A3: The startups focused on commodities such as NG and oil production and sustainability are distributed across the US. #tiechat

Biofuels is certainly getting lots of interest now. Low cost feedstock is a major driver to success. It may be possible. #tiechat

A2b: Energy efficiency: it is much less capital intensive than energy deals in late 2000s. See interesting software-based deals. #tiechat

Auto design requires some changes. The engine and power source are tightly connected to design. Battery mgmt now very key. #tiechat

Biofuel scaling will be highly dependent on continued high price of oil. If oil prices drop, it will be hard to scale production. #tiechat

A3: Big mrkt. Data center electricity consumption is large expense item. APPL just announced a new 20MW data center in N. Carolina #tiechat

Thermal management across the whole battery pack is now important for batteries in EV design. Battery chemistry important too. #tiechat

Fuel cell research is going forward, but there are no specific callouts for incentives to deploy. #tiechat

A3b: It is a huge role. We see the next generation of innovation being driven by software analytics and all kinds of data. #tiechat

Real time is one part, but now you can aggregate weather, building energy usage, building management systems, pricing too. #tiechat

A3a: I don't know if I agree. I see Sentilla doing great work with BMC and SAP, for example. #tiechat

A4: Cloud helps in being able to host and process large data sets to make better energy-related decisions. FirstFuel is example. #tiechat

A4a: The price of oil makes EV potentially more interesting for businesses and consumers. Biofuels also become more attractive. #tiechat

A4b: The price of NG favors fuel cell companies like Bloom Energy and ClearEdge Power that use NG as an input. Trucks may use NG. #tiechat

Thanks for inviting me. #tiechat

Good article about China mfg and solar production: Comparative advantage: The boomerang effect | The Economist econ.st/GNIfcV

Upcoming event on energy startups sv.tie.org/event/tie-ener…

Added new panelist, Cliff Federspiel, to tomorrow's event highlighting new, exciting cleantech 2.0 start-ups. sv.tie.org/event/tie-ener…

Upcoming event looking at Electric Vehicle market tinyurl.com/bn2qsx7 -- TiE Energy - Electric Avenue: EVs Charge into $200B Market!

Event next week looking at Electric Vehicle market tinyurl.com/bn2qsx7 -- TiE Energy - Electric Avenue: EVs Charge into $200B Market!