Squeegees and t-shirts and air-powered cars

Lots happened this past week:

• Sub-One Technology, an advanced coatings company that helps infrastructure resist corrosion and reduce friction, raised a $24mm Series C led by Nomura and including GE Energy Financial Services, Chevron, and ATV.  Perhaps the company’s products could be used on the proposed $3B ethanol pipeline that’s being talked about for bringing the fuel from Iowa to the Northeast.

• Solid state lighting startup Albeo raised a $1.5mm round of financing from Green Spark Ventures.

• At the GreenTech Media solar data day in NYC, there were several sobering opinions—including the consensus of a panel of investment analysts that the solar industry shakeout is now a question of when, not if.

• Tata Motors said they’re going to work on an air-powered car… sort of.

• GTM also came out with a report on solar PPA markets, and Arno had some must-read thoughts on it.

• I stumbled on this interesting article on the need (sometimes) for “patient capital” in cleantech.

• Clean Technology Investor had a very interesting column on how the lack of standards in the U.S. carbon credit market is hindering its growth, and thus hindering the ability of low carbon technology startups to monetize the additional potential value from offset sales.  “So, in the absence of national standards, regional authorities, an alliance of investment banks and even a voluntary marketplace - the Chicago Climate Exchange, or CCX - are attempting to develop them ad hoc. The process of setting up specific qualifications, trading rules and market operations is still in the embryonic stage.”  Track down a copy of the full article for an interesting read…

• “Hercules, Hercules, Hercules!”

• At the Piper cleantech conference in NYC, a representative from Ausra gave probably the world’s first investment presentation to ever combine a) a revenue forecast chart with the y-axis denominated in Billions; and b) the statement: “we have an army of squeegee men.”

• Finally, this fantastic site made the rounds among VCs…  Drop it like it’s hott, like cleantech hott.