Editor’s Note; This is another in a series of posts focusing on the Clean Tech Open Semi-Finalists from Colorado. Last week we introduced you to CleanCoal Briquette and Braxis Energy. Today we learn more about New Sky Energy based in Boulder.

Companies from the Rocky Mountains are competing for three regional prizes of cash and services worth $50,000, with winners to be announced November 2nd. A total of 64 early-stage start-ups in the Rocky Mountain region participated in this year’s competition from a variety of clean tech categories: companies as varied as those creating biofuels from waste to transportation companies working to create more efficient engines.  Now, the competition is down to a handful of Semi-Finalists, including New Sky Energy.

By David A. Hill

New Sky Energy bills itself as the world’s first carbon negative energy and manufacturing company, with a stated mission of capturing and converting carbon dioxide into carbon-negative consumer and commodity products. According to VP of Business Development, Mike Ashford, the chemical technology employed by the company creates high value renewable fuel and removes carbon dioxide from the air or flue gas.

“We are really a chemical feedstock company,” says Ashord. “Our chemicals absorb more CO2 than is emitted during their manufacturing process, so anyone who uses them is helping reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.”

The concept’s incubation began in 2007 when New Sky’s founders, Dr. Deane Litte and Dr. Joe Kosmoski, along with a handful of colleagues, focused on the idea that existing technologies and markets, configured in a unique way, can produce things from CO2 and, thereby, reduce it in the atmosphere. Believing this could be a cornerstone in the foundation of economics and business that helps address climate change, the group and outside supporters have progressed enough to be on the threshold of signing their first customer contract.

“After five years of growth through strategic partnerships  — with existing industries that need our feedstocks — we plan to make our own “low-carbon” products for distributors and consumers,” Ashford tells Colorado Energy News.

The company’s big challenge has been translating what it believes has always been a technically and commercially viable idea into a viable action plan for a sustainable business. “We are crossing that milestone now and expect to sign our first customer within a few weeks. Just having that opportunity and still maintaining our goal of contributing to real reductions in CO2 emissions is extremely rewarding.”

Ashford says the start-up has received major support from seasoned business professionals and scientists, including Dr. Nigel Sammes and Dr. Ryan O’Hayre from the Colorado School of Mines, who have contributed invaluable research, engineering and design work.

In the near term, New Sky Energy hopes to raise $5 million in seed and series funding for the construction and deployment of manufacturing facilities.

How does the company see itself in the New Energy Economy?

“We are part of the solution to the industrial world’s overdependence on fossil fuels, says Ashford, while acknowledging there is no silver bullet to solve the problem, and that New Sky Energy is an “arrow in the quiver.”

“We must wean ourselves from fossil-fuels as a nation, as a species, for that matter, to save the planet as we know it, and we must act quickly. NSE will accelerate whatever we can do by permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere and by making things out of CO2 that we use every day, while ensuring that the CO2 does not go back into the air.  And while doing that, we will create jobs, support renewable energy generation and make money. 

“We are focused on the triple bottom line,” summarizes Ashford. No one can say this company lacks ambition and vision. Now the hard part really starts.

Contact info:

Phone:  650-793-1107, 503-757-8899
Email: info@newskyenergy.com