State has huge potential for clean-tech companies

Predictions of more job losses, rising home foreclosure rates and expectations of lower car sales make it hard to be optimistic about the new year.

But if there is one place where Michigan has a chance to pull itself out of its doldrums, it's in the exploding area of clean technology. 

Gov. Jennifer Granholm aggressively has been touting the state's opportunity to grow its alternative energy sector. But that's just one segment of the broader industry.

Clean-tech comprises dozens of businesses and technologies, including energy-efficient building materials, electric motors, hydrogen fuel cells, wastewater treatment and nonpolluting manufacturing processes.

Venture capitalists invested $3.6 billion in clean-tech businesses in the first nine months of this year in North America, according to The Cleantech Network LLC in Ann Arbor and Brighton.

That's a 13 percent increase from the year-ago level and up from $590 million invested in 1990, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

Where does Michigan fit in? The state's large manufacturing base makes it well positioned to design and build the wind turbine parts, solar panels and advanced auto technologies needed to power the clean-tech economy.

"I think there's a huge potential in the state," said Lauren Bigelow, managing director of The Cleantech Network, which tracks investment in clean technology and promotes the industry. "And we're not going to ship these jobs to China."

Auburn Hills-based United Solar Ovonic is one of the largest producers of rooftop solar panels in the world. And there are about two dozen companies involved in manufacturing wind turbine parts, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission.

There is a potential of "tens of thousands of new jobs" in the state in the wind energy sector, Tom Stanton, the PSC's alternative energy expert, said.

Of course, there are speed bumps the state must overcome to be a major player in clean-tech businesses.

One of the biggest is the lack of venture capital.

Michigan was among 23 states that did not attract any venture capital investment in clean tech businesses in the first nine months of this year, according to the National Venture Capital Association.

Most of those investments were made in California, Massachusetts, Texas and Washington.

"This is very much an entrepreneurial activity," Bigelow said about clean tech.

New federal energy legislation will require automakers boost fuel economy by 40 percent, to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

Experts say the new standard could spark billions of dollars in new spending by automakers and suppliers in new technologies and materials.

But Bigelow said Michigan needs to join 25 other states in requiring electric utilities to produce some of their power from alternative energy.

Granholm is pushing a 25 percent renewable energy standard, and various proposals are pending in the Legislature.

The most important thing Michigan can do to become a leader in clean tech is to just do it, in the words of an old Nike commercial.

"The supporters are out there," Bigelow said.

"We just need focus and a little bit of leadership."