CleanTech OC Daily - 12/27/12

The Top Ten LED Lighting Developments of 2012
2012 held a number of developments in the lighting space thanks to the ever-growing LED technology. GTM highlights ten LED developments in 2012:

1.      100-watt incandescent bulb is phased out

2.      50th anniversary of the invention of the modern LED

3.      Osram announces major progress on silicon substrates

4.      Soraa reveals a gallium nitride (GaN) substrate LED

5.      NXP and Greenwave partner to release the IPv6-controllable light bulb, a milestone in networked smart lighting.

6.      Cree releases the most efficient production LED yet, the XM-L2, at 186 lumens per watt.

7.      3M announces the Advanced Light Bulb to be sold by Walmart.

8.      Ikea announces that it will phase out all non-LED lighting products and store lighting by 2016.

9.      China turns to U.S. suppliers in an official backlash against domestic LED streetlight quality problems

10.   The Osram non-IPO twists in the euro wind.

 

Cleantech Investing: 2013 Predictions

Following up on the GTM post from yesterday, here are their predictions for cleantech investing in 2013:

 

1. U.S. cleantech deal counts will be flat in 2013 (within 10% plus or minus) of 2012 levels, and dollar amounts will be down.

2. Agriculture-related investments will be the next "new new thing" area for venture investments.

3. There will be a wave of consolidation and shake-out in solar financing.

4. Large corporates will continue to play a vital role in keeping cleantech entrepreneurship vibrant -- but there will be a shift from oil / chemicals to consumer products, IT and industrial equipment/controls strategics, in terms of level of activity.

5. There will be no significant progress on US federal energy policy.

6. 2013 will be the year journalists (and thus everyone else) figures out that US cleantech entrepreneurship has become driven as much by family offices and other non-VCs as by VCs themselves.

7. Large-format (e.g., stationary) energy storage will be the next sector to see multiple high-profile flameouts.

8. At least two well-known cleantech-focused venture capital firms will publicly shut their doors or at least acknowledge they won't be raising any future funds.

9. Natural gas prices in the US will spike at least 50% at some point during the year.

Apple Designs A Wind Energy Storage Scheme
It appears that Apple has plans to build a wind energy storage system. According to Apple Insider, Apple submitted an application back in June of 2011 to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. The application outlined a system intended to store the energy produced by wind turbines. It has been widely reported that Apple has been looking for ways to power its data centers with alternative energy.