Clean Tech Software Applications in High Demand

As a global interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions has inspired numerous entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to pursue clean tech, many may ask: what area of the industry is the most promising?

This was precisely the question a Cupertino-based entrepreneur asked at the end of a clean tech seminar held at Computer History Museum in Mountain View April 27.

Panelist Eric Wesoff, a senior analyst of Greentech Media, immediately replied that software applications for monitoring energy usage are in high demand, and investing in a clean tech software start-up would cost much less than building a solar plant.

Another panelist Anders B. Axelsson, senior vice president of Echelon, said that such software applications are especially needed in China, where the government mandates all buildings to monitor their energy usage.

Shannon Fraser, a senior international trade specialist coming from the U.S. Department of Commerce to join the panel, also said that anything promoting energy efficiency is worthy of investments.

The three panelists and William Hsu, vice president of corporate development of Clean Focus, all gave presentations at last week's seminar titled "Cleantech Startups in the United States and China in 2011; Opportunities and Realities of Funding."

Wesoff was the first speaker. From a global perspective, he said the United States only has nine percent of the world's photovoltaic (PV) cells, electrical devices that directly convert the energy of sunlight into electricity.

Wesoff said China is now the number one global producer of PV cells, though the country didn't start solar production until a few years ago.

According to Wesoff. many American start-ups are currently trying to catch up on PV cells. He called the competition in the solar sector of clean tech "a bloodbath."

In the meantime, Wesoff said there's an increasing amount of interest in energy storage.  He said the most widespread and deployed energy storage technology is pumped hydro, with 120,000 megawatts of capacity worldwide.

According to Wesoff, China is the world's number one in hydropower. He also said China is currently second in the world in wind energy, and will soon be the leader with a goal of 150 gigawatts by 2020.

Wesoff attributed China's remarkable success in clean tech to government support. He said there is a $3 billion Chinese government stimulus for solar energy development, versus a recent announcement of $150 million for solar technologies from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Axelsson expressed a similar view on China's success in building smart grids, which generally refer to the application of computer intelligence and networking to electricity transmission and distribution, but in China have an additional meaning of transporting electricity generated in the Western region to east coast cities.

"When a policy comes out in China," said Axelsson. "There's no discussion, no politics. It just gets implemented."