Pasadena Green Energy Conference Adds Cargill, Genomatica & Miasole to the Program

Business Wire, June 9, 2007

PASADENA, Calif. -- GreenTech 2007, (www.greentech2007.com), a day-long company showcase that will introduce the most exciting innovations in green and sustainable energy, has added Cargill, Inc., Genomatica, Inc. and Miasole to its impressive roster of presentations. All three companies confirmed participation this week and will round out an already full schedule of company presentations that span the green energy and bio energy arenas.

The conference will conclude with an equally impressive panel of venture capitalists who will discuss the green energy market and areas for potential investment, as well as their own current investment portfolios. Participating are some of the best-known and established VC firms in the industry-- Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Battery Ventures, TPG Growth, Mohr Davidow Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners.

The conference, which will be held in Pasadena, the #4 Cleantech city in the U.S., is oriented toward investors and potential partners for immediately commercial and viable technologies.

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Cargill Industrial Bioproducts (www.cargill.com) will be represented by Senior Director James R. Stoppert, former president and CEO of a joint venture named Cargill Dow LLC, (now the wholly owned subsidiary NatureWorks, LLC). He will present exciting technology being jointly created by Cargill and GreenTech sponsor, Materia, Inc. At GreenTech 2007, both companies will also discuss a major expansion of their partnership.

Genomatica, Inc. (www.genomatica.com) is a San Diego-based biotechnology company that is pioneering new technologies for the manipulation of living cells that will yield clean, sustainable bio-manufacturing of chemical and biological products. President and Chief Scientific Officer Christophe Schilling will discuss engineering microbial cells as "biofactories" for chemical production.

Miasole (www.miasole.com) manufactures a thin-film photovoltaic cell that consists of an ultra-thin layer of photoactive material on a stainless steel foil only 50 microns thick. It can easily be used in PV modules or incorporated into building materials like membrane roofing. Miasole's solar cells make solar power a practical option for large-scale energy production. Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Martin J. Wenzel, will explore the potential for this technology to revolutionize energy use.

BACKGROUND:

Demand for energy is expected to triple by 2050, and new investment and technology will be vital to solving the crisis in resource sustainability. According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, bioenergy ranks second (to hydropower) in renewable U.S. primary energy production and accounts for three percent of the primary energy production in the nation. Bioenergy technologies use renewable resources, or biomass, to produce energy related products that include electricity, liquid, solid and gaseous fuels, heat, chemicals and other materials. Solar energy is also in the national spotlight, primarily due to the $3.2 billion dollars in funding over the next 11 years that California has allotted to it; and the global solar energy market and industry have shown growth figures of over 30% for more than 5 consecutive years.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources has announced that this month the U.S. Senate will take up energy legislation and a national renewable portfolio (RPS) amendment, presented by various senators and signed by supporters like GE, Google, the United Steelworkers, Union of Concerned Scientists, BP America, and Sierra Club, along with many others they will urge Congress to pass a national standard that would require utilities to supply a specific percentage of electricity from renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, biomass and geothermal. The plan would create a renewables standard of 15 percent by 2020.

WHEN: Thursday, June 14, 2007

WHERE: Hilton Hotel; 168 S. Los Robles, Pasadena, 91101; 626.577.1000

WHO: Confirmed Presenters Include:

* Bill Gross Founder & CEO of Idealab Nathan S. Lewis, Ph.D. George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry California Institute of Technology "Scientific Challenges in Sustainable Energy Technology"

* Michael A. Giardello President & CEO of Materia, Inc. Tentative Topic: "Novel Chemicals, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals from Renewable Sources through Chemical Catalysis"

* James T. Stoppert Senior Director, Cargill Industrial Bioproducts, Cargill, Inc. "The Bio-Industrial Revolution Has Begun"

* Carl Kukkonen CEO & Founder of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corp., a VIASPACE Energy Company "Fuel Cells and Fuel Cartridges to Power Portable Electronics": Who will buy a fuel cell powered laptop unless the fuel is readily available?"

* Carl Schulenburg CEO & Founder of PowerMEMS Technologies Inc. "Energy Harvesting for the Next Generation"

* Roland Schoettle CEO & Founder of Optimal Technologies (USA), Inc. "Setting the New Bar for End-to-End Power System Efficiency and the World's First True 'Smart' Grids"

* Douglas L. Schulz Senior Research Scientist, Center for Nanoscale Science & Engineering Adjunct Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department, North Dakota State University The center pursues research at the micro and nano-scale levels to develop practical materials, processes and devices with potential for world impact. It partners with the Department of Defense and Alien Technology Corp. "Renewables at North Dakota State"