Time Magazine Gives Austin the Clean Tech Crown

I spent a good part of my childhood living in New Mexico. My parents use to make fun of how obnoxious the neighboring Texans were, who visited nearby ski resorts every year. My Dad, in particular, complained about the loud Texans, skiing down the ski slopes in their colorful, brand-spanking new oufits, singing their Texas songs, all the while, bailing down the slopes (his theory was they can't ski). I'm not sure why it drove him so crazy to see...

Water is the Petroleum of the 21st Century

This point stuck out to me more than most others at the Austin Clean Energy Venture Summit yesterday, though there were plenty of progressive thoughts at the event, which connects early stage companies with funding sources. Water replacing petroleum as the key resource for the next 100 years makes a lot of sense, which an executive from SecureWaters explained followed by the president of Omni Water Solutions. Besides the fact that it is required for just about everything and worldwide...

EPA Backs Us Out of the Trash Can

Yesterday in Austin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made an announcement with the help of Michael Dell and the CEO of Sprint that it plans to roll out an aggressive electronics recycling program, which I was happy to read about. Dell and Sprint were the first members of the technology industry to volunteer to take part in the program. The U.S. is by far the largest consumer of electronic gadgets, devices and technology, and we're all craving the latest and...

It's Earth Day: Conserve Instead of Consume

Today is Earth Day and I'm happy to say we're busy promoting our clean tech clients that have developed technologies that will ultimately make the world a better place, such as CleanFUEL USA, Echelon, Freescale Semiconductor, Scuderi Group and Skyonic . Though as important as green technologies are in this world, I think we all sometimes forget how much power the individual has on the power grid. Yesterday, I attended an energy and governement policy luncheon held by KUT Radio...

Frightening Publicist Jobs

Maybe it's the recent full moon. Or the last week before Halloween. But things have been pretty scary for some communications people or publicists recently. Forget about things that go bump in the night. Imagine how scary it would be to represent these people: Rhode Island Gubernatorial candidate, Frank Caprio, who decided to publicly attack a standing president who did not endorse him out of loyalty to his independent opponent who had backed Obama over McCain: "He can take his...

A discussion of the clean tech market in New England

The 5th Conference on Clean Energy will be held in Boston next week, on November 12 & 13. Once again, LP&P's clean energy practice, which I co-lead, has partnered with the Conference on communications. The conference, sponsored by the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition, focuses on the hot topics driving clean energy innovation and growth in New England. There will be panels featuring representatives of the region's clean energy companies and venture capital firms. Additionally, forty...

Eating Your Own Dog Food - The Energy Dept. Forgets Basic PR Lesson

I think it's fair to say that most companies or organizations at some point have experienced disconnect between what they sell and how they operate - it can be challenging to keep the causes aligned. Earlier this week The New York Times reported that The Energy Department has not implemented basic smart meter thermostats into its own buildings, which if installed properly, could power 9,800 homes each year and save the agency $11.5 million in energy costs! I don't know...

Waiting on the Superpowers

Today in Italy, our world leaders are meeting at the G-8 Summit to try to solve the world's major problems, with global warming being one of Obama's core initiatives. I can't imagine how those conversations must be going -- would love to be a fly on the wall -- yet I doubt their posh quarters have flies buzzing about. The developing nations are trying to rise out of poverty and create industries and economies similar to the world powers, yet...

Houston, we don't have a problem here

I couldn't help myself with the NASA reference in the headline, what can I say. NASA might have placed humans on the moon, yet now we're busy developing technology to clean up our own planet. Crazy how times have changed. I'm sitting in the press room of the George R. Brown Convention Center looking out over the Houston skyline after spending a day talking to companies at the Clean Technology Conference 2009. My first impression after arriving yesterday was that...

IBM Jumps into the Water

In January, I was sifting through clean tech press coverage for our quarterly meeting with the Austin Clean Energy Council and I couldn't help but be amazed by the frenzy of optimism (otherwise known as market hype) in the business press related to smart grid technologies. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for new, exciting markets with growth potential. That is probably why I'm in the PR technology profession. Back to my point, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Wired, The New York...