M2E Power — another reason to dance with your MP3 player

Extremely pleased to note [self-promotion alert] that M2E Power has announced an $8mm Series A round of financing, led by OVP Venture Partners, and including participation by @Ventures, Highway 12, and existing investors.  The Boise-based company is developing technologies for more efficient applications of electromagnetic induction—which is at the heart of most generation technologies deployed today.  The initial focus of the company will be on the development of motion-to-energy devices for consumer and military devices that could use their innovations for efficient micro-generation to supplement and replace batteries, so that basic daily moving around (walking, driving, etc.) could provide most of the power the device would need.  Down the road, generators and motors of all sizes could significantly benefit from the technology.  I need one of those M2E “batteries” for my cell phone immediately, Mr. Zander…

In other news, Ernst & Young released the results of an interesting survey they did at their recent Strategic Growth Forum.  What made it interesting was the prominence of cleantech among CEOs and other corporate attendees at a general business conference, not a sector-specific one.  Key takeaways:

1. Around half of attendees reported that energy costs are driving their companies to take on cleantech efforts, and also that they expect energy costs to continue to have a big impact on their businesses over the next five years.
2. Half of those surveyed said that energy efficiency would have the most impact on their businesses, as much as solar, wind, etc. combined.
3. Two-thirds expect that market forces, not government regulations, will spur them to invest in cleantech initiatives.
4. Nevertheless, only 22% of those surveyed said that green initiatives are led from the C-suite level.

So the survey did a very good job of capturing the current mood in corporate America toward cleantech:  It’s for real, it’s becoming a cost of doing business, but it’s still not the very top priority.

It’s still a far cry from how things looked ten years ago when all such environmental initiatives were solely the responsibility of the EH&S department…