Bringing together Boston's CleanTech news and events

Tomorrow night (4/21) at the bi-weekly Boston Green Drinks event, Matthew Liebhold, the founder of CleanTech Boston will be the guest host.  So, come on down to Vlora (across from Copley Square) between 6 and 8 PM to say hello, meet some green/renewable/sustainability minded folks, and have a beer.  The event is a low key networking session with no agenda other than to find out what interesting projects others are working on.
 
Hope to see you there!

On Wednesday, April 14, the Harvard University Extension School (http://www.extension.harvard.edu/) brought together a panel to discuss Sustaining our Earth's Ecosystems. Panelists included:

• Dr. Eric Chivan - Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Author, MD
• Alexandra Cousteau - Blue Legacy International founder, National Geographic "Emerging Explorer"
• Mark Plotkin - Neotropical Ethnobotanist, Smithsonian's "35 People who make a difference"
• Steve Curwood - Pulitzer Prize winner, Host of Living on Earth on NPR

In a sprawling discussion covering sustainability, biodiversity, conservation, and spirituality, several common themes emerged.  These included the interconnectedness of everything (and the associated need to stop compartmentalizing all climate issues), the ability to protect the environment buy protecting the people, and the hope and opportunity presented by the burgeoning innovation economy.

Some of the highlighted points from each of the speakers included:

Steve Curwood

• "We have run out of time. We must act."
• America's biggest hurdle is the "rapidly declining stock of critical thinking."
• Corporations are robots that are taking over the world (but there is an upside to more corporate involvement as well).

Dr. Chivan

• Physicians need to be involved at all stages of environmental and climate work.
• "Environmental change is like Armageddon in slow motion."
• There is a serious disconnect for most people between climate change and seeing trees blooming and drinking fresh water.
• The proliferation of nuclear power is a bigger threat to the world than nuclear warheads.
• The psychological impacts of climate change on children need to be studied.

Alexandra Cousteau

• There is a clear progression from seeing the biosphere/environment to understanding it to loving it to protecting it.
• Currently all water issues are treated separately. "We must return to our fifth grade science and the water cycle" and put them all on the table at the same time.
• Water issues are not just for "them" but also for "us" and "me."
• The ethnosphere is being lost just as fast at the hydrosphere and biosphere.
• Follow Alexandra's journey for Water throughout the US at http://www.alexandracousteau.com/

Mark Plotkin

• By protecting the people, you can protect the environment.
• Anecdotal evidence of climate changes from indigenous populations is oten more accurate and prescient than anything developed by scientists.
• 80% of all new drugs are from nature. New strategies are needed to protect this knowledge.
• "Our problems were caused by people, and can now be solved by people."

The month of April is packed with Green/Cleantech events in the Boston area.  Several of the events in the "don't miss it" category include:

• Down2Earth - Boston's own sustainable living expo featuring demonstration boots and panel discussions
• CleanTech Kingpins - A panel discussion about energy adoption in New England, and featuring four local companies
• CEN/REBN tour of Fenway park - One of Boston's premier cleantech networking groups ours historic Fenway Park

The Calendar has many more upcoming events and conferences.

On Thursday and Friday of last week, Harvard Business School and the Advanced Leadership Institute put on a Think Tank on Energy, discussing leadership in time and in scale.  The attendees and speakers ranged from current and former US Senators, governmental officials and cabinet mebers, representatives from the UN and European Comissions, as well as a smattering of venturecapitalists and industry professionals.  A wide variety of panels were held, often featuring speakers with very different viewpoints, and an overview of the Energy landscape was given. 

Key takeaways included:

1. Put a price on carbon.  Nearly every speaker mentioned this at least once.  The most common figure mentioned was around $30 dollars -- below that threshold nothing would change
2. The debate on climate policy needs to be re-framed.  Make it a business issue, an insurance issue, or a health issue, but talking about these will drive more action and the climate benefits will be follow-on benefits.
3. Shifting your persp-ective will lend new insights.  Whether you look at different socio-economic starting points for the debate, or if you are identifying a different set of rooadblocks, looking at issues and opportunities ion a new light is key.
4. "Everything looks like a failure in the middle" (Kanter's Law) - Everyone likes to be at the beginning or the end, and nobody like the middle. 
5. Integrative vision is key to leadership.

For a detailed writeup of the conference, take a look at this speaker by speaker and panel by panel recap.

HBS and Advanced Leadership Institute Think Tank on Energy Recap

UNMATCHED OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH THE LEADERS OF INDIA

India's Government And Corporate Leaders Request to Meet with America's Top Water Firms and Clean Energy Technologists

The Water Innovations Alliance is part of this US-India Trade Delegation, March 17-19, 2010

This Trade Delegation to India is intended to provide an unmatched opportunity for top U.S. businesses to meet with leaders in Industry and key Indian government officials.  Eight to ten cutting edge clean tech and water technologies are the focus areas of this trip.

Current arrangements call for meetings with the following individuals and organizations.  We expect to add additional business and governmental meetings over the coming month, depending upon the interests and makeup of the group.

From Government

The members of the delegation would meet with senior representatives within the following:

• The Minister for New and Renewable Energy

• The Minister for Commerce and Industry

• The Minister for Power

• The Director of the Department of Urban Development, Government of NCT of Delhi (water supply and sewerage)

• Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (head of India's water supply and sewerage board)

From Industry

CEOs and senior-most officials from Companies and Industry Alliances engaged in development and deployment of new water technologies will be introduced and can share best practices with business leaders from representative companies noted below.  Water has, historically been a public sector responsibility.  However, the Indian Government is now focused on the private sector to engage and contract with at this time.  The Indian Government is pursuing major infrastructure reforms in the various sub-sectors of water.

• Reliance Infrastructure, part of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG): Amitabh Jhunjhunwalla, Group Managing Director. http://www.rinfra.com

• Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company (JUSCO), a subsidiary of the TATA group, provides comprehensive services in the supply of water to both industrial and domestic customers. http://juscoltd.com/water-and-waste-water.asp

• Knowledge Infrastructure Systems Pvt, Ltd an evolving energy management company expanding into the water supply and waste management arena: Mr. Rahul Bhandare, Chairman and Managing Director. http://www.knowledgeispower.in

• TERI is a leading global institution focused on sustainable development.  It has created an environment that is enabling, dynamic, and inspiring for the development of solutions to global problems in the fields of energy, environment and current patterns of development, which are largely unsustainable.  The head of TERI, Dr. Pachauri, is a Nobel Laureate (along with Al Gore) for Environmental Matters. http://www.teriin.org/

• Reliance Energy, a key constituent of the Reliance-ADAG, India's third largest business house, is India's foremost private sector utility with aggregate group revenues of Rs. 13,017 crore (US$ 3 billion) and total assets of Rs. 12,166 crore (US$ 2.80 billion). Mr. J.P.Chalsani, CEO Reliance Power http://www.rel.co.in/Rel/aboutus/relatglance.jsp

• - The GMR group is a global infrastructure player with major interests in Energy, Highways and Urban Infrastructure.  B.V.N. Rao, Chairman-Energy http://gmrgroup.co.in/

This is an unprecedented opportunity to meet with the individuals charged with modernizing India's water services and infrastructure.
The senior official members of the delegation are empowered and responsible to  initiate literally billions of dollars of new contracts in the water sector and are under increased pressure to do so.

DO NOT MISS OUT on this trip if you are in the water sector and are trying to expand your efforts, customer-base and bottomline.

If you are interested in attending, then please contact mark@waterinnovations.org