Point of View – by Mia Javier

[cross posted on blog.cleantech.com]

If you drive a car, you are likely unaware of the processes various parts have endured. Door lock mechanisms and tie-down hooks on truck beds – to name a few examples – are covered with anti-corrosive coating to ensure product lifetime.

The manufacturing process associated with coating technologies, however, is so toxic that China and the European Union have implemented new regulations that prohibit traditional technologies including plating, zinc flake and hot dip galvanized. Such processes produce toxic fumes and hazardous waste by-product.

Cleveland-based, UK incorporated company, Greenkote, has developed a surface metal coating technology that not only replaces but outperforms toxic conventional coating technologies. The company has developed a proprietary process by which the coating product is diffused onto the metal, creating a dry process that eliminates toxic fumes and hazardous waste.

“Not only is the material environmentally friendly, the process is environmentally friendly,” Jim Thomson, the company’s chief financial officer told the Cleantech Group.

The process helps save on costs as well, Thomson told us, since the elimination of hazardous waste mitigates the need for cleanup management costs.

According to Thompson, Greenkote aims to license their technology to the component manufacturers or ‘Tier 1s’ that directly produce parts of original equipment manufacturers like VW Audi, Ford or Daimler.

“OEMs have a production part approval process where Tier 1 component manufacturers must work with companies like us on new coating specifications for the OEMs,” said Thomson.

It is in these coating specifications that OEMs aim to comply with regulation, according to Thomson.

According to Thomson, the largest user of their technology is VW Audi. Daimler has also accepted their technology and is in the process of putting in a parts order for Greenkote, Thomson told us.

While the company is breaking into the automobile industry, the company has its roots in construction parts, Thomson told us.

“In construction, there are a lot of fasteners in bridges and other construction structures,” Thomson said.

“We have done various bridges in the UK, projects in the Heathrow airport as well as a cricket stadium,” Thomson said.

Today, the company is raising £16 million to break into the North American, European and Asian automobile industries. The funding will be used to fund small pilot lines until the technology can be licensed to the Tier 1s, according to Thomson.

2009 company revenue was $7 million, according to Thomson and he expects that number to grow to $30 million in four years.

[cross posted on blog.cleantech.com]

Water systems typically espouse thoughts of boring, archaic, underground concrete and steel structures that mean little so long as clean water pours out the tap.

Indeed, most tax payers find the thought of water infrastructure investments puzzling when water prices are relatively low and proof of bad pipes are invisible (at least above ground).

But getting smart about water has suddenly become interesting.

As a global community, we know relatively little about a resource we rely so heavily upon. Governments are increasingly aware of their global water risk exposure and have engaged in various studies to get a grip on their water data. Just this week:

• The European Union (EU) released its 2009 follow-up report on water scarcity and droughts in the EU.
• The United States Geological Survey released a study on contaminants in groundwaterused for public supply.
• Sri Lanka released conference proceedings from its National Conference on Water, Food Security and Climate Change outlining various papers collecting water data.

The above illustrates how our water scarce world is in critical need of the deliberate collection and analysis of water. While the collection of some data sets will require significant investment (think data on everything from ocean temperature to air quality), there is plenty of existing data awaiting collection and analysis like SCADA, which stands for supervisory control and data acquisition.

While governments are getting a clue, so too is industry. To be sure, public-private partnerships will be critical in advancing sustainable, data driven smart water systems.

IBM, for example, is leading the charge with such projects including one with the Marine Institute in Galway Bay to collect data from a variety of sources aimed at informing a number of industries. The data collection is as impressive as it ambitious.

The project collects weather, water wave, tidal current and even seal floor mapping and topography data.

And according to Peter Williams, CTO of IBM’s Big Green Innovations, while IBM is developing the monitoring and control side of Smart Water, the company seeks partnerships with meters and sensor developers as well as companies addressing the networking and communications component.

SAP also offers enterprise level packages of software for water resource management and boasts 950+ customers globally.  While IBM competes with SAP in some areas, according to Williams, IBM also makes money implementing SAP.

The venture community is also paying attention smart water technologies including real-time water quality monitoring, leak detection technology, and SCADA driven software applications aimed at optimizing the water grid.

The technology geek and data wonk have certainly made this area of water sexy.

There is tremendous opportunity in this space – stay tuned for more!