This week’s video features my first cleantech company on TalkTech. Currently 52% of CO2 emissions worldwide are a result of the “built environment”: the process of producing building materials such as drywall (which results in 20 billion pounds of CO2 per year), and the consumption of energy required to operate buildings, mostly due to heating and air conditioning. This is tremendous, considering that only 9% of CO2 emissions come from vehicles.

Serious Materials addresses the need for reduced energy consumption in the built environment with two key products: their EcoRock drywall technology, which is functionally equivalent to gypsum drywall, but requires far less energy to manufacture; and their window technology, which provides significantly more insulation than the best dual-pane windows currently on the market, resulting in substantial savings in utility costs. Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials, discusses the technology in detail, and also provides an excellent analysis on the global state of energy, sharing projections of the world’s energy situation in 30 years, and exactly how reducing the impact of the built environment could contribute more significantly to energy savings than nuclear, solar, and ethanol/biofuel combined.

In addition, Kevin shares advice on VC relationships, conveying the importance of patience and the realistic timeframe required to successfully take a company public. He wraps up by giving his thoughts on what it really takes to be a successful entrepreneur, speaking from his own extensive experience in the startup world. Throughout the video, footage of Serious Materials’ drywall and window manufacturing is included, so you won’t want to miss this!

To learn more, check out TreeHugger’s recent interview with Kevin, and VentureBeat’s post on Serious Materials’ recent acquistion of Alpen Windows, a leader in high-performance, energy-efficient windows.

Download Episode

Posted in Cleantech |