Most of us weren’t able or fortunate enough to be there in person to hear the talk.  Luckily, the recently uploaded video of Agassi’s talk at the 2009 TED Conference allows us to relive the experience, watching him do what he does best - compelling us to pay attention.

Two years ago, at TED’s 2007 conference, Shai Agassi was an anonymous presence.  So much so, he recounts on his blog “The Long Tailpipe”, that

a young Google employee told me at one of the dinner events after a conversation on the world of software that ‘You are pretty good. Would probably make a good manager at Google, maybe even a VP’ and offered to put in a good word for me. Given that I was the president of products at SAP at that time, I guess she meant it as a compliment, somehow.

He goes on to describe how being at his first TED was like “drinking from the firehose”.  In rooms jam-packed with likeable overachievers, innovators, card-carrying MENSA members, and various other pioneers and giants, he could nevertheless imagine himself on the TED stage presenting some vague beneficent project.

And he has done just that, and more.        

Shai Agassi has been written about and commended in wide circles.  By now, most of us know the gist of Better Place’s mission and the major milestones on its way so far under his leadership.  Still, if the reader will indulge me, let me tell you a few reasons why I personally admire the man and his achievements.

1. He can work in a good metaphor.

When he speaks about the affordability criteria that was set out at the beginning of Better Place’s existence, he lays out exactly how the their business model overcomes both economic hurdles and range limitations.  Electric vehicles were a great solution for the well-off environmental crowd who could afford to invest in owning both the vehicle and its consumable.

But what about those one or two notches down the ladder?

The battery of an EV has approximately 2000 life cycles, acting as a “mini-well” that provides the consumable.  Your are right, Mr. Agassi: nobody wants to buy the entire well. Well, not if we don’t have to.  Separating car ownership and battery ownership gives one the option to charge or swap.  That’s the beauty of genial ideas; they seem so simple and obvious once they take shape.  Less cost, longer drives, no emissions.

2. He projects not an ounce of cynicism.

It takes a unique composition of character to be able to look at the mess we’re in and still take on the task of getting ourselves back on the right road.  Agassi’s talk is remarkable if only for the fact that you won’t find any of the cynicism that can cripple a good fighter.  Cynicism in a certain, limited context can be useful.  Still, I dare anyone to mistake this positive, singular focus he conveys with naivete’.

His message of “we can do it if we want to” was playing a good while before Obama rode a similar wave of optimism to the presidency, and hearkens back to Theodor Herzl’s poignant “If you will it, it is no dream.” His practical bent convinces us that people will understand if you respect their intelligence long enough to outline each step in the breakdown of problem and solution.  He doesn’t tend to look back and hiss at the evils of oil; yes, it was and is evil, but it was also a product of our times.  Now that times have changed, we will only damage ourselves, our planet, and our future if we don’t adopt a new mental framework.

3. He does not hide behind technology, nor allow his charisma to overtake the larger mission.

Israelis are a curious bunch at times (ok, almost at all times).  I often lament that Israeli start ups fail or are not as successful as they could be because of two bad tendencies: hiding behind technology, and standing too much in front of technology.

Many scientist-led start ups will happily partner with a larger foreign company, providing them world-class technology as they morph facelessly into a technological substrate.  In a different scenario, the company is held back by waiting for the next generation component of x,y, or z to make them the most cutting edge on the market.

Other MBA-led start ups become so focused on making the right deals that their initial purpose becomes muddied by too many personalities.  Alternately, they become so convinced of their model that they fail to change and evolve when new factors are thrown in.

Either way is maladaptive.

Now, Shai Agassi is practically a household name; and to be sure, he is as engaging and charismatic as anyone.  But he does not allow his mission to be eclipsed for a moment.  Ask nearly anyone, and they will tell you that Shai Agassi = electric cars.

Even more than that, Better Place makes use of top technology, but it will not be bogged down by the wait for tomorrow’s ultimate battery breakthrough.  Agassi makes clear that the plan is to achieve their mission within the bounds of the science we have available today.  There is no time to waste once we have the basics down.  Besides, improvements along the continuum can always be integrated as course of nature.

4. He facilitates politics’ interaction with science and economics.

At a certain point in his talk, Agassi recounts how old-timer Shimon Peres took an interest in his mission to convert the entire State of Israel into an electric car network, while some of the younger politicians simply thought it was charming that anyone even wanted to try.

Then, when discussing use of a significant area of desert to build the solar farm, some policymakers balked.  Would they let him use it if he could prove there was oil on that land?  Well, we’ve tried drilling, and there is none.

But if he could drill to prove there was some valuable natural resource there, could he use the land?  Well, as the story goes, he decided to drill up rather than down to lay the groundwork for the solar farm.

This anecdote is a great example of how politics gets stuck in a whirlpool of the status quo, low risk-taking, and lagging behind scientific and market innovations.  It is extremely important that high-profile people like Shai Agassi, who are tackling the embedded problems contributing to global warming, actively engage local and national government.  He was not afraid to enter their sphere, with a vision, a clear plan, reasonable requests, and the flexibility to work together to make Better Place a reality in their domain.

With Israel, Denmark, Australia, Hawaii, and San Francisco already enlisted, I am quite hopeful that Better Place’s list will continue to grow to more unexpected locations.  If and when it does, Israel can rightfully be proud of a homegrown success who is giving them a good name and making a major step in the energy revolution.

But knowing Israelis are, it will also be viewed as a challenge.  If that means zero footprint and scale to infinite, I am inclined to let nature take its course.

Read more about Better Place:

Texas to Tel Aviv by Tom Friedman, NY Times

Published: July 27, 2008

Israeli unveils ambitious plan to shift transportation to electric cars by Nicky Blackburn

October 30, 2007

The pollutants that are being detected at critical levels in our water supply, soil, and in the food chain altogether warrant immediate attention.  Due to the interconnectedness of each facet of environmental care - from replacing use of chemical pollutants like pesticides, treating sewage and industrial waste, conserving and purifying water, to delivering energy from renewable sources and implementing energy saving techniques, a co-evolution of all sectors is the most desirable path for all.  As a second-best strategy, improvement in one area is at least a step in the right direction.

In the first post kicking off an intermittent series tracking developments and highlighting notable companies in the various fields of environmental technologies, we look at cleantech solutions emanating from Israel that are being used in the battle against contaminants of the food-chain, the soil, the air, and precious water sources.

All Pesticides Aside…

Israel prides itself on being a net exporter of food and has a highly developed knowledge-set in agricultural methods and technologies.  According to the Israel Export Institute:

the value of Israeli food exports is predicted to reach $1B in 2010 compared to an export volume of $650M in 2005. This anticipated rise is partly attributed to the major investments in new technologies and penetration of new niche markets worldwide, such as health foods, organic foods and gourmet ingredients.

Some of the most pertinent advances for sustainable agriculture are in the field of pest management. Pest management is an integral part of modern agriculture. The damage caused by pests is estimated to be between 35-40% of all crops grown around the world. Most of pest control is done by means of chemical pesticides that are spread, as powder or liquid, on plants or ground. The attempt to control pests by repetitive spraying of the fields with highly poisonous insecticides, is problematic for the following reasons:

(1) it may promote the development of resistance to the insecticide in the pest;
(2) it may also kill beneficial insects and natural enemies of the pest as well as other non-pest insects;
(3) high cost of the use of chemicals.

With increasing awareness to the  damage caused by pesticides, both to humans and the environment, the number of chemical pesticides that are permitted for use is decreasing, though the demand for food will only continue to grow.  Coupled with an expected boom in the insect population as global temperatures continue to rise, pest control for agriculture and disease prevention will be in dire need.  Several Israeli companies are already well immersed in the  migration to clean technologies for these purposes. 

Agron, based in Givat Brener, is a company that specializes in developing and marketing environmentally benign pesticides for agricultural use, that are selectively toxic to their targets, do not bioaccumulate, and exhibit relatively short persistence in the environment.  Their wide range of products run the gamut of fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides to mechanical and pheromone-based pest traps.

Similarly, AgroGreen has made biological pesticides a viable and cost effective alternative for farmers using traditional methods by increasing the shelf life of their non-toxic products and demonstrating effectiveness that matches or exceeds chemical agents.  Their BioNem-WP, BioSafe, and SHEMER products  treat crop infestations during growth and also protect the commercial value of the final produce from post harvest rot.

Another actor on the field is ALICOM, a producer of biological mosquito larvicides that are microorganism-based for control of mosquito larvae outdoors. Chemical insecticides currently used to control mosquitoes, either as larvicide or as adulticide, are detrimental to human health and are known to have harmful effects on the environment and wildlife.

Although Israel’s troubles with malaria are largely a thing of the past now, the mosquito-borne disease still afflicts countless people each year in the developing world.  In addition, new and re-emerging diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as encephalitis, dengue and yellow fevers, and West Nile Virus contribute to more than 500 million clinical cases each year, according to the World Health Organization.

ALICOM has already entered into negotiations with a potential European distributor.

Taking an approach that bypasses chemical agents altogether, Bio-Bee is a company that offers integrated pest management (IPM) and sustainable agriculture by using naturally occurring processes.  At their facility at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, the company mass produces beneficial insects and mites, which are natural enemies for biological pest control, in addition to growing bumblebees for natural pollination in greenhouses and open field crops.

Bio-Bee exports to markets worldwide on five continents (excluding Australia), with their most recent partnership taking place in Chile.  To watch a short video of the Bio-bee process, click here.

Eclipsed by the Sun

With the spate of announcements and investment deals focused on cleantech developments in the energy sector, particularly solar and wind, it would be a refreshing change to find VC funds going towards environmental technologies as well.  While renewable energy has the appeal of gleaming new structures, materials, and the intangible elements, environmental technologies focus our attention to the more familiar, ageless processes of life around us.

With investors having the “double bottom line” in mind, i.e. financial profitability and social benefits of the company/product, it seems counterintuitive to have such an unequal distribution of fund between sectors that have emerged in the last several decades and with those that we have already mastered several millenia ago.  A quick look at the portfolios of some of the leading cleantech VCs in Israel (Israel Cleantech Venture, AguAgro Fund, Terra Venture Partners) shows this gap in action.  If one looks at time to market, ease of integration with current infrastructure, and risk and capital needed, environmental technologies almost always come out on top compared to energy investments.

Perhaps it is just cooler to say photovoltaic than bumblebee?

More info on related topics:

Michael Pollan talk - a new viewpoint of farming

More about the important role of bees in agriculture

From: Ted

So says Alan Salzman, co-founder and chief executive of VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the most successful and high profile venture capital firms in the U.S.  He is a man who has personally been involved in developing over 300 companies, and has raised and managed more than $5 billion in capital during the last 25 years in Silicon Valley.

Salzman witnessed from close up and contributed to several technological leaps that changed the way of doing business and pushed the economy’s growth, such as the PC and Internet, biotech, and digital data communications.  Already present in VantagePoint’s cleantech portfolio are start-ups like Shai Agassi’s Better Place, high-end electric car maker Tesla Motors, and BrightSource Energy (whose subsidiary, Luz II, is headquartered in Jerusalem).

He says the firm has “well over $1 billion” dedicated to making cleantech investments.  In particular, it is looking to three areas:

• The Electric Car Revolution, or Car 2.0 - an estimated $3 trillion industry; the Big Three - Chrysler, Ford, and GM will have to get on board or get left behind.
• Solar - within two years, the industry will be valued in the multi-hundred-billion dollars range; with thin-film technology allowing it to reach grid-parity, at $1 a watt.
• Fuel-cell Batteries - would economically store energy from renewable sources and dispatch it when needed.

The bold predictions Salzman makes extend to any incumbent industry that seems invincible today - failing to adapt, you will be replaced by the new generation of industry innovators.  As for the bigger picture, he stresses that aggressively pursuing cleantech by providing the capital to not only develop technology, but also to deploy it throughout infrastructure, would have a huge role to play in eventually getting the economy out of its current downward spiral.

The Consequence of Being NICE

The green lining to the dark cloud over the economy is also reflected in a recently released report by the sustainable development group Forum for the Future.  “Acting Now for a Positive 2018″ stresses sustainability as an opportunity for business, which saw the end of the NICE (non-inflationary constant expansion) decade.

The report urges businesses globally to prepare for radical change, as trends such as the end of cheap finance and resources, the impact of climate change, and the rise of markets like China with will shape the future of business over the next decade:

Gain competitive advantage by embedding sustainability into decision-making and operational delivery in the important business of functions e.g. marketing, product innovation, procurement and finance.

Create alliances – with investors, customers, suppliers, staff, competitors, and regulators – to identify where the existing system is preventing a sustainable outcome, and then find ways of creating change.

Look for opportunities that both generate immediate returns - the most obvious actions are improving energy and resource efficiency

No doubt, climate change will bite harder. It is time to bring creative solutions to market, a market that stands at $55 billion.  That is more than the entire Internet advertising market dominated by Google.

Renewable Energy World reported recently that the official launch of the US-Israel Energy Cooperation Agreement will take place on 17-19th of February at the Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference. According to the event organizers, the Conference “is part of an ambitious program in the southern Arava desert, to generate 100% regional energy independence within a decade. This will create a regional test bed for accelerated innovations. The program serves as a blueprint for other regions in the world. Other similar regional renewable energy programs will be presented.

The Energy Cooperation Act, introduced on March 12, 2007 by Senator Gordon Brown (R-OR), would authorize a grant program of $20 million for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2014 to fund joint ventures between U.S. and Israeli businesses and academics for research, development, or commercialization of alternative energy, improved energy efficiency, or renewable energy sources.

More specifically, the Act authorizes:

• grants to promote (1) solar energy; (2) biomass energy; (3) energy efficiency; (4) wind energy; (5) geothermal energy; (6) wave and tidal energy; and (7) advanced battery technology.

• Makes eligible for a grant projects that address improved energy efficiency or renewable energy sources, or joint ventures between either: (1) a for-profit business entity, academic institution, National Laboratory, or nonprofit entity in the United States, and one in Israel; or (3) the federal government and the government of Israel.

The Act would also establish the International Energy Advisory Board.

With this long-term supplement to existing VC funds for cleantech and with the large potential of securing grants in the near future, the Israel Cleantech field will become open to many more would be participants. (Currently, there are about 600 companies in Israeli Cleantech overall.)

This is good because it allows new ideas that were previously held back by funding issues to develop and take hold, and will sharpen the focus of existing companies hoping to stay ahead of the pack. Israeli companies have touched on nearly every field mentioned for grant eligibility, above all, (1) solar energy, (2) biomass, and (7) advanced battery technology.

Entrepreneurs can be heard revving their non-emitting engines just about now.

Already, the world’s 44 million servers emit carbon at the rate approaching that of countries such as Argentina or the Netherlands.  Data center growth forecasts for the U.S. will be the equivalent of ten new power plants in the next 1-2 years alone.  In the business-as-usual model, uncurbed demand would quadruple carbon emissions from data centers worldwide by 2020.

The bad news is not only environmental, but ultimately affects business’s bottom line. The increasingly complex analysis done by companies, as well as now common features such as real-time access, technology-intensive collaboration tools, and computing, storage, and networking capacity means the current 25% share of corporate IT budgets taken up by data center costs will only climb higher.

The factors driving this increase are a greater number of servers coupled with a growth in the price of electricity beyond that of corporate revenues or other IT costs.  We are beginning to witness a trend of data center costs diverting capital from new product development and squeezing margins.  Intensive users of information such as finance, information services, media, and telecom will have to find effective solutions for the long-haul to remain profitable and competitive.

Efficiency is Key, Preferably to Zero

Israel being such a large center of ICT innovation, products, and services, it contributes to the carbon footprint caused by data centers disproportionately with its size and population.  But will the fruits of Israel’s IT labor fertilize or poison the fields on its environmental and economic horizon?

The good news is that cyber-infrastructure allows for relocation of data facilities to anywhere in the world, so that the ICT industry can greatly reduce its emissions by relocating computing resources to zero-carbon data centers powered either by solar, wind, hydroelectric or geothermal sources.  Or better still, as the McKinsey article notes, “the greenest data center is the one that you don’t have to build,” meaning that efficiency and putting current underused capital to full use will make a significant difference.

There are currently at least 100 zero-carbon data centers around the globe and substantially more expected in the next decade.  Many of these are being built by big ICT companies like Google and Microsoft, and even popping up in ambitious and oil-abundant states.  So far, Israel does not have any initiatives to build a zero-emissions data center.  If it did, the ideal place for it would be, of course, in the white hot Negev, where it could be built underground or cooled with solar energy.  Israel would finally be able to put its natural resources of sun and open desert to additional good use.  Yet, however enticing the idea of a zero-emissions data center may be, we should look first to more easily adopted efficiency technologies in the meanwhile.

Considering the flurry of IT activity that took places at the start of the millennium, one is tempted to think the same process will repeat itself in the search and application of cleantech solutions to IT’s lingering legacy, specifically in efficiency metrics technologies and delivering electricity from renewable sources to data centers.  Israeli cleantech startups that focus on energy efficiency, such as Vintec Knowledge, LV Power, C.Q.M., and Catom Energy, and alternative energy & fuel technologies would indeed have a natural point of insertion.

Some of the reasons for the delay in building zero emissions data center are underlying differences between the IT and clean tech sectors.  In IT, for example, there is a reasonably high incentive to be the first to adopt, due to low entry barriers and rapid turnover of technology.  In cleantech, potential adopters are wary, and want to see proof of success somewhere else first before making large capital investments. With plug and play technologies, this wariness is reduced, and provides the bridge between a do-nothing present and an anticipated-but-uncertain future.

As more and more businesses and entire sectors worldwide start to feel the energy-to-margin pinch, Israel can once again become an innovation leader by providing cleantech solutions. Through new applications, common sense solutions, and especially integration of cleantech with software and communications, businesses can be reinvigorated and sent on the green path to economic growth.

Event organizer CleanIsrael put together a solid line-up of panelists and company showcases, with a decidedly positive spin on where the cleantech industry is headed amidst the global economic crunch.
Several of the brightest cleantech companies coming out of Israel presented themselves during the showcase sessions, capably moderated by TN Ventures founder Tamar Naor.  You can find a short recap of the presentations below:

BPT: Nanofiltration for industrial wastewater

Operating since 2000 and established by Moti Perry (Nitron-Chemtec, Ltd.), the company is an innovator in the nanofiltration market, the fastest growing segment of the membrane industry.  Its two products, NanoPro and HMT (Hybrid Membrane Technology), could offer industry major savings in treating organic, acid, and mineral wastewater.  HMT’s operating costs were cited at $10/m³ compared with existing incinerator or oxidation costs of between $150-300/m³.

So far, BPT has managed to raise $5.6M after its second round of A Round funding.

CellEra: Platinum-free fuel cells

CellEra is a product company pursuing opportunities in the $15.5B incumbent market for fuel cells.  Its platinum-free, membrane based fuel cell technology is disruptive, and CEO Ziv Gottesfeld does not shy away from stating their mission of displacing industrial batteries and IC engine generators in the 1-100kW range.
With its recent milestone of an order from India’s Telco, valued at $60-$70M, the company hopes it can convince others to turn away from expensive platinum membranes  and adopt its non-acidic and reusable membrane components for fuel cells.

CheckLight: Detecting water contaminants using luminescent bacteria

Bringing a dazzling new tool to the sophisticated early warning system game, the company’s AquaVerity product of bioluminescence-based monitoring could easily become a global industry standard.  Relying on rapid visual comparison of collected water samples, it requires minimal training to monitor for natural contaminants and possible terror attacks on the water supply.

CEO Eyal Mor noted  the company is currently targeting 18 countries, with a market potential of $1.5B, primarily of global water utilities and related water safety organizations.  CheckLight was recruited by the Chinese Ministry for Environmental Protection to provide kits for its mobile emergency response vehicles, following the devastating Sichuan earthquake.  The company received an undisclosed investment from Whitewater Group, and has 3 patents pending for its unique contaminant detection method, reagent long-term storage, and continuous monitoring process.

IQWind: Variable mode add-on for turbine efficiency

The revitalized and rapidly growing wind energy sector will benefit from an answer to its technology limitation. IQWind’s innovation recovers lost wind energy for rotors that must turn in a constant RPM by creating a variable mode according to the changing speed of the wind.  The product is a mechanical, efficiency add-on which has promising applications also in the transportation world.

IQWind hopes to show significantly increased performance to exisiting turbine owners and manufacturers, along with extending wind energy frontiers to marginal locations.  Its market possibilities begin with the estimated $100B existing turbine market and to $23B in new turbine deals. Terra Venture Partners has been a major investor in the company so far.

AquaPure: Water treatment through plasma purification

Highlighting again the wealth of Israeli water technology capabilities, CEO Dvir Solnik presented his company’s own water treatment innovation.  Condensing available grid electricity to high voltage, the company’s Hydro Non Thermal Plasma Purification (HNTP) technique can treat water contaminants in a one-stage process, without chemicals or waste.  Having piloted and benchmarked its product in Las Vegas and in California with partner Carollo Engineers, AquaPure is slated to start direct sales in 2009.

Coriolis: Multi-rotor system for distributed wind energy

Joining on as an active player in the paradigm shift of the wind industry, Coriolis has rethought design of the traditional harvesting turbines.  Its multi-rotor system features an array of parallel turbines, leaving the scalability in two dimensions rather than three, and thereby leading to lower cost.  Backed by an initial $1.1M investment from Pitango, Coriolis is now exploring its products applications for lower wind classes.

Emefcy: Energy neutral/positive bio-processing of wastewater

Brilliantly capturing of the energy produced as bacteria break down organic materials, the company’s Megawatter system closes the waste-energy circle.  Industrial clients would be able to become producers of electricity, rather than only consumers.  The company estimates a 30% ROI coupled with 60% energy saving and 10% carbon credit.

Having received its seed funding in Nov 2007 from Israel Cleantech Ventures, Emefcy currently has a beta site with Teva.  Eytan Levy, CEO of Emefcy and Venture Partner in Israel Cleantech Ventures, quoted a potential market size of $10B, seeing their role primarily as a process package provider

Lextran: Combined removal of SOx, NOx, Hg for coal fired plants

Oriented towards the often overlooked air quality industry, this company presented a clean air technology  technique of 3 in 1 combined removal of greenhouse gases for coal based power plants.  This simultaneous removal would present a cost effective alternative to one by one removal, relying on wet scrubbers and liquid reagents.  VP Arie Manor noted its simple installation, small footprint, and the fact that it exceeds all regulation requirements for coal-fired plants are major selling points for heavy industry.  Lextran currently has a demonstration plant active in Romania.

Di.S.P.: Concentrated solar power for heat and energy

Using advanced PV cells and reporting a transformation rate of 75% to combined heat and power, Di.S.P. is putting solar power to dual use.  Compared to flat panel systems, its sun tracking PV cells would translate to high efficiency heat and power for the target customers in commercial building and industry.  The company currently has 1 patent pending and two others under submission.

CRE: Converting biogas into biomethane for clean fuel

In another wonderful example of channeling waste into energy, CRE has developed an extraction technique which captures 97% of methane from biogas, compared with 85% in competing capture methods.  Using less energy input, with no hazardous waste and no pre-treatment required, the company hopes to start commercialization in 2009.  A long-term supply guarantee and price stability are hard to beat in this market, or any for that matter.  CRE’s timeframe for projects in Israel is in February 2009.

PML: Particle monitoring of water contaminants

Offering an in-process, online monitoring of water contaminants that can discriminate between particle groups down to sub-micron size, PML puts its Technion association to good use.  A Structured non-Gaussian Dark Beam approximately the size of a microwave scans the water sample flow to manage and monitor water contamination in real time.  Bacteria, viruses, parasites, and micro-particles can be detected and discriminated, which no other system can do at present.

Financed with funds from Mekorot and the State of Israel, the company expects its first market launch by 2009.  It is seeking an additional $4M for commercialization.

With the global VC available for cleantech hovering at $8B, expected to double by 2011, can we expect Israeli cleantech companies to bloom like mushrooms after the rain, as they did during the IT bubble?

Glen Schwaber of Israel Cleantech Ventures noted that, although we can expect many crossover opportunities from Israel’s IT excellence, the apparent critical mass reached in the cleantech industry has so far not translated to investors migration to Israel in a big way.  In 2005, Israel had no VC funds dedicated to cleantech; currently, Israel has only 3 major VC funds dedicated exclusively to cleantech, with about 600 companies in the ICV database.

Nevertheless, Schwaber reminds us that the fundamental drivers of innovation in cleantech have not changed in the past few months, and are not likely to change anytime soon.  These will continue to push policy, innovation, and investment in Israeli cleantech over the coming years.

The date of the 2009 GreenEconomy Conference has not yet been revealed.  We shall see whether Schwaber’s analysis brings tangible results by then.