With information communication technology advancing at lighting pace, companies such as Google tend to grab the headlines on innovation. But they are not the only ones doing great things.

All of these innovative companies have something in common. They took an essential industry, such as clothing, housing, or energy, turned it upside down and gave it a shake. They shook out wasted energy, extra costs and excess materials, and in many cases they created something that stands to revolutionise the industry.

Some new companies, such as solar panel manufacturer Nanosolar and smart grid creator Grid point, are at the beginning of their journey, while more experienced companies, like Wyse Technology, are already well on their way. A handful of major companies, including BASF and General Electric, are become green innovation leaders in their field. Although it is hard to know whether our pioneers will sink or swim, we have picked ten green innovators to watch in 2008.

Wyse Technology



Office PCs may be on their way out thanks to companies such as Wyse Technology. Wyse’s thin client computing system replaces conventional PC hard drives with energy-saving technology that retains computers’ productivity and security.

By running from a central server rather than having several individual PC processors and memory banks perform excess tasks, the thin client system reduces both companies’ energy and maintenance costs.

Businesses globally are reducing their carbon footprint thanks to the US company’s multi-award winning products. Wyse, the world’s largest thin client vendor, says the energy-saving revolution is growing: it already supplies to 41 of the Fortune 100 companies.

Klean Industries



In 2005, Canadian based industrial solutions company Klean Industries Inc launched a pioneering hydrocarbon based-recycling programme, where Klean collected from both the public and industrial based consumers hydrocarbon containing materials to be recycled into new custom chemical products.

The recycling scheme uses the world’s first closed-loop chemical recycling technology, called KBp ^(tm). Developed in partnership with several Japanese chemicals companies, KBp breaks down hydrocarbon containing materials to create various new products including polymers, ethanol, syn-gases similar to natural gas, nanocarbons, clean diesel fuels and many other custom products.

Since the 2005 launch, Klean has developed KBp to recycle a wider range of materials, including tires, plastics, medical waste, industrial sludge and biomass. Klean claims that recycling these materials creates energy and CO₂ savings of between 75% and 85% compared to using virgin based materials.

From spring 2009, Klean will began manufacturing vast amounts of custom green chemicals with more than 50% recycled content, using waste collected from their customers and partners.

Gridpoint

Despite decades of advances in IT, we still rely for energy upon a highly inefficient electricity grid created over 100 years ago. US company Gridpoint’s new SmartGrid Platform^(tm) is one of a new breed of smart technologies designed to electronically control the way we distribute our energy resources.

Gridpoint’s intelligent technology is used by both energy utilities and end-users to bring ultra-efficiency to the electrical grid. Utilities use the GridPoint Control Console to balance energy supply and demand by discharging stored off-peak power during peak periods. Businesses and households use a GridPoint Energy Manager^(tm) to reduce their non-essential energy loads, for example electrical items left on charge, during peak times. The result is a significant grid-wide reduction in energy consumption.

The technology can also optimise our use of renewable energy when supplies are high, for example when we have extra wind or solar power on a windy or sunny day. Expect to see a similar system helping to distribute the 20% of total power provided by renewable sources, as demanded by EU legislation, by 2020.

Huge amounts of money are being invested in smart-grid companies at the moment. The first smart-grid pilot was set up in March 2008 in Boulder, Colorado by another smart grid provider, Xcel Energy.

General Electric



As one of the world’s biggest companies, US electric company GE is taking steps to green the mainstream. With the launch of Ecomagination in May 2005, GE committed itself to promoting a series of new carbon-lowering products, including an offshore wind turbine, an efficient desalination water project, and a proposed line of energy-efficient home appliances.

GE has installed over 5,000 offshore wind turbines, with last year’s revenues in excess of $3.4 billion. A new model offers improved rotor efficiency for every wind classification.

By 2025, GE estimates that about two-thirds of the world’s population – about 5.5 billion people – will live in areas facing water stress. GE’s pre-treatment membrane and reverse osmosis technologies have both improved the energy efficiency of the company’s desalinisation projects.

Nanosolar

Founded in 2002, Nanosolar created the world’s first commercial solar panel based on a printed solar cell, using nanotechnology. The thin-film solar cell, known as the Nanosolar Utility Panel^(tm), has better solar energy-to-power conversion rates than conventional silicon panels and can be manufactured cheaper. Claimed by the company to be the world’s lowest-cost solar panel, Nanosolar believes it is capable of profitably selling the panels for as little as 99 cents per watt.

Flush with cash from investors, the latest being a $50 million deal with French utility EDF Energy in April 2008, Nanosolar is in process of building the world’s largest solar-cell factory in California and the world’s largest panel-assembly factory in Germany.

The company is also vying to supply its panels to municipal solar-power plants. According to Nanosolar’s CEO, Martin Roscheisen, a 2MW solar-power plant, required to serve a city of 1,000 homes, would cover 10 acres of fields, and the panels would be mounted so as not to disturb the grass.

Google

World-renowned as the internet’s biggest search engine, Google is taking some of its profit and investing it into making power from renewable resources cheaper than power from coal. Headquartered in a solar-powered office, one of the solutions Google is experimenting with is solar thermal technology, developed by Californian start-up company eSolar.

By mass manufacturing heliostats, which concentrate solar power via mirrors to heat a concrete tower of water, and pre-assembling power stations, Google and eSolar hope they will be able to drive down the cost of renewable energy. However, with companies like Nanosolar on their tail, Google and eSolar may soon find themselves competing against cost-effective thin film solar panels too.

Th!nk



Electric cars have so far been largely unsuccessful on the market, but Norwegian company Th!nk hopes to reverse that trend. Th!nk cars use lithium-ion batteries that can go for long distances with only one plug-in.

The new batteries can allow a car to travel up to 180 km in the city on one eight-hour charge. Developed by A123 systems and Enerdel, the batteries do not have to be charged when not in use, which used to be the case.

Th!nk’s longer-travelling electric city cars will start selling in the UK this autumn at a cost of £14,000. Electric cars require minimal maintenance and are safe to use on the highway. Wwith a respectable top speed of 100km/h, Th!nk could be the next green car technology to go mainstream.

powerPerfector

UK company, powerPerfector, offers instant cost benefits to companies by altering their power supplies to work with greater energy efficiency. The technology is designed to optimise the voltage for a given site and improve the efficiency of electrical equipment. The company has already drawn high-profile clients, such as Tesco, Burger King, Woolworths, Hilton Hotels and Sainsbury’s.

powerPerfector claims to cut carbon emissions by up to 22% and reduce energy costs and demand by the same figure.

BASF



If, like the UK government, you haven’t figured out what a zero-carbon house is yet, take a look at BASF’s new heat-saving products. The German chemicals company has developed a wax-based paint, called Micronal, which absorbs heat during warmer periods as latent energy and releases it again as heat when the room cools down.

The company has also developed a more efficient version of polystyrene insulation, called Neopor, which offers better insulation using less materials. BASF is showcasing its products in a number of pilot low-carbon housing sites across the world. These projects include not only new-builds, but also old houses that BASF claims to retrofit with relative ease, significantly lowering their energy use and carbon footprint.

Pilot projects includes the first zero-carbon home on show in the UK, at the University of Nottingham, and a building project in Paterson, New Jersey. According to BASF, The average American homeowner, paying about $1,700 a year on utility bills, could save as much as 80% in a BASF Near-Zero Energy home.

Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation

The skies could be cleaner than ever, thanks to what has been branded a “new generation” biofuel developed by a New Zealand start-up company, Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation. Scheduled to be used in a test flight by Air New Zealand, the new fuel is developed from wild algae grown in sewage plants and has already been test-driven in cars.

Aquaflow Bionomic says it is likely to produce a commercial biofuel from the algae-based extract, and has been working with airplane manufacturer Boeing to help create a viable fuel alternative for air travel. Keep an eye on this innovative technology – it could be the next generation of airplane fuel.