CleanTech OC Daily - 11/20/12

FirmGreen CEO to Ex-Im Bank Advisory Committee
Steve Wilburn, CEO of Newport Beach-based renewable energy provider FirmGreen Inc., has been appointed to the advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. FirmGreen developed a technology that extracts methane gas from landfills, cleans it and converts it into clean biomethane gas.

Meet the next generation of air energy storage players

Compressed air energy storage is a technology being worked on and improved by a number of start-ups. The technology sucks up air, compresses it on demand, and stores it in tanks or underground caverns. When power is needed, the air is released. Additionally, the technology could also enable inexpensive grid storage, eliminating the need to add clean power to the grid.

Opower, the big data energy player to beat
Energy software startup Opower is now processing data from more than 50 million homes over the last five years. In doing so, the company says it will be able to save 2 terawatt hours of energy by the end of 2012 - equivalent to 200,000 average U.S. homes of a year or $200 million in energy cost savings.