Bernie Focker, aka Dustin Hoffman of Meet The Fockers, once said, ”If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.”

Bernie Focker, though an imaginary character, spoke of real life issues: water conservation. Even though the water crisis has taken a backseat to other issues such as carbon emissions, the problem is real: By 2025, the world will experience major freshwater shortages. Though 97% of water comes from oceans, only about 3% of it is freshwater. From that, 2.4% is permanently frozen in glaciers and ice caps, 0.5% of Earth’s water is ground water, and the rest can be found in rivers and lakes (also known as surface water).

Since our water comes from ground and surface water, that’s a small percentage overall. And because of our ever-growing population and water needs, rising temperatures and droughts, the US government estimates that about 36 states will face water shortages by 2013.
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Worldwide demand for energy will increase by 44 percent in the next 20 years, with developing economies – particularly those in China, India, Brazil, and Russia – accounting for nearly 75 percent of the demand growth, according to a forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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Tigo Energy, a solar start-up whose unique technology significantly increases efficiency in photovoltaic solar installations, announced today that it has closed its Series B round of funding.

The $10 million round was led by Israel Cleantech Ventures and joined by all existing investors (Matrix Partners, OVP and Clal Energy). The series B financing represented a significant premium to Tigo Energy’s $6 million Series A venture round in May of 2008.

Meir Ukeles of Israel Cleantech Ventures has joined the Tigo Board of Directors following the round. In January, Tigo Energy added three cleantech industry veterans to its board of advisers.

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While coal-fueled power plants are directly responsible for roughly one-third of our CO2 emissions, the DOE indicates that coal is expected to dominate our domestic power generation at least for the next 25 years.  Globally, the increased demand for coal-fueled electricity will translate into a 57% rise in related CO2 emissions by 2030 according to the IEA.

One technology that attempts to solve the CO2 emissions crisis is carbon capture and storage, or CCS. Generally speaking, CCS captures the CO2 emissions from coal power plants and other industrial sites and injects the CO2 into underground porous rock formations in hopes of permanent sequestration.

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Looking for a green technology job in the Solar industry is something more and more job seekers are focusing on these days. The reasons are easily explained if you turn to Frank Marquardt, author of Green Careers, coauthor of How Green Is Your City, and writer on the CleanTechies Blog: “Solar represents an attractive industry to many looking for an industry with a positive long-term outlook, and one where they can make a difference. Those who do find a job will have the opportunity to work alongside passionate people who realize their work will have a very real effect on some of the most significant geopolitical issues of the age, including energy independence and climate change.”

At the same time, that’s exactly why breaking into Solar is not an easy thing to accomplish. There is a lot of competition for a limited number of jobs, and companies have specific requirements to their jobs that many applicants do not necessarily meet.

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While Americans hang out with their families today (Memorial Day), it might make sense for them to think a bit about the men and women that have perished while serving their country… it is because of them that we are taking the day off to eat hamburgers, drink beer, and prepare for summer.

While I live in San Francisco, I’m not the typical sappy hippie environmentalist denizen envisioned by some; but I do feel strongly about clean energy. I know that it is an investment that is worth the return for this country, even if that return is only measured by fewer armed conflicts and fewer mourning mothers.

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Frank Marquardt, author of The Solar Job Guide, wrote a useful article about green technology recruiting that appeared on triplepundit yesterday. For those of you looking for a clean tech job, you will probably find some relevant information here. Marquardt talked to several recruiting experts and gives a good overview of what you can expect from recruiters and how they tend to approach candidates.

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It doesn’t matter where you are on the green technology job hunt. Maybe you’re contemplating a career change, or you’re just starting the job hunt, or you’re deep into networking. Your ability to use your job-hunting time effectively, get the most from your networking, and prioritize your daily tasks depends on knowing what you want.

But if you’re like many job seekers, you don’t know what you want. Okay, maybe you know you want to work in the solar industry, or on sustainable transportation issues, or on a more energy efficient grid. Or maybe you know you’d love to work in any of those areas, because they’d all align with your desire to promote sustainable change in your day-to-day work. That’s all well and good. But if a hiring manager popped out of your computer and asked you, “what do you want to do?” would you be able to tell her the role, the clean tech sector, and why in 30 seconds or less?

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A key U.S. congressional committee has approved historic legislation that for the first time would put a cap and a price on carbon dioxide emissions. After weeks of debate and an intensive, multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by industry and environmental groups, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill calling for a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020 and an 83 percent reduction by 2050.

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BioSolar Inc., a publicly traded California company, says it’s come up with a way to build a better solar panel, with plastics made from plants.

I sat down recently with company CEO David Lee, both of us at keyboards, to discuss BioSolar’s plans for a plastic revolution in sun power manufacturing.

Lee’s protective backing is derived from cotton and castor beans, and costs 25 percent less than Tedlar, the petroleum-based film made by rival DuPont, company officials say. Lee, an electrical engineer, founded the company in 2006.

Q: What makes BioSolar different from other solar companies in the United States?

Lee: BioSolar is developing a technology to produce bio-based photovoltaic (PV) components from renewable plant sources that will reduce the cost per watt of PV modules. BioSolar will gradually replace the petroleum-based portions of the PV module and do so at a substantial cost savings.

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