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Published: 8 October 2012
Sole Aussie company in global Cleantech 100 has CSIRO connection
Australian company BuildingIQ was the only Australian company represented in the recently released 2012 ‘Cleantech 100’ list. The list identifies private cleantech companies around the world that are likely to make a significant market impact over the next five to ten years in areas such as energy efficiency, biofuels and biochemicals, smart grid, renewable energy, water and waste, and transportation.
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Commercial buildings are responsible for more than one-third of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Credit:
Under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
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BuildingIQ’s key product is an intelligent building control system that optimises energy consumption through ‘pre-planning’ of heating and air-conditioning operations in commercial buildings, and continuous updating of the settings throughout the day in response to changes in the environment.
At the core of the BuildingIQ system is a sophisticated thermal model known as OptiCOOL, initially developed by CSIRO. OptiCOOL can ‘learn’ a building’s energy performance and optimise comfort within the building, while also reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
Commercial buildings are responsible for more than one-third of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and have been identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as the largest and most cost-effective single sector for achieving reductions. The CSIRO Newcastle Energy Centre achieved energy savings of up to 30 per cent using the OptiCOOL technology.
Australia is one of 13 countries represented in the 2012 Cleantech 100 list, with the US accounting for 64 of the companies.
According to the Cleantech Group’s announcement, energy efficiency remains the fastest growing sector, with 22 companies on the list, up from 19 in 2011 and 15 in 2010. The representation of solar-energy-based companies in this year’s 100 was 40 per cent lower than in the 2009 list.
Cleantech says GE is the most active overall partner with 2012 Global Cleantech 100 companies, followed by Siemens, Google, IBM and Waste Management.
Awards were also given in two investor categories:
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Google Ventures won Corporate Investor of the Year, as the corporate investor with the largest percentage of its cleantech venture portfolio in the 2012 Global Cleantech 100.
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Bright Capital for Investor of the Year as the financial investor with the largest percentage of its cleantech venture portfolio in the 2012 Global Cleantech 100
The full list of Global Cleantech 100 firms and the full report are available online at Cleantech Group’s website. Complete profiles of all 100 companies can be found in Cleantech Group’s i3 market intelligence platform.
To qualify for the Global Cleantech 100, companies must be independent, for-profit, cleantech companies not listed on any major stock exchange. This year, 5117 companies were nominated from 85 countries. A 75-member expert panel – including leading investors and corporate executives from multi-national enterprises such as ABB, BP, Ecolab, GE, General Motors, IBM, Intel, Johnson Controls, Procter and Gamble, and Vestas – gave input on the shortlisted 236, to get to the final list of 100 companies from 13 countries.
Source: Cleantech & BuildingIQ
