Houston is known as the home to many of the nation’s oil and gas companies,
but the Texas capital is making a bid for the next generation of energy
firms. As part of the effort, Austin will host about 275 entrepreneurs,
investors and energy executives for the
Clean
Energy Venture Summit, hosted by the Clean Energy Incubator and Austin
Energy, on May 14 to 16.
Another key to Austin's quest was the formation of the Clean Energy Incubator
in the early 2000s. Despite its efforts, so far the city’s companies haven’t
pulled any big success stories through large M&A deals or even an initial
public offering — although Cypress Semiconductor Corp.'s
spinout
of solar panel maker SunPower Corp. had a solar R&D effort in Cypress’
Round Rock fab.
California remains the place to be for green companies, judging from data
gathered by the Cleantech Venture Network, which estimated that $2.9 billion
was invested in clean technologies in the U.S. last year, with Texas companies
receiving about $211 million.
Still, the conference will showcase several startups, including one form
China, and speakers will include James Woolsey, former director of the CIA,
and Gary Cowger, group vice president of General Motors Corp., both discussing
clean transportation options such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Others
will focus on building the "utility of the future."
Austin is certainly trying to build its reputation as the clean energy capital
of the future. —Stacey Higginbotham
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The NREL is porting the same old junk as last year and the year before. They do not want a realistic technology that can surplant fossil fuels. That is their marching orders and they have followed them dutifully. Nothing of this conference will be a threat to any oil company. The ideas selected by the committee are borderline lunacy and fringe science. Anyone with a realy technological advantage in this counrty does not stand a chance. That is exacly why I received funding from half way around the world. The sum total of all the wind and solar in this country would not equal 1% of hydro. If you doubled it and trippled it, it would not equal 1% of what my technology represents. Thanks for the memories USA.