Green and Renewable Energy Events – October & November 2010

This week brought us the excitement of The Carbon Show in London. Don’t miss another relevant event in the space again with the EcSearch events list. Here’s what’s coming up in Europe over the next couple of months;

October 2010:

Innovate 2010
12th October 2010 - London, UK
Follow @innovateuk on Twitter

Built Environment Solutions and Technologies
18th to 20th October 2010 - Birmingham, UK
Follow @BESTShow_NEC on Twitter

2nd Annual Offshore Wind Construction and Commissioning Conference
20th & 21st October 2010 - London, UK

South East Europe Renewable Energy 2010
22nd October 2010 - Istanbul, Turkey

Climate Change and Impact Assessment IAIA Special Symposium
25th & 26th October 2010 - Aalborg, Denmark

Renewable Energy in the Public Sector: Leading the way to zero carbon
26th October 2010 - London, UK

EU Biomas Forum 2010
27th to 29th October 2010 - London, UK

Green In the City: The Future of UK Onshore Wind - From ecoConnect
28th October 2010 - London, UK
Follow @ecoConnectCIC on Twitter

Big Green Home Show

29th - 31st October 2010 - Swindon, UK

Follow @BGHShow on Twitter

November 2010:

Green Mondays London
1st November 2010 - London, UK
Follow @greenmondaynews on Twitter

Green Monday Middlands
1st November 2010 - Birmingham, UK
Follow @greenmondaynews on Twitter

RenewableUK 2010
2nd to 4th November 2010 - Glasgow, Scotland

Energy Data Storage
3rd & 4th November 2010 - London, UK

Sustainability Leaders Forum
4th November 2010 - London, UK

The Sustainable Scotland Network Annual Conference 2010
4th November 2010 - Edinburgh, UK

Green Supply Chain
4th & 5th November 2010 - York, UK

Carbon Markets Masterclass
8th November 2010 - London, UK

3rd International Symposium On Energy From Biomass And Waste
8th to 11th November 2010 - Venice Italy

Green IT Expo
9th November 2010 - London, UK
Follow @GreenITExpo on Twitter

SMART GRIDS, SMART CITIES – SMART FUTURE
9th November 2010 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Climate Finance 2010
9th & 10th November 2010 - London, UK

Engaging the public on Climate Change
18th November 2010, London, UK

Oxford Energy Markets Roundtable
19th November 2010 - Oxford, UK

Energy 2010 - International Forum
22nd November 2010 - November 2010

EWEA - Grids 2010
23rd & 24th November 2010 - Berlin, Germany
Follow @EWEA on Twitter

Green Awards for Creativity in Sustainability
25th November 2010 - London, UK
Follow @GreenAwards on Twitter

Integrated Energy - The CHPA Annual Conference
25th November 2010 - London, UK

Electric Vehicle Charging and Grid Integration 2010
30th November 2010 - London, UK
Follow @ChargingEV on Twitter

If we're missing an event, feel free to leave us a note in the comments section of this post or send us a tweet or an email.

EcoSearch and dtimes3 Launch Green-Ex at The Carbon Show

dtimes3 Limited (d3) and EcoSearch® are delighted to announce the launch of their new sustainable exhibition service Green-ex™ at the Carbon Show on 4th October held at The Business Design Centre, Islington, London.

Aimed at providing a low cost, low carbon exhibition solution, this collaboration between a Live Events, Technology and Training company and specialist Executive Search Consultancy is the first of its kind and is likely to attract major attention from the Carbon, Cleantech & Renewables community.

Keith Goodchild, Managing Director at d3 says ‘We are extremely conscious of the cost of exhibiting and the amount of waste generated at Live Events. The overall lack of attention to sustainable solutions within the industry is of equal concern. That is why we have introduced the concept of Green-ex™ which we believe is the way of the future’.

Keith continues – ‘Although we design and build exhibition stands we are committed to providing sustainable materials and support services. Therefore, we have also developed a suite of low cost electronic services that enable pre-marketing, the invitation process, data capture, delivery of marketing collateral and pre-booking of meetings. As a result, our exhibition clients can enjoy a paperless environment, automated data recording and data base management during their events. Combining these services and minimising the need for elaborate stand design and expensive build, our Green-ex™ solution is providing a full exhibition capability at a fraction of the cost’.

‘Making the decision to launch Green-ex™ at the Carbon Show was a ‘no-brainer’, said Debby Lloyd, Managing Director at Ecosearch® who have collaborated with d3 throughout the development of the Green-Ex™ concept. Debby also sits on the Carbon Show Advisory Board and was recently a judge for the Green Business Awards, so her industry knowledge and expertise has supported the development of the service.

Ecosearch® co founder and Director Phillip Clement said ‘When I was approached by d3 and they told me why they wanted to develop a low cost, low carbon exhibition solution I was immediately engaged with the concept. Many businesses, especially start –up’s, often struggle to invest time and budget to promote their services however the Green-ex™ service can provide them with an excellent opportunity to go to an exhibition, enjoy all of the benefits that can be derived from their participation, but for a more modest investment’.

Zoe Ingle, Haymarket’s Show Organiser added ‘The Green-ex™ concept was of immediate interest to us at Haymarket. We want to actively promote the use of more ‘Green’ solutions and Green-ex™ does exactly that. Enabling companies to share facilities within a ‘Pavilion’ concept is not new, but providing participants with a full range of electronic services designed to reduce or eliminate paper, save administration time, improve lead generation and deliver improved ROI is a significant step forward and that is why Haymarket is very happy to promote and endorse the Green-ex™ concept at the Carbon Show 2010’.

Visit the Green-ex™ stand 268 and talk to their team to discover ‘The way of the future’.
For company descriptions and contact details please see attached appendix.

Click here to view the full Green-Ex press statement.

You can follow @EcoSearch, @dtimes3 and @TheCarbonShow on Twitter.

Solar – Coming of Age...

Things are really hotting up in solar which poses some interesting challenges for incumbent businesses already operating in the space – manufacturers, distributors, installers ...

Some businesses are going to wake up in the morning and find out that someone ate all the pie ... well product then!

Word on the street is that the smaller installers are suddenly inundated with larger commercial project enquiries – they are struggling with the size, the commerciality and the delivery capability not to mention the cash flow issues that £6m worth of kit will give them – cue sleepless nights for some of these MDs. (shhhh... guys might be time to rethink being a ma & pa shop).

The property, pension fund and shed markets have finally woken up to the fact that there is money to be made in ‘them there’ rooftops and now they want a piece of the action and fast…like yesterday?!! Hmmm doesn’t quite work like that does it?

Now what’s also interesting is that some of them are treating it like just another construction project - “let’s get the boys who did that warehouse roof to do it” ... uh? ... well hello big red flashing lights – it’s just not that simple? Meanwhile roofing guys are gleefully throwing in a bunch of ill thought out quotes in double quick time and will be caught with their pants down .... The naivety of some is mindboggling. They don’t understand payback models let alone the products, O&M issues, positioning, FITs bla bla. Someone will lose a shed load of money – excuse the pun.

Conversely – little installers – WAKE UP – the time to buddy up and JV is now – choose your partner wisely or offer yourselves to the lion fast. When the product supply chain squeeze hits – it’ll be those businesses with the biggest wallets open that will land it.
Meanwhile the sleeping giants of construction look like they have their wallets out on a mini shopping spree, so they’ll be Hoovering up the casualties, or perhaps smugly picking over the remains!

As far as manufacturing is concerned, some are struggling to even quote because they just can’t figure the manufacturing pipeline ... the supply chain issue is again rearing its ugly head. Anyone read anything on rare earths – if not try the Thunder Report. http://www.neuralnetwriter.cylo42.com/node/3106

We are already seeing clients defect from those companies who just can’t supply – quality is all very well but if you can’t get it, get it somewhere else – anywhere else and compromise.
And to cap it all, reports are now coming in that some distributors and manufacturers could have already sold or have reserved all of next year’s product inventory, doesn’t this smack of the same thing that happened in big wind? ... mass-demand in a short space of time ... oooh there’ll be a lot of unhappy salesmen out there (give me a ring when you are ready).

Oh, and I haven’t even touched the utilities with this article – what ARE they doing??? Do they seriously think the double glazing sales approach is going to work? That’s a subject for another day!

Green and Renewable Energy Events – September & October 2010

Here’s the latest Events list in the European Renewable Energy space – taking you up to the end of October 2010. We hope you find it useful. If we’ve missed an event, please let us know and we’ll make sure it’s added to the list.

~*~*~

Featured Event:

4th & 5th October 2010
Business Design Centre, London

~*~*~

September 2010:

The Energy Event
8th & 9th September 2010
Birmingham, UK
Twitter: @energyevent

Wind Power Monthly - Cost-effective, best-practice O&M strategies
9th & 10th September 2010
Hamburg, Germany
Twitter: @WPMevents

Women in Cleantech: Exploring Cleantech Policy – From ecoConnect
22nd September 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @ecoConnectCIC

Cleantech Bootcamp - From ecoConnect
27th September 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @ecoConnectCIC

UK Green Buildings Council Regional Event
27th September 2010
Manchester, UK
Twitter: @UKGBC

Biogaz Europe
29th September 2010
Lyon, France

Green in the City: Cleantech meets Biotech - From ecoConnect
30th September 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @ecoConnectCIC

October 2010:

Green Mondays – London
4th October 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @greenmondaynews

Green Mondays – Scotland
4th October 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @greenmondaynews

The Carbon Show
4th & 5th October 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @thecarbonshow

2nd Global Wind Turbine Supply Chain Conference
5th & 6th October 2010
Hamburg, Germany

Energy Solutions Expo
6th & 7th October 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @energysol_expo

All-Energy Australia
6th & 7th October
Melbourne, Australia
Twitter: @AllEnergy

European Biofuels Expo & Conference
6th & 7th October 2010
Warwickshire, UK

2nd Annual Offshore Wind Construction and Commissioning Conference
20th & 21st October 2010
London, UK

Renewable Energy in the Public Sector: Leading the way to zero carbon
26th October 2010
London, UK

EU Biomas Forum 2010
27th – 29th October 2010
London, UK

Green In the City: The Future of UK Onshore Wind - From ecoConnect
28th October 2010
London, UK
Twitter: @ecoConnectCIC

Stay tuned for another events update at the beginning of next month.

Is Your Business Really “Sales” Ready?

So – you have your product, your founder has tested the sales temperature, you’ve landed funding so it's all hands on deck to hire that crack sales team.... or is it?

One of the things I have noticed in early stage land of late is that some businesses are suddenly finding their sales pipeline is not what they thought it was and ill thought out strategies are being tested to breaking point in the current climate.

Evidence perhaps that too many people have rushed into employing a sales team before completely understanding their sales strategy. And also evidence that the sales strategy has not kept current in a rapidly changing business climate.

Common mistakes I see:

Unclear sales strategy – usually borne from a founder being too close to the product and failing to look up and around the market during launch phase.

They misread the early sales made by passionate, driven founders as “evidence of real market demand”.

They fail to take account of objective external views and miss key longer term niches while focussing on the big, low hanging fruit deals.

They fail to articulate what they are actually selling - confused customers do not buy! I see many brilliant ‘techies’ with sound products that actually fail to reach market maturity because they simply can’t sit the other side of the ball and see it from a “customer” perspective and sell it on that basis.

They can’t effectively present product or service features and benefits – what you think is your product's strengths actually isn’t necessarily what your customers think.

They over complicate entering the market – there’s more than one way to crack a nut...

What they are selling actually might not be fully complete or their pricing model is not fit for purpose and does not match the clients’ needs as a business.

They fail to plan long and short term sales pipelines – how to balance keeping the investors happy whilst building long-term value in the business is an art form!

And ... worst of all they rush their hiring and end up with the wrong people ... and that’s where we come in.

Average cost of a failed hire = 3 x salary at the last count ... makes my fees look better value than ever!

By Debby Lloyd,
Managing Director, EcoSearch

Hire, Hire, Hire – Managing Rapid Growth

EcoSearch build the management and technical teams for businesses in renewable energy, Cleantech & Carbon Management – we do that for smallco and corporates. I love this part of my job – I love the role I play in building those successful companies (not that we recruiters are recognized sometimes for the value we bring in the long term – ours can be a very transactional role but where we are able to work in a true partnership capacity it can make for a very powerful result).

We’ve all had that training haven’t we about “man management”, but how often do we stop to think about the application of all that knowledge we soak up over the years and its long term application impact in our respective businesses?

I’ve learned, seen and personally experienced that it is far more difficult to successfully grow your team rapidly in a smallco than in a corporate organisation. Managing to blend, mould and nurture a new team is a bit like making fine wine, only sometimes you are forced to rush it and sometimes the grapes you use aren’t quite what you thought they were (If I were a wine buff now I’d use a suitable comparison here).

Investors these days are very good at pressing the HIRE HIRE HIRE button but don’t always listen to the CEO who knows his business inside out and knows where his existing team is challenged. Mind you, some CEOs are very guilty of going on talent acquisition spending sprees with disastrous consequences, overspent budgets, imploding teams, dysfunctional divisions, poor hires, lowering quality of output.

The good CEO takes the time to monitor the “temperature” and watch the development of his people as he goes about adding. This is a bit of a dark art that many people fail at. Sometimes you have to take your foot off the gas and allow things to settle. I always thought “forming, norming, storming” theories were a bit of a management cliché but they are in fact critical milestones on which to manage. Recognising them is key. It is easy to fall into the trap of putting it down to culture and personality when actually the root cause is usually communication, and clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. These all get horribly blurred when a team expands rapidly. A good CEO recognises this and helps his team understand this and work through it.

And how rewarding is it when you see that team gel into a finely tuned machine that delivers uplift in production and sales?

Hmm - now here’s a thought: What if your recruiter's fee was calculated on business milestones achieved...? I wonder what impact that would have on your hiring quality.

By Debby Lloyd
Managing Director, EcoSearch

Green & Renewable Energy Events List – August & September 2010

The events list is back!

If we have missed anything, please let us know. You can leave a comment on this post or even send us a tweet.

August 2010

Green Drinks – Reading
3rd August 2010
RISC Global Cafe, Reading, UK

Sustainability Now
On demand until 10th August 2010
Virtual
Follow @sustainnow on Twitter

Green Drinks – London
10th August 2010
The Glasshouse Stores, Soho, London

September 2010

Green Mondays - North West
6th September 2010
Manchester, UK
Follow @greenmondaynews on Twitter

Green Mondays – Midlands
6th September 2010
Nottingham, UK
Follow @greenmondaynews on Twitter

Green Mondays – London
6th September 2010
London, UK
Follow @greenmondaynews on Twitter

The Energy Event
8th & 9th September 2010
Birmingham, UK
Follow @energyevent on Twitter

Wind Power Monthly - Cost-effective, best-practice O&M strategies
9th & 10th September 2010
Hamburg, Germany
Follow @WPMevents on Twitter

World Green Roof Congress
15th & 16th September 2010
London, UK

Low Carbon South West: Sustainable Cities - Building The Future
17th September 2010
Bath, UK

Bioten
21st – 23rd September 2010
Bath, UK

HUSUM Wind Energy
21st – 25th September 2010
Husum, Germany

Women in Cleantech: Exploring Cleantech Policy
22nd September 2010
London, UK

If you are organising an event coming up soon and would like it included in future lists - don't hesitate to let us know about it.

The EcoSearch Team

State Of The Nation Update – The New Norms Bite?

My gut is telling me something different is happening. Keep it lean folks, we are heading into choppy water again.

Take the redundancies I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks in FM, environmental and sustainable consulting, outsourced technology, mainstream engineering, internal carbon teams. I’ve seen “walk-aways” by corporates on non-core green related activity, sluggishness in buying “green” and renewable energy progress hampered by team downsizing. There is still a lack of investment and we are now seeing the first signs that the Government cuts are going to bite hard!

Green Bank?

Show me something different and I’ll believe it! Isn’t this the blueprint the Carbon trust but a few more heavyweight names with a sprinkling of Private Equity folks? It’s not going to solve the problem, is it? What happens to the innovation spawning grounds in the latest melee? Same model of return, different underwriter?

Cleantech Investment - What are the new norms?

Yields of less than 7%, ROIs – think more like 5 years now folks!
Venture funding – it’s all about collaboration and circumnavigating Venture land as we know it now.
VCs – for early stage they really mean well past “post revenue” stage – and lots of it!
Fund raising – if you haven’t done it in 6 months, forget it you better do something different.
Equity – start at 60% and if you are lucky negotiate your way back as you hit the milestones.
Typical deal flow scenario - 400 deals reviewed – 4 investments made – those were the figures quoted – but am I wrong in thinking that maybe the view on returns needs to change which might make the ratio different? Maybe the investment community simply haven’t woken up to the new norms yet?

Commercial Property & the CRC

The exodus from inefficient but lovely looking glass and steel buildings is already starting to happen. My prediction is that swathes of office blocks will soon become empty especially where they cannot provide the smart control aspect of carbon management programme roll out.
FTSE or AIM listed company in your property portfolio? What are you doing to help their league table position? Perhaps just taking the rent is now no longer enough – the new norm might be business collaboration?

CRC progress – estimates that 20% of businesses cannot even make registration.
Expecting help from the Environment Agency – hmmmm seems to be a problem when you can’t find the forms on the website even...

Facilities Management Companies – it’s not just about an EPC and some CHP feasibility & engineering consultancy – get your acts together - you are offering a fragmented, disparate service offering – clients want pro-active initiative, joined up thinking and deep traction across third party relationships to resolve the issues they face. I’m hearing reports that FM Companies are not playing ball with energy efficiency partners of clients ... BIG mistake!

For further insight you might like to have a look at my previous post 'Sustainability and The Apollo Effect'.

Skills & Recruitment

Graduate entrants – forget going in to £30K of debt and trekking to Uni unless you aim to come out with a 2:1! 69 graduate applicants for a single job ...employers are being choosy. Boy do we have a problem in the UK with our Course Content – someone’s forgetting the basics & practicals – it’s all theory!

And – this bit is for recruiters only as I know you all read my blog (the intelligent ones will get to this bit – the others will have zoned out by now)! Judging by the amount of recruiters checking out my profile at the mo – everyone in recruitment is piling into this space... wise piece of advice ... if you see a bandwagon, you’ve already missed it. Those of us who have been around for a while, stick together, the flight to quality will be on soon enough.

Prediction – remember the dot.com days? Now imagine that again with only one quarter of the jobs .... I dispute all the figures quoted about green jobs – I think they are overestimated and lots of jobs will mainstream in from related industry or be internal appointments – because of the climate we are in (maybe with the exception of big wind or maybe retraining plumbers!).

You reap what you sow, no matter what business you are in, so expect payback relative to your customer facing investment – and I don’t mean just in cash terms! Everyone is feeling the pressure but I’ve asked myself many times this month - is there a way to be nice and still do business anymore? – or have things got so bad it’s just every man for himself and screw the consequences in the future?

Sustainable business behaviour ... hmmm perhaps a subject for a future blog.

Photo by gluemoon on flickr

Women & Careers In Cleantech (EcoConnect)

I had an inspiring evening at the inaugural Women In Cleantech (WIC) meeting held at Smith & Williams offices in London and brilliantly hosted by the folks at EcoConnect.

A select gathering of around 60 women (and 2 token male minders!) of immense talents sharing experiences, ambitions and aspirations around working in Cleantech. A real warmth of connections on the night, sense of togetherness and shared outlooks. I’m always really humbled at these events – I look at the learning curve and investment in EcoSearch and its nothing compared to the blood, sweat and tears investment I’ve seen these women invest in companies they will never get to own. But that’s the thing about working in this sector – once you are bitten going back to the corporate day job just feels completely pointless. Corporate disengagement is rife out there at the moment – and I’m often on my soapbox about those organisations who choose to ignore the sustainability agenda who will in the long term die out having suffered attrition and competitive advantage losses as a result.

But some interesting and amazing observations emerged ...

The absence of any real visible, recognisable and instantly recall-able women role models from the sector. Why? Is it too soon? Is the market still below radar with immature businesses that have yet to be scaled up and find fame? Do women not court and massage the limelight like the Richard Bransons of the world perhaps? Hopefully this will change in the future.
Science and Engineering – probably half the audience were Science or Engineer based women – doing amazing work – and at all levels! But getting women into science/engineering is difficult – mixed sex classes, misperceptions, confidence, fear of failure – all possible reasons as to why we see less and less females in science and engineering.
Female run VC backed businesses – a real minority – but statistically no different in risk or return fronts for investors – why are there not more?
Level Playing field – general acceptance that yes we do have a level playing field – acceptance that yes babies do pull us back down the salary levels – but actually we have to choose to play hard – and we fail to have the guts to play that hard sometime. But having lower salaries are a advantages for women in this space – men find it difficult to drop the shackles of the big paycheques. For women it’s less of a drop and we don’t always have “breadwinner” nooses to bear.
Corporate downshifters – there’s a real opportunity for emerging businesses to harness brilliantly experienced corporate downshifters at a price they can afford IF they can open their minds.

So many other thoughts to share - but for me the moment of the night was seeing my highly talented male VC colleague blush - I finally got to turn the tables on a VC chap – a priceless moment ladies – one I will savour and worth waiting 8 years for! His comment at the end of the night “I had no idea it was so complex for women!” I think he felt like Mel Gibson in the film What Women Want!

By Debby Lloyd

Managing Director, EcoSearch

EcoSearch "State of the Nation" Update - April/May 2010

It seems we have a lift!

The big question is “for how long?”. I’m sensing an underlying nervousness, what will happen post summer, post election, post Greece?

For a whistle-stop tour of what else I’m seeing;

Finance & Investment in general: -

• Early stage Innovation businesses in cleantech are still suffering from lack of finance although there’s some Creative fund ideas are emerging but these are pre-fund raising and still some months away
• There is still a lack of quality investments – with all investors sticking to traditional post revenue models
• Large scale asset based projects based on “known technologies” are more appealing to investors although a switch to investing in “IP” is being detected for some areas

CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment):

• Public sector – enquiries are up across the board but delivery is problematical
• FM – large companies gearing up internally to tackle CRC opportunity but clients showing frustration with over-layered FM business models
• Government Knowledge & Advice on procuring these products and services is sadly lacking and will affect the placement of orders

Microgeneration:

• Consumer & Business Demand is growing for product – however manufacturing problems in small wind, supply problems for inverters & Solar PV are issues
• Installer capacity to deliver projects and scale-ability will be an issue in the near term
• Renewables purchasers are frustrated with a fragmented market, product comparison is hard to action, corporate “slickness” is lacking in delivery
• The present MCS accreditation framework appears to be preventing the industry from reaching “sales” maturity
• The present sales & distribution models are problematical – especially in small wind

Business Models:

• The SME Services & Product Sector for Renewables & cleantech is suffering casualties, further casualties are expected from cash flow burn-out crisis
• Specialist & experienced installers will perhaps be prime for acquisition but managing integration will be key for any acquirer
• The Corporate & Utility sector is struggling to internally ratify traditional operating models with highly adaptive, flexible & fast moving emerging markets
• Innovation in the Corporate arena is constrained due to cash flow/focus on core business, smaller workforces & lost internal entrepreneurial ability

Disruption Technologies & Conspiracy Theories?

• … suffered from professional anti-blogging attacks? Well interestingly – now the furore of East Anglia has died down we uncover a rise in this type of activity. So who are the organisations having sufficient funds who have a vested anti-lobbying interest to procure the services of these anti blogging rings.
• And is it wrong to believe that some of those same industries are also buying up IP to shelve “disruption technologies” …
• UK Manufacturing – over-engineered & over-priced? KISS for the future – the Chinese are coming!

These are personal views. I welcome comment, debate and discussion – debby.lloyd@ecosearchglobal.com

Debby Lloyd,
Managing Director, EcoSearch

Image by Micky on Flickr

Cleantech, Renewables & Sustainability Investment - Deal Flow

It’s encouraging to see creative ideas around fund raising for Cleantech, renewable & low carbon technologies – The Founders Club for example “where dealmakers club together” ... looks good, Par Equity - is this the largest Advisory board gathering of the great and good? There’s even talk of some novel and interesting off-grid (pardon the pun) boutique social stock exchanges emerging too.

But they all want the same thing - post revenue / growth potential businesses to invest in - so supply & demand will be a problem for the smaller players wanting quick returns.
This week also saw a Government announcement about the establishment of a Green Investment Bank operating on a commercial basis and involving both public and private sector capital. £1 billion will be raised from the sale of “mature government-owned infrastructure-related assets” (will we have anything left soon – even Dover Docks appears to be up for sale?). This would be matched by £1 billion of private sector investment ... I haven’t seen the detail yet but I’m sure the latter will be a challenge given the state of Corporate businesses today – and again its targeted on investment into heavyweight large complex infrastructure projects.
So – who’s tackling investment into the start up and innovation side of emerging green technologies?

There’s an ever increasing funding gap between early stage “fresh out of the shed entrepreneurs” and “high growth” ready businesses.

Ultimately this will impact deal flow at maturing business “high growth” stage. Inevitably this will get tighter and more and more investors will be chasing fewer deals... that will be interesting as the tables may turn a little perhaps.

By Debby Lloyd
Managing Director, EcoSearch

Green & Renewable Energy Events - March 2010

Here is EcoSearch's regular Events list for March 2010. If we have missed an event in the industry, don't hesitate to let us know.

Green Mondays (2degrees)
1st March 2010 - London, UK

National Energy Foundation - Introduction to Renewable Energy
2nd March 2010 - Milton Keynes, UK

EcoBuild 2010
2nd - 24th March 2010 - London, UK

Carbon Market Insights
2nd - 4th March 2010 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Renewables East - Feed in Tariff - The real potential for renewable enregy support
3rd March 2010 - Cambridge, UK

New Energy Finance Summit 2010
3rd - 5th March 2010 - London, UK

BWEA Wave & Tidal 2010
4th March 2010 - London, UK

EnerTech World Expo' 2010
3rd - 5th March 2010 - Mumbai, India

Gulf Environment Forum
7th - 9th March 2010 - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

UK OFFSHORE WIND SUPPLY CHAIN CONFERENCE
9th March 2010 - Bristol, UK

Climate Change: How will it impact on your business?
12th March 2010 - Aberdeen, Scotland

World Biofuels Markets
15th - 17th March 2010 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

RENEWABLE HEAT INCENTIVE - WARMING UP THE MARKET
16th March 2010 - Bristol, UK

Thin Film Solar Summit Europe
17th & 18th March 2010 - Berlin, Germany

New Energy Husum 2010
18th - 21st March 2010 - Husum, Germany

National Home Building and Renovation Show
18th - 21st March 2010 - Birmingham, UK

Scottish Renewables - Annual Conference
23rd & 24th March 2010 - Glasgow, Scotland

GLOBALCON 2010
24th & 25th March 2010 - Philadelphia, USA

Offshore Wind & Transmission
30th & 31st March 2010 - Hamburg, Germany

Green and Renewable Energy Events - February 2010

Each month we aim to bring you a comprehensive list of all the events happening in the world of Renewable Energy, Clean Technology, Carbon Management and Sustainability.

If we have missed any events, just let us know and we will be happy to add to our list.

You can also see our list for January 2010 here.

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Green Mondays (2degrees)
1st February 2010 - London, UK

Offshore Wind Power
2nd & 3rd February 2010 - Philadelphia, USA

The CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010
3rd February 2010 - London, UK
You can follow @CIBSE on Twitter

RETECH 2010
3rd - 5th February 2010 - Washington, USA

Bioenergy Expo
4th - 7th February 2010 - Verona, Italy

Scottish Energy and Environment Conference
9th February 2010 - Glasgow, Scotland

Plastic and Thin Film Photovoltaics
11th & 12th February 2010 - Barcelona, Spain

Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo
23rd - 25th February 2010 - Texas, USA
You can follow @REWorld on Twitter

Cleantech Forum San Francisco
24th - 26th February 2010 - California, USA
You can follow @cleantechgroup on Twitter

Stay tuned - we will publish a similar list for March 2010 soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from EcoSearch

All at EcoSearch would like to wish our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are all looking forward bringing you more exciting news, views and snippets from the world of talent in Renewable Energy, Clean Tech and Carbon Management in 2010.

If you would like to keep up to date over the festive period, EcoSearch is on Twitter. So feel free to follow @EcoSearch and never miss a thing.

In the meantime, you might like to check out some of our most popular posts of 2009:

• Our Green and Renewable Energy events lists
• Do you still need head hunters in a down economy?
• Green IT challenges
• Boost Your Career in 2009 with LinkedIn
• VCs - Where has the 'venture' gone from Venture Capital?

Image by josh.liba

Green and Renewable Energy Events – January 2010

Here is the first event list for 2010.

If you know of an event we have missed, please let us know and we will add it to the list. You can drop us an email or leave us a comment here on the blog. You can also view and download our full list of events for the next six months.

If there is anything else we can add to this service to make it more useful to you, just let us know.

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Green Mondays – Post Copenhagen
11th January 2010 – London, UK

Green Drinks – London
Green Drinks events are held globally – find many other events via their website.
12th January 2010 – Soho, London UK

Follow @greendrinks on Twitter

InterSOLUTION - the 1st and only solar energy trade fair in the Benelux
14th – 16th January 2010 – Belgium

World Future Energy Summit
18th – 21st January 2010 – Abu Dhabi, UAE

Solar Power Generation USA
20th & 21st January 2010 – Las Vegas, Nevada USA

Distributed Wind Interconnection Workshop
21st – 23rd January 2010 – Golden, CO USA

Climate Change: Effective Communication
22nd January 2010 – Edinburgh, Scotland

Energy from Biomass and Waste
26th & 27th January 2010 – London, UK

Wind Power Monthly Offshore Event
27th January 2010 – London, UK

Wind Power Commercial Strategies
27th – 29th January 2010 – Vienna, Austria

Course: Renewable Energy Technologies for 6* Sustainable Homes
29th January 2010 – University of Brighton, UK

Here is December 2009’s event list, and pop back or subscribe via RSS as we will be publishing a similar list for February soon.

VCs: Where has the “venture” gone from Venture Capital?

Well here is a question that no one seems able or willing to answer, I’ll throw it open to the investment Universe -VCs, private equity, corporate finance, angel funders, high net worth individuals – be you early stage, late stage (or indeed ANY stage which would be good right now)

Who is REALLY investing over here in the UK – have we closed for Christmas early this year?

From where I am sitting (having watched a colleague bash the phones for the last 4 weeks across a myriad of investor networks on what is – to me – a “no brainer” cleantech medical device manufacturing process) it strikes me that there is an inordinate amount of tyre kicking going on out there, people sitting on piles of cash with no home and not a lot of action.

Today we hear of an investor pulling the plug on a £7m investment because they were feeling “over exposed”.

And at the other end of the spectrum on my desk I can’t find £150K for something that has mass market developing country and remote energy application potential.

Come on people, shame on you! Do I really have to create something totally radical to bypass you lot?

If the anti risk and tyre kicking stance most of you are taking presently continues, how do we progress the low carbon technology agenda? The Carbon Trust and those delightful public sector competition rounds are not going to get us anywhere fast.

My sweeping generalisation about investment land presently is that you are all lacking in creativity, sophistication, knowledge and your models and ideals means you will miss some technology waves. Some spaces are moving so fast by the time you’ve even “gated” the first investment proposal the opportunity has been snapped up into corporate land, is mothballed never to see the light of day, or worse – goes bust before it's started.

The lack of funding supply also means that there is a world of collaboration starting to open up out there that will completely bypass you in future. All those lovely technologies that are scalable and interesting may well find themselves swept up into the arms of a cash rich Corporate doing a nice line in acquiring patents and technologies and sand-bagging for the future. Again, some of those may never see the light of day because we all know corporate cultures aren’t great at “incubating”.

Anyone notice a bit of sweeping up of patents going on of late?

Push back by all means …

By Debby Lloyd

Managing Director, EcoSearch

Commercial Realism and Wind Energy

Two articles published today (Friday 13th November) have caught my attention. The first is a discussion piece by Petra Barnby in the FT EnergySource blog. The second is the press release accompanying the Institution of Mechanical Engineers latest paper Climate Change: Have we lost the Battle?

Both these articles try to depict a true and realistic story, a story which is still being written and may or may not have a happy ending. They also address different topics; the FT piece is about offshore wind and how it can contribute to energy security, and the IMechE report is about Climate Change (i.e. reducing CO2) targets. They have different goals, although possibly with common causes and shared solutions.

However, I have a few observations. The FT article is outwardly a “pro-Wind” stance. It talks about the turbines’ “serenity and peacefulness about their understated orbital business that fits in with the drab North Sea scape” and contribution that wind could make to energy generation in the UK, with offshore wind farms “powering 18.5m homes in 10 years’ time.” The author also chooses to quote members of the BWEA. Yet there is something mildly frustrating about the opening line to the piece…

They’re beautiful,’ breathed a bearded wind farm enthusiast as he spotted the shape of a turbine appear from the mist on the horizon.

I think it is the use of the word “bearded” that concerns me. Are enthusiasts of wind power still associated with bearded, sandal-wearing hippies? Can we not be black shoe wearing, clean shaven (or female!) enthusiasts who see that energy security is a commercial, economical and political necessity? Maybe the analogy is only there in my mind? Maybe the guy stood next to the journalist was bearded AND suit-wearing, and it is my own sensitivities? Or is it a sub-conscious association that the journalist still makes with renewable energy enthusiasts.

I found the IMechE’s report refreshing. Whilst it may be pessimistic about actually achieving the 2050 CO2 reduction goals that have been currently set, it is real and it addresses action. It calls for a mixture of “geo-engineering” solutions. Whilst I disagree with the need to change DECC to DECS (is an initial actually going to make the difference?), I agree with the positioning.

Let’s move away from the association with bearded, sandal wearing climate change activists with pie-in-the-sky goals, and be realistic, commercial and proactive about securitising and changing our energy sources.

By Clare Buxton

Wind Energy Sector Lead

Picture courtesy of phault

10 Tips for Writing Your Cover Letter

I have recently been asked by several people about writing cover letters. They can sometimes be overlooked but are often an important tool for securing an interview. Here are my top ten suggestions to make yours stand out from the crowd:

1. If you are responding to a specific role, state your intention to apply for this job. Talk briefly about your motivations for pursuing a career with this company.
2. Make it specific to the company to whom you are writing; demonstrate that you understand a bit about their business. If you can make it personal to an individual (Dear Mr Smith) then do so.
3. Think of the cover letter as an extension of your “elevator pitch”. Why should the person opening your email/letter invite you for an interview?
4. Talk about your aptitude to do the job in question; this may be by giving example achievements from your recent experience.
5. Answer the question “What differentiates me from my peers?”
6. Use the cover-letter as a way to demonstrate your prose writing skills (i.e. don’t make it a list of bullet points).
7. Close the letter, i.e. suggest a next step, such as “Please take a look at my CV for further information”, “I look forward to hearing back from you”, “Please do not hesitate to get in contact with me if you have any questions”.
8. Keep it to one side of A4, type font 10 or 11 (if it is via email, keep it to 3 paragraphs).
9. Do not talk about salary in the cover letter.
10. Make sure your contact details are clear and correct; and also make sure that the company’s address and contact details are correct.

By Clare Buxton

Wind Energy Sector Lead, EcoSearch

Photo Courtesy of woodleywonderworks.

Carbon Management Software – State of the Nation

I am using the phrase “carbon” management software deliberately. Using words such as sustainability & environmental do not necessarily attract the right talent, create the right feel and, frankly, make some people run a mile.

A quick check if I say “environmental” to you - what picture is in your head right now? What are you thinking? I bet its not cool, teccie, exciting software and programme deployment the like of which we haven’t seen before, is it?

Does GHG sound attractive to you? What about carbon accounting? Does “environmental management system” turn you on? Nah, didn’t think so.

None of these phrases grab me either, so that’s why I prefer not to use them. I prefer words normal people understand, are familiar with reading in their everyday newspapers and can apply a broad brush too. One thing is for sure, the vocabulary used by organisations penetrating a variety of vertical markets will be increasingly important in order that you don’t pigeon-hole your product into a single sector – and you may have to change it depending on which circles you are moving in.

So things are definitely hotting up in the carbon management sofware sector but we don’t have any decent traction… yet. What we do have is a lot of talk. There are some good looking solutions sloooowly coming to market… lots of RFIs/Bids, case studies building etc. but who is really selling and who is really buying?

Across the board incoming enquiries are reported to be up… but don’t hold your breath. I hear this week that the Environment Agency are sending mass mail shots out without so much as a job title in information packs.

Here are some of the things I see adding to the confusion and noise out there:

• Lots of products and services window shopping by all manner of functional areas on the client side and none that necessarily hold the keys to an open cheque book.
• Complex sales entry points – sure you may get in with the FM manager – but who do you need to mark off next?
• Who has got responsibility for delivery of these solutions across the business – come to that are people thinking “cross business solution” or are they thinking “solve just my problem”?
• Solutions that fall across a number of areas take some digging to find where overall responsibility lie.
• Long, laborious scoping out of solutions that have to go through a myriad of sign offs.
• Prospects are underestimating the complexity and reality of the legislation coming down the pipe – there could be some expensive mis-selling and retrofitting going on.
• Interfaces with existing data systems – other environmental management software, HR software, facilities management software – what about communication with outsourced functions and partners?
• Vertical markets – everyone’s going for the big ones first and boy are they making the most of shopping around because they don’t want to make a purchasing error. Seriously – hands up who is working with Tesco?
• Channel and reseller markets. Who is getting into bed with who and are you competing against them in the market now – how will that relationship play out?
• Carbon consultancies WAKE UP - this as a huge cross-sell/up-sell opportunity. But you need a different skillset to sell these software solution babies… do you just want to sell “consultancy” – well you have a 24 month shelf life if that is the case. Call me if you need the right talent to help you open this revenue channel – you have the easy part you UNDERSTAND the client pain, a couple of extra heads with the right knowledge of these products and you have yourself a brand new revenue channel that will extend your company’s shelf life.
• Reseller models - make a wrong move now and you could find yourself in an exclusive reseller partnership with a non-market leader – could be very damaging.
• Software players –are you underestimating the amount of handholding needed to put these products into play? This is not something for the white socked sales person. Consulting credibility client side is the key. There is no getting away from the fact that your front facing sales people will need a modicum of holistic carbon management programme understanding, backed up by some subject matter experts who can navigate their way around the legislative framework. Cue merger and acquisition activity in the boutique consultancy arena.
• Lack of product information – things are moving so fast its difficult to benchmark the different offerings and who really does have credible case history on deployment – half the products I see are still being developed off the shelf as things go along – which is fine – providing you have the right person holding the client’s hand and you understand the vertical markets you are operating in.
• Product Evolution – so you have a wonderful shiny new product - but can you spot the challenges coming through the rest of the market that will impact it and can you keep pace? (think PESTLE, I’m sure you know what I mean).
• Patience – there’s going to be a mixing of a whole host of cultures on this moving forward… that will be an interesting play out – FM, CSR, CTO, FD, HR, IT Sales, outsourcing companies, infrastructure providers and Green Consultants...
• Panic – From what I can see I am predicting that come February some organisations are not going to have the bandwidth to service the enquiries coming through the channels. Don’t leave it until next year – get your teams assembled now!

There will shortly be a feeding frenzy. We know who’s having the conversations and marking off the best talent in the marketplace but not actually hiring yet. Well prepare for a bidding war soon. Those organisations that move early to acquire the brightest talent will have the greatest chance of success.

If you are a candidate, open to the idea of a new opportunity, make sure you back a thoroughbred with a well thought out plan that is showing the ability to flex and actively learn how to approach different markets. Don’t back a donkey that’s just thinking we sell “IT solutions” this way! There will not be enough space in the future.

The talent is out there but will not be for long. I welcome serious clients – no tyre kickers please!

Call or email me for the latest talent hotsheet of individuals available in this space – or if you want to go on it, for that matter!

By Debby Lloyd

Managing Direcor, EcoSearch

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Some upcoming events you might also find interesting:

Green IT Expo - London 10th & 11th November 2009

Smart Energy 09 - London - 1st & 2nd December 2009

Green Monday - London - 7th December 2009

Green and Renewable Energy Events - December 2009

Here is our regular monthly events update for you.

Events are starting to slow down in the run up to the holidays but there is still a lot going on in December in the run up to the UN Climate talks in Copenhagen. You can also view November’s events list if you missed it.

If you can think of an event we have missed, please let us know and we will add it to the list. You can drop us an email or leave us a comment here on the blog. You can also view and download our full list of events for the next twelve months.

If there is anything else we can add to this service to make it more useful to you, just let us know.

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Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit
30th November - 2nd December 2009 – Vancouver, Canada

IWEA - Wind Monitoring Training Course
1st December 2009 – Osberstown, Ireland
Follow @IWEA on Twitter

Smart Energy 09
1st & 2nd December 2009 – London, UK

Small Hydro USA
1st & 2nd December 2009 – Washington DC, USA

Global Wind Turbine Supply Chain Summit

1st & 2nd December 2009 - Hamburg, Germany

EnviroAsia 2009 - the 4th International Environmental technologies Exhibition & conference
1st – 4th December 2009 - Singapore

Business Green Lecture Series: What the Copenhagen Climate Conference means for your business

2nd December - London, UK

You can follow @BusinessGreen on Twitter

IET - Green and energy efficient buildings: preparing for the challenges of Copenhagen
2nd December 2009 – London, UK
Follow @IETevents on Twitter

Enhancing your Business with Green Chemistry
2nd December 2009 – York, UK

Cleantech Forum Beijing
2nd & 3rd December 2009 – Beijing, China

You can follow @cleantechgroup on Twitter

AWEA Offshore Wind Project Workshop
2nd & 3rd December 2009 – Boston MA, USA

You can follow @AWEA on twitter

The Scottish Green Energy Awards
3rd December 2009 – Edinburgh, Scotland

IWEA - Effective Asset Management
3rd December 2009 – Dundalk, Ireland
Follow @IWEA on Twitter

Kinnarps - Think Green, Save Money

3rd December 2009 - London

GeoPower Europe
3rd & 4th December – Munich, Germany

Copenhagen Key to Climate Investment
3rd & 4th December 2009 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Think Green - 2nd Annual Eco Expo
5th December 2009 – Riviera Maya, Mexico

IWEA - Vestas V52 Turbine Training
7th December 2009 – Dundalk, Ireland

Green Mondays - Smart Grids UK

7th December 2009 - London, UK

Wind Power Turkey
7th – 9th December 2009 – Istanbul, Turkey

COP15 Copenhagen 2009 - United Nations Climate Change Conference
7th – 18th December 2009 – Copenhagen, Denmark

You can follow @COP15 on Twitter

Green Drinks – London
8th December 2009 – London, UK
(Green Drinks events happen globally, more can be found via their website)

Sustainability Now
8th & 9th December 2009 – Online, UK
Follow @sustainnow on Twitter

Power-gen International
8th – 10th December 2009 – Las Vegas, USA

Bioenergy Australia
8th – 10th December 2009 – Queensland, Australia

Energaia
9th – 12th December 2009 – Montpellier, France

Solar Turkey
10th & 11th December 2009 – Istanbul, Turkey

ecoCamp Coventry

12th December 2009 - Coventry, UK

Bright Green - in parallel with the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15)
12th – 13th December 2009 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Electricx Power 2009
12th – 15th December 2009 – Cairo, Egypt

IWEA - Vestas V52 Maintenance Training
15th December 2009 – Dundalk, Ireland
Follow @IWEA on Twitter

European Fuel Cell Technology & Applications - "Piero Lunghi Conference"
15th – 18th December 2009 – Rome, Italy

BWEA Connect - a networking evening exclusively for existing and potential members of BWEA
17th December 2009 – London, UK

We will be publishing January 2010’s list soon, so watch this space...

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