21st Century Regenerative Technology

1. What the Global Fuel Economy Initiative Could Mean for Startups
2. Captain Planet returns
3. Sequoia VC Veteran Joins Khosla, Focuses on Cleantech

What the Global Fuel Economy Initiative Could Mean for Startups

2009-03-04 18:30

Josie Garthwaite - Automotive

50by50-logo If the average fuel economy of all new cars on the world’s roads improved 50 percent by 2020, it could save more than 6 billion barrels of oil per year. Think it’s ambitious? Maybe, but the International Energy Agency, the UN Environment Program and a handful of other global agencies say it can be achieved with existing technology and a few key policies. By 2050, they want to see fuel economy of the entire global fleet (not just new cars) improve by 50 percent.

Today the agencies launched a campaign — the Global Fuel Economy Initiative — at the Geneva Motor Show, and unveiled a roadmap for reaching their target. If implemented, the plan could create new opportunities for PHEV conversion startups, battery developers and electric car makers.

“Through tax incentives and information campaigns [this initiative] would help encourage consumer demand for more fuel efficient cars,” FIA Foundation Director General David Ward said in an announcement today. “This is not an agenda for some point far off in the future. Our 50 percent fuel efficiency target requires us to change direction and take important actions right now."

Launched mere hours after General Motors President Fritz Henderson said the automaker’s European operations will go kaput in the second quarter of this year unless governments across the EU cough up aid, the campaign calls for governments to “provide incentives and set regulations for vehicle components that fall outside current vehicle testing, incentive and regulatory systems.”

To start, the group is urging long-term, international standards for fuel economy or vehicle emissions as a way to encourage investment in fuel efficiency — and not just through an overhaul of existing automakers’ lineups, although that’s certainly part of the grand vision. In the near term, GFEI wants to see movement on low-tech MPG boosters, including after-market improvements. While the roadmap released today suggests programs to promote tire replacement, fuel efficient driving and better vehicle maintenance, incentives along these lines could conceivably be a boon to PHEV conversion companies like Hymotion, 3Prong Power, EDrive Systems, OEMTek and Plug-In Conversions Corp., which retrofit hybrid cars into plug-in electric vehicles.

As for battery and powertrain developers, mandates for phased-in fuel economy improvements (30 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2020 for new cars) and emission standards could help pave the way for bigger supply deals and partnerships with automakers, such as LG Chem’s lithium-ion cell deal with GM for the Volt and Tesla Motors’ powertrain deal with Daimler AG.

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Captain Planet returns

2009-03-04 17:55

Shelby Wood, The Oregonian - Eat Your Greens

mnn.com/captainplanet If you can handle Whoopi Goldberg before noon, and I realize that's a big if, here's a look at the recent return of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. The cartoon, created by Ted Turner in the 90s, follows Gaia...

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Sequoia VC Veteran Joins Khosla, Focuses on Cleantech

2009-03-04 17:01

Katie Fehrenbacher - Big Green

pierrelamondphoto One of the granddaddies of venture investing, Pierre Lamond — the National Semiconductor co-founder and partner at Sequoia Capital for almost 30 years — has opened up a new, greener door. At the spry age of 78, Lamond has joined Vinod Khosla’s firm Khosla Ventures, where he will focus on different sectors in cleantech, the New York Times reports and we’ve confirmed. Lamond tells the Times that he joined the firm instead of retiring this year (”I don’t feel that I’m 78,” he says), and that he appreciates Khosla Venture’s focus on “growing companies from scratch.”

Lamond is an affable guy, and I interviewed him last year for an article looking at Sequoia’s small but compelling cleantech portfolio. Sequoia has invested in only a handful of cleantech firms, and they would have a fantastic batting average for the sector if one of their plays, lithium ion battery darling A123Systems, goes through with plans to go public. However, those plans emerged before the downturn, and we’re still waiting to see if the battery maker will — or can — go public.

But it’s interesting that Lamond told us back then that Sequoia’s cleantech strategy was to "not invest in concepts," and that "the company has to have a real product and a competitive advantage" to attract his investment. While that’s not necessarily mutually exclusive with wanting to invest in companies from scratch, it’s a somewhat different strategy. Perhaps Lamond is looking for some more risk-taking investment fun in his almost-octogenarian years.

Lamond also told us that he and Sequoia decided to take a less-risky cleantech approach after watching the big hits and major misses in the dotcom boom, and that he didn’t want to recreate some of the hype-induced failures of the late ’90s. On that note, he told us that he had looked at many ethanol companies and passed on all of them . . . Hmm, wonder if he mentioned that to aggressive ethanol-backer Khosla in the interview process.