Rustic Canyon

Transonic Combustion, the Khosla Ventures-backed startup currently developing a high-efficiency fuel injection system that could lead to 100 mpg vehicles, said today it’s raised a third round of funding, though it declined to say exactly how much. Venrock, Rustic Canyon Partners and Saints Capital also participated in the round. The Camarillo, Calif.-based startup, which tends to be tight-lipped on many details of its business deals, will use the money to move its system closer to commercialization.
Transonic’s technology is a new fuel-injection system that runs on high-compression diesel engines and minimizes waste heat while raising fuel economy, explains marketing director Eric Sharp. Once applied to engines, it can reduce emissions of NOx pollutants, such as the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, by up to 50 percent.


Transonic’s aim is to sell its fuel-injection systems directly to automakers, which would install them at their factories. Most automakers today buy their fuel-injection systems from third-party vendors, Sharp said. Transonic’s system can be attached to diesel engines without much retooling and would enable them to run on gasoline.


Transonic is collaborating with what it calls “global automotive manufacturers” to test and develop its products. Mike Rocke, VP of business development, previously told us that the company was in discussions with three automakers — one each in the U.S., Japan and Germany. But Sharp wouldn’t offer a date as to when he expects cars equipped with the system to be sold at lots. Instead, he would only say that the three-year-old firm is looking for “near-term adoption.”


A “drop-in technology,” as Transonic calls it, that raises fuel standards and reduces emissions should be attractive to automakers. The driving public is increasingly demanding more fuel-efficient cars, and governments are tightening limits on tailpipe emissions. In March, the Department of Transportation proposed the first increase to passenger vehicle fuel efficiency standards in more than 20 years, a step toward the 35 mpg corporate average fuel economy requirements set for 2020 in the 2007 Energy Bill. And while plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles hold promise, many industry watchers argue that it will be some time before they’re ready for mass adoption. Transonic, by comparison, claims its technology will be ready much sooner.


But persuading automakers to adopt its fuel-injection system won’t be so easy, according to IHS Global Insight analyst Paul Lacy. While the technology might increase fuel economy, automakers will want to know how it will affect engine performance and durability. “Can the company say that it’s run the system on a mainstream engine for 250,000 miles and shown that it doesn’t cause any major negative effects?” asked Lacy. “Warranty is a very expensive part of doing business in the auto industry.”


Lacy also questions Transonic’s plug-and-play claim. He said emissions depend on many parts working together, including fuel injection, chambers, intake manifolds, catalytic converter and more. Change one piece and it affects the rest of them. Automakers will also be concerned about how much tweaking their current designs would need in order to achieve the performance that Transonic promises.

Transonic Combustion, the Khosla Ventures-backed startup currently developing a high-efficiency fuel injection system that could lead to 100 mpg vehicles, said today it’s raised a third round of funding, though it declined to say exactly how much. Venrock, Rustic Canyon Partners and Saints Capital also participated in the round. The Camarillo, Calif.-based startup, which tends to be tight-lipped on many details of its business deals, will use the money to move its system closer to commercialization.
Transonic’s technology is a new fuel-injection system that runs on high-compression diesel engines and minimizes waste heat while raising fuel economy, explains marketing director Eric Sharp. Once applied to engines, it can reduce emissions of NOx pollutants, such as the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, by up to 50 percent.

Transonic’s aim is to sell its fuel-injection systems directly to automakers, which would install them at their factories. Most automakers today buy their fuel-injection systems from third-party vendors, Sharp said. Transonic’s system can be attached to diesel engines without much retooling and would enable them to run on gasoline.

Transonic is collaborating with what it calls “global automotive manufacturers” to test and develop its products. Mike Rocke, VP of business development, previously told us that the company was in discussions with three automakers — one each in the U.S., Japan and Germany. But Sharp wouldn’t offer a date as to when he expects cars equipped with the system to be sold at lots. Instead, he would only say that the three-year-old firm is looking for “near-term adoption.”

A “drop-in technology,” as Transonic calls it, that raises fuel standards and reduces emissions should be attractive to automakers. The driving public is increasingly demanding more fuel-efficient cars, and governments are tightening limits on tailpipe emissions. In March, the Department of Transportation proposed the first increase to passenger vehicle fuel efficiency standards in more than 20 years, a step toward the 35 mpg corporate average fuel economy requirements set for 2020 in the 2007 Energy Bill. And while plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles hold promise, many industry watchers argue that it will be some time before they’re ready for mass adoption. Transonic, by comparison, claims its technology will be ready much sooner.

But persuading automakers to adopt its fuel-injection system won’t be so easy, according to IHS Global Insight analyst Paul Lacy. While the technology might increase fuel economy, automakers will want to know how it will affect engine performance and durability. “Can the company say that it’s run the system on a mainstream engine for 250,000 miles and shown that it doesn’t cause any major negative effects?” asked Lacy. “Warranty is a very expensive part of doing business in the auto industry.”

Lacy also questions Transonic’s plug-and-play claim. He said emissions depend on many parts working together, including fuel injection, chambers, intake manifolds, catalytic converter and more. Change one piece and it affects the rest of them. Automakers will also be concerned about how much tweaking their current designs would need in order to achieve the performance that Transonic promises.

Trion World Network's MMORPG getting showcased this summer.
If you've never heard of Trion World Network, don't be all that surprised – they haven't even released their debut game, Heroes of Telara. However, the developer and publisher today announced that the upcoming MMORPG will be showcased at their first E3 appearance later this year.

CAMARILLO, Calif., May 6, 2009-- In its mission to dramatically improve fuel economy and cut carbon emissions, today Transonic Combustion, Inc. announced that it has raised a C-round of equity funding. Transonic will use the capital to further advance its patented technology, expand its technical team and facilities, and continue collaborating with global automotive manufacturers.

Existing investors Venrock, Khosla Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners and Saints Capital have all deepened their support of Transonic. “Transonic has developed a revolutionary approach to improving internal combustion engine efficiency that could change the automobile industry forever,” said Ray Rothrock, partner, Venrock.

“We’re at a pivotal time of increased regulations and consumer demand for efficient, affordable cars,” added Vinod Khosla, founding partner, Khosla Ventures. “Transonic’s technology offers a high-impact, near-term clean technology solution to promote energy independence and climate change mitigation.”

“Transonic’s innovative technology, unique market position, and enormous commercial promise hold broad economic, environmental, and social impact,” said Lee Bailey, advisory partner, Rustic Canyon Partners.

Transonic Combustion is on course to directly supply global automotive manufacturers with its high efficiency fuel injection systems. Transonic’s TSCi™ fuel injection system has demonstrated extraordinary fuel economy and lower emissions, while also running gasoline effectively within diesel architectures. To date, testing on several different engine platforms with multiple customers and multiple fuels has regularly achieved air-to-fuel ratios in excess of 80:1 at cruise conditions, with engine-out NOx at just 50% of comparable standard engines. These promising results have led to significant engagement with leading global automotive and engine makers.

“Our team is developing a fundamental, cost-effective improvement in internal combustion efficiency,” said Brian Ahlborn, CEO, Transonic Combustion. “We appreciate the continued support of our investor group in helping us meet our very ambitious goals.”

In addition to investor backing, Transonic has secured support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and plans to expand its presence into Southeast Michigan.

About Transonic Combustion

Founded in late 2006, Transonic Combustion’s TSCiTM fuel injection systems provide global automotive manufacturers with ultra-high efficiency powertrain technology for their modern engine platforms, with the long-term promise of running on renewable zero net carbon biofuels. The company is headquartered in Camarillo, California, with 3 facilities totaling over 70,000 square feet. For more information, please visit tscombustion.com.

Contact:
Transonic Combustion, Inc.
Eric Sharp
805-465-5119
eric.sharp@tscombustion.com
or
Stonerose Advisors, LLC for Transonic Combustion, Inc.
Meghan Roman
415-260-1857
meghan@stoneroseadvisors.com

CHICAGO, IL — Serious Materials, the leading energy-saving building materials company in the U.S., today welcomed United States Vice President Joe Biden along with United States Senators Dick Durbin and Roland Burris and Mayor Richard Daley to its most recently acquired windows manufacturing plant in Chicago.  Vice President Biden, whose support played a pivotal role in the passing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), visited the high-performance window manufacturing plant to demonstrate his support for the creation of new green jobs through the American manufacturing of energy-saving building materials like  SeriousWindows™ and SeriousGlass™.

“This is a story about how we inspire a better tomorrow.  You're making some of the most energy-efficient windows in the world, I would argue, the most energy-efficient windows in the world,” said Vice President Joe Biden. Speaking to Serious Materials’ employees, Vice President Biden continues, “And you're not just providing for your family with the income you're making here; but by lowering energy bills, you're saving the families in Delaware, California, Mississippi, Maine -- you're saving all of them. You're saving people in public housing which are investing in weatherization. You're saving people on the bottom line of how much money they will have to care for their families.” Biden continues, “Kevin, thank you and Serious for your faith in the people here at this factory, your faith in the country, your willingness to invest here in America.”

"Today, because of the hard work and determination of many people, this factory is once again providing jobs for people at the very time jobs are most needed in our country,” said Mayor Richard Daley.  “And, in part because of new federal tax credits for buyers of energy-efficient products such as the ones Serious makes, the future looks bright for the company, its employees and this community."

Republic Windows and Doors garnered national attention in December 2008 when it suddenly closed its doors, declared bankruptcy, and left over 260 people unemployed just before Christmas 2008. At the end of February, Serious Materials acquired the assets of the former Republic Windows and Doors. The Company has since began to rehire former-Republic union workers and is quickly installing new equipment for the manufacturing of its SeriousWindows products and commercial glass, SeriousGlass. With this new plant, Serious Materials will be able to meet the increased demand for its super-insulating windows accelerated by funding made available through the ARRA for energy-efficient building projects. The Company intends to formally re-open the factory within the next sixty days, creating more green manufacturing jobs.

“It is a great honor to host Vice President Biden at our Serious Materials Chicago factory. Vice President Biden understands how devastating it can be to a community when factories close and jobs leave,” said Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. “That is why I’m so proud to lead Serious Materials – a company that is re-opening factories, and creating the green-collar jobs that are the key to our economic future.”

With the upcoming reopening of former Republic Windows and last month’s reopening of former Kensington Windows in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, Serious Materials is on track to accelerate production for its SeriousWindows and SeriousGlass product lines by tenfold this year. Replacement of existing windows with SeriousWindows and SeriousGlass could reduce the U.S. total energy use and carbon emissions by 200 million metric tons of C02 per year. Super-insulating, full-frame R-5 to R-11 windows exceed Energy Star® requirements by up to four times and can reduce heating and cooling up to 50%, resulting in a 5% savings in national energy use. SeriousWindows and SeriousGlass support energy efficiency programs as outlined under The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) including: Weatherization (WAP), Green Federal Buildings, State Energy Program (SEP), Energy Efficiency Block Grants, Energy Tax Credit for Consumers, and Tax Deductions for Commercial Buildings. 

Just last month, Serious Materials was commended by President Obama for the work it is doing to create thousands of American green jobs. On March 23, President Obama commented, “Serious Materials just reopened a manufacturing plant outside of Pittsburgh. Last year, that factory was shuttered and more than one hundred jobs were lost. The town was devastated. Today, that factory is whirring back to life, and Serious Materials is rehiring the folks who lost their jobs. And these workers will now have a new mission: producing some of the most energy efficient windows in the world.”

ABOUT Serious Materials
Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that save energy, save money, improve comfort and aggressively address climate change.  The company was voted #1 at Cleantech Forum XII, won Global Gypsum Product of the Year 2008, won the first Aspen Institute award for innovation in Energy Conservation, and was awarded Green Product of the Year by Popular Science.  It has also been recognized by TIME/CNN, Fortune, and Business Week as one of the top green technology companies. SeriousWindows™ and SeriousGlass™ reduce heating and cooling energy costs by up to 50% and improve occupant comfort. QuietRock® soundproof drywall and QuietGlass® reduce material use, enhance livability, and support dense sustainable urban construction.  EcoRock™ uses 80% less energy in its core production and has the potential to save billions of pounds of CO2 annually making it the only true green alternative to gypsum drywall and five times more environmentally friendly. SeriousWindows, SeriousGlass and super-insulating ThermaRock™ drywall support energy efficiency funding programs as outlined under The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) including Weatherization (WAP), Green Federal Buildings, State Energy Program (SEP), Energy Efficiency Block Grants, Energy Tax Credit for Consumers, and Tax Deductions for Commercial Buildings. The company was commended by President Obama for the work it is doing to create thousands of American green jobs.
For more information visit www.SeriousMaterials.com.

By Mehul Srivastava

The other day, after her cell phone stopped working during a trip, Beth Tomlinson used a pay phone to call her cell-phone carrier. Her call, like so many others around the world, was answered in Noida, an outsourcing-driven boom town about 20 kilometers outside New Delhi. Tomlinson, a Kansas-native who has lived in India for several years, didn't really care. After all, she was in Noida, too.

But when 20 minutes with a nervous operator went by and her cell phone still didn't work, Tomlinson did start to care. "I've called my American cell-phone company and had the call answered in Noida, and I've called my Indian cell phone company and had the call answered in Noida," she says. "But there is such a huge difference in the quality of service. I could hear kids laughing and giggling in the back, and I needed to get to an important work meeting right away."

Since the late 1990s, when cheap Internet telephony made it possible for U.S. companies to outsource their call centers, Americans have been complaining, loudly and regularly, about the quality of service. Just last week, Delta (DAL) pulled a call center out of India because its customers said they hated the service. "The customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low," Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson told his employees in a message. "Our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback."

Indians are speaking out, too. In India's outsourcing world, the call-center industry, which employs as many as half a million people, is bifurcated. The better-paid, better-trained, and English-speaking operators typically go right to foreign-service call centers, and the lower-paid, not as well-trained, mostly local language speaking operators stay at locally targeted call centers.

Different Worlds
The results, predictably, have been lower quality of service for Indians as they try to navigate their cell-phone plans, their credit-card bills, or their flight reservations. "It took me three years to get a job with foreign clients," says Manish Tripathi, a 24-year-old call-center worker who asked that his employer's name not be mentioned. "And the difference was vast. Every day, they trained us on the software, the computers were better, even the telephones were nicer."

It makes economic sense, of course; foreign clients pay more than Indian clients do, sometimes by as much as 50% for total contracts, which are often decided by the number of "seats" that an operator has to fill to service a contract. Some Indian call centers, especially the ones set up in rural areas for low-cost government contracts, pay as little as $75 a month to its workers. That's a respectable living for a young person in a village, but a college grad with a couple of years experience could make as much as $400 working for an English-language operator in a city.

Quality control has been an issue for many Indian call centers. With many call centers are seen as temporary jobs for college graduates looking for something better, they have higher attrition than global rates—about 50% to 60% compared with the 28% worldwide, as measured by South Africa-based Dimension. But the key issue is training and making sure the right person answers the right call, says Martin Dove, a spokesperson for Dimension Data, which surveys call centers around the world every year. "As a whole, we've seen customer satisfaction stay relatively steady," he says, citing figures that slipped only slightly from 82% in 2006 to about 80% in 2008.
 
"It's not answering a call quickly, but making sure that when it is answered, i…when the caller starts speaking, he is speaking to a person who has the right tools, the right training to solve the problem."

That doesn't necessarily mean call centers have the real issue—keeping customers happy—figured out. After all, call centers' real clients are the companies to which they sell contracts, not the people who call them for help. Dimension Data found that the $130 billion industry has been slow to figure out how to measure customer satisfaction, instead focusing on cost-cutting and efficiencies.

Taking Training Seriously
In the six years that Seattle-based Hyperquality has been in business, it has listened to over 5 million calls between customers and agents, trying to help some of American's largest companies figure out how to keep customers satisfied. The biggest issue, says Chris Coles, Hyperquality's CEO, is training, but in some cases, accents and cultural sensitivity also come into play.

But for Indian call centers that serve Indian clients, Coles says the issue is basic: pay and prestige. "Folks in the contact-center industry are always looking for an improvement in compensation and status," he says. "There is certainly a food chain, so the effect is that talented folks that may enter in the domestic sector are looking for ways to move themselves [to] foreign language."

Unlike in the U.S., complaints in India are not about the fact that jobs have gone overseas, of course, or about accent or language. Instead, like Americans, Indians just want quick service. "It is unbelievable sometimes," says Anupam Mathur, who manages several bank accounts for his employer, a New Delhi-based furniture company. "They don't understand my questions, they don't have any answers, they don't have the authority to solve my problems."

To some extent, business is aware of the issue. Express courier service DHL's India operations made a big splash two years ago when it promised that every call would be answered by a real live person within three rings, a promise that DHL says it largely delivers on. "The customers love it, they really do," says Sheba Varghese, a spokesperson for DHL. "They don't have to press a 1, then a 2, then a 3. They speak to someone right away."

That someone, by the way, is in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

By Scott Denne
3/31/2009

In what may be a solid return for its investors, disk drive maker SiliconSystems Inc. has been sold to Western Digital Corp. for $65 million in cash, giving the hard disk giant its first solid-state product.

SiliconSystems had raised $14 million in venture capital from investors such as Miramar Venture Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners and Shepherd Ventures. It last raised capital in August 2006, with a $2 million Series C round from Samsung Ventures, according to VentureWire records and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Saints Capital also holds a stake in the company through a recent deal in which the secondary firm bought 20% of Rustic Canyon's position in eight companies from its second fund, including SiliconSystems.

SiliconSystems, founded in 2003, made flash memory-based disks that are used for embedded storage in industrial, military, aerospace and communications products.

The company targeted those markets because it saw larger disk drive companies putting more effort into commodity disk markets, such as corporate data centers and personal computers, said Bob Holmen, a managing director of Miramar Venture Partners, which led the company's Series A round in 2004. "Companies like SanDisk were moving away from the industrial side of the market, and that left SiliconSystems with a nice hole" to fill, he said.

"The key factors for us [in the decision to buy SiliconSystems] was a success in an ongoing market, with customers that are new to us," said Bob Blair, a spokesman for Western Digital. Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based SiliconSystems has been profitable since 2005 and had revenue of $47 million in 2008, he said.

SiliconSystems explored raising more capital to continue to grow independently but concluded that it would need to begin building its own application-specific chips to get to the next level of performance, something that would have taken an additional $25 million and greatly changed the amount of risk involved in the company, said John Babcock, a partner with Rustic Canyon.

Both Holmen and Babcock said they were very happy with the outcome, though neither would provide specific multiples.

In addition to the embedded storage market, SiliconSystems' technology and engineering staff will "enable us to jumpstart our own efforts in solid-state storage," Blair said, adding that Western Digital had plans to eventually bring solid-state products to the consumer and corporate computing markets that it currently serves with hard disk drives.

Flash memory has drifted into the consumer space over the last few years, beginning with devices such as MP3 players and cameras and more recently laptop and desktop hard drives.

There has also been a lot of recent talk - but few products - around bringing flash disks to data centers, since companies frequently have to over-provision hard disks to keep up with faster processor speeds, a problem that flash, with faster read and write speeds, could solve.

On Monday, Pliant Technology Inc. announced a $15 million Series C round to bring enterprise flash disks into production. Also, two of Western Digital's biggest competitors - Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Seagate Technology - have announced their intention to enter this space.

Integration of the two companies has already begun. Western Digital will keep all of SiliconSystems' approximately 100 employees. The company will become Western Digital's solid-state storage business unit.

http://www.wdc.com
http://www.siliconsystems.com

In a weeklong blitz for his ambitious, but somewhat beleaguered budget, President Obama today is highlighting "clean energy" proposals.
In advance of a meeting with entrepreneurs and research leaders, the White House released a "fact sheet" saying that the $787 billion stimulus bill includes $39 billion in energy investments at the Department of Energy and $20 billion in tax incentives for clean energy.
Obama's $3.6 trillion spending blueprint, which is under criticism from both Republicans and some Democrats because of new, higher deficit projections, includes almost $75 billion over 10 years to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent.
The president argues that alternative energy will create jobs, wean the country from foreign oil, and help make progress on global warming.
Obama also promoted his budget in his weekly Internet and radio address on Saturday and in an interview on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, and plans to do so again in a primetime news conference on Tuesday.
He also had his grassroots army knock on doors over the weekend to build support for his budget.
"It’s an economic blueprint for our future – a vision of America where growth is not based on real estate bubbles or overleveraged banks, but on a firm foundation of investments in energy, education, and healthcare that will lead to a real and lasting prosperity," he said in his weekly address. "These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air – they are a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long: the high cost of health care and our dependence on foreign oil; our education deficit and our fiscal deficit."
He said renewable energy is one of four core principles he will insist on as Congress debates and rewrites his proposal.
"First, it must reduce our dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put this nation on a path to a clean, renewable energy future. There is no longer a doubt that the jobs and industries of tomorrow will involve harnessing renewable sources of energy. The only question is whether America will lead that future."
The fact sheet is below:
FACT SHEET: INVESTING IN OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

Today, President Obama will meet with clean energy entrepreneurs and leaders of the research community to discuss his strategy for building a clean energy economy and creating the industries and jobs of the future.

The American Reinvestment Recovery Act and his FY10 budget dramatically increase investment in cutting-edge research, the development and deployment of clean energy technologies, and incentives for private sector R&D. These investments will establish the foundation for America’s future economic prosperity, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help combat climate change.

The ARRA includes $39 billion in energy investments at the Department of Energy and $20 billion in tax incentives for clean energy, including:

The creation of an advanced research agency for energy, modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency which developed the Internet

Support for Energy Frontier Research Centers, which could lead to breakthroughs in energy storage, super-efficient engines, and solar cells as cheap as paint

Supporting U.S. manufacturing of advanced batteries needed for plug-in hybrids, renewable energy backup, and other applications

$1.2 billon for research infrastructure for the Department of Energy’s national labs, which is being announced by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The President’s 10-year budget also proposes almost $75 billion to make the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit permanent, stimulating private-sector investment in R&D and keeping the U.S. economy at the cutting-edge of 21st century technologies:

Studies have shown that every dollar of tax benefit stimulates as much as an additional dollar of private R&D spending in the short run and two dollars in the long run. Every $1 of R & D adds $2 of benefit to our economy and society as a whole.

Two-thirds of benefits of the credit are attributable to salaries of U.S. workers performing U.S.-based research, and the credit stimulates R&D spending by more than 11,000 small, medium and large firms.

The credit has been extended 13 times with some extensions lasting just 6 months, and has also been allowed to lapse for almost a year - undermining its effectiveness because companies can't count on it.

Several of the technologies in the program today will be on display, highlighting the importance of R&D investment in building a clean energy economy, including:

Orion Energy “Apollo Light Pipe”: The Apollo Light Pipe collects and focuses sunlight, bringing natural light indoors without consuming electricity and replacing traditional lighting for large portions of the day. Coca-Cola and Sysco have installed this system, saving enough energy to power over 500 homes for a year.

Solyndra Solar Panel: Solyndra is the first recipient of the DOE Loan Guarantee recovery program, announced last week. Their solar panel is a unique cylindrical design that maximizes direct sunlight and absorption.

The program will highlight success stories from R&D investments in the lab to job creation. Paul Holland, the Vice Chairman of the Board and Lead Investor for Serious Materials, will introduce the President and share the story of Serious Materials, the leading energy-saving building materials company in the US.

Serious Materials has 4 plants in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and plans to reopen the old Republic Windows plant in Chicago this Spring.

Earlier this month, Serious Materials re-opened a previously shuttered plant in Pennsylvania, and is hiring back over 100 union workers in the next couple of months.

Serious Materials’ products exceed current Energy Star standards by up to 400 percent and can reduce heating and cooling energy costs by up to 50%. 5% of US energy use is lapsed through inefficient window glass.

President Obama made remarks on investments in clean energy and new technology included in the budget from the Old Executive Office Building. Speaking before the president were Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Susan Hockfield, and Serious Materials Board Member Paul Holland.

Serious Materials re-opens former Kensington Windows factory and re-hires ex-employees to manufacture energy-efficient, super-insulating SeriousWindows - helping to create green jobs for U.S.