Robert Wilder thrives in the crunchy granola capital of San Diego County: Encinitas. He’s a former surfer who drives an electric car, lives in a solar-heated house, grows organic fruit trees in his back yard and raises chickens that lay organic eggs.

Yeah, he’s alternative all right. But his paycheck is anything but. Wilder runs WilderShares LLC, a company that indexes green energy stocks with funds now worth nearly $2 billion. The flagship WilderHill Clean Energy Index has become a Wall Street benchmark, in the same way the Dow Jones Index measures blue chips. Its related fund is the largest and best performing in the green energy sector, with $1.7 billion in assets and returning a whopping 58% to investors in 2007.

Having combined his passion for environmentalism and investment, Wilder is now riding the wave of green capitalism. Since launching his first index in 2005, Wilder’s company has served as a nexus for environmentalists, entrepreneurs, investors, capitalists and Wall Street analysts—while also helping the world. “The fact that these stocks are profitable is the clearest way of saying to any bean counter: These things make sense,” he says. The investment world is jumping on the bandwagon. In the last two years, NASDAQ, Dow Jones and Standard & Poor’s have all launched me-too indexes. Mutual fund companies have started offering clean energy portfolios. And institutional investors are putting money into green stocks.

An academic by profession, environmentalist by passion and capitalist by accident, Wilder may have been destined to unite the three worlds because he never quite fit into any. Each pushed him to seek alternative solutions. As an academic specializing in environmental policy, Wilder has consistently sought ways to improve efficiencies in clean technologies. Currently an adjunct professor at UCSD, Wilder has won numerous fellowships—Fulbright, the National Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency, to name a few—and has studied coastal protection policies and explored potentially profitable technologies that prevent harm to ecosystems.

His recent book, Listening to the Sea, examines biodiversity and pollution-prevention technologies. “To me, pollution is a form of inefficiency,” he says. “When you get rid of something that’s a pollutant, a wasted resource—we’re saving money. It will be profitable.”

But academic scholarship has limits, he says. “It’s hard to move to solutions.”

As an environmentalist, Wilder also wanted to find solutions. Over the years, he has served as a volunteer, adviser or director to various organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Cousteau Society, the Nature Conservancy, Coast Alliance, and the Society for Conservation Biology. But Wilder felt that environmentalists often fight against a problem rather than focus on prevention.

Wilder recalls working with one group. “We kept fighting against things. A victory meant that ‘X’ wouldn’t be built. So a shopping center wouldn’t be built, a port wouldn’t be expanded, a developer couldn’t do what they wanted to do,” he says. “Instead of fighting all these projects, why don’t they say, let’s put in solar power. I wanted to fight for something.”

“Many of the nonprofits are based on what’s wrong,” he says, “and I wanted to be ridiculously positive. I wanted to be relentlessly, violently positive. And if I could work with clean energy, I could show: answer, answer, answer.” As an investor, Wilder also looked for answers. Working as an assistant professor in the early ’90s, Wilder had a retirement account, invested of course in environmentally friendly mutual funds. But looking through the prospectus, he was disappointed. “Even the greener funds would have Exxon, Dow, Coca-Cola, and it didn’t strike me as very green,” he says. “I wasn’t into chasing investments, but I wanted my money to reflect how I felt. And they weren’t.”

Wilder decided instead to buy individual stocks, opening an account with Vanguard. He picked companies involved in clean energy—solar, wind, geothermal—and those with low carbon emissions. During the ’90s, these stocks far surpassed the Dow. “It made me feel like an Einstein in stocks,” says Wilder. But in 2000, when the market crashed, so did Wilder’s stocks, wiping out his profits. “One thing was clear,” he says, “a basket made sense.”

LAUNCHING THE CLEAN ENERGY INDEX
By that time, Wilder had met Josh Landess, an environmental economist who in 1999 started a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Index, tracking clean energy companies. “I noticed these stocks were moving, but there was no index to bring out the story,” recalls Landess. The two eventually teamed up, and Wilder’s wife created a new website to show the index’s performance.

By 2001, the site was getting more than 100,000 hits each month and dozens of emails, says Wilder. “People kept asking, ‘Do you have a fund that we can buy?’ I kept emailing back saying, ‘I’m just an academic, there’s no fund.’” In 2004, Wilder ended a job as national director for The Nature Conservancy, and he was living on unemployment benefits. It was during this time that he searched his soul for what to do next. Wilder had about $25,000 in retirement funds, which he planned to use to build a rental house on his Encinitas property. But because of soil conditions, it would cost more than he had. Early that year, he received a call from PowerShares Capital Management, an Illinois-based investment house. PowerShares wanted to start a fund based on Wilder’s clean energy index. It would be run as an Exchange-Traded Fund, or ETF, which offers the basket of a mutual fund, but the trading flexibility of individual stocks.

“I was so happy to get this,” he says.

Wilder decided to make a run for the index business. He used his entire retirement money to pay the American Stock Exchange to determine the index’s value.

The gamble paid off. On the fund’s debut on March 3, 2005, the WilderHill Clean Energy Index Portfolio sold out $10 million in shares in one day. A second fund, investing in carbon cleanup companies, followed in October 2006. And a third, tracking global companies, launched in June 2007.

Dan Culloton, senior mutual fund analyst at Morningstar, says the WilderShares Clean Energy Fund outpaces others in the clean energy sector, but it’s still a niche product. “It’s probably the most actively traded clean energy fund out there because it was the first, but it’s not challenging the big boys yet by a long shot,” he says.

LIVING LA VIDA VERDE
Wilder lives on a one-acre site in Encinitas that is a demonstration of his values. The 2,300-square-foot house and swimming pool run nearly entirely on solar energy. And Wilder ordered a Tesla sports car, which runs on 100% electricity and reaches 250 miles per hour. “I’ve thought about starting a company selling electric cars,” he says.

In Wilder’s office, a photo on the wall shows him with Al Gore. Other shots depict him hugging his wife, Diana, whom he met as a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, and son Carson, 12, and daughter Sophia, 8. A hand-painted plate, made during a family vacation to Mexico, says: “First Year $400 million, WilderHill Clean Energy Index.”

In the wood-beamed living room, Wilder leans back in his recliner. “Until we started our indexing, there was a notion that solar and wind was something pretty iffy to do,” he says. “If you were a real person and you had a family, you would feed your family like everyone else did, and drive a car like everyone else did.

“What I wanted to do in part with the index is to have some small role in making the big public out there believe that this is a real area. You can invest in it, just like you can invest in oil or coal or natural gas.” He smiles. “I think we’ve helped to do that.”

WilderShare’s Portfolio of Funds
ROBERT WILDER IS THE CEO, co-founder and index manager of WilderShares, LLC, which specializes in tracking clean energy stocks. The associated funds are managed by PowerShares Capital Management.

The flagship WilderHill Clean Energy Index, introduced in 2004, tracks 42 U.S. companies pioneering clean energies, such as solar, wind and geothermal. The fund (ticker symbol: PBW) has assets of more than $1.7 billion. The second WilderHill Progressive Energy Index (PUW), tracks 36 companies specializing in carbon cleanup. Launched in October 2006, it has $55 million in assets.

A third WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index (PBD) follows 86 renewable-energy companies worldwide. The fund, launched in June 2007, has assets of $135 million.

Risk levels are high. Pure energy stocks can rise and fall as much as 5% a day or 30% a quarter. Many financial planners do not recommend weighting more than 5% of such stocks in a portfolio.

Environmentalism Pays
THE INDEXES HAVE MADE Wilder rich. Fund creators typically earn around 0.05% of assets under management, says Dan Culloton, senior mutual fund analyst at Morningstar. So with nearly $2 billion in the three funds, Wilder’s annual salary would be about $1 million.

WilderShares is having ripple effects across the investment industry. Dow Jones started a Sustainability Index in September 2005. NASDAQ launched a Clean Edge U.S. Index and ETF in May 2006. And Standard & Poor’s launched green indexes in early 2007. Other asset managers, such as KLD Research and Analytics, have also since launched mutual funds focusing on clean energy stocks.

Helen Kaiao Chang is a ghostwriter, editor and journalist. She can be reached at www.ghostwriter-needed.com.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang

See original story on SDNN

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Economic Development Corporation is hosting 10 international journalists this week as a way to promote San Diego’s regional and clean tech opportunities.

While the EDC has attracted U.S. journalists in past years, this is the first time the organization has worked with international journalists.

“We’re trying to elevate awareness of our cross-border economy and green economy,” said EDC spokesperson Megan Carleton. “This is part of our attraction development strategy.”

“It’s marketing,” said Jim Waring, chairperson of CleanTech SanDiego, a partner in the event. “When someone with a business or idea is deciding where to locate that business, they have a lot of good choices and viable communities. If (a business person) knows there is already a viable business culture in San Diego, they will give San Diego a serious consideration,” he said.

The journalists represent news organizations from Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Their mediums are radio, print and wire services. Representatives from the Foreign Press Center in New York and Washington are also joining them.

The journalists paid for their own airfare, hotel and transportation — a practice common in the journalism industry to avoid conflicts of interest. EDC is paying for their meals and incidentals, said Carleton.

The journalists will attend a two-day program on Tuesday and Wednesday. The schedule includes:

– Overviews of the San Diego-Imperial Valley-Baja economic region

– Overviews of San Diego’s algae biofuels industry

– Tours of local green companies, including Kyocera Solar and Sapphire Energy

– Interviews with San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders and Tijuana mayor Jorge Ramos

– Visits to Birch Aquarium and a Padres game.

The EDC’s presentation about the CaliBaja economic region is consistent with its recent efforts to promote San Diego-Imperial-Valley-Baja as a viable area. The EDC will highlight companies that base management and research-and-development offices in San Diego, while running manufacturing operations in Imperial Valley or Baja, where land and labor are more abundant.

“We’re sharing the story about our cross border economy,” said Carleton. “We’re marketing it as a place to invest.”

Other presentations will showcase companies in the high-tech, biotech and clean sectors, said Waring. This includes the growing algae biofuels industry.

The more international business leaders know about San Diego’s assets, the better the chances for collaboration, he said. “You have a better opportunity to learn about what others are doing in the world and maybe you can combine forces and reach markets more quickly,” Waring said.

Global linkages also foster cooperation in fighting climate change, he said.

“One of the reasons for the clean tech revolution is concerns over climate change. America could reduce its carbon footprint to zero and it would not reduce climate change unless you have additional points of technologies elsewhere in the world,” said Waring. “To the extent that the sector is driven by the climate change impact, it’s essential that it be international.”

EDC has already hosted 10 U.S. national journalists this year, including one from “The New York Times,” said Carleton. Since going through a reorganization two years ago, these efforts are part of EDC’s “more aggressive public relations campaign,” she said.

The EDC has been fighting its own economic battles, with talks of EDC and Connect combining into one organization. Connect now serves as a matchmaking agency for scientists, entrepreneurs and investors in the region. Both organizations have been hit hard by the economic downturn.

For now, EDC and its partner organizations are going all out to impress the foreign journalists. Waring said, “You want them to leave here going, ‘Wow, these folks are doing a lot of good work, and San Diego is a serious and meaningful player in the effort to develop these clusters in the world’.”

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

See original story on SDNN

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The ocean may offer beautiful views and excellent water. But it is also becoming the world’s biggest trash dump.

Miriam Goldstein, a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wanted to find out just how big. Particularly, in terms of plastic.

What she found astounded her.

“It’s pretty shocking to hear there’s all this debris not far away from land,” she said. “All the scientists and researchers were surprised and shocked by the amount of plastic out there.”

Goldstein was part of a scientific boat expedition measuring the amount of plastic waste particles piling up in the ocean. She gave some of her findings during a press conference Thursday at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, located along the La Jolla beach shore where people were swimming.

The most telling of the findings showed plastic everywhere. In 100 samples taken over 1,700 miles of ocean, they found plastic debris in every single sample.

The Seaplex expedition – short for Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition – took place Aug 2 to 22 this year in a region where debris tends to concentrate, called the Pacific Gyre. This area, also known as the ‘Pacific Garbage Patch’ is about the size of Texas. The goal was to collect sample debris, which will be used for research at the science labs.

The expedition was the most advanced scientific undertaking on the subject, said Tony Haymet, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Previous research has not yielded as much scientific data.

Human footprint

Researchers involved in the project said the results have big implications for the environment.

“It shows that the vastness of our human footprint in the ecosystem is one of the biggest in the world,” said Doug Woodring, co-founder of Project Kaisei, a foundation dedicated to cleaning up the ocean that helped sponsor the expedition. “This plastic is pervasive and it impedes a very, very large portion of the ocean.”

The $387,000 expedition was funded by several groups: the UC Ship Funds for $190,000; Project Kaisei, $140,000; and the National Science Foundation, $57,000.

Plastic everywhere

Goldstein and her team went to sea aboard the New Horizon, a Scripps research vessel. They went to an area called the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, about 1,000 miles from California’s coast.

The debris found ranged from plastic buckets and shoe soles to tiny bits of plastic the size of fingernails. The tiny pieces are the same size as zooplankton – the feeding staple of many fish and birds. The tiny debris was pervasive, found at surface and deep sea levels.

The scientists have yet to determine exactly where the plastic pollution comes from, said Goldstein. But Peter Niiler, a Scripps professor of oceanography, said that previous research had found that debris came from various countries around the Pacific Rim.

“It is not only the ocean in specific areas, but the entire Pacific Rim is full of this plastic,” Niiler said.

Impact on marine life

In the next six months, Goldstein and her associate graduate students will do research to find out how much the plastic is affecting marine life. The areas they will be studying include:

– Toxicity

– Feeding patterns

– Invasive species

– Hard surfaces

For example, the plastic toxins may be poisoning fish and marine life.

The debris can also interfere with feeding patterns, since tiny plastic pieces of plastic are the same size as zooplankton. It is already known that albatross and other birds are choking from eating plastic.

Floating plastic can also create invasive species. This is because fish like to gather beneath hard surfaces – the plastic – and end up in places they normally would not be.

“Open ocean fish really like to be underneath stuff, so you would change the movement of fish across the sea,” said Goldstein. “We saw tropical fish (aggregating under plastic debris) that wouldn’t necessarily be in the open sea.”

This could have a negative impact on native species of an area.

“The ecosystem out there is very old, very diverse and very well-adapted to living in those open ocean areas,” said Goldstein. “Having new animals in there would not necessarily be a positive thing.”

Trip mascot

One of the most unusual things the scientists found was a plush dog caught in the trolling nets. It had barnacles growing near its left eye.

The scientists cleaned it up, named it Lucky, and now call it their mascot.

Harvesting plastic

Science and policy leaders could use the research results to find appropriate solutions, said the researchers. This includes:

– Cleaning up existing pollution

– Enforcing international laws against ocean pollution

– Harvesting the plastic for recycling

Recycling the plastic could have large uses, said Niiler. “This is valuable stuff.”

Future expedition

Following the success of this expedition, Scripps plans to send another to explore the South Pacific Gyre, a much larger and more polluted area. This second expedition is targeted for 2010 or 2011 and is expected to cost $2 million.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

See original story on SDNN

Monday, April 27, 2009

Robert Noble imagines a day when across the nation, instead of car owners paying big companies for gasoline, the reverse happens: Car owners get paid for putting energy into charging stations.

It’s possible with a network of electric cars.

“We see it everywhere,” said Noble, the founder of Envision Solar, a La Jolla-based solar installation company.

Last week, his company kicked off this dream. Envision Solar International, which Noble started in 2006, announced the nation’s most advanced solar-powered electric-car charging station. The Capitol Hill event was done in collaboration with Bright Automotive, an Indiana-based company, which unveiled a breakthrough electric-hybrid van.

But in an interview given one day after returning to San Diego, Noble said he also wants to promote the concept here. He is talking to potential partners about installing such charging stations across the county.

“In San Diego, it’s completely feasible,” said Noble. “We absolutely would love to see the first project here in San Diego.”

At the charging stations just announced, electric car drivers can pay for electricity powered by the sun to charge their cars. But during peak hours, when energy is in high demand, they can also “draw down” their batteries and sell electricity back to the stations at a premium price, said Noble.

Envision is a solar installation company moving into the electric car market. Its solar-paneled parking lots have led the industry, with high-profile structures at Kyocera’s San Diego headquarters and the UC San Diego campus. It has other projects in Napa, Calif.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Golden, Colo.; and West Africa.

Bright Automotive was the first car designer to commission a hybrid-electric car charging station, to be promoted in conjunction with its electric utility vehicle. It chose Envision based on the company’s track record, according to press statements.

As the electric car industry grows, many companies are competing to have their technologies become industry standards, with a variety of battery types and capabilities being built. But Noble said that its new charging stations, officially called CleanCharge/Solar Tree Charging Stations, can be used with any type of electric cars.

“We are technology agnostic,” he said.

How the stations work

Envision’s charging station works by absorbing solar energy from the roofs of the structure. It turns the energy into electricity, which is downloaded through a pump, much like a traditional gas pump. The driver, who uses an electric car – 100 percent electric or a hybrid – pulls up and inserts a credit card into the machine.

The car owner is charged based on the amount of electricity used, and the time of day pumped. During peak hours, such as afternoons, the price would be higher. During non-peak hours, such as at night, the price would be lower, said Noble.

Get paid more during peak hours
Here’s the amazing part: car owners could actually get paid by utility companies to give back electricity through such charging stations. Instead of pumping electricity from the stations into their cars, owners with high battery levels could actually do the reverse and get paid for it.

“They would pay you a far higher premium for the energy, because it’s peak time,” said Noble.

Noble explains why. “When a peak load happens – summer, 2 p.m. — they have to generate the electricity or there will be a blackout. They can’t just cut back evenly on all appliances. If more air-conditioners are on than they can accommodate, they have to black out.”

As a back up, utilities use other generators, which are very expensive to build and maintain, said Noble.
But with an electricity “smart grid,” said Noble, the utility company can access additional energy through cars.

“If you have programmed your (electric) car to allow for a draw down of your battery, then the utility (company) can actually use that energy,” he said. “It will save the utility an enormous amount of money for not having to build another power plant, because they can draw down from the extensive fleet of electric vehicles that are in the parking lot.”

A “smart grid” allows solar electricity generated in one part of the network to be used in another part, he explained. It also is a renewable resource, because utility companies currently use fossil fuels to generate electricity. By using electricity created by the sun, the supply is infinite.

Challenges

The greatest obstacle to widespread use of such technology is education. The general public does not know about or understand how electric cars or smart grids work, Noble said.

Joseph Gottlieb, president of the Electric Vehicle Association of San Diego, notes that solar electric car charging stations is not a new concept and “totally feasible.” At least two other San Diego companies were working on similar projects, he said, but Envision’s seems to be the first to market, with a “smart grid” connection.
____________________________________________________________________________________

About the company

Revenues 2007: $150,000

Revenues 2008: $3 million

Revenues 2009 projected: More than $5 million

Number of projects 2007: 2

Number of projects 2008: 9

Number of projects 2009 projected: 15

Number of employees: 8

Expertise in San Diego: engineers, designers

Manufacturing locations: California, Pennsylvania, and in future, Arizona and India.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

See original story on SDNN

Thursday, April 9, 2009

T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman turned clean-energy maven, sounded the clarion call of U.S. energy independence on Thursday in San Diego, while speaking before a group of business leaders. “We have to get off foreign oil,” he said. “We have got to get our own resources.” Pickens spoke before 477 members of the San Diego Rotary Club 33, at the Sheraton Hotel Harbor Island. He was here to promote The Pickens Plan, his multi-faceted effort to develop wind, solar and natural gas sources in the U.S., as well as his New York Times best-seller, “The First Billion is the Hardest.” The billionaire has invested $150 million in clean energy industries, an amount that will reach $2 billion by 2011, he said. His companies include BP Capital Management, a fund group; Clean Energy, a publicly-listed natural gas company; and other companies, which use groundwater and wind energy. A staunch Republican, Pickens spoke of how he has spent time in recent months discussing clean energy with President Obama, Al Gore, and even Sierra Club leader Carl Pope. “It has nothing to do with politics,” he said. “I just want to solve this problem.” The billionaire noted that several points of his plan were included in Obama’s stimulus package – including funding a smart grid, wind and solar energy. Speaking of Obama, “I think his plan is our plan,” said Pickens. Pickens also met with Democrats House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Henry Waxman. “Twenty minutes with that crowd is a long time,” he said, to laughter. Then Pickens explained that it was hard to nail down so much time with them, but they ended speaking for one-and-one-half hours. Pickens offered advice about the pending Climate Bill and Energy Bill, which he hopes will be passed by August.

The oil magnate publicly launched his plan in July 2008, months after it fell on deaf ears with former President Bush. Pickens spent $60 million of his own funds on a widespread television and Internet campaign, and met with both John McCain and Obama during that time. He wanted it to be at the forefront of public attention during the elections, he said, because by buying oil from Middle Eastern coutnries, “we are paying for both sides of the war.”

The maverick has garnered serious support for The Pickens Plan. Some 1.5 million people have signed up as members, including 47,000 from California, he said. Member organizations include the Sierra Club and AT&T, which committed to converting 84,000, or 10 percent, of its vehicles to natural gas after hearing him speak. Having delved deeply into U.S. energy issues, Pickens strongly urged moving away from foreign dependence of any kind.

He said that both John McCain and Obama had thought during last year’s campaign the key issue for alternative energy was battery efficiency. But since the Chinese are market leaders in batteries, this would only shift the dependence to another country, he said. “We (don’t want to) get off Saudi oil and get on Chinese batteries.”

Instead, wind, solar, natural gas and shale would allow America to achieve energy independence, he said. Pickens plans to build the largest wind farm in the U.S., based in Texas, as part of a wind corridor running down the midwest and southern states. He is also tapping natural gas, which he said is cheap, clean and abundant.

The hale 80-year-old rattled off numbers that painted a picture of unsustainable oil dependence. If present consumption levels continue, the U.S. will import $10 trillion of foreign oil in ten years, he noted.

Oil barrel prices of $147 a barrel would cost the U.S. $3.2 trillion dollars, lower prices of $75 a barrel will increase global demand that would push prices back up. Since the U.S. uses 25 percent of the world’s oil, the prices will be exorbitant, he said. “If we don’t get it solved, we’re going to pay a horrible price for it,” he said.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Pickens’ San Diego connection
Pickens is married to Madeleine, a San Diego businesswoman and former widow of Allen Paulson, an aerospace multimillionaire and founder of the Del Mar Country Club. Pickens and Madeleine married in 2005.

Energy facts
The U.S. imports 70 percent of its oil, most of it from countries hostile to the U.S. Wind energy has the capacity to supply 30 percent of the country’s energy needs by 2030. Natural gas vehicles could cut foreign gasoline use by one-third, or more than $230 billion annually.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

See original story on SDNN

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Yeves Perez is founder of the Eco Investment Club and CEO of EINI, Inc., a green branding company.

The Eco Investment Club is a gathering of individuals interested in learning about green topics for investment purposes. It has more than 1,000 members worldwide, with an average of about 50 attending each meeting twice a month in downtown San Diego.

Its members range from bankers and architects to retailers and bikers, who network at the meetings.

Perez spoke to SDNN in answer to five questions.

1. What do you love most about what you do?

I like being at the forefront of a lot of new technology — a lot of disruptive new ideas that are very risky on paper, but once they prove their viability or their chance to be viable, a lot of times we find out (about investment opportunities) for a lot of other people.

I like being at the forefront of a lot of new technology — a lot of disruptive new ideas that are very risky on paper, but once they prove their viability or their chance to be viable, a lot of times we find out (about investment opportunities) for a lot of other people.

We were hearing about algae before it was what it is today. We were hearing about automobiles that were (run on) compressed air, before they were even talked about being feasible and viable.

We were just in Sacramento for a launch with the Gov. Schwarzenegger last week Thursday, where the state had endorsed a new technology called a microfueler. It is a distilling pump, so you can actually make ethanol at home. You can actually run your own vehicle off your own ethanol. It’s fantastic technology.

It’s all over the news now. The state is interested in a pilot program to have all the state fleet vehicles to be run on alternative-fuel ethanol by July 2009.

We were aware of it several months ago. We were involved in the early testing in California to see if it was viable for the state to adopt it.

All this information is very valuable. To be at the forefront of it before everybody else is an amazing opportunity.

2. What is one thing that happened to you that made you decide to pursue what you do?

I came to San Diego with a small real estate development firm that I had founded, in late ‘04, from the East Coast. I thought downtown was just right for green buildings.

No trust

I was welcomed by community leaders. But at the time, the investment community did not know anything about green buildings. There was more focus on speculation and quick deals and hot locations.

I had one private investor who said (about a green building project), ‘What are you going to do, paint it green?’

Once we told him about (existing green buildings), it made him nervous, because he had no idea what we were talking about. And that’s the number one rule about investing: Never invest in anything you don’t understand, no matter how good it sounds.

There was nothing to build any kind of trust or confidence on.

No knowledge

Then I attended a real estate club. They meet once a month and bring in knowledgeable real estate experts to talk about trends. I thought to myself, ‘They have to be talking about green buildings.’ But nobody knew anything about green.

I got frustrated and said I’m gonna start my own club. San Diego deserves to have innovative projects here. We have a market, we have buyers, we have a market that isn’t being fulfilled.

I thought to myself, ‘An investment club is very comfortable for investors, because they are used to going to other clubs.’ All I had to do was start a club where we would just change the content.

So it’s no longer content about speculating in the real estate market. It was: Here are the facts, here is the return-on-investment on green buildings. Here are the ups and downs of ethanol, the pros and cons of solar, the inside on electric vehicles. We started talking about eco tourism and investing in green resorts.

We would have people come in, who were very well educated on those markets, tell us the pros and cons, what return on investment we can expect.

Creating confidence

We started to attract investors to the club that wanted to know more things they could get involved in. Once they started to attend a couple of our meetings, they had the opportunity to gain more confidence in the technology and the ideas. They actually went out and invested.

They came back to us and said, ‘We were terrified about the technology. We heard about it, we read the business plan, we just didn’t know anything about it. A lot of our friends we trusted didn’t know anything about it, so we didn’t want to do it. But once we came to your meeting, and you had several people at the meeting who could answer our questions, we actually got very excited about it and we decided to invest.’”

That changed me. People found trust within our organization. We weren’t trying to sell it and for us to make a monetary profit. We were out to educate people.

3. What do you worry about in your industry?

The financial industry all together. Greed is what I worry about.

There are a lot of people who got really greedy in other sectors of the financial market, and I’m worried that some people will look at green and get greedy.

(They’ll say:) ‘I made a lot in the dotcom before it burst, and I made a lot of money in subprime mortgages before it burst, and now I’m turning my eyes to the next big thing.’

They could turn to this and get really greedy and screw it up for the rest of us.

Before the financial bust, green investments were looked at as a green apple in a room full of red apples. Now it’s a green apple in the room full of rotting apples.

4. If you could let people in San Diego know, do or have just one thing, what would that be?

There’s a green fund in San Diego. JPS Global Investments is down the street.

We were involved with him, we supported him and he got the courage to start his own green fund. He has a huge advantage from having a global-sustainability perspective.

His fund is actually performing very well. It’s open to private investors and institutional investors.

Whenever there’s one (green fund) that will lead to two. In the next couple of years, it might be five. San Diego has its own local green economy.

5. What’s your vision for San Diego, by when?

Our region has the ability to be a national green leader.

As a city, a county and even a society, we have the talent, the ingenuity, and the financial resources. I think we will be recognized nationally and internationally by 2012.

Just algae (a new biofuels industry), we should be recognized as one of the top regions nationally and internationally. The breakthroughs in algae happened here in San Diego, not only in research and green oceanography, but also in business models, distribution and investment. A lot of investment dollars in algae biofuels come here to San Diego.

We have the opportunity to rebuild the economy as a greener economy.

About the club

Name: Eco investment club.

Number of members: More than 1,000 worldwide. An average of 35 to 85 attend meetings.

Meeting details: Meets second and fourth Tuesdays, 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Location: 655 G Street, Pannikin building, downtown

Cost: Free for first-time visitors. Membership plans: $50/month, $125/quarter, $400/year.

Other programs: Eco Investors Bootcamp; Management training courses; “Chief green officer” certification; “Eco wiki nomics” online forum.

Business model: A for-profit group, owned by EINI, Inc., which has investment capital and sponsorships of about $100,000.

Collaborators: U.S. Green Building Council; California Center for Sustainable Energy; CleanTech San Diego; Connect; City of San Diego.

Contact: 866-960-9495,
Cynthiagreen@einicorp.com
www.ecoinvestmentclub.com

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

See original story on SDNN

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

San Diego businesses have a new way to save money, through zero-interest loans for clean and green upgrades. The San Diego Clean Enterprise Program is offering interest-free loans up to $100,000 for small businesses to make energy- efficient improvements.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced the program today in Old Town, as joint effort by the City of San Diego, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and CleanTech San Diego.

“It’s a great savings for small businesses, but it’s also a great savings for the environment,” said Mayor Sanders. “By spending less money on energy to run your lights or your air-conditioning, businesses can invest more in building their businesses, employing needed workers.”

SDG&E is funding the program, which has $3 million available for the remainder of 2009, said Mitch Mitchell, a regional vice president, SDG&E. Its yearly budget for the initiative is $10 million. While the program was already in existence, supported by the Public Utilities Commission, the new partnership allows SDG&E to reach a wider group.

For businesses applying for the program, SDG&E experts go out to the business location to inspect energy use and make recommendations for upgrades, which are funded through the loans.

“It’s a great opportunity to look at your equipment and make key decisions,” said Mitchell.

The initiative will also boost job opportunities for workers in clean tech industries, said Jim Waring, chairman, CleanTech San Diego, a non-profit group. He noted that businesses that deliver energy-efficient motors, heaters and other equipment would benefit.

“Our real goal is to grow a cluster of businesses in San Diego around clean technology,” he said.

At the morning event, Norm Niles, a manager at Old town Trolley, shared how his company used the program to save on energy costs.

After changing their lights and doing other upgrades, the company cut costs by a third.

The program’s managers will partner with several business groups to spread the word, including: restaurant associations, various chambers of commerce, the South County Economic Development Council, Biocom, CommNexus and Connect. The city government will also promote the program through its various departments, such as those issuing permits.

Some 140 measures qualify for funding, including lighting services, food services and air quality. These can help companies become “green and mean,” said Sanders.

The program can also help business in tough times, said Waring.
“Businesses struggle day to day just to stay alive,” he said. “Here’s something that’s very easy. They don’t have to write a check.”
________________________________________________________________________________

About the loans

Interest rate: 0 percent

Maximum amount: $100,000

Length of loan: Up to 10 years

Who qualifies: Small businesses under 50 employees

Contact:
SDG&E
CleanTech San Diego

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

See original story on SDNN

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

You could be using algae to fuel your car within a decade.

You could be working at an algae facility, helping to harvest one of the fastest-growing energy forms on the planet.

You could be running a business that services the expanding algae biofuels industry, including real estate, law and food services.

Or you could be one of the San Diegans who will enjoy the ripple-effect wealth of this sector, which currently generates more than $63 million worth of economic activity in the region.

This is according to leaders who are promoting algae biofuels as a serious industry in San Diego.

“We hope to make sustainable algae-based fuel production, a reality in the next five to 10 years,” said Marye Anne Fox, chancellor of University of California San Diego. Fox spoke at a press event held Tuesday on the university campus, to launch a regional partnership for the algae biofuels industry.

The San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, spearheaded by UCSD scientists, comprises a broad consortium of political, business, investment, economic and industry leaders.

“Algae biofuels will allow us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels from foreign economies and will provide new opportunities for a new economy and a new workforce,” said Fox.

It’s a major step forward towards becoming a major center for clean tech,” said San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders at the event.

The algae biofuels industry is already a strong contributor to the region’s economy, according to statistics provided by Monica Clark, an economist at San Diego Regional Association of Governments (SANDAG).

Directly and indirectly, the industry now annually:

– Employs 513 employees
– Generates $25 million in wages
– Creates $63 million in economic activity

In addition, every $10 million in venture capital investment in the industry results in:

– 21 jobs
– $1.18 million in wages
– $2.9 million in economic activity

New jobs are especially welcomed in Imperial Valley, which serves as an ideal location for sun-absorbing algae farms, said Timothy Kelley, president of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Board. The inland area has unemployment rates as high as 25 percent.

Algae biofuels are currently available as crude oil, at $20 to $30 per-barrel, said Stephen Mayfield, an associate dean at the Scripps Research Institute. But the biofuels will be ready for mass consumption within three to five years and reach $2 per barrel within a decade.

Venture capitalists and institutions had already invested “hundreds of millions” in San Diego’s algae industry, said Michael Melnick, of CMEA Ventures. But it would take partnerships with federal agencies to bring it to a viable level.

The industry would require “billions of dollars of public commitment” to succeed, said B. Greg Mitchell, a biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

But San Diego is a leading contender for $800 million in federal stimulus funds earmarked for biofuels research by the Obama administration, said Mayfield. San Diego exceeds other research areas, such as Arizona and Seattle, as an algae industry hub. This is because of its high concentration of scientists, infrastructure and ample desert land, perfect for algae farms, he said.

President Obama has committed to “no less than three percent” of gross domestic product to research and development in the field of science, noted Steve Kay, dean of biological sciences at UC San Diego.

“What SD-CAB is doing is positioning San Diego to take advantage of that investment,” Kay said. “San Diego will reposition itself… to be one the leaders in the new economy.”
_________________________________________________________________________________

New $10 million “Algae Fuel Prize”

Prize Capital, LLC is giving away $10 million as an Algae Fuel Prize, to companies for “spurring the development of radically advanced fuels from algae.

Lee Stein, founder and chairman of Prize Capital, announced the award ahead of the press conference for San Diego’s Center for Algae Biotechnology.

The award is aimed at helping start-up companies, by reducing risk to other investors who prefer to invest at later stages.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

By Helen Kaiao Chang

See original story on SDNN

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The race for electric cars is heating up.

Two major car makers — Nissan and Chevrolet — are unveiling their electric cars in San Diego this Thursday and Friday.

Nissan is showcasing its all-electric car Thursday at the headquarters of San Diego Gas & Electric, which is a regional partner. The Nissan Leaf, which has zero emissions, hits the mainstream market in December 2010. The car will also be on display at a public event Saturday.

Chevrolet is offering a sneak peek of its extended-range electric car, called the Volt. The event takes place Friday in Solana Beach, at a private reception organized by the Eco Investment Club, a network of entrepreneurs, investors and educators in the green economy.

The Volt is a hybrid-electric car that runs on a lithium-ion battery with a gasoline-powered engine. It will be launched in the market in 2010.

“As the region becomes a pioneer launch site for these advanced vehicles and the charging infrastructure, San Diego will continue on its course to become ‘plug-in ready’ and a national center for clean technology, fostering less dependence on fossil fuels, new ‘green’ jobs and a healthier environment,” said Debra L. Reed, president of SDG&E, in an advance press statement.

The introduction of the Nissan Leaf is part of an overall plan with SDG&E to create a network of electric charging stations linked to a smart grid throughout San Diego County.  A lack of infrastructure has long been an obstacle to widespread use of electric cars.

But two major grants this year jumpstarted the region’s electric infrastructure needs. One, from the U.S. Department of Energy for $99.8 million in five markets, funds electric transportation projects. Another, from the California Energy Commission for $8 million, supports infrastructure development.

These grants will help SDG&E build up to 2,250 electric charging stations throughout San Diego County in the next several years. About 1,000 Nissan Leaf vehicles will be delivered to fleet operators and private customers in late 2010. They are expected to reach the mass consumer market by 2012.

The Leaf is a midsize hatchback that can run 100 miles on a single charge. Using a lithium-ion battery and zero-emission battery, it can reach more than 75 miles per hour.

The Leaf will be on display Saturday at the San Diego Alternative Fuels Education Day.

It is open to the public at the Towne and Country Resort and Convention Center, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is also on display in the Gaslamp Quarter, at 5^th and J streets, Friday, from 6 to 10 p.m.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenChang.

By Helen Kaiao Chang

See original story on SDNN

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Yet another San Diego building has turned green.

Sony Electronics and San Diego Gas and Electric opened a new “green” building Tuesday featuring solar panels that give renewable energy back to the electrical grid.

The new Sony headquarters, with 455,000 square feet located in Rancho Bernardo, includes a 160-kilowatt solar panel system installed on the employee parking structure. The panels owned by SDG&E can produce 230,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which feed into the utility’s power grid.

“The building is anticipated to save nearly 1.5 million kilowatt hours of energy use every year, which is equal to removing 1,077 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year, or planting 27,622 trees,” said Alex Kim, SDG&E’s director of customer innovations, in an email response.

The rest of the building includes energy efficient air conditioning and heating, as well as recycled carpeting and water. The building design meets standards required for the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

The building is 15 percent more efficient than California building codes, while the parking structure is 75 percent more efficient,” said SDG&E’s Kim.

“This is an excellent example of a building that can gain immediate benefits from solar power,” said Gina Heng, general manager of Mitsubishi Electric’s photovoltaic division, which built the solar panels, in a press statement.

The solar panel system was implemented through an SDG&E Sustainable Communities program. SDG&E owns the solar panels, which were built by Mitsubishi Electric and installed by HelioPower.

SDG&E has a goal of deriving 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by next year, as mandated by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Follow Helen on Twitter @helenchang.