Part 3: Clean tech/green tech computing opportunities

In earlier blogs I talked about the relative scarcity of software-only opportunities in clean/green tech and why this situation exists, albeit perhaps temporarily. In addition, I categorized some of the existing companies and provided a few examples, here are a few more:

• www.naverus.com Provides improved navigation for airplanes which, among other things, can save significantly on fuel consumption and decrease emissions.
  
• www.vehiclerouteplanner.com Provides road travel planning and optimization to reduce time and cost (mileage) thereby reducing pollution and enabling more work to be done each day.
  

What are the enablers for new software/service startups in this space?

As previously mentioned, without hardware, particularly sensors or effectors, it's difficult to build a clean tech/green start up. The vast majority of the start-ups are either:

• Building hardware-based systems for energy, transportation, environment or construction
  
• Building devices to measure something (e.g. home electricity use) and act on it (e.g. provide feedback to the home owner)
• Building devices that control something else (e.g. motor controllers).

However, if we look at what data is ~already~ available or what systems can be controlled without more hardware we see:

1. Utilities: utilities already collect a huge amount of information about resource use. For security and privacy reasons they keep this information close (obviously) but it does create an opportunity to sell applications/services to the utilities that process that information and act on it. For example, such an application might send an email or automated phone message to a homeowner when their consumption rises above the level where additional costs kick in.

2. Automotive: the sensors and computers in your car collect information about its (and the driver's) performance which can be used to provide feedback, modify behavior and save fuel (and lower emissions). Again, the issue is getting access to that information and so a startup would need to partner.

3. Computing: computers already have the ability to collect information about their power use and act on it. In many cases, this information is not being used and there is an opportunity to reduce electricity use.

4. Remote sensing: a huge amount of information is publicly available (for a fee) from companies doing remote sensing (air and satellite). This information can be used for everything from providing feedback on electricity use (lights left on at night) to HVAC use (warm/poorly insulated roofs on a cold night).

5. Simulation and modeling: This software runs the gamut from esoteric fluid dynamics/thermodynamics applications for simulating internal engine combustion to modeling wind farms.