Point of View – by Mia Javier

Water footprinting is taking off but for today, there are still limitations, according to the Cleantech Group’s Mia Javier.

The measurement of carbon footprinting has changed the game for industrial users of energy. Now, water footprinting is poised to do the same for many of those same players.

A water footprint is an indicator of water use that considers the amount of direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The development of a standard methodology for calculating such a footprint aims to enable the sustainable management of water – a critical, at-risk resource.

SABMiller and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are two entities emerging as pioneers in water footprinting. The two organizations jointly published a case study of the UK-based beverage giant’s identified water risk exposure in the beer brewing value chain.

The study revealed that the vast majority of the water footprint of one liter of beer is used in the agricultural cultivation phase, which then varied widely by differing country climates and whether the crops relied on irrigation or rainfall. Operations in the Czech Republic yielded a water footprint 244 percent greater than the same unit of product in South Africa – indeed very different results to produce the same product.

To help analyze and determine next steps from the results, SABMiller held workshops in each country, calling upon local stakeholders to both identify risks and develop localized action plans to mitigate such risks. In fact, the company utilized similar stakeholder engagement workshops in cities around the world as a means to determine corporate responsibility criteria around water.

While SABMiller’s water footprint findings in the Czech Republic and South Africa highlight the various complications of water use and risk exposure in geographically dispersed operations, several business implications as a result of the water footprint methodology and otherwise remain unclear:

• Cost associated with water footprint
• Cost associated with of wastewater discharge for both agricultural inputs and beer production
• Feasibility of beverage industry operations in water scarce regions

Ultimately, the most valuable step towards sustainable water management is water accounting. Depending on the product, there are a number of inputs, geographies and processes that affect the calculation of a water footprint. That said, it is not yet clear what actions, for example, farmers, independent bottlers or corporate industry players themselves should take when a water footprint does not tie directly into cost.

To the point, how, if at all, does this impact the incentive structure for suppliers to adhere to corporate strategy around water? Are there winners and losers in this game? It’s too soon to tell.

Furthermore, increasingly, institutional investors are placing pressure on corporations to disclose water risk in required, not voluntary reports like the annual 10-K in addition to sustainability reports. Without the financial context of water, it is difficult to assess overall performance.

To the second point above, the water footprint calculations in the SABMiller case studies did not account for downstream water or wastewater discharge. Between the increased regulation around water contaminants and costs associated with effluent (on both the operator side and wastewater treatment facilities), there would appear to be tremendous opportunity for technology solutions that make financial and environmental sense.

Finally, and what seems to be the most obvious question raised from the varying results of the water footprint case studies in South Africa and the Czech Republic: Does it make sense for the beverage industry or any heavy-water use industries for that matter to locate operations in water scarce regions? I’m inclined to answer: no.

Perhaps this takes corporate responsibility to a whole new level but maybe water footprinting will illustrate to consumers and industry alike an entirely unsustainable industrial agriculture model. It remains to be seen how much further one can innovate large-scale irrigation in a sustainable manner.

All that said, there are efficiency opportunities at the production level and downstream re-use stage.

And finally, in addition to water footprinting, the interplay between water and energy along the value chain will come to surface as an important problem statement for technologies to address.

[Cross posted on Cleantech.com]

San Francisco-based CSRware is one of 35 new companies the Cleantech Group spotted in the past week looking to raise money. Details in Pitch o’ the Week.

A California startup is working with enterprises to collect the necessary data embedded in their operations and supply chain that enables resource management of energy, water, waste and carbon emissions.

In October, the company, San Francisco-based CSRware, partnered with Cisco Systems(Nasdaq:CSCO) to successfully integrate power use data with CSRware’s software platform, enabling energy analytics for Cisco’s EnergyWise products (see Cisco chases billion-dollar smart grid dreams).

CSRware said it has successfully centralized power usage data on all Cisco network-connected devices and currently powers Bloomberg’s sustainability index with its on-demand software.

Founder and CEO Karen Alonardo told the Cleantech Group CSRware has developed and released into the market a sustainability software product that enables a holistic resource accounting and management system targeted at mid-sized enterprises. The technology, according to Alonardo, assists organizations in better understanding, accounting for, and reducing their resource costs and environmental impact.

In the short term, Alonardo said the company is targeting the middle market as opposed to Fortune 1000 firms due in large part to the fact that such companies are typically enjoying soaring growth, giving suppliers a chance to grow with them.

To that point, Alonardo said a big part of her company’s technology is the collection of data from these growing enterprises. This also requires working with their suppliers to collect data. It is this data from which CSRware develops its analytics.

“The company was always intended to focus on energy, water, waste and carbon emissions,” said Alonardo, indicating the company’s resource accounting management system ties in to cost.

For example, Alonardo pointed out, “The company looks at waste in terms of poundage of waste diverted from landfills.”

In this way, CSRware clients are urged to work with their vendors to capture such data. Likewise, the company works with clients to develop analytics around better water management.

CSRware competitors include Hara, Carbon Networks and Enviance, but according to Alonardo, CSRware’s key differentiator is its holistic approach (see Kleiner Perkins hatches stealthy software startup Hara, Software: the glue that will hold cleantech together and Growing market for carbon software).

“In fact, we’re also a great passer for other partners and cleantech solutions,” said Alonardo, referring to working with clients that, to date, include Juniper Networks, VMware and Bloomberg.

“We’ve worked with clients on better ways to utilize cooling technologies,” said Alonardo, indicating that her company often recommends technologies that utilize less water or energy. The company, according to Alonardo, constantly asks its clients how they report on their use of resources and works with them to develop meaningful analytics.

CSRware clients pay a monthly subscription for the software as well as a platform set-up fee, Alonardo said. Clients typically sign a two-year contract and are not subject to licensing costs.

CSRware is currently seeking a $3 million Series A round of funding (see AquaMost’s water tech targets cleanup of gas leaks). The 12-employee company founded in 2006 is looking to close on active pipeline deals, release its next generation product, and hire key staff members, Alonardo said. The company has been operating on $350,000 from its founders and a board member.

The company also recently presented to investors at the Cleantech Group’s Cleantech Forum XXVI (see Cleantech innovations beyond energy take center stage).

CSRware is one of 35 potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available as an exclusive benefit forresearch subscribers. Clients can click here to search the database.

Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new companies added to the Cleantech Group’s database this week also looking for funding:

• Toronto, Ontario-based WhalePower is seeking $4.5 million in Series A funding to build its sales and management teams and perform research and development. The company is continuing to develop its patented and field-tested wind turbine design that draws inspiration from a whale’s fins.
• Detroit, Mich.-based PowerPanel is seeking $5 million to tool its factories, certify its products, and intensify business development efforts. The company has developed a production ready photovoltaic (PV) design that it says collects as much heat as a standard thermal collector, while simultaneously cooling the PV cells, thereby making them more efficient.

Seeking capital, partners or customers? Submit to the Cleantech Group’s innovation pipeline.

Browse past pitches here.

[Cross posted on cleantech.com]

California-based startup is one of 35 new companies the Cleantech Group spotted in the past week looking to raise money. Details in the Pitch o’ the week.

Union City, Calif.-based Microvi Biotech has recently completed a nine-month pilot project with an undisclosed California-based customer in the defense industry to tackle the environmentally harmful rocket fuel additive, perchlorate, in groundwater. The installation was successful in eliminating the pollutant, according to the company.

Founded in 2005, Microvi Biotech said it has developed proprietary biotechnologies and engineering designs that utilize natural organisms in the environment to destroy pollutants in water and wastewater without any residual materials or harmful byproducts (see Water innovation beyond desal: the new opportunities?). In the short term, the company is targeting industrial markets including oil and gas, food and beverage, mining, and groundwater pollution control with its technology.

“The United States produces 39 million pounds of nitrate every year from industries like agriculture and food,” Microvi Biotech’s CEO and founder Fatemeh Shirazi told the Cleantech Group. Nitrogenous compound pollutants, Shirazi said, are a big problem.

“Our solution starts with billions of organisms enclosed within a permeable membrane that could keep for a very long time,” Shirazi said.

The organisms act like “biological factories”—with polluted water entering them and then leaving completely clean of bacteria or other contaminants.

The technology was originally developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Since, the company has received three patents in the United States, Australia, and Canada with a few more filed, but pending approval.

“Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the United States spent a lot of money on wastewater treatment facilities not realizing that they will need to be upgraded,” Shirazi said.

The conventional technologies utilized in these facilities, according to Shirazi, produce substantial amounts of sludge and hazardous waste that cannot remove recalcitrant pollutants cost-effectively.

According to Shirazi, the United States spends “$4.3 billion a year just to remove nutrients from water,” indicating that the global water market is valued at $450 billion. Breaking the market down further, Shirazi said the North American market is valued at more than $150 billion annually.

Shirazi said that when applied, Microvi Biotech’s systems translate into significantly lower energy and capital requirements, with an expected 30 percent to 50 percent cost savings.

The 12-employee company is looking to scale the business with significant installations in the United States and abroad.

Microvi Biotech is currently seeking $5 million to $10 million in Series B financing to fund expansion of its business. Shirazi said based on the company’s current customers, Microvi expects to add five larger scale installations.

To date, the company has raised a Series A round for an undisclosed amount from private investors, and was a 2007 winner of the Cleantech Open’s business plan competition (see Does Think’s revival signal cleantech’s recovery? and California Cleantech Open fêtes 2007 winners).

Microvi Biotech is one of 35 potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available as an exclusive benefit forresearch subscribers. Clients can click here to search the database.

Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new companies added to the Cleantech Group’s database this week also looking for funding:

• Plainview, N.Y.-based PureSafe Water Systems is seeking $2.5 million in equity and warrants. The company is developing a mobile water purification unit for use in disaster relief efforts.
• San Francisco-based Thorenco is seeking $20 million to support a computational modeling program at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The company is developing a thorium reactor it hopes will be smaller, safer, and cleaner than existing nuclear reactors.

Seeking capital, partners or customers? Submit to the Cleantech Group’s innovation pipeline.

Browse past pitches here.