cleantech.com

The Cleantech Group, founders of the cleantech sector and providers of leading global market research, events and advisory services for the cleantech ecosystem, along with Deloitte, which provides audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services to cleantech companies, today released preliminary 1Q 2010 results for clean technology venture investments in North America, Europe, China and India, totaling $1.9 billion across 180 companies.

Cleantech venture investment was up 29% from the previous quarter and up 83% from the same period a year ago. The number of deals recorded in 1Q 2010 represents a new record total, edging ahead of the previous high set in 4Q09 (165 deals).

“The bounce back in venture investment from lows in early 2009 has continued, with the first three months of 2010 representing the strongest start to a year we have ever recorded,” said Sheeraz Haji, President of Cleantech Group. “Key to the growth has been increasing interest in a broader range of cleantech themes, such as smart mobility and resource efficiency, which are now taking over from the historically dominant renewable energy sector.”

Growth in cleantech venture investment was matched by new investment from utilities and corporations. Total capacity additions announced by utilities increased in 1Q10* compared to 4Q09, as government incentives spurred spending on the part of companies. In the U.S., Wind and Solar PV remained the most attractive energy sources for utilities due to extended tax credits, while utilities also focused on smart grid projects boosted by significant federal grants, underscored by Florida Power & Light Company, Duke Energy and CenterPoint Energy each receiving $200 million grants from the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the corporate space, direct investments announced during 1Q10* increased by 140 percent quarter over quarter compared to 4Q09, primarily by energy and consumer and industrial products companies. Significant investments in biomass and wind projects were announced by Royal Dutch Shell, General Motors and Valero Energy. Solar PV, Wind and Smart Grid continue to be attractive sectors for top utilities and corporations looking to invest in clean technologies.

“Major utilities are focusing on increasing direct investment in alternative energy generation and smart grid projects due to favorable government incentives and improved market conditions as they work to reduce their carbon exposure and comply with renewable portfolio standards,” said Scott Smith, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP and clean tech leader in the United States. “From a corporate perspective, companies continue to invest and integrate cleantech to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in order to reduce costs, mitigate energy price volatility risk, and comply with existing and pending regulations around carbon and climate change risk disclosure.”

* preliminary 1Q10 data through 3/17/10

Photo by Ken Hall of Red Baron Antiques

The oldest original “flying car” – built in 1935 and the brainchild of Frank Skroback, a retired industrial technician and electrician from Syracuse, N.Y. – soared to $65,175 at a massive weekend auction held Mar. 13-14 by Red Baron, the Southeast’s premier auction house. The craft was meant to be flown from house to house, using roads as runways.

The flying car was one of the top lots in a weekend event that saw hundreds of wild and wonderful rarities cross the block for the multitude of bidders who poured in from around the world. A lavish preview party was held the evening before, in Red Baron’s landmark gallery facility, at 6450 Roswell Road in Atlanta. It featured a feast, fine wine and live entertainment.

The following day, the auction’s remarkable offerings came up for bid. These included a vast array of fine architectural antiques (to include a large selection of bars and mantels), vintage lighting, rare and classic vehicles, garden embellishments, fine jewelry and many other items.

“The range of pricing was about as wide and diverse as the list of lot categories,”

Real Politics, picasaweb.google.com

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this afternoon after President Barack Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act into law.

“Health insurance reform represents remarkable progress for the American people. Today, with President Obama’s signature, health care becomes more affordable for the middle class, we begin closing the prescription drug donut hole, and we demand accountability from the insurance industry.

“Health insurance reform is fiscally responsible for the budgets of America’s families and the federal budget. It strengthens Medicare and improves benefits for our seniors. It will create millions of jobs and strengthen our economic security by keeping America competitive and igniting innovation and entrepreneurship.

“This legislation is about expanding opportunity for millions of Americans, and essential to opportunity is higher education. This legislation contains the largest investment in college aid in our nation’s history by lowering the cost of student loans, expanding Pell Grants, and investing in community colleges and the institutions that traditionally have served minorities. It is fiscally responsible, ending years of government subsidies to banks, making available $68 billion for college loans and deficit reduction.

“I salute the efforts of the Members of Congress, particularly Chairman George Miller and many of our newer Members, who led the charge for reform, and President Obama, whose visionary leadership made this progress possible.”

SOURCE: Office of the Speaker of the House

AMagill, flickr.com

Motorola, Inc. today announced that together with Franwell, Inc., a supply chain solution integrator, it has deployed a radio frequency identification solution at H&M Bay’s cross-docking distribution center in Federalsburg, Maryland.

Together, the companies are improving H&M Bay’s frozen food transportation system to ensure its customers’ packaged goods are distributed on time and within the industry’s proper temperature controls.

“H&M Bay prides itself on its ability to deliver efficient and quality service to customers,” said John Walker, software development manager, H&M Bay. “In order to speed up freight transfers, guarantee product freshness and reduce labor costs, we have joined forces with Motorola and Franwell to improve our delivery and inventory processes to help us meet our overall business objectives – to deliver quality and timely delivery service. With a unique integration of technologies, H&M Bay has realized faster truck loads and reloads, and a 25 percent reduction in cross-docking labor, allowing our workers to concentrate more on serving our customers and less on inefficient duties.”

Time is of the essence in a temperature controlled environment. Such is the case for H&M Bay, a premier freight mover in the less-than-truckload (LTL) frozen and refrigerated commodities market. In this industry, cold storage freight transfers must be stored and shipped in environments that meet stringent industry guidelines and government mandates.

In an effort to improve the company’s operational efficiencies and guarantee consistent temperature controls, H&M Bay turned to Motorola and Franwell, Inc. for an RFID hardware and software solution that would locate and record pallet information in real time – giving operators an instantaneous read of inventory as it enters, moves through and leaves the distribution facility.

“H&M Bay approached us with a desire to develop a solution that would allow it to track inventory movement throughout its facility without impeding the flow of its workforce,” said Terri-Anne Crawford, vice president and chief operating officer, Franwell. “By deploying an RFID solution that tracks freight at the pallet level and identifies each warehouse storage location, together with the right mix of mobile devices, we were definitely able to deliver to this objective.”

The initial H&M Bay deployment consists of RFID tags, which are placed on each warehouse storage location along with each pallet to facilitate product control and automate the tracking of inventory in the distribution center’s cooler and freezer storage rooms. As Motorola RD5000 mobile RFID readers detect tagged pallets and tagged storage locations, a message is automatically sent to H&M Bay’s automated inventory system to seamlessly record when a pallet has been removed from its location and where it has been placed.

For greater employee mobility, H&M Bay leverages Motorola MC9090-G RFID handheld mobile computers to commission location tags and make initial assignments to the location. Each forklift truck in the facility is also outfitted with a Motorola RD5000 mobile RFID reader and a Motorola VC5090 vehicle-mounted mobile computer for greater ease-of-use while on the forklift, on the ground and anywhere throughout the warehouse. Similarly, Motorola RFID industrial-class XR series readers are used on the cooler and freezer doors to detect pallet tags as they enter or exit the cold storage facilities.

“We believe in combining best practices to help our customers achieve their goals and improve business productivity with our cold chain solutions,” said Mike Maris, senior director of transportation, distribution and logistics, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “Motorola works to ensure each solution is tailored to meet everyday business objectives, helping LTL customers streamline supply chain efficiencies and improve employee effectiveness, productivity and customer service.”

lucasoil.com

Lucas Oil, the principal shareholder in MAVTV, announced today an initial $15 million national branding campaign for MAVTV.  The campaign will include local media buys, prominent brand positioning within Lucas Oil stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, grass roots marketing at over 400 racing events throughout the country, sponsored race teams in Lucas Oil’s Off Road Racing Series, Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series, Lucas Oil Pro Pulling events and two teams in the extremely popular NHRA.

In addition, MAVTV branding will be featured on all Lucas Oil products which are sold in over 20,000 retail locations throughout the United States.

Since recently becoming the principal shareholder in MAVTV, Lucas Oil has committed vast resources to the network.   “We are committed to making MAVTV a destination for today’s male viewer”, said Forrest Lucas.  “This is just the beginning of our plan to make this network competitive on a national scale with other male targeted networks.”

MAVTV recently launched a multi-million dollar on air rebranding of the network. In addition, continuing to distinguish itself as the destination channel for today’s male viewer, MAVTV is adding 15 original series this year with more on the way.

“2010 will be a transformative year for MAVTV.  We started the year off by upgrading our on air look and putting into production new original series that will appeal to today’s male viewer,” said Steve Smith, President/COO.  “We are committed to creating ‘water cooler’ content for the network and have some exciting shows in production that will resonate with our demographic.”