Way of Being

March 25, 2012  source: GigaOM Earth2Tech Update: March 27, 2012 – see GigaOM’s followup article: The story of Energy Cache, a drop-dead simple energy idea by Katie Fehrenbacher from an extensive interview with the founder and President of Energy Cache, Aaron Fyke, giving the details of how the technology works, how the company came into being, where it’s headed and how Bill Gates and Bill Gross became involved. Energy Cache, one of Claremont Creek Ventures’ portfolio companies, was featured in GigaOM’s Earth2Tech blog this past Sunday. Energy Cache, an Idealab company, develops low-cost energy storage through a series of gravel lift arrays. The system […]

The United States has embraced clean technology relatively aggressively, but is it enough? In particular, is it enough in comparison to the pace of clean tech development in China? I addressed this topic September 28 at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen 2011 conference, and the answer is that the U.S. isn’t doing enough. China is much more aggressive than the United States in developing clean technology projects and could dominate clean technology development globally for many years to come. Consider, for example, the stark contrast between the construction of the hydroelectric Three Gorges Dam spanning China’s Yangtze River with the development in […]

Although venture capitalists have taken a battering in the renewables sector, as seen in the sorry Solyndra saga, investors continue to see value in smart grid investments, biofuels and electric vehicles.

But the stakes are usually high, the capital costs expensive and the path to profit unclear in uncertain political and economic times in the US. But the gains for the US economy are clear.

Nat Goldhaber, managing director of Claremont Creek Ventures in Oakland, said a monster showing by BrightSource could spark a “Google effect” that leaves investors as enthusiastic about pioneering energy firms as they have been about information technology. May 3, 2011  source: New York Times BrightSource Energy Inc.’s plan to go public this year could spur a wave of clean technology startups looking to follow suit if investors flock to the solar developer in large numbers, experts say. The Oakland-based company recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to start the initial public offering process, following the example of others […]

April 21, 2011  source: Gigaom When it comes to clean-energy investing 2.0, venture capitalists are beyond looking for the silver bullet — or the magic battery –- they spent the last decade hunting and hoping for. Today, VCs are more likely to invest their dollars in slightly less ambitious energy-efficiency projects, Paul Kedrosky, senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, told the audience at GigaOM’s Green:Net conference. Kedrosky sat down with a panel of VC heavy hitters for a discussion on what’s hot and what’s not in the second wave of clean-tech investing. And what’s hot, they all agreed […]

December 27, 2010 source: (Bloomberg) Washington Post Nat Goldhaber, managing director of Claremont Creek Ventures, discusses Tesla Motors Inc.’s performance, its battery technology and the outlook for the electric-car market. Tesla, an unprofitable electric-automobile maker, fell the most since July after insiders were allowed to sell shares in the company. Goldhaber talks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)