Tag Archives: punecleantech

InEnCy – The Energy Efficiency Business Plan Contest

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IndiaCo Advisors, a Pune-based investment management firm has announced InEnCy, a business plan competition focusing on energy efficiency.

Here is the pitch:

Energy efficiency, a prime factor in India’s economic growth and sustenance, requires innovative ideas converging into practice. For the purpose of promoting Energy Efficiency ideas into viable business, IndiaCo Advisors Pvt. Ltd. is proud to present InEnCy: The Business Plan Competition.

InEnCy is a first of its kind business plan competition in India, launched by IndiaCo in January 2011. It aims at identifying potential relevant innovations that could lead to viable businesses with technological and or scientific breakthroughs to improve or revolutionize Energy Efficiency. With this focus InEnCy has been able to create a support network of industry experts, VCs & investors operating in Energy Efficiency space. The InEnCy team has made a confidant foray into the competitive field of mentoring and Guidance and plans on making InEnCy Business plan competition an annual event to be held in May each year.

Laser focused on the energy efficiency sector, this competition would give a platform to budding entrepreneurs to present their innovative business plans. Mentored by a panel of industry experts, these entrepreneurs will have the further opportunity to shape and fine tune their concepts and hence turn them into successful and thriving businesses.

One winner will be proclaimed, but many more ideas to change the world will get exposure through the competition process. At the Grand Finale on May 14th InEnCy will be showcasing the final 10 business plans/ideas; best three of which will receive exciting awards!

Fast facts:

  • Shortlisted candidates will be assigned mentors from a panel of experts.
  • Online mentoring is available if required
  • Structured and transparent mentoring process.
  • Prizes worth Rs. 5,00,000.
  • A chance to pitch for Investments from IndiaCo Energy Efficiency Fund.
  • Network access to investors, mentors and potential partners.
  • Access to technology incubators.

The last date for registering is 27th Feb, 2011. Check out the InEnCy website and get started.

PuneCleanTech Event: “BioEnergy” – The Complete Energy Solution for India – 29 Jan

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PuneCleanTech and VentureCenter present a talk on BioEnergy – the complete energy solution for tropical countries, including India, by Santosh Gondhalekar, Director, Gangotree Eco Technologies.

The increasing demand and decreasing supply of fossil fuels, has resulted in increasing market price of Petrol, Diesel, LPG, Kerosene, Furnace Oil etc., in last couple of years. The situation is alarming and has created threat to ‘Energy Security’ across the globe.

Many Renewable Energy Options like Wind Energy, Solar Photovoltaic, Solar Photothermal, Tidal Power, Wave Power, Geothermal Power, Fuel Cells, etc. etc. are being tried and tested. The options in Bioenergy like BioDiesel, BioEthenol are also discussed and tested. Unfortunately, all of these options have some or the other weaknesses. In Indian context, in spite of lot of noise about above stated options, effectively as on date, the actual contribution of all Renewable Energy put together in the Mainstream Energy Supply, for India, has been less than 1% only.

Then, Is there any way out?

Yes. The solution is available that could satisfy all the Energy requirements. The key words are the ‘Green Gas’ and ‘Green Coal’. It is the Biomass based solution, based on the Elephant Grass or Napier Grass. The energy solution has been tested & certified and has capacity to substitute All Fossil Fuels.

The Energy Solution is tested comprehensively on four critical criteria viz, the ‘Technical Feasibility’, ‘Economical Viablility’, ‘Environmental Sustainability’ and ‘Social Acceptability’.

The event will be on 29th January, from 11am to 1pm, at the Venture Center, NCL Innovation Lab, Pashan Road. The event is free for all to attend. No registration required.

PuneCleanTech Event: Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mines

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What: PuneCleanTech talk on Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mines by Kaustubh Moghe
When: Saturday, 31 July, 11am
Where: Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road. Map: http://bit.ly/VenCen (To reach Venture Center, go past NCL towards Pashan, pass the cricket ground adjacent to NCL and then you’ll find NCL Innovation Park / Venture Center on the right hand side.)
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Free seating on First Come, First Seated basis only
Further Info: Contact Harshad Nanal (harshadnanal@gmail.com), Anil Paranjape (amparanjape@gmail.com)

Mine Restoration Image
The next PuneCleanTech talk will cover the issue of restoring the ecological balance of dead mines. PuneCleanTech is a special interest group (SIG) of PuneTech focusing on clean tech. Click on the image to go to the PuneCleanTech website for more details

Ecological Restoration of Abandoned Mines

There are supposedly heaven and hell for dead people. But dead mines (abandoned mines) continue to just sit where they are. Their owners have exploited them for all they are worth and then they are just left there. The problem is that unlike dead animals or vegetation, these mines don’t just decay. They are a big hazard for all of us. Apart from being an eyesore, they pose significant physical hazards (people fall into them) and they have a tremendous environmental hazard by leaching dangerous chemicals into the ground water.

Word over, this is a big problem with millions (yes, millions) of mines abandoned. India is no exception. A few responsible owners take steps to return the abandoned mine land back to nature. But how do you return deep holes stretching miles and miles in diameters and highly denuded earth around them back to nature? How do you restore the biodiversity and flora and fauna?

PuneCleanTech presents a rare talk on this fascinating subject by a practicing conservation biologist, Mr. Kaustubh Moghe, on 31st July at 11:00am at the NCL Venture Center.

As always this talk is free for everyone. For more information, please visit PuneCleanTech. We don’t really know where dead people go but at least here’s a chance to learn about what happens (or should happen) to dead mines! It’s a problem created by our consumption machine, so let’s at least be aware of this. Well, here’s your rare chance to learn about it.

Using bacteria in cleaning up our Industry – PuneCleanTech event on Probiotics – July 5

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What: Probiotics in CleanTech by Dr. Sivaramakrishna Pillai
When: Monday, July 5, 4pm
Where: Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road. Map: http://bit.ly/VenCen (To reach Venture Center, go past NCL towards Pashan, pass the cricket ground adjacent to NCL and then you’ll find NCL Innovation Park / Venture Center on the right hand side.)
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Free seating on First Come, First Seated basis only
Further Info: Contact Harshad Nanal (harshadnanal@gmail.com), Anil Paranjape (amparanjape@gmail.com)

Probiotics in CleanTech

PuneCleanTech is a special interest group (SIG) of PuneTech focusing on clean tech. Click on the logo to go to the PuneCleanTech website for more details

Did you know that we have discovered a number of bacteria and other micro-organisms that can help improve our digestion, prevent colon cancer, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, improve immune function, prevent infections, and a whole bunch of other health benefits?

This same “technology” can also be used to clean up our Industry. They can be used to treat industrial waste, and clean it up in a “clean” manner. They can help restore ecological disasters brought upon by our consumption.

Probiotics is the use of beneficial micro-organisms to increase the health, vitality and efficiency of various animal processes. The same techniques can be applied to Industrial activity in areas such as soil remediation, effluent treatment, waste management etc. Dr. Sivaramakrishna Pillai, an expert in this area, will give a talk on such applications of probiotics.

The talk will be suitable for all entities that are actively dealing with such technologies (such as Praj) or might benefit from their applications to industrial and municipal waste management. As a result, institutions such as MCCIA and Pune Municipal Corporation might benefit from this talk. If you agree, please canvass it within your or affiliated organizations.

This broad-ranging talk should be interesting also for concerned citizenry (such as ecological society) and the scientific/technological elites (such as NCL), as well as, educational and research institutes.

As always, the talk is free but the seating is limited to first 60 people. There is no RSVP and the seating will be on a ‘first at the door gets the first chair’ basis 🙂

Tech events in Pune this weekend – 4 & 5 June

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There are a number of interesting tech events in Pune today and tomorrow. Here is a brief overview of each. All of these events are free, and no registration is required.

PLUG Meet – Presentation on Unicode by G Karunakar

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 5, 4pm-6pm, 7th Floor, SICSR, Model Colony,

The Pune Linux Users Group’s monthly meeting happens on the first Saturday of every month, from 4pm to 6pm at SICSR, Model Colony. This month, the agenda includes a talk by G Karunakar on Unicode. Linux CD/DVDs will also be available at the meeting for anyone looking to install linux.

This is a great place to meet open source enthusiasts in Pune

For more details, see: http://plug.org.in

Mentoring Workshop on clean energy financing in Pune

Today, Friday, June 4, 10am-1:30pm, 1st Floor, Hotel Le Meridien

Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN) is a multilateral, public-private partnership initiated by the Climate Technology Initiative (CTI) and funded by USAID. PFAN seeks to identify clean energy projects at an early stage and act as a project financing coaching and consultancy service to facilitate financial closure of such projects. After establishing dedicated in-country networks in China, Indonesia and Philippines, PFAN has now launched its services in India.

This workshop will introduce Indian clean energy entrepreneurs and stakeholders to the PFAN initiative and how they can leverage this platform to connect with investors and avail pro-bono mentoring services.

Agenda:

9.30 pm: Registration
10:00 am: Welcome Note, Suneel Parasnis, Team Leader – Clean Energy Finance, Contractor, USAID ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program
10:10 am: Introduction to CTI-PFAN, Kavita Kaur, Country Manager – PFAN India, Contractor, USAID ECO-Asia Clean Development and Climate Program
10:30 am: MOU Signing – IT Power India and IndiaCo Ventures
11:00 am: Investor’s Expectations out of Business Plan â Rahul Patwardan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, IndiaCo Ventures
11:30 am: Tea/Coffee Break
11:45 pm: Promoting Clean Energy – R.Chandrasekhar, CEO, IT Power
12:15 pm: Components of a Good Business Plan âSuneel Parasnis, Team Leader, ECO-Asia
1:00 pm: Panel discussion
1:30 pm: Lunch

For more details see: http://www.cti-pfan.net/

PuneCleanTech meet: Energy Efficiency – Opportunities and Challenges

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 5, 11am, Venture Center, NCL Innovation Center, Pashan Road

The new gee-whiz technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels et cetera take all the limelight these days. But the fact remains that they are still a miniscule part of our energy mix and will remain so for the foreseeable future. A far bigger opportunity, however, exists all around us. There is enormous potential for making the conventional energy generation, distribution, storage and utilization much more efficient than what it is.

What is this opportunity? Where is it? How does one find it? How big is it? What can be done about it? How can it be addressed? Does anyone address it today? How do they do it? What qualifications do they need to do it?

Mr. Shishir Athale, founder of Sudnya Industrial Services, an energy services company, will discuss all these questions on June 5th, 11am at the NCL Venture Center (June 5th is also the Environment Day, a fitting coincidence!).

For more details see: http://punecleantech.com/energy-efficiency-opportunities-and-challenges/

POCC Meet: How to build a great startup team

Tomorrow, Saturday, 5 June, 4pm-7pm, 4th Floor, SICSR, Model Colony

The initial stages require only a handful of core team-members (3 to 5). These few are crucial to the success of the startup product or service. Finding these people, is one of the primary challenges facing startups today. Chetana Mehta will tackle a whole bunch of questions related to this topic. Chetana Mehta, ex-VP HR at GS Lab helped grow Persistent Systems, GS Lab when they were at a similar stage has offered to cover some aspects of nurturing and training teams.

For more details see: http://punetech.com/how-to-build-a-killer-startup-team-pocc-event-5-june/

PuneCleanTech meet: Energy Efficiency, Opportunities & Challenges – 5 June

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What: An overview of the opportunities and challenges in the area of conventional energy efficiencies, by Shishir Athale
When: Saturday, June 5, 11am
Where: Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road. Map: http://bit.ly/VenCen (To reach Venture Center, go past NCL towards Pashan, pass the cricket ground adjacent to NCL and then you’ll find NCL Innovation Park / Venture Center on the right hand side.)
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Free seating on First Come, First Seated basis only
Further Info: Contact Harshad Nanal (harshadnanal@gmail.com), Anil Paranjape (amparanjape@gmail.com)

Energy Efficiency – Opportunities and Challenges

PuneCleanTech is a special interest group (SIG) of PuneTech focusing on clean tech. Click on the logo to go to the PuneCleanTech website for more details
PuneCleanTech is a special interest group (SIG) of PuneTech focusing on clean tech. Click on the logo to go to the PuneCleanTech website for more details

The new gee-whiz technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels et cetera take all the limelight these days. But the fact remains that they are still a miniscule part of our energy mix and will remain so for the foreseeable future. A far bigger opportunity, however, exists all around us. There is enormous potential for making the conventional energy generation, distribution, storage and utilization much more efficient than what it is.

What is this opportunity? Where is it? How does one find it? How big is it? What can be done about it? How can it be addressed? Does anyone address it today? How do they do it? What qualifications do they need to do it?

We are fortunate to have Mr. Shishir Athale enlighten us on all these questions on June 5th, 11am at the NCL Venture Center (June 5th is also the Environment Day, a fitting coincidence!). Shishir is one of those very few intrepid entrepreneurs, who have the guts to get into this very tough market, where he has been painstaking building his company called Sudnya Industrial Services. Sudnya is an ESCO (Energy Services Company) which identifies energy efficiency improvement opportunities for clients, often putting their own money on the line, getting paid only if those savings materialize (now you know why this business is not for the faint-hearted!) Besides guts, this business also needs a rare mix of capabilities: engineering, project planning, management, finance, marketing all rolled into one. It will be exhilarating walking Shishir’s journey (while safely holding his hand 🙂 on this tough trail.

Before Sudnya, Shishir spent many years at Thermax and other companies, getting trained on many engineering skills in heat and co-generation fields that ultimately culminated into Sudnya. Before Thermax, he managed plants for CPG companies where he often implemented energy saving projects, sometimes achieving 25% energy savings.

Shishir is well recognized as a trainer for energy managers by none other than FICCI. He was on CII’s sub-committees on Cogeneration and Energy End-use Efficiency and on an MNES Committee for evolving a National Policy on Bio-mass Based Cogeneration. He is a qualified Lead Assessor for ISO 9000 certification and has undergone training in India and abroad. He qualified as a Certified Energy Auditor in the first examination conducted by the BEE in 2004.

Shishir is a graduate in Chemical Technology and now resides in Pune.

As always, seating is limited, no reservations and strictly on a first-come, first-seated basis.

About PuneCleanTech

PuneCleanTech is a special interest group of PuneTech focusing on Clean Technologies. It is an awareness, education, and networking platform to showcase Clean Technologies developed and used in and around Pune, one of the largest Industrial hubs in India. The network brings together technology professionals, entrepreneurs, students, policy makers, investors, and citizens interested in Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Waste management, Water Management, and Environmentally-Friendly Design/Development/Delivery Alternatives to Traditional Products and Services. Those interested in this area are urged to join the PuneCleanTech mailing list, Anil Paranjape (amparanjape@gmail.com) with support from PuneTech and NCL Venture Center.

About NCL Venture Center:

Venture Center – a CSIR initiative – is a not-for-profit company hosted by the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Venture Center strives to nucleate and nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises by leveraging the scientific and engineering competencies of the institutions in the Pune region in India. The Venture Center is a technology business incubator specializing in technology enterprises offering products and services exploiting scientific expertise in the areas of materials, chemicals and biological sciences & engineering.

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“What The Heck is CleanTech?” with Dr. Balu Sarma, CTO Praj Matrix – April 17

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Under the newly announced PuneCleanTech banner, we’re happy to announce the kickoff presentation by Dr. Balu Sarma (President and CTO of Praj Matrix, the world-class R&D initiative of Praj Industries) on Saturday, 17th April at 10am. We are indeed very fortunate to have an eminent technocrat like Dr. Sarma kickoff this new forum, enlightening us about all things CleanTech (and biofuels in particular). For some background about Praj Matrix, see this PuneTech report from last year.

PuneCleanTech is a special interest group (SIG) of PuneTech focusing on clean tech.
PuneCleanTech is a special interest group (SIG) of PuneTech focusing on clean tech.

If Information Technology helped Indian Economy soar, CleanTech can push it to stratospheric heights. World over, CleanTech has already replaced IT as ‘Tomorrow’s Technology’. It’s the next big wave. But what is it really? What’s driving CleanTech to be billed as ‘bigger than IT, Bigger than Internet, Bigger than anything the world has seen’? What do esoteric terms such as Biofuels, Geothermal, Reverse Osmosis, Algal Fuels, Passive Solar, PhotoVoltaics really mean? What are the advantages of these technologies? Which of them are relevant to India? Why? And finally, why should we really care about it all?

Come listen to Dr. Balu Sarma answer all these questions and more. Confirm what you know. Understand what you don’t. Meet other CleanTech enthusiasts. Ask Questions. Get Answers. Be Informed. It’s our future we will be talking about!

When: Saturday, April 17th, 10am
Where: Venture Center, NCL Innovation Park, Pashan Road. Map: http://bit.ly/VenCen (To reach Venture Center, go past NCL towards Pashan, pass the cricket ground adjacent to NCL and then youâll find NCL Innovation Park / Venture Center on the right hand side.)
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. Free seating on First Come, First Seated basis only
Further Info: Contact Harshad Nanal (harshadnanal@gmail.com), Anil Paranjape (amparanjape@gmail.com)

About PuneCleanTech

PuneCleanTech is a special interest group of PuneTech focusing on Clean Technologies. It is an awareness, education, and networking platform to showcase Clean Technologies developed and used in and around Pune, one of the largest Industrial hubs in India. The network brings together technology professionals, entrepreneurs, students, policy makers, investors, and citizens interested in Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Waste management, Water Management, and Environmentally-Friendly Design/Development/Delivery Alternatives to Traditional Products and Services. PuneCleanTech is run by Harshad Nanal (harshadnanal@gmail.com), Anil Paranjape (amparanjape@gmail.com)

with support from PuneTech and NCL Venture Center.

About NCL Venture Center:

Venture Center – a CSIR initiative – is a not-for-profit company hosted by the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. Venture Center strives to nucleate and nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises by leveraging the scientific and engineering competencies of the institutions in the Pune region in India. The Venture Center is a technology business incubator specializing in technology enterprises offering products and services exploiting scientific expertise in the areas of materials, chemicals and biological sciences & engineering.