With an objective to increase the concentration on green projects and initiatives of the business leaders in Utah, the “Clean Tech Initiative” has been launched by the Utah Technology Council (UTC) that focuses on five distinct areas.
In the Renewable Energy area, the initiative will focus on the development of biomass, geothermal, solar, wind, hydropower generation, generators, processing technologies for wind turbines, materials and manufacturing, photovoltaic cells, landfill, methane capture and generation of power, and technologies for hydrokinetics, tidal power and fuel cells.
The initiative will concentrate on cleaner energy such as hydrogen, IGCC, nuclear, carbon dioxide capture and storage, water treatment and conservation, monitoring of emissions and pollution and innovative clean technologies for conventional carbon-based fuels in the Environment Technologies area.
In the Energy Efficiency and Demand Management area, the initiative will center on smart metering technologies and smart grid, utility grade lighting and energy storage technologies, HVAC technologies and insulation. It will concentrate more on alternative energy appliances and energy efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, and efficiency technologies for motors and electrical power generation, and for conventional gas and oil production.
In the Green Materials area, the initiative will focus on bio-products such as bio-plastics, disinfectants, and green cleaning. Green building and construction materials, nanotech materials, packaging are also covered in this area.
Transportation initiative includes green fuels/bio-fuels such as non-corn based ethanol, cellulosic, and algae, fuel innovations for LNG and CNG transportation, technologies for energy storage, and energy transmission for transportation.
With the launch of this initiative, business leaders in Utah hope to receive the same kind of incentives that other states such as California and Colorado have received. While California received $3.5 billion in 2008, Colorado got $458 million through VC green investments in the same year.