Hydrogen, ethanol and water, Oh my!

Rob, Mr. CleanTechVC, gave a nice rundown of last week's Cleantech Investors Summit -- see Cleantech Investing: Notes from Palm Springs.

As you'll see from Rob's post, cleantech is heating up in venture circles and Florida has a lot to contribute to the party. Whether we're talking clean water or solar, hydro, ethanol or other energy alternatives Florida research is right in the thick of it. Take for example UF's Lonnie Ingram discovery and patent #5,000,000 of genetically modified E. coli bacteria that converts almost any biomass (not just the expensive corn/sugar crops) into fuel. After a couple misfires, Ingram's technology has been licensed by BC International and funded by the other Mr. CleanTechVC Vinod Khosla. In Vinod's words:

"I only invest in state-of-the-art technology. This is the next frontier."

Vinod is playing the energy field via his own fund Khosla Ventures rather than KP's, but the Florida endorsement is worth paying attention to. We have good, clean stuff in our labs and now is the time for show and tell.

If you've got a solution to dirty/expensive energy or a way to find/filter/distribute clean water, I want to know. If your friend or the nut in your incubator collects the tenant garbage to fuel their car, I'd like to meet him/her. Maybe, with a little capital, value-add and luck, Florida will be the home of next year's Mr. CleanTechVC...

Bonus question: who can guess what's in the diagram above?