Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. And now it's time for the Aflac BusinessMakers' Flashback, brought to you by Aflac, ask about it at work. For this morning's Flashback we're going to revisit elevator pitches from the Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum that took place at Rice University last week. John and I chose four of our favorites and we're going to review them and share them with you now and then we're going to share all 48 as WebXtras at thebusinessmakers.com. Up first we have Alla Jezmir, director with EGG-Energy:

Alla: "500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without electricity because power distribution doesn't cover the last mile. EGG-Energy takes power from a grid connection or an off-grid renewable power source and packages it into a portable, rechargeable battery like this one. Our 12-volt, 12 amp power AGM lead-acid battery can power a household for three to five nights; each battery is rented to a customer for an annual subscription fee. When the battery is exhausted customers can exchange it immediately for a fully charged battery at one of our EGG-Energy charging depots, it's basically like Netflix for batteries.

Our market is the 500 million Africans that live without electricity; in Tanzania alone, which is our entry point into the region, currently the off-grid lighting market is $715 million. EGG-Energy service is 35 percent cheap than available alternatives and first-mover advantage will allow us to build our brand and scale quickly. With seed financing in hand, most notably from winning the Harvard School of Business competition, we have just signed up our first customers and our waiting list is growing. Our financing we need is $1 million, that's $50,000.00 to expand our pilot, $360,000.00 to expand in 2010, and $640,000.00 to finance growth in 2011 and beyond. You can help bring energy to African households today."

Russ: OK, Netflix for batteries, that's kind of cool.

John: She should have led off with that analogy.

Russ: Yea she should.

John: The delivery wasn't good, the product sounds interesting. One thing I wish she would have addressed is all those lead batteries are quite a pollution problem and seepage in the groundwater, they have water problems over there anyway. But it sounds like a decent product.

Russ: OK, up next we have Bryan Guido Hassin, the CEO of Enistic:

Bryan: "I'm Bryan Guido Hassin, an entrepreneur with three Rice Engineering degrees, an MBA and a track record of having started three successful technology companies. After leading my last start up to over $6 million in revenue within months of our product launch, I joined a seasoned management team to cofound Enistic. Now US businesses spend over $9 billion a year on energy just for office equipment, Enistic reduces office equipment energy consumption with wirelessly monitored power strips that you can control over the web and that affect not just the office equipment but also human behavior.

Now there are competitors but we provide the only fully integrated enterprise solution for the smart office. Our UK sister company has fully developed the product suite and already clients like IMB are realizing energy savings of up to 27 percent. Now we're developing the $4 billion North American market with partnerships with energy services companies, we're seeking a $1 million investment to help fund electrical certification and a pilot roll out here in Houston, one of our largest markets. Based on our experience with similar businesses, we expect a 300 percent annual growth rate and a 5 times return on investment within 3 years. Come see us later."

Russ: OK, wirelessly monitored power strips, mainly for office equipment. That's pretty cool. When everybody goes home at night you make sure you're not sucking power out of the grid.

John: Unfortunately we found out about that product way into his elevator pitch, he spent the first 15 seconds talking about himself and all his degrees. Okay, that not withstanding, I think it is a pretty interesting product as long as it's kept in the proper hands.

Russ: (laughs) Right, you could turn off somebody's computer, just power them down.

John: Can you imagine those peer reviews at Enron if they were to have had wireless power strips? They could have gone in there and created poor performance.(laughs)

Russ: Right.

John: All that aside, I think it's a very interesting product and it was a good description, he just got into it too late because he was bragging about his degrees. Since I don't have a degrees, I get offended by that. (laughs)

Russ: I think there's a lot of investors that really like to hear about that stuff.

John: But you put that in when he's talking about his team-remember, he went into his team, he should have put that in there. That would have been somewhat appropriate.

Russ: But it is amazing, those that really know about how appliances and computers suck down power these days, so it's kind of a neat idea.

John: Yeah, as long as it's left in the proper hands.

Russ: I agree. OK, up next , an elevator pitch from Jim McCarley, CEO of General Vortex Energy Inc.

Jim: "I'm Jim McCarley, CEO of General Vortex Energy. At GVE we develop combustion technology that can burn anything... almost. At GVE our patented vortex combustor can convert conventional, alternative, and opportunity fuels into usable power and do so at lower costs, better efficiency, and lower emissions. GVE has developed this technology working with the Office of Naval Research and is now ready to produce a commercial gas turbine combustion chamber.

To do this we will use $2.7 million of government funds and need $1.3 million of private investment to provide working capital, market our product and produce a two-megawatt system. Our target markets are portable generators, alternative fuel, power generation systems, and other distributed power applications. Together these represent a $14 million market opportunity, capable of delivering over 42 percent EBITDA by 2011. Please come and talk to us more at Table 5. GVE's combustor, clearing a path today fusing tomorrow's fuel. Thank you."

Russ: We all know every time they come out with some kind of new fuel it takes a new engine and this guy's saying he's got this combustion that you can just poor almost any type of fuel-

John: I like his opening, "Burn anything-almost."

Russ: Yea.

John: It had a good flow, of the ones we've heard so far, I would put him at the top of the heap-no pun intended.

Russ: All right, good for him. It's interesting to see what the present energy situation is motivating, and that's just one. There's 48 of them so don't forget, go to thebusinessmakers.com. OK up next is our last elevator pitch from the 7th annual Rice Alliance Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum, we have Richard T. Hahn of Ice Cycle LP:

Richard: "Good afternoon. Demand for electricity during peak power period demand is growing five times faster than total demand, this is causing us to need more power plants that are both expensive and increase carbon emissions. We can leverage the efficiencies of generating and transmitting less expensive off peak power to thousands of distributed sites and then delivering it during periods of peak demand. This provides a new and permanent demand side solution so large that it can result in no need for new power plants for the next 50 years. Our product's attached to regular HVAC systems, they consist of a control module and storage vessel that either contains ice or a non-freezing liquid. During off peak periods, the control module tells the AC system to cool the liquid in the tank; during peak period the controller shuts off the AC's compressor and uses the cold water to cool a building.

This virtually eliminates electrical demand from the biggest user of peak period power, the AC system. Our customers are utilities that want to buy megawatts of shifted demand to off peak periods, our sweet spot is the 95 percent of commercial buildings that are 10,000 to 100,000 square feet in size and the value of this market is over $300 billion. We have one direct competitor, they have raised $70 million, however our patented functionality provides us tremendous cost and installation advantaged and limits, dramatically, our competitors' addressable market. Our patent has been challenged and reaffirmed by the patent office, our investor has committed another $1.9 million and is looking for a co-investor in the next round of $3 to $5 million. Thank you very much."

Russ: That's interesting because he mentions 10,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet commercial building as his target-I think that's because the guys over 100,000 square feet do this today with their chilling, so he said, "Hey if it's good enough for them why not bring it down to all these buildings that are this size."

John: That's right, because the building my office is in uses chillers.

Russ: All right, that wraps up our review of the 7th annual Rice Alliance Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum and that wraps up this morning's Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, brought to you by Aflac, ask about it at work. Be sure to go to thebusinessmakers.com and in the web extra section find all 48 elevator pitches from this cool, cool event. Stay tuned in for the featured guest segment with Bill Schrom, CEO of Geotrace. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online and thebusinessmakers.com.