Is the possibility of nuclear power without radioactive waste just a futuristic fantasy? A team of engineers in Vancouver say no. General Fusion, an upstart company with big dreams, has successfully tested a hot-fusion device in the laboratory that paves the way to produce cost-effective electricity and the waste product is helium rather than radioactive fuel rods.
Doug Richardson, chief executive of General Fusion, has plans to build a prototype reactor in several years. Such a project would need a huge capital investment from investors -- at least $50-million. And while venture-capital funds of this magnitude in Canada are scarce, Mr. Richardson happens to be operating in the sexiest area of the North American venture-capital world: clean tech.
Clean tech -- not to be confused with the 1980s buzzword "green tech" -- is being touted as the new technology boom encompassing everything from energy generation to wastewater management and recycling. Sustainable development has quickly become the next big investing theme thanks to a maturation of software and computer technology that has made seemingly outlandish ideas possible.
Between former U.S. vice-president Al Gore stumping carbon-trading options, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, pushing alternative energy, "there's a whole industrial reformation underway," says Nick Parker, co-founder and chairman of Toronto-based Cleantech Group, a research and consulting company with offices in San Francisco, London, Ann Arbor and Beijing. "Virtually everything is getting more expensive and scarcer, and this is having a profound impact on society," says Mr. Parker, former asset manager for Maurice Strong and founder of The Dephi Group, an Ottawa-based business and environment consulting firm.
Mr. Parker's company is at the epicentre of the clean-tech hub. Not only does it facilitate the matching of blue-chip firms with entrepreneurs, but last year it launched the clean-tech index on the New York Stock Exchange. The index tracks the market performance of the 47 publicly traded clean-tech companies that combined have a market capitalization of approximately US$290-billion. Cleantech also organizes the Clean-tech Forum, an annual event bringing together entrepreneurs and "gold-dust" angels. Scheduled to be held in Toronto on Oct. 24 to 26, the forum will host the who's who of the industry.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Parker has adopted a new mantra: Clean tech is the new Silicon Valley. According to his company's research, the amount of early investment dollars spent on U.S. clean-tech companies grew 243 % since 2001, compared to the biotech sector. which grew only 32%, and the semiconductor business, which suffered an 18% decrease. According to Cleantech, Canadian venture-capital investment rose from US$156.1-million in 2004 to US$294.3-million in 2006. Cleantech estimates that more than US$4.1-billion in venture capital was invested in the clean-tech sector in North America, Europe and China in 2006.
"Venture capital is only a proxy of what's coming down the pipe," Mr. Parker says. Every week companies like Wal-Mart Stories Inc. are announcing initiatives such as committing to reduce waste packaging to zero. "These kinds of announcements move markets," he says.
Via| Financial PostDoug Richardson, chief executive of General Fusion, has plans to build a prototype reactor in several years. Such a project would need a huge capital investment from investors -- at least $50-million. And while venture-capital funds of this magnitude in Canada are scarce, Mr. Richardson happens to be operating in the sexiest area of the North American venture-capital world: clean tech.
Clean tech -- not to be confused with the 1980s buzzword "green tech" -- is being touted as the new technology boom encompassing everything from energy generation to wastewater management and recycling. Sustainable development has quickly become the next big investing theme thanks to a maturation of software and computer technology that has made seemingly outlandish ideas possible.
Between former U.S. vice-president Al Gore stumping carbon-trading options, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, pushing alternative energy, "there's a whole industrial reformation underway," says Nick Parker, co-founder and chairman of Toronto-based Cleantech Group, a research and consulting company with offices in San Francisco, London, Ann Arbor and Beijing. "Virtually everything is getting more expensive and scarcer, and this is having a profound impact on society," says Mr. Parker, former asset manager for Maurice Strong and founder of The Dephi Group, an Ottawa-based business and environment consulting firm.
Mr. Parker's company is at the epicentre of the clean-tech hub. Not only does it facilitate the matching of blue-chip firms with entrepreneurs, but last year it launched the clean-tech index on the New York Stock Exchange. The index tracks the market performance of the 47 publicly traded clean-tech companies that combined have a market capitalization of approximately US$290-billion. Cleantech also organizes the Clean-tech Forum, an annual event bringing together entrepreneurs and "gold-dust" angels. Scheduled to be held in Toronto on Oct. 24 to 26, the forum will host the who's who of the industry.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Parker has adopted a new mantra: Clean tech is the new Silicon Valley. According to his company's research, the amount of early investment dollars spent on U.S. clean-tech companies grew 243 % since 2001, compared to the biotech sector. which grew only 32%, and the semiconductor business, which suffered an 18% decrease. According to Cleantech, Canadian venture-capital investment rose from US$156.1-million in 2004 to US$294.3-million in 2006. Cleantech estimates that more than US$4.1-billion in venture capital was invested in the clean-tech sector in North America, Europe and China in 2006.
"Venture capital is only a proxy of what's coming down the pipe," Mr. Parker says. Every week companies like Wal-Mart Stories Inc. are announcing initiatives such as committing to reduce waste packaging to zero. "These kinds of announcements move markets," he says.
SyncWave Energy Inc. Cuts the Cost of Ocean Wave Energy to Compete With Wind Power and "Clean Coal" Generation | SyncWave Energy Inc. was founded in 2004 to develop and commercialize ocean wave energy technologies and services. To date, the Company has undertaken the necessary research and development to achieve a proprietary breakthrough in ocean wave energy conversion technologies.
SyncWave Energy Inc. (SEI) announces SyncWave Power Resonator, a radically new approach to capturing the energy in Ocean Waves with frequency-based technology. SyncWave is a free-floating, self-reacting point-absorber system that is expected to dramatically improve the economics of wave energy.
The energy and climate change dilemma has highlighted the costs and impacts of conventional non-renewable and renewable energies. Ocean waves are a major renewable resource, eclipsing wind and hydro in potential. SyncWave's ultra-low impact, long-life, almost invisible, and highly productive electricity generation technology cuts the cost of wave energy down to levels affordable by consumers and industry today. SyncWave power could sell for as little as $US 5cents/kWh.
Nigel Protter, President & CEO of SyncWave Energy Inc. describes recent prototype tests as "an enormous breakthrough in proving our technology IP and advancing the science of low cost wave energy conversion. Our prototype device, nicknamed 'Charlotte', exceeded our expectations and helped to refine our simulation models to a new level of sophistication. We're now committed to moving ahead with partners on a 3 year, $15 Million demonstration project off the West Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The goal is to bring SEI's technology to commercial readiness with sales booked and supply chain in place by 2009."
Lowers the expected cost of wave energy to a level more than twice as efficient as the current wave energy market leader - Addresses multiple market segments with one core platform - Is relatively simple to build, deploy, service & out-source, with a long expected service life
The wave energy conversion technology sector is on the brink of global commercialization. Yet competing Ocean Energy device developers are mostly focused on utility power, facing a shakeout due to:
SyncWave Energy Inc. (SEI) announces SyncWave Power Resonator, a radically new approach to capturing the energy in Ocean Waves with frequency-based technology. SyncWave is a free-floating, self-reacting point-absorber system that is expected to dramatically improve the economics of wave energy.
The energy and climate change dilemma has highlighted the costs and impacts of conventional non-renewable and renewable energies. Ocean waves are a major renewable resource, eclipsing wind and hydro in potential. SyncWave's ultra-low impact, long-life, almost invisible, and highly productive electricity generation technology cuts the cost of wave energy down to levels affordable by consumers and industry today. SyncWave power could sell for as little as $US 5cents/kWh.
Nigel Protter, President & CEO of SyncWave Energy Inc. describes recent prototype tests as "an enormous breakthrough in proving our technology IP and advancing the science of low cost wave energy conversion. Our prototype device, nicknamed 'Charlotte', exceeded our expectations and helped to refine our simulation models to a new level of sophistication. We're now committed to moving ahead with partners on a 3 year, $15 Million demonstration project off the West Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The goal is to bring SEI's technology to commercial readiness with sales booked and supply chain in place by 2009."
Lowers the expected cost of wave energy to a level more than twice as efficient as the current wave energy market leader - Addresses multiple market segments with one core platform - Is relatively simple to build, deploy, service & out-source, with a long expected service life
The wave energy conversion technology sector is on the brink of global commercialization. Yet competing Ocean Energy device developers are mostly focused on utility power, facing a shakeout due to:
- Subsidy Risk (reliance on subsidies & feed-in tariffs)
- Permitting Risk (large projects = large questions and long delays)
- Technology Risk (utilities are conservative buyers)
SEI aims to mitigate those risks by launching with smaller scale technology in off-grid markets that pay higher prices for energy.
SyncWave Power Resonator is comprised of two floats and a controller deployed in deep waters offshore. Under the regular stimulation of ocean swell the floats naturally heave out of phase due to differences in their physical properties.
The SyncWave Energy Latching System (SWELS) controller optimizes their relative motion in the full range of wave conditions, and limits SyncWave to safe operating modes in extreme seas. The key difference from competing technologies is the company's view of the wave resource as a propagating energy field - like a radio wave.
SEI designed SWELS to force SyncWave to resonate with the dominant frequency of the wave spectrum like an antenna tunes to a radio signal. This delivers consistent energy to the power take-off, which is converted to electricity and sent to shore by undersea cable. SWELS tracks changes in sea state and wave frequency over time, and constantly applies corrections to keep the system maximally productive.
Found this post useful? Consider subscribing to
