GOV. RITTER CONGRATULATES WINNING ENTREPRENEURS AT 2009 CLEANTECH OPEN

Gov. Bill Ritter today congratulated four winning teams in the 2009 Rocky Mountain Cleantech Open in Denver, an event designed to find promising early-stage start-up companies that address today’s most urgent energy and environmental challenges.

The winners moving to the next round of competition are: New Sky Energy (Boulder), Rivertop Renewables (Missoula, Mont.) and SunTrac Solar (Golden). A fourth company, Cool Energy of Boulder, won the regional sustainability award.

“These companies represent the innovative spirit at the heart of Colorado’s New Energy Economy,” said Gov. Bill Ritter. “Here we find the creative, entrepreneurial and energetic minds that are blazing our path into the future. I congratulate the winners — and all the competitors — for their courage and vision in pushing critical new ideas and designs into marketplace.”

The winners were chosen from a pool of 64 cleantech entrepreneurs from the Rocky Mountain region. Finalists will receive $50,000 cash and in-kind services and join winners from California and the Pacific Northwest for a final event at the Cleantech Open Awards Gala in San Francisco Nov. 17.

More on the winners:

New Sky Energy: Boulder-based New Sky Energy is the world’s first carbon negative chemical manufacturing company. The firm’s revolutionary technology captures and converts carbon dioxide into feedstocks, like soda ash and limestone, which are used in glass, plastics, building materials, fabrics and other products.

Rivertop Renewables: Based in Missoula, Montana, Rivertop Renewables is innovating a new category of science — “Progressive Chemistry.” Merging proven science with renewable resources, Rivertop Renewables is creating an abundant and economical supply of sustainable and safe chemicals and bioproducts. Rivertop products are biodegradable and built from renewable plant sugars.

SunTrac Solar: SunTrac Solar of Golden, the only high temperature solar collector heat product manufactured in the United States, provides a long-term, cost effective solar solution for heating residential and commercial hot water. SunTrac reduces utility costs by up to 80% while taking up only half the space of current panel designs. The patented system tracks the movement of the sun, collecting 50% to 70% of the available solar energy to heat hot water up to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cool Energy: Cool Energy of Boulder was selected the winner of the regional sustainability award. Cool Energy has developed a clean heat and electrical power generation system for homes and small buildings that runs solely on solar fuel and reduces energy bills by as much as 75%. The main innovation is called the SolarHeart® Engine which converts any source of heat into usable electricity. In addition to solar applications, the engine can generate electricity from biomass and waste heat sources.