Enovation Partners
• Cleantech Group (CTG)
• Cleantech.Org
• Clean Edge

Clean technology investment

• The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS Clean Energy and Technology Fund)
• The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS)
• Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• Khosla Ventures
• New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
• DFJ
• E8 Angels
• Investor's Circle
• VantagePoint Capital Partners
• RockPort Capital Partners
• Foundation Capital
• Clean Energy Venture Group
• DBL Partners
• Applied Ventures
• Footprint Coalition

Clean technology ICOs

• 3dP-Token
• 4NEW
• AQUA
• BEATRIX
• BitLumens
• CCET
• CO2 Token
• Crudecoin
• Deneum
• Earth Token
• Energy Premier
• Envion
• Farad
• GreenX
• Grid Plus
• HomeMine Token
• KROPS COIN
• KWHCoin
• MegaWatt
• MITO
• Node
• PLATIO Coin
• Power Ledger
• Pylon Network
• RGS
• Ri?X
• ROX
• SunCoin
• SunContract
• Synthestech
• Titan Coin
• Torus Token
• WePower

Academic researchers and groups

Energy storage

• M Stanley Whittingham (Binghamton University, New York)

Clean energy materials and technology

• Graphene