The twenty-five most innovative green start-ups
Opportunity Green is looking for the rising stars; the innovative enterprises that are redefining our future and proving that business is a force for change.
This open business competition will recognize the most promising start-ups committed to building a new green economy and will highlight initiatives in clean technology, product design, mobility, social innovation, water and resource conservation, food systems, community development and more.
All OG 25 finalists will be showcased and win a free pass to attend the Opportunity Green Business Conference 2009 at UCLA, November 7-8.
The finalists will compete on stage for a chance to be named Opportunity Green's Top Start-up of 2009.
All innovative start-ups that provide environmentally friendly or clean technology products or services are eligible to win.
OG 25 Selections
Balqon Corporation designs, develops and distributes advanced transportation solution for industrial and commercial applications. We work with our global manufacturing partners to develop innovative product solutions to address material handling and transportation needs of our customers worldwide.
BIXI is Montréal's new public bike system. It's the bike that's really an alternative means of urban transport. Accessible to everyone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, three seasons of the year, from May to November.
BottleStone is a beautiful, new green surface material made of 80% post-consumer recycled glass. BottleStone provides a green alternative to stone slabs offering the same warm aesthetics of natural stone materials.
Bottlestone also meets or exceeds all of the other heat, scratch and stain resistant characteristics of stone slabs, not to mention a wonderful array of colors. BottleStone is everything you want for an internal or external stone surface plus it's green and eligible for LEED* credits - something you just can't get from natural stone and many other surfaces.
The glass waste we use is direct from post-consumer (glass bottles), and is generated in Northern California and requires no further processing before its use in BottleStone. A beautiful product from recycled waste glass. Learn more about this truly innovative green building material.
My mission is to inform people, young and old, of the benefits of eating raw foods. My chips are made from vegetables grown by local farmers in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Blended with sprouted flax seeds, buckwheat groats, and spices, my chips are rich in protein and enzymes. The result is a wholesome chip that is both both a delicious and complete food.
HOW ARE THEY MADE?
It turns out there is a way to put crunch into raw food without sacrificing nutrition. Brad's Raw Chips are dehydrated under 105 degrees to preserve all nutrients that keep you energized. This means you no longer have to feel guilty about indulging in your favorite snack! Experience a variety of flavors such as beet, greens, red bell pepper, broccoli, corn, and kale.
Summary:
Brad's Raw Chips is a company dedicated to making eating chips healthy and enjoyable. Made from vegetables grown by local farmers in Bucks County Pennsylvania, Brad's Raw Chips are dehydrated under 105 degrees to preserve all nutrients found in raw foods!
Our Process
The BTTR Ventures team has created a unique, closed loop production model that converts one of the largest waste streams in America - the tons of coffee ground waste generated daily - into a valuable, nutritious product: gourmet, specialty mushrooms. The entire operation is based upon a uniquely local model that collects local waste, converts it into mushrooms in a local warehouse space, employs local community members, and then offers the nutritious food back to local consumers through grocery outlets, restaurants, and farmers' markets. BTTR Ventures then not only donates a percentage of its profits back to the local community which supports them, but also uses its own waste, the post-mushroom coffee grounds, and turns it into premium, nutrient-rich compost for local farms - currently being donated to City Slicker Farms.
The BTTR Ventures team is excited to be able to add two more value-add life cycles to what was once considered 'trash., We hope to revolutionize the standards for resource management in our communities.
Summary:
BTTR (pronounced "Better") Ventures has created a unique, closed loop production model that converts local coffee ground waste into gourmet, specialty mushrooms. These mushrooms are then sold to local consumers through grocery outlets, restaurants and farmers markets. Additionally, the used mushroom compost is then donated to City Slicker Farms.
CleanFish is committed to promoting great tasting, sustainably produced, authentic artisan seafood. We believe in a seafood marketplace that values the extraordinary efforts made by producers who are earnest in their pursuit of sustainable practices that deliver to your table fish you can trust.
We believe that fish you can trust begins with people you can trust. We intend to have a positive impact on every person we interact with, or affect. Naturally, we deal only with those producers who earn and keep our trust.
We believe by continually finding ways to improve our business practices we are demonstrating respect for our planet. We believe it is vital for companies to embody an intention to improve the quality of life for current and future generations. We believe doing business in this manner is directly aligned with increasing true value and cultivating market opportunities for our stakeholders. We believe we can affect a positive market movement with producers, investors, and customers who are engaged together toward this goal.
We believe in the ideal of a marketplace that rewards human-scale fisheries where wild fish are harvested responsibly. We believe this demands conscious restraint appropriate from fishermen who know over-harvesting for this year's market will only hurt the viability of fish stocks in the future.
We believe in combining respectful practices in wild catch with the products of responsible harvest of artisans who faithfully attend to the welfare of the fish and the ecosystems on which all are dependent. We believe the manner in which each fish is handled right through harvesting and shipping with profound care and attention delivers to your table a difference you can see and taste.
Eating, for each of us, is an act of participation in Life. We believe it is useful and enjoyable to learn about our food, in order to more fully appreciate all that supports us. CleanFish is our way of learning to appreciate the life we are sharing, to participate creatively in it, and to give something positive back. Please join with us and enjoy fish you can trust.
Summary:
CleanFish seeks to provide consumers with top quality fish that are sustainably farmed and caught. By working with producers who maintain responsible fishing practices, CleanFish looks to spark a return back to healthy oceans and regenerative ecosystems.
Double Helix Tracking Technologies develops affordable, DNA-based solutions to verify the origin of timber and wood products.
Imagine an inexpensive and reliable method to identify wood origin without the need for marking, tagging or complicated documentation.
Our mission is to help customers exclude illegally harvested timber from their supply chains by verifying supplier declarations of origin and detecting fraud. This approach supports international government and industry efforts to eradicate the illegal trade and promote legitimate, sustainable forest management.
Summary:
Double Helix Tracking Technologies develops affordable, DNA-based solutions to verify the origin of timber and wood products. By doing so, they can help customers exclude illegally harvested timber from their supply chains by verifying supplier declarations of origin and detecting fraud.
At Ecovative, we are passionate about sustainability. That's why we're working with nature to replace unsustainable plastics and foams with natural composites. Using innovative new materials and radical new technologies, our products perform at least as well as current state-of-the-art synthetics, but at a lower cost to both you and the environment.
Ecovative: Making truly sustainable products smart and affordable.
Summary:
Ecovative is working to replace unsustainable plastics and foams with natural composites. Using innovative new materials and radical new technologies, Ecovative products perform at least as well as current state-of-the-art synthetics, but at a lower cost to both you and the environment.
EnergyHub is the consumer face of the Smart Grid, helping homeowners reduce energy consumption and save money. EnergyHub produces smart, simple, and cost-effective energy management tools that strengthen the relationship between consumers and utilities and solve the energy problems of today and tomorrow.
Seth Frader-Thompson, CEO
Prior to founding EnergyHub, Seth Frader-Thompson served in several managerial and technical roles at Honeybee Robotics, a New York-based company that builds hardware for NASA's Mars missions and the Department of Defense. During his tenure at Honeybee Robotics, he worked on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, the Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program, and payloads and tools for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) robots. Seth was also the principal investigator for a DARPA research effort to build a miniature laser vision system for search and rescue robots. He has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, where his research focused on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for Ultracold Atom Optics.
Summary:
EnergyHub is the consumer face of the Smart Grid, helping homeowners reduce energy consumption and save money. EnergyHub produces smart, simple, and cost-effective energy management tools that strengthen the relationship between consumers and utilities and solve the energy problems of today and tomorrow.
The pizza box design has remained unchanged for the past thirty years. For your customers, the box is too unwieldy to store uneaten pizza and takes up too much space in the trash can and is totally environmentally unfriendly. For your company, it is an underutilized marketing tool that until now, ignored the time and attention paid to it by customers. With the introduction of our revolutionary new environmentally friendly box manufactured from 100? recycled material, the 'Green Box' (United States Patent 7,051,919), these issues have finally been addressed and overcome!
e.c.o. Incorporated, Environmentally Conscious Organization, Inc., is a design, licensing, manufacturing, sub-contract management and logistics firm dedicated to improving outmoded, outdated and wasteful food packaging. We review standard, run-of-the mill packaging and originate designs that:
# Cost effectively address the shortcomings of the current packaging by providing enhanced, user friendly utility.
# Distinguish our customers from the competition by providing product differentiation and the basis for a new advertising campaign, always taking into consideration the impact our product redesigns will have on the environment as well as current manufacturing costs and materials utilized.
# e.c.o. Incorporated redesigns have been developed to increase market share and profits for our customers.
# e.c.o. Incorporated is also a full service design review firm. Our team will evaluate your current packaging and present more user friendly, utility orientated and environmentally sound recommendations for our customers to increase market share and profits.
Summary:
Green Box is a completely redesigned pizza box that features a top that breaks down into 4 serving plates and a bottom that folds into a storage box that actually fits into a fridge! The Green Box was designed by e.c.o. Incorporated, Environmentally Conscious Organization, Inc., a company dedicated to improving outmoded, outdated, and wasteful food packaging.
Greensulate is a leader in designing, installing and maintaining living green roofs and walls. Their work not only provides staggering environmental benefits in urban settings but also provides beautiful design alternatives to the part of architecture that is generally ignored. Greensulate collaborates on those LEED projects where sustainability is seen as an economic, enviromental and aesthetic opportunity to be seized. In addition to their own original work, Greensulate brings its expertise and extensive network to bear on many projects and studies as consultants. Much pro-bono work is done in educative and training efforts to bring this new and exciting industry to the forefront of the public's conscious. In 2009 alone, Greensute installed over 20K sq feet of green roofs, removing 800 tons of Co2 and removing the equivalent of thousands of cars from the road. Greensulate is making the world greener and cleaner, one roof at a time. They currently focus on projects on the west and east coasts.
We're helping unite man and nutrition (h.u.m.a.n.) by placing premium healthy vending machines across the globe and giving 10% of proceeds back to charitable causes that fight obesity and malnutrition.
Each and every person on the h.u.m.a.n. team believes that what we're doing is changing the world. We do this by:
i) Making healthy eating more convenient than ever
ii) Revamping the large, struggling vending industry
iii) Forging a bond of self-help philanthropy - allowing people to help others by helping themselves
iCeL Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures and installs intelligent energy storage systems. By integrating electronics with energy storage, iCeL Systems can simultaneously store, manage, and distribute energy from multiple sources and loads in the most safe and efficient way possible, as well as be monitored on site or remotely via internet. iCeL Systems is changing the face of how we power our world by providing renewable energy... on demand.
Kopali Organics is a mission-driven company, founded to bring you the most purely delicious, naturally nourishing and healthful food, produced in the most fair, compassionate and sustainable ways possible. We connect small organic farmers with the growing market of shoppers who care where their food comes from and how it is grown.
Levant Power has developed and patented a novel, green technology that can improve a vehicle's fuel economy by harvesting wasted energy in the suspension. Our flagship product, GenShock, is currently being produced for the defense industry. We will be offering our first public products as trucking aftermarket sales, later becoming a standard feature on select vehicle lines.
Novomer is pioneering a family of high-performance green plastics, polymers and other chemicals to meet these needs. With proprietary catalytic technology and a world-class scientific team, Novomer's groundbreaking technology allows carbon dioxide and other renewable materials to be cost-effectively transformed into polymers, plastics and other chemicals for a wide variety of industrial markets.
Powerzoa cube is a smart plug that fits between your appliances and wall outlets. The cubes measure your energy usage and send data to a personalized website where you can schedule appliances to turn on and off automatically, saving electricity, lowering energy costs and helping the environment.
Project FROG makes the most technologically advanced, energy-efficient building systems on the planet. Employing innovative clean technology across the construction spectrum, Project FROG aims to transform the building industry by creating new standards for healthy buildings that significantly reduce energy consumption and materials waste.
RecycleMatch matches waste streams and under valued resources with potential users of the resources, to help create new revenues and savings for the companies participating - while at the same time having a positive impact on the environment. Our goal is to create an industrial ecosystem in which the use of energy and materials are optimized, waste is minimized, and there is an economically viable role for every product of a manufacturing process.
At Regen we create personal and home electronics powered by light. At the heart of our work is the belief that leaping forward toward solar powered electronics should not require stepping back from performance, design, and enjoyment. In addition to making beautiful electronics, our ultimate aim is to make useful, self-powered products accessible to the greatest number of people possible.
We are a solar array modeling service and community determined to help consumers evaluate solar for their home or business and to create greater awareness for solar overall. We think that's possible within a compelling lean-forward environment that's innovative and wholly useful. The economics must make sense for meaningful success. We think we can play a part in that.
SRS Energy develops and manufactures premium solar roofing tiles designed to seamlessly integrate with traditional roofing products. With innovative product development and comprehensive support, SRS Energy empowers roofing manufacturers to brand and sell solar upgrades. The result is a stylish and simple solution for sustainable residential and commercial roofing.
Touch collaborates with emerging designers in creating hand-made products, rather than mass-produced. Our goal is not only to make products that are beautiful, but good for the environment and those who make them. Touch is the result of just doing what we love, from the hands of our designers to the artisans and finally to you!
The decision to invest in renewables or energy efficiency depends on your location, your current and future financial profile, utility rates, energy usage, etc. Our vision is for Wattbot to be the most objective, comprehensive, and trusted clean energy advisor available, empowering everyone with the tools they need to take action and declare their energy independence.
Imagine a future in which wireless electricity makes everyday products more convenient, reliable, and environmentally friendly. Cell phones, game controllers, laptop computers, even electric vehicles capable of re-charging themselves without ever being plugged in. WiTricity Corp. is working to make this future a reality, developing wireless electricity technology that will operate safely and efficiently over distances ranging from centimeters to several meters-and will deliver power ranging from milliwatts to kilowatts.