Adam Lesser

Cleantech second-quarter 2012: analysis and outlook

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
  2. The Model S arrives
  3. The ups and downs in the share economy
  4. Solar: trying to level the playing field among more bankruptcies
  5. Hedging your bets in green IT
  6. Cleantech VC
  7. Near-term outlook
  8. Key takeaways
  9. About Adam Lesser

1. Summary

Cleantech continues to be a diverse market of opportunities, and in the second quarter of 2012 companies worked to monetize strategies to leverage consumer and corporate interest in going green. Key highlights from the quarter include:

  • Tesla released its Model S luxury sedan. The vehicle has been a long time coming for Tesla, and it’s a make-or-break product for the EV design leader.
  • The share economy continues. Hertz and Enterprise are taking notice of the carsharing phenomenon and are jumping into the ring to challenge Zipcar. Meanwhile Airbnb and RelayRides faced issues related to insurance, trust and liability, which are key tenets of making sharing work.
  • The solar bankruptcies rolled on. This quarter took out Abound Solar and Solar Trust of America while the Department of Commerce punished Chinese cell makers with tariffs for dumping panels below cost on the U.S. market.
  • OEMs like Dell and HP refuse to leave anything to chance, as they each announced new low-power servers. Dell will leverage ARM cores while HP utilizes Intel Atom chips.

This quarterly wrap-up discusses these milestones and provides a near-term outlook for trends, technologies and companies to watch in the next 18 to 24 months.