Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Accelerating adoption of Cleantech through the Engineering & Construction channel

Thinking through some of the key issues facing the cleantech industry, it would appear that as a whole, this industry (or sections thereof) will need to rely upon established channels in order to evangelize and deploy solutions across key sectors.

The engineering, environmental & construction industry (that is: those services firms that provide consulting, design, construction mgt, and facility operations) is an industry that could be leveraged effectively to accelerate adoption:

  • Multitude of cleantech: solar, nano, intelligent energy mgt systems, biofuels (requiring a range of domain expertise, but consistent engineering design expertise)

  • Target industries to adopt are traditional verticals: process and discrete mfg, transportation, telecom, government, infrastructure

  • These industries rely upon the global Engineering & Construction firms to build business cases, develop conceptual and detailed design, manage construction operations, and in many cases, actually operate facilities as well

  • E&Cs have invested in specific 'cleantech' projects, usually around biofuel design - build; wind and solar power, BUT: projects, training, and alliances with cleantech vendors are scattered; no consistent strategy

  • Opportunity exists to foster relationships, invest in training, and build alliances with E&Cs; specifically business units that are targeting specific verticals or those that are focused on new energy technologies

I would be interested in hearing from those in the cleantech industry (entrepreneurs, investors) as to their thoughts on this channel strategy.

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