The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory just put out a report on the potential of combined heat and power (CHP) deployments in the United States and has concluded that it is one of the “most proven and effective near-term energy options” available to reduce CO2 emissions, improve energy security, relieve grid congestion, make industry more competitive, and create green-collar jobs. Read the rest of this entry »

Canada’s political soap opera continues to get more interesting. This afternoon the federal Liberals and New Democrats signed an historic accord to form a coalition government, in which the Liberals would get 18 cabinet seats and the New Democrats would get six. Liberal leader Stephane Dion would be Prime Minister until the party’s leadership convention in May. The Bloc Quebecois have signed a separate agreement committing it to support the coalition government until June 2010. With these formalities out of the way, the next step is Friday’s confidence vote, after which (and assuming the Conservatives lose the vote), the current government will fall and the Governor General will be asked to consider giving the coalition government the chance to rule. If this happens, the coalition has said it will move immediately to introduce an economic stimulus package, and since the Liberals, NDP and Bloc are all very committed to investing in green infrastructure, this could be very good news for the cleantech sector… stay tuned.

UPDATE: Dion was asked at a press conference this afternoon if he, as Prime Minister, would still try to carry through the carbon tax plan he campaigned on during the election. He said no, but did have this to say: “We need an effective cap and trade program in Canada, and we need it as soon as possible, with absolute emission targets.” This comment is more aligned with what NDP leader Jack Layton campaigned for, and it is also more aligned with what President-elect Obama wants to introduce — in contrast to the intensity-based caps that the Conservatives have pushed.

My Clean Break column today is a mini-profile of Alan Salzman, the CEO of VantagePoint Venture Partners and, I should add, a fellow Torontonian. Salzman, who did his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto (University College) decided in the early 1980s to lay roots in California so he could join the “entrepreneurial wave of innovation” that would evolve into Silicon Valley. In 1996, after a number of successes as a venture capitalist under his belt, Salzman co-founded VantagePoint and has proved a key player in the success of many high-tech, Internet and biotech companies. His big focus today, however, is cleantech. VantagePoint has funded Tesla Motors, Miasole, BrightSource, Better Place and a number of other promising cleantech ventures. Salzman talks about his decision to go big with cleantech, trends that are driving transformation of the energy and transportation sectors, and how the current global economic crisis could — but won’t necessarily — delay this transformation.

Despite having lived in Silicon Valley for more than 25 years, Salzman’s family still lives in Toronto. He has also retained his Canadian citizenship (I forgot to ask him if he still loves hockey).

Wow, who would have guessed that Canadian politics could be this exciting? For the benefit of my American readers who are enjoying Thanksgiving holidays, here’s a little update from Canada.

It seems the opposition Liberals, the New Democrats and the separatist Bloc Quebecois aren’t happy with a fiscal update from the ruling Conservatives that contains no fiscal stimulus to help jumpstart the economy. The opposition parties have all said they will vote against the package. If they did, it would be a vote of no confidence and the Conservative government would fall.

Now, there are two scenarios if that happens: Either the Governor General calls an election, which would be a ridiculous situation given that we’re in the middle of an economic crisis and just had an election six weeks ago; or, the Governor General asks the opposition parties if they can form a coalition government. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in February 2007 General Electric announced that it had made key advancements in the development of a high-efficiency incandescent (HEI) light bulb that would be as efficient as a compact fluorescent bulb (CFLs) but without the mercury and with better light quality. Early versions would hit the market by 2010, the company said. GE basically saw the writing on the wall, as several jurisdictions — including Australia, Canada and several U.S. states — had announced the same year plans to ban inefficient light bulbs somewhere between 2012 and 2015. The HEI was basically the last kick at the can for the 100-plus year old Edison incandescent.

Then, in October 2007, GE announced it was closing plants and cutting hundreds of employees as part of a restructuring of its lighting business. The old inefficient bulb was toast. GE would instead focus its efforts on LEDs, Organic LEDs, and its HEI technology. Harvard business school professor Daniel Snow said GE’s HEI was the company’s “last gasp” of inspiration before the inevitable, final death of the Edison bulb.

A year has passed since GE’s restructuring. I decided to find out the status of the HEI so e-mailed the folks at GE to get an update. Here’s the reply I got today from GE spokesman David Schuellerman:

GE Consumers & Industrial and GE Global Research have suspended the development of the high-efficiency incandescent lamp (HEI) to place greater focus and investment on what we believe will be the ultimate in energy efficient lighting — light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Research and development of these technologies is moving at an impressive pace and will be ready for general lighting in the near future. LEDs and OLEDs used in general lighting are now poised to surpass the projected efficiency levels of HEI, along with other energy-efficient technologies like fluorescent, and have the additional benefits of long life and durability.

So there you have it: The century-old bulb that anchored the GE brand and made GE a global leader in lighting is, after one last gasp in 2007, officially dead.

RIP