Charity:Water is an excellent charitable foundation designed to leverage social networking to steer funding directly to NGOs helping provide irrigation and well equipment to the poorest of villages, providing fresh drinking water critical to survival. Over a billion people today do not have access to fresh drinking water, and as a venture investor seeking to profit from technological advances in “clean tech”, it seemed obvious to me to dedicate my energy to raise even a small amount of funding to save lives. Please learn more about this issue through sites like charity:water and some of the NGOs they support such as Water Aid America, A Child’s Right, and Water For People, among others. Access to drinking water is a global crisis on par with HIV/Aids, and is only getting worse. Investment in infrastructure, government funding, education, and the work of NGOs are only a small part of the solution, but the solutions are right in front of us. Please consider contributing to my own small campaign to raise $10,000 – which can provide drinking water to 500 people in 2 villages. Many thanks, ML
Charity:Water – my small bit to provide fresh water to those in need
•October 20, 2010 • Leave a CommentThe “Global Cleantech 100″ Report: cleantech leaders, investment trends, and industry evolution
•October 14, 2010 • Leave a CommentThe CleanTech Group recently released its annual “Global CleanTech 100“. This report has some intriguing insights beyond simply offering a list of emerging clean technology companies. Some of the key takeaways that we see empirical evidence on the ground include :
- The energy efficiency segment has replaced solar as the hottest segment within the cleantech industry (we note that solar cooling technology partner company ClimateWell AB has made this list again within this segment).
- Asia is making a greater impact on the global cleantech market, particularly China, which flexes its manufacturing muscle to gain leverage in the solar markets, and increasingly China is contributing its own IP to the global innovation race [I won’t comment on China’s Sinochem potential bid on Potash, but here China is flexing its industrial-government complex to increase its holding in the fertilizer / agribusiness sector]
- The continued trend of partnering with large global strategics in order to accelerate market adoption for new technologies, and to aid in distribution, installation, and project financing. Traditional companies like Siemens, GE continue to play an important role, but now surprisingly (or maybe not) we see Google leveraging its enormous free cash flow to help finance large-scale projects as well as new ventures. However, few of these partnerships involve US companies with either Chinese or Indian counterparts, arguably the largest market opportunities…
We particularly agree that critical to global adoption of clean tech innovation will be cross-border cooperation among the innovators and corporates. This is an investment theme of Turnstone Capital, and we expect to see more deals between US and EU innovative technology companies, and mid- to large-cap corporate entities in China, India, and Latin America that can leverage their local manufacturing base and distribution systems. Also, groups like the Clinton Foundation will continue to play in important role linking technologies, corporates, and governments to accelerate adoption of energy-saving initiatives. More on this in another blog.
ML
Dept of Defense Goes Green
•October 11, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis is not necessarily new news, but the DoD is getting serious about going green and for real economic and strategic reasons. The DoD is huge consumer of energy, and risks lives supplying US troops with fuel. This is but one good overview link, http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2009/0809_green/. I would also encourage people to read Friedman’s “Hot, Flat and Crowded” and in particular, Chapter 14 “Outgreening Al-Qaeda..”
It’s Official: Morgan Solar has hired a CEO (via The Unofficial Morgansolar Weblog)
•October 7, 2010 • Leave a CommentPortfolio company Morgan Solar lands eSolar founder and former CEO Asif Ansari. Well done.
Morgan Solar – Meet the entrepreneurs
•October 7, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis is an introductory video of Morgan Solar, a CPV solar panel company based in Toronto, backed by Turnstone Capital, Iberdrola, NYPRO, and Ontario based investors
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Solar Themal Power intro
•October 7, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis is an excellent primer on solar thermal power, how it works, systems, and potential role.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
First Blog
•October 7, 2010 • Leave a CommentFirst Blog – Because of my involvement with some compelling new ventures, their entrepreneurs, and their investors – alongside my own partners at Turnstone Capital – I find myself wanting to share some of our collective insights, musings, frustrations, and successes. I will from time to time recount these and throw out some topics for feedback from anyone who might find them remotely interesting. Currently, we are exploring opportunities and obstacles in solar thermal, photovoltaic, energy efficiency, electric vehicles and supporting infrastructure, and off-grid solutions…and to make matters more interesting (or difficult depending on your point of view)…we find ourselves developing business in India, Africa, and Latin America in addition to traditional markets for new technologies in the US and Europe…whew! ML
Marc LaMagna's Blog 