09 September 2008

This report profiles some of the UK’s best new companies in the clean tech industry. If nothing else, I hope it illustrates that some of the ideas and business models are simply inspiring. I challenge you not to find the same in at least one of the companies we have included.

It’s been fascinating to see Greenbang grow from a blog written from my bedroom/office last year, to where it is today, attracting 80,000 readers a month to the website written by a team of five journalists.

On a daily basis, Greenbang follows innovation, sustainable business and clean technology stories that might contain the odd answer to some of the problems we face today.

But for this report, we wanted to dig deeper and take a snap shot of how the UK stands up in the global market of clean tech. We also wanted to find UK innovators’ views on the industry and discover how they see humankind moving away from a dependency on oil.

Unfortunately, we also found some of these companies look likely to move abroad with their talents because the UK investment environment is failing to cater for clean tech companies, which say they can easily find the money overseas.

I hope this report can help to change that.

Dan Ilett
Editor-in-Chief
Greenbang

G24 Innovations

Founder/Chief Executive: Robert M. Hertzberg, Co-founder and Chairman; Edward J. Stevenson, Co-founder and CEO
Founding date: September 2006
Number of employees: 60
Turnover: pre-revenue
Website: www.g24i.com (see also www.renewablecapital.com)
Investment: $20m Morgan Stanley; $30m from the 4RAE fund; $60m from Founders

G24 Innovations (G24i) makes next-generation dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells as an alternative to traditional, and costly, silicon solar cells. G24i's solar cells try to mimic the process of photosynthesis. The cells are lightweight, durable and able to convert light into electricity even in dim indoor conditions, which makes them ideal for powering mobile electronic devices.

The Greenbang Barometer

We've heard a lot from G24i this year. The company is preparing a range of solar cell products for the market, from mobile phone chargers capable of generating 20 minutes of charge for every hour of sun - handy for countries where a lot of users are off the grid but not
short on sunlight - to business-grade pay-as-you-charge kiosks.

Renewable energy is already proving popular with telecoms companies (for their carrier equipment) and a lot of work is going into renewable energy for the devices themselves - G24i has rather cleverly gone after both ends of the market.

The founders have risked $60 million of their own capital to back the project - always a good sign, and they're also of the view that subsidized businesses are not sustainable. G24i's key objective is to produce low cost, easy to use products that compete with pricey battery
power rather than the electrical grid. Developing countries, where electricity may not be guaranteed, is a clear market opportunity.

Focusing on the business fundamentals doesn’t mean they have forgotten their values. G24i is committed to being a truly green company – earlier this year they were granted planning permission for a 2.5MW wind turbine, which will be installed in their car park. Combined with their onsite vegetable garden which supplies food to their free canteen for employees - they really are committed to “doing well by doing good.”