Well, as suspected, Schneider Electric of France has struck a deal to buy Vancouver-based power electronics maker Xantrex for $410 million. Perhaps just as interesting is that Schneider could be a takeover target of Switzerland’s ABB. Talk about massive fish swallowing big fish swallowing little fish. It’s yet another sign that renewables is the place to be, and that the big companies are gearing up for expectations of higher demand.

There’s a story in Technology Review about a Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company called Carbon Sense Solutions that has found a way to make precast concrete products CO2-sucking vacuums. The interesting thing about concrete is that over hundreds of years they absorb CO2, a natural process called carbonation. The amount of absorption partially offsets the CO2 emissions that result from the calcination of limestone during the manufacture of cement, which is a key active ingredient of concrete. One problem, however, is that during the earlier stages of carbonation the outer two or three millimetres of the concrete forms a hardened crust that significantly slows down CO2 absorption. What Carbon Sense claims to have done is packed hundreds of years of carbonation into as little as one hour, using a curing process that consumes dramatically less energy than conventional heat/steam curing (see presentation here). In fact, compared to steam curing, company CEO Robert Niven says his approach — building on 40 years of research at McGill University — uses up to 44 per cent less energy and 39 per cent less water.

Now, it only works with precast concrete products — i.e. prefab tunnels, manholes, septic tanks, walls, blocks and beams. Even concrete wind-turbine towers are precast. This represents between 10 to 15 per cent of the North American concrete market, which is predominantly ready-mix (i.e. construction folks mix it and mould it on site). In some European countries, however, precast is closer to 40 per cent of the market. Given we’re talking about a $125-billion global market annually, even 10 per cent is a market worth pursuing.

Frankly, it sounds too good to be true, given the cement and concrete industry represent more than 5 per cent of global CO2 emissions and something has to be done about it. If all precast operations used Carbon Sense’s process, it would sequester as much as 20 per cent of those emissions in concrete, says Niven. How could this be? Because a precast plant alone wouldn’t have enough emissions to feed the process. To maximize CO2 absortion, a precast plant would have to get more CO2 from the flue stacks of neighbouring industrial facilities — assuming ideal logistics. Niven also says the process could take advantage of a plan, originating from Alberta, to build a CO2 pipeline across Canada that would feed enhanced oil recovery projects and other industrial uses (yeah, when donkeys fly).

There’s no shortage of innovative companies tackling the concrete problem. CalStar, Calera, CO2 Solution — they all have their own interesting twist to greening up concrete’s dirty image. Hopefully one of them, 10 or 20 years from now, will prove that they have the secret sauce that matters. Niven says a pilot plant at a precast concrete facility in Nova Scotia should be announced shortly, and there are plans for a second pilot plant with a precast manufacturer in British Columbia.

Niven wouldn’t go into too much detail about the process, citing proprietary concerns, so let’s just hope the preliminary results from his first two pilot projects go far toward supporting his claims.

Just letting readers know that over the next couple (few?) months I’ll be transitioning over from the Blogware platform to WordPress. Tucows, the Toronto-based software company that owned Blogware, has decided to stop supporting it and is letting it die a slow death. To be fair, they’re not booting me off. I’ve been given fair warning that I need to find another host at some point, so I’m just assuming it should be sooner rather than later. I liked using Blogware, but like anything in life I’m comparing that against not using anything else. So I’m looking forward to trying out WordPress. Change is good.

Now, I’m told the transition will be relatively smooth. I can preserve all my past posts — more than three years worth — and comments, though all past comments will unfortunately be relabelled “anonymous.” All links will be preserved, though I’m getting the sense that I may loose some of the pictures associated with past posts — no biggy. I’m sure there will be some glitches and pain during the transition, but I’ll try to make it as smooth as possible.

The most important thing you can do right now is make sure your browser’s Favorites list or your blogroll goes to www.cleanbreak.ca, rather than the Blogware URL tyler.blogware.com. The www.cleanbreak.ca address will always been the same, regardless of what platform I use.

I’m toying with the idea of changing the logo, because I’m not sure the current colours match any of the WordPress themes. I’ll try to keep it simple. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers.

P.S. — the lack of support for Blogware explains why some of you have had problems with the captchas — i.e. the blurred characters you must enter to have your comments posted. This has been frustrating for many readers here, so the move to WordPress will eliminate this problem.

Xantrex shares shot up 23 per cent this morning — reaching their highest point since 2004, the year it went public — after the company put out a vague press release announcing “it is in exclusive negotiations with respect to the sale of the company.” It warned that the negotiations might not be successful.

This isn’t surprising. Xantrex was always a success story that investors didn’t fully appreciate. The company, after going through some rough times in 2005 and 2006, has been on fire selling its power electronics and inverter products to the solar and wind sectors. Just recently it inked a $5 million inverter deal with SunEdison, though this is just the latest in a string of sales deals with the who’s who of the renewable-energy sector. One financial analyst I spoke with said he wouldn’t be surprised if the likely buyer is Siemens or Schneider Electric, as clearly some of these bigger companies are looking to gain a stronger foothold in the booming renewable energy sector. After all, when you’ve got calls for 100 per cent renewable and clean energy on the U.S. grid (Al Gore) or 20 per cent wind power in the U.S. (T. Boone Pickens), the possible outlook for sales is quite impressive.

Looking at the stock, it could turn out to be a $400 million-plus acquisition — not a big sale by U.S. standards, but given that Xantrex is probably one of the largest and most successful cleantech companies in Canada to date, this is a big deal here. I have to say, I’ll be sad to see the reins handed over to a foreign company. Xantrex is truly an all-Canadian cleantech success story.

You have to give credit to 6N Silicon for moving fast. In the two years since this Mississauga-based solar-silicon company was founded (in founder Scott Nichol’s basement, I might add), it has raised a whack of dough (More than $26 million at last count, but likely higher) and is now ready to construct its first manufacturing plant in Vaughan, a city just north of Toronto. The Ontario government announced today it is giving $8 million to 6N toward construction of the $50-million plant, which will create 84 new jobs in the province. The politicos are touting it as a sign that green jobs are coming to Ontario, pointing out that many of the workers at the plant will come from the province’s struggling automotive sector. Of course, we need to keep in mind that 84 new jobs don’t replace thousands lost in the automotive sector. But it’s a step in the right direction, similar to the announcement in May that Menova Engineering (maker of combined solar thermal, PV and lighting systems) had taken up space and labour at a Toronto-area automotive tool and die shop that had been hit hard by the automotive downturn.

Now we just have to replicate this 30 to 40 times. But small steps are good. Better than no steps. It wouldn’t hurt to expand our attention to offshore wind turbines/components and vehicles batteries, among other “green collar” manufacturing opportunities.