Your Values, Invested - Collaboration Capital€¦ · Your Values, Invested Christopher Knapp, Philip Cannon, and Ron Lerner cordially invite you to Collaboration Capital’s Please
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INAUGURALINVESTMENT FORUM Your Values, Invested
Christopher Knapp, Philip Cannon,and Ron Lerner cordially invite you to Collaboration Capital’s
Please join us for a series of discussions and luncheon presentation with leading practitioners in for-profit investment strategies dedicated to solving the world's greatest challenges.
Collaboration Capital is a Houston-based investment advisory practice launched in partnership with Perigon Partners, a Registered Investment Advisor. Its mission is to construct portfolios across the spectrum of public equity, public debt, private equity, and private debt whose underlying tenet is for-profit solutions to the world's biggest problems.
ABOUT COLLABORATION CAPITAL
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“Many of the great companies in history have been built solving some of the world’s greatest problems. Our economic interconnectedness combined with the almost instantaneous scale of technology platforms make the stakes of the global game that much higher.”
C H R I S H A L E
C E O , K O U N TA B L E A N D F O R U M PA R T I C I PA N T
Wednesday, December 7, 20168:30 am — 1:30 pmCherie Flores Garden Pavilion at Hermann Park1500 Hermann DriveHouston, Texas 77004R S V P abovet@collaboration.capital
INVESTMENTFORUM Your Values, Invested
Wednesday, December 7, 2016Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion at Hermann Park
8:30a COFFEE
9:00a CHRISTOPHER L. KNAPP Introduction
9:15a GEORGE ROONEY Collaboration Capital, LLC
9:35a SUNWOO HWANG SixUp PBC, Inc.
10:15a BILL PAGE Essex Investment Management Company, LLC
10:15a MICHAEL HOKENSON Community Investment Management, LLC
10:35a BREAK
10:50a DR. ANDY SEKEL Marketplace Fund II, LP
11:15a CHRIS HALE Kountable, Inc.
11:15a VICTORIA FRAM Vilcap Investments, LLC
11:45a BREAK
12:00p LUNCH DISCUSSION Presenters’ Roundtable
12:30p CHRISTOPHER L. KNAPP Conclusion
CHRISTOPHER L. KNAPP Collaboration Capital
Chris Knapp serves as Chief Executive Officer for Collaboration Capital.
He formerly served as Chief Executive Officer for Chilton Capital
Management, of which he was co-founder in 1996. He was formerly
associated with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. from 1984 to 1995.
A stalwart believer in the importance of active community engagement
and civic leadership on the part of corporate citizens, Mr. Knapp serves
or has served as board member and/or in some leadership capacity of
the Honors College at the University of Houston, BridgeUp at Menninger,
Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston Parks Board, Memorial Park
Conservancy, Peckerwood Garden Conservation Foundation, Workshop
Houston, Stewardship Council of The Cultural Landscape Foundation,
and Advisory Board of Breakthrough Houston. Mr. Knapp received a BA
from Williams College.
GEORGE ROONEY Collaboration Capital
George Rooney serves as Chief Investment Officer for Collaboration
Capital. He was co-founder of Piscataqua Capital Management, a quantitative
investment advisory practice. Mr. Rooney has also served as a Managing
Director at UBS Global Asset Management. During his tenure at UBS, he
was President of DSI International Management (a wholly owned subsidiary
of UBS), Head International Equity, Capability Strategist on Enhanced
Equity products, and Portfolio Manager of global, regional, and country-
specific mandates, including enhanced, active, and long/short strategies.
Prior assignments include Research/Portfolio Manager at Standish, Ayer
& Wood in Boston, Massachusetts, and Portfolio Manager and Research
Director at DSI International Management in Stamford, Connecticut. Mr.
Rooney is a CFA® Charterholder and a member of the Boston Security
Analysts Society. He received a BA from Providence College and an MBA
from New York University Stern School of Business.
LEAD HOSTS
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VICTORIA FRAM Vilcap Investments, LLC
Victoria Fram is the Director of Investments at VilCap Investments, LLC,
which is Village Capital’s affiliated for-profit investment fund. Most recently,
she worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the Program Related
Investments team, analyzing investment opportunities in the fields of global
health and global development. Prior to that, she was an Investment Associate
at Metropolitan, a global private equity real estate fund-of-funds. Previously
as an Insight Fellow, she designed and implemented projects focused on
international development and conflict resolution in China, the Netherlands,
and East Africa. As a graduate fellow and research assistant, she has
contributed to projects in innovative social finance with Acumen Fund,
Investors’ Circle, and RSF Social Finance. Victoria received an MBA
and a Certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate
School of Business, and a BA in International Relations with a minor
in Mandarin from Stanford University.
CHRIS HALE Perigon Partners
Chris Hale is the founder and CEO of kountable, Inc., a San Francisco-
based start-up that combines data science, social capital, and proven
financial instruments to provide highly-scalable financing solutions to
underserved “missing middle” entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Kountable™ creates a low-friction, cloud-based bridge between investors
in developed countries and the massive opportunity to finance the most
promising, driven, established and well-networked entrepreneurs in emerging
economies. Mr. Hale concurrently serves as the COO of Perigon Wealth
Management, an RIA serving approximately 100 families and managing
almost $1 billion in assets. Over the last two years, under Mr. Hale’s
leadership, Perigon Wealth Management has doubled its headcount, grown
its assets under management almost six-fold, and in 2014, was named one
of the 50 fastest growing RIAs in the country. Mr. Hale earned his Bachelor’s
degree in Biology and English from Williams College.
PRESENTERS
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MICHAEL HOKENSON Community Investment Management
Michael Hokenson serves as Managing Partner of Community Investment
Management and leads business development for the firm. He was co-founder
of Minlam Asset Management and served as Managing Director from 2005
to 2012, where he developed an extensive network of global institutional and
individual investors for Minlam Microfinance Fund. Mr. Hokenson served as
a member of the fund’s Investment Committee and performed credit analysis
including on-site due diligence and monitoring of active investments. Following
Minlam’s acquisition, he joined TriLinc Global LLC as Director of Sales to
launch the first SEC-registered impact investment fund in June 2013 focused
on emerging market SME private credit. Mr. Hokenson has published case
studies on the profitability of MSME lenders in The Fortune at the Bottom of
the Pyramid by Professor C.K. Prahalad. Mr. Hokenson graduated from the
Erb Institute of Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan,
earning a M.B.A. at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and a M.S. at
the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He received his B.A. from
St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
SUNWOO HWANG Sixup PBC, Inc.
Sunwoo Hwang is a strategist and entrepreneur with 20 years experience
creating and operating financial, technology and lifestyle businesses.
Presently Founder & CEO of Sixup, a venture-backed fintech company,
Sunwoo leads the development of a new education finance marketplace
for high-achieving, low-income students. As Managing Director of Proof
Ventures, Sunwoo specialized in cross-border investment and market
development of startups between the U.S.-South Korea corridor. Prior to
Proof, Sunwoo ran a consumer technology incubator focused on innovating
new sports marketing platforms powered by user-generated digital media
with such partners as Adobe, HP and Beats by Dr. Dre. Sunwoo started
his technology career in fintech and enterprise software. Sunwoo was early
stage co-founder of Northstar Systems, a SaaS wealth management platform
later acquired by SEI Investments (XNAS: SEIC). Prior to Northstar, Sunwoo
served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at 12 Entrepreneuring, a $130 million
incubator backed by Benchmark Capital and Goldman Sachs. Sunwoo was
also a fintech operating executive at GlobalCommerce, a B2B e-commerce
company backed by G.E. Capital, where he led strategic alliances and
corporate strategy initiatives. Sunwoo started his career with management
consultancy, A.T. Kearney, advising such clients as Samsung Electronics
and Electronic Data Systems. A graduate of Northwestern University,
Sunwoo is an avid snowboarder, wannabe celebrity chef and former
U.S. National Judo Champion.
PRESENTERS
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BILL PAGE Essex Investment Management Company, LLC
Bill Page is a Portfolio Manager on the Global Environmental Opportunities
Strategy (GEOS). Mr. Page directs environmental investment policy and
research for Essex, and is on the Investment and Proxy Voting Committees.
Prior to joining Essex in 2009, he spent eleven years at State Street Global
Advisors (SSgA), most recently as Lead Portfolio Manager for GEOS and
Head of the Environmental, Social and Governance(ESG) investment team.
Mr. Page developed GEOS over a four year period at SSgA, and was a
member of the Global Fundamental Strategies group. Prior to SSgA,
Mr. Page worked in product management for Wellington Management
Company, LLC. Before Wellington, he worked for Fidelity Investments in
asset allocation. Mr. Page has lectured extensively on environmental investing
at global investment conferences and academic institutions. During business
school, Mr. Page worked on socially responsible investment research at
KLD Research & Analytics. Mr. Page is a founding board member of the
Energy + Environment Foundation, focusing on strengthening energy and
environmental education and promoting renewable energy. Mr. Page is
also on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Environmental Investment, a
peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes original research at the
intersection of the environment and investing. He earned a Bachelors degree
in Economics from Boston University and an MBA from the F.W. Olin School
of Business at Babson College.
DR. ANDY SEKEL Marketplace Fund II, LP
Dr. Andy Sekel is a Managing Partner of Marketplace Fund II, LP. He
was the Chief Executive Officer of OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions at
OptumHealth, Inc. Prior to assuming his role with OptumHealth, Dr. Sekel
served as Vice President of business development for the specialty division
for Centene Corporation in St. Louis, Mo. He was responsible for designing
and creating integrated health care delivery systems for large government-
funded programs. Dr. Sekel served as the Chairman and Vice President of
Business Development at Cenpatico Behavioral Health, LLC. Dr. Sekel was
responsible for the development of new products and services for Cenpatico
Behavioral Health, as well as being a key member of its marketing team.
Previously, he co-founded and led several behavioral health management
companies in Texas and California. Dr. Sekel has over 20 years’ experience
in the development and operation of behavioral systems, in public, private
and academic settings. He received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology,
Master of Education in Special Education and Doctorate in Educational
Psychology and Counseling from the University of Texas at Austin.
PRESENTERS
An investment advisory practice dedicated to inclusive and contributory capitalism
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E XECUTIVE SUMMARY4Q 2016
“When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”BENJAMIN FR ANKLIN
Collaboration Capital is a national wealth advisory practice whose clients include forward-looking families and institutions investing in companies dedicated to solving huge global challenges. Its core mission is to deliver alpha-generating portfolios across the spectrum of problem-solving public equity, public debt, private equity, and private debt, benchmarked to traditional indices. A founding tenet of Collaboration Capital is a shared belief in the power of capital markets to positively effect change. Critical thought, primary research, transparency, and embracing change opportunistically are hallmarks of our investment process and philosophy.
Our Passions Manifested:Delivering ESG and Impact Portfolios via Markets-Driven, Problem-Solving Investment Theses
• Risk control: applying disciplined risk-control to ESG/impact portfolio construction as a means to significantly broaden investor audience and commitment to investing in problem-solving technologies and products via public equity, public debt, private equity and private debt, seamlessly delivered in a separately managed account.
• Collaboration Capital ESG Equity Series: customizable (including fossil fuel free) ESG public equity separately managed accounts with 100% liquidity. Available in US (Russell 1000® benchmark) and Global (MSCI World benchmark) mandates.
• Multi-Asset Portfolio: a complete portfolio offered as a separately managed account that includes ESG public equity, ESG public debt, impact private equity and impact private debt, benchmarked to traditional indices.
• Vision and commitment: the role of forward-looking families, family offices, and their fiduciaries in allocating capital to innovation-driven, for-profit solutions to huge problems. Collaboration Capital principals and their families have seed funded every one of our portfolio offerings.
• Inclusive Capitalism: bringing together peer-reviewed social entrepreneurship and a peer-selected investment process to a private equity fund launched in partnership with USAID and other national leaders in impact investing, the first of its type.
“Many of the great companies in history have been built solving some of the world’s greatest problems. Our economic interconnectedness combined with the almost instantaneous scale of technology platforms make the stakes of the global game that much higher.”
CHRIS HALE
CHIEF E XECUTIVE OFFICER , KOUNTABLE
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The Cornerstone: Harnessing the Power of Capital Markets to Address Huge National and Global Challenges
We believe that capital markets are poised to drive needed change in solving many of the world’s biggest problems. Collaboration Capital was founded with a mandate to identify experts in niche-specific areas that we believe show the greatest investment opportunity around innovation. Similarly, we apply this collective body of knowledge and investment acumen to the creation of separately managed accounts across multiple asset classes. Particular areas of concentration focus on energy, re-defined at the nexus of water, food and transportation, financial access and agency for underserved populations, healthy communities, health care technology and wellness. Ours is an intentionally pragmatic and iterative approach with a particular emphasis on risk control and benchmarking to familiar, traditional indices. We believe the growing shift among investors to align personal values with capital investment is profound and catalytic. This powerful trend, combined with the now proven possibility of meeting or exceeding traditional benchmark returns via ESG/impact investing, presents a singular opportunity to harness capital markets to solve seemingly intractable problems.
Think Differently: Collaboration Based Strategies We do not seek to own or control the intellectual property that defines the strategies we deliver to our clients. By design, ours is a collaboration-based practice and not a wholly-owned star system or a fund of funds. Each of our collaboration partners is a pioneer in his or her area of expertise. Whether via analytical contribution in active stock selection (Collaboration Capital ESG Equity Series) or delivery of portfolios or funds (ESG public debt, impact private debt, and impact private equity) the commitment of every participant in our process is to critical thought, primary research, and fundamental security/credit analysis. We aggregate this robust set of resources into one seamless portfolio that takes into account client-specific risk appetite and liquidity requirements. As capital allocators to problem solving for-profit enterprises, together we might all be catalysts for broad-based impact and regenerative economic development.
For further information please contact Annelise Bovetabovet@collaboration.capital
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Integrated into the Collaboration Capital investment process are five investment theses: energy efficiency, renewable resources, food systems, financial inclusion, and parity. This quarter’s focus is on distributed energy generation, a theme related to renewable resources. Collaboration partner Bill Page of Essex Investment Management has identified an industry-wide shift to distributed energy generation, where electricity supplies shift from central to distributed sources such as wind or solar, and energy is produced and consumed on-site.
Electric Grid 101• The ‘Grid’ is a network of power plants, distribution and transmission wires and end-users of electricity. • Centralized energy generation refers to large scale centralized power plants generally located far from end users.• The majority of electricity used by American consumers is from centralized power plants which primarily use fossil fuels (67%). • The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 6% of the electricity generated is lost during transmission and distribution.
Distributed energy generationDistributed energy generation (“DG”) refers to power generation on-site by end users at point of consumption, eliminating the need for transmission and distribution.
Control is effectively shifted to the consumer similar to distributed telephony (mobile phone) and distributed computing (pc). Solar panels are an example of DG, as is a hospital recycling the waste heat to wash bedding, or a farmer generating electricity using the animal waste. The U.S. has over 12 million DG units or approximately 1/6th of the capacity of the existing centralized power plants. Residential DG systems commonly include solar panels and small wind turbines while commercial DG resources include combined heat and power systems, solar, wind, biomass combustion, municipal waste incineration and fuel cells. Benefits of DG include eliminating wastage, cost savings, reduction in adverse environmental impact, increased reliability, and reduction of peak power requirements, improvements in energy quality, reduction in land-use effects and reduction in vulnerability.
Disruption creates opportunity DG technologies are disrupting the business models of traditional electric utilities, specifically the competitive advantages often affiliated with a centralized network monopoly. These technologies are creating investment opportunities while reducing adverse environmental impact. As Jack Welch has said, “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” Electric utilities’ century-old centralized high-emissions electric networks (often using coal plants) stand in stark contrast to the DG model where a Costco warehouse has its own clean power plant through the use of solar panels on its roof. Pricing is the primary driver of the increased penetration of renewables such as solar. It is estimated that solar will be the least-cost generation technology in most countries by 2030, with solar PV supplying an estimated 15% of world electricity by 2040. Bloomberg estimates that the cost of new utility-scale solar will fall 60% from a $74-$220/MWh range today, to an estimated $40/MWh worldwide in 2040.
Path to a more flexible electricity gridThe long-term increase in DG is eroding the value of electric utilities’ centralized networks as the cost to maintain and operate the electricity grid must be spread over a smaller customer base. Net metering allows consumers who generate their own energy to use the electricity any time they want, ultimately reducing demand from the utilities. According to Fitch Ratings, this reduction in demand and revenue may impact the credit worthiness of the utility companies. Utilities are therefore increasingly pressured to embrace renewables. New technologies are aiding this transition such as those provided by technology concern Silver Spring Networks. Silver Spring Networks helps create a more flexible grid which enables virtual power plants, or anyone generating power, to sell energy to the market. Many utilities such as Duke and Southern Co. that had previously had a negative stance on renewables are increasing deployment. Energy companies such as Total S.A are starting to diversify into renewable energy, having announced plans to invest 20% of its assets into low-carbon business over the next twenty years, and purchased 60% of a solar company in 2011.
Strategy InsightThe Proliferation of Distributed Energy Generation3Q2016
For further information please contact Annelise Bovetabovet@collaboration.capital
CollaborationCapital
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Corporations control risks Corporations are increasingly using renewable energy such as solar in order to control business risk through the purchase of energy for multiple years through power purchase agreements, mitigating cost variations associated with traditional energy sources. Technology companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are focused on getting to 100% renewable energy to power their data centers. Access to cost-effective renewable energy is one of Facebook’s primary data center site location criteria. Google has a 100% renewable power goal, and has committed to purchase over 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy; equivalent to taking over 1 million cars off the road and making Google the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Apple uses renewable energy to power its server farms, and recently installed a solar system with electricity priced at $.05/KwH, versus $.10/KwH for grid-provided electricity. As Bill Page at Essex Investment Management points out “owning the DG asset for power-hungry Apple server farms is a long-term value proposition.” Apple recently formed an energy company gaining approval by the US Federal Energy Regulation Commission to distribute and sell electricity in California.
Reducing energy povertyThe United Nations has established a goal to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Universal energy access pertains to providing household access to electricity and clean cooking facilities (that don’t cause air pollution in houses) to everyone globally. Approximately, one in every five people or 17% of the global population (1.2 billion people) lacks access to electricity due to lack of penetration of the grid into rural or impoverished regions, and many more suffer from poor energy quality. Electrification in urban areas has outpaced rural areas two to one since 2000. Solutions include micro-grid rural electrification, pay-as-you-go solar with mobile payments and smart metering. Over 38% (2.7 billion) people lack clean cooking facilities, relying on the use of solid biomass for cooking generally on inefficient stoves in poorly ventilated areas, 95% of which are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia and 80% in rural areas. DG will help bridge the gap where the electric grid in developing countries does not meet the basic needs of consumers, hindering economic development.
Market-based solutionsThe implications of DG are widespread and disruptive. Positive environmental impact, decrease in business risk, smart grid design and innovative new technologies are just some of the immediate consequences of increased DG. As investors who believe in market-based solutions and are mindful of disruptive forces material to company valuations, we seek to transform risk into opportunity by seeking to invest in those companies poised to solve society’s ‘big problems’ by leveraging technology and innovative business models.
Sustainability MetricsGreenhouse Gas Intensity per sales - Greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity calculated as metric tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted per million of sales revenue in the company's reporting currency. Ratio is calculated based on data items disclosed in company filings. Calculated as: Total GHG Emissions / Sales Revenue generated by the Russell 1000 is 6x more greenhouse gas intensive than our portfolio, aided by security selection in Energy, absence of Material stocks which have the highest intensity, and our industrials, many of which are clean technology, water, etc.
The information contained herein should be considered to be current only as of the date indicated, and we do not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein in light of later circumstances or events. This publication may contain forward looking statements and projections that are based on the current beliefs and assumptions of Collaboration Capital and on information currently available that we believe to be reasonable, however, such statements necessarily involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and prospective investors may not put undue reliance on any of these statements. This communication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or a solicitation to buy, hold, or sell an interest in any Collaboration Capital investment or any other security.
Integrated into the Collaboration Capital investment process are five investment theses: energy efficiency, renewable resources, food systems, financial inclusion, and parity. This quarter’s focus is on distributed energy generation, a theme related to renewable resources. Collaboration partner Bill Page of Essex Investment Management has identified an industry-wide shift to distributed energy generation, where electricity supplies shift from central to distributed sources such as wind or solar, and energy is produced and consumed on-site.
Electric Grid 101• The ‘Grid’ is a network of power plants, distribution and transmission wires and end-users of electricity. • Centralized energy generation refers to large scale centralized power plants generally located far from end users.• The majority of electricity used by American consumers is from centralized power plants which primarily use fossil fuels (67%). • The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 6% of the electricity generated is lost during transmission and distribution.
Distributed energy generationDistributed energy generation (“DG”) refers to power generation on-site by end users at point of consumption, eliminating the need for transmission and distribution.
Control is effectively shifted to the consumer similar to distributed telephony (mobile phone) and distributed computing (pc). Solar panels are an example of DG, as is a hospital recycling the waste heat to wash bedding, or a farmer generating electricity using the animal waste. The U.S. has over 12 million DG units or approximately 1/6th of the capacity of the existing centralized power plants. Residential DG systems commonly include solar panels and small wind turbines while commercial DG resources include combined heat and power systems, solar, wind, biomass combustion, municipal waste incineration and fuel cells. Benefits of DG include eliminating wastage, cost savings, reduction in adverse environmental impact, increased reliability, and reduction of peak power requirements, improvements in energy quality, reduction in land-use effects and reduction in vulnerability.
Disruption creates opportunity DG technologies are disrupting the business models of traditional electric utilities, specifically the competitive advantages often affiliated with a centralized network monopoly. These technologies are creating investment opportunities while reducing adverse environmental impact. As Jack Welch has said, “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” Electric utilities’ century-old centralized high-emissions electric networks (often using coal plants) stand in stark contrast to the DG model where a Costco warehouse has its own clean power plant through the use of solar panels on its roof. Pricing is the primary driver of the increased penetration of renewables such as solar. It is estimated that solar will be the least-cost generation technology in most countries by 2030, with solar PV supplying an estimated 15% of world electricity by 2040. Bloomberg estimates that the cost of new utility-scale solar will fall 60% from a $74-$220/MWh range today, to an estimated $40/MWh worldwide in 2040.
Path to a more flexible electricity gridThe long-term increase in DG is eroding the value of electric utilities’ centralized networks as the cost to maintain and operate the electricity grid must be spread over a smaller customer base. Net metering allows consumers who generate their own energy to use the electricity any time they want, ultimately reducing demand from the utilities. According to Fitch Ratings, this reduction in demand and revenue may impact the credit worthiness of the utility companies. Utilities are therefore increasingly pressured to embrace renewables. New technologies are aiding this transition such as those provided by technology concern Silver Spring Networks. Silver Spring Networks helps create a more flexible grid which enables virtual power plants, or anyone generating power, to sell energy to the market. Many utilities such as Duke and Southern Co. that had previously had a negative stance on renewables are increasing deployment. Energy companies such as Total S.A are starting to diversify into renewable energy, having announced plans to invest 20% of its assets into low-carbon business over the next twenty years, and purchased 60% of a solar company in 2011.
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Corporations control risks Corporations are increasingly using renewable energy such as solar in order to control business risk through the purchase of energy for multiple years through power purchase agreements, mitigating cost variations associated with traditional energy sources. Technology companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are focused on getting to 100% renewable energy to power their data centers. Access to cost-effective renewable energy is one of Facebook’s primary data center site location criteria. Google has a 100% renewable power goal, and has committed to purchase over 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy; equivalent to taking over 1 million cars off the road and making Google the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Apple uses renewable energy to power its server farms, and recently installed a solar system with electricity priced at $.05/KwH, versus $.10/KwH for grid-provided electricity. As Bill Page at Essex Investment Management points out “owning the DG asset for power-hungry Apple server farms is a long-term value proposition.” Apple recently formed an energy company gaining approval by the US Federal Energy Regulation Commission to distribute and sell electricity in California.
Reducing energy povertyThe United Nations has established a goal to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Universal energy access pertains to providing household access to electricity and clean cooking facilities (that don’t cause air pollution in houses) to everyone globally. Approximately, one in every five people or 17% of the global population (1.2 billion people) lacks access to electricity due to lack of penetration of the grid into rural or impoverished regions, and many more suffer from poor energy quality. Electrification in urban areas has outpaced rural areas two to one since 2000. Solutions include micro-grid rural electrification, pay-as-you-go solar with mobile payments and smart metering. Over 38% (2.7 billion) people lack clean cooking facilities, relying on the use of solid biomass for cooking generally on inefficient stoves in poorly ventilated areas, 95% of which are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia and 80% in rural areas. DG will help bridge the gap where the electric grid in developing countries does not meet the basic needs of consumers, hindering economic development.
Market-based solutionsThe implications of DG are widespread and disruptive. Positive environmental impact, decrease in business risk, smart grid design and innovative new technologies are just some of the immediate consequences of increased DG. As investors who believe in market-based solutions and are mindful of disruptive forces material to company valuations, we seek to transform risk into opportunity by seeking to invest in those companies poised to solve society’s ‘big problems’ by leveraging technology and innovative business models.
Sustainability MetricsGreenhouse Gas Intensity per sales - Greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity calculated as metric tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted per million of sales revenue in the company's reporting currency. Ratio is calculated based on data items disclosed in company filings. Calculated as: Total GHG Emissions / Sales Revenue generated by the Russell 1000 is 6x more greenhouse gas intensive than our portfolio, aided by security selection in Energy, absence of Material stocks which have the highest intensity, and our industrials, many of which are clean technology, water, etc.
The information contained herein should be considered to be current only as of the date indicated, and we do not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein in light of later circumstances or events. This publication may contain forward looking statements and projections that are based on the current beliefs and assumptions of Collaboration Capital and on information currently available that we believe to be reasonable, however, such statements necessarily involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and prospective investors may not put undue reliance on any of these statements. This communication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or a solicitation to buy, hold, or sell an interest in any Collaboration Capital investment or any other security.
Integrated into the Collaboration Capital investment process are five investment theses: energy efficiency, renewable resources, food systems, financial inclusion, and parity. This quarter’s focus is on distributed energy generation, a theme related to renewable resources. Collaboration partner Bill Page of Essex Investment Management has identified an industry-wide shift to distributed energy generation, where electricity supplies shift from central to distributed sources such as wind or solar, and energy is produced and consumed on-site.
Electric Grid 101• The ‘Grid’ is a network of power plants, distribution and transmission wires and end-users of electricity. • Centralized energy generation refers to large scale centralized power plants generally located far from end users.• The majority of electricity used by American consumers is from centralized power plants which primarily use fossil fuels (67%). • The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 6% of the electricity generated is lost during transmission and distribution.
Distributed energy generationDistributed energy generation (“DG”) refers to power generation on-site by end users at point of consumption, eliminating the need for transmission and distribution.
Control is effectively shifted to the consumer similar to distributed telephony (mobile phone) and distributed computing (pc). Solar panels are an example of DG, as is a hospital recycling the waste heat to wash bedding, or a farmer generating electricity using the animal waste. The U.S. has over 12 million DG units or approximately 1/6th of the capacity of the existing centralized power plants. Residential DG systems commonly include solar panels and small wind turbines while commercial DG resources include combined heat and power systems, solar, wind, biomass combustion, municipal waste incineration and fuel cells. Benefits of DG include eliminating wastage, cost savings, reduction in adverse environmental impact, increased reliability, and reduction of peak power requirements, improvements in energy quality, reduction in land-use effects and reduction in vulnerability.
Disruption creates opportunity DG technologies are disrupting the business models of traditional electric utilities, specifically the competitive advantages often affiliated with a centralized network monopoly. These technologies are creating investment opportunities while reducing adverse environmental impact. As Jack Welch has said, “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” Electric utilities’ century-old centralized high-emissions electric networks (often using coal plants) stand in stark contrast to the DG model where a Costco warehouse has its own clean power plant through the use of solar panels on its roof. Pricing is the primary driver of the increased penetration of renewables such as solar. It is estimated that solar will be the least-cost generation technology in most countries by 2030, with solar PV supplying an estimated 15% of world electricity by 2040. Bloomberg estimates that the cost of new utility-scale solar will fall 60% from a $74-$220/MWh range today, to an estimated $40/MWh worldwide in 2040.
Path to a more flexible electricity gridThe long-term increase in DG is eroding the value of electric utilities’ centralized networks as the cost to maintain and operate the electricity grid must be spread over a smaller customer base. Net metering allows consumers who generate their own energy to use the electricity any time they want, ultimately reducing demand from the utilities. According to Fitch Ratings, this reduction in demand and revenue may impact the credit worthiness of the utility companies. Utilities are therefore increasingly pressured to embrace renewables. New technologies are aiding this transition such as those provided by technology concern Silver Spring Networks. Silver Spring Networks helps create a more flexible grid which enables virtual power plants, or anyone generating power, to sell energy to the market. Many utilities such as Duke and Southern Co. that had previously had a negative stance on renewables are increasing deployment. Energy companies such as Total S.A are starting to diversify into renewable energy, having announced plans to invest 20% of its assets into low-carbon business over the next twenty years, and purchased 60% of a solar company in 2011.
WWW.COLLABORATION.CAPITAL
Corporations control risks Corporations are increasingly using renewable energy such as solar in order to control business risk through the purchase of energy for multiple years through power purchase agreements, mitigating cost variations associated with traditional energy sources. Technology companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are focused on getting to 100% renewable energy to power their data centers. Access to cost-effective renewable energy is one of Facebook’s primary data center site location criteria. Google has a 100% renewable power goal, and has committed to purchase over 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy; equivalent to taking over 1 million cars off the road and making Google the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Apple uses renewable energy to power its server farms, and recently installed a solar system with electricity priced at $.05/KwH, versus $.10/KwH for grid-provided electricity. As Bill Page at Essex Investment Management points out “owning the DG asset for power-hungry Apple server farms is a long-term value proposition.” Apple recently formed an energy company gaining approval by the US Federal Energy Regulation Commission to distribute and sell electricity in California.
Reducing energy povertyThe United Nations has established a goal to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Universal energy access pertains to providing household access to electricity and clean cooking facilities (that don’t cause air pollution in houses) to everyone globally. Approximately, one in every five people or 17% of the global population (1.2 billion people) lacks access to electricity due to lack of penetration of the grid into rural or impoverished regions, and many more suffer from poor energy quality. Electrification in urban areas has outpaced rural areas two to one since 2000. Solutions include micro-grid rural electrification, pay-as-you-go solar with mobile payments and smart metering. Over 38% (2.7 billion) people lack clean cooking facilities, relying on the use of solid biomass for cooking generally on inefficient stoves in poorly ventilated areas, 95% of which are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia and 80% in rural areas. DG will help bridge the gap where the electric grid in developing countries does not meet the basic needs of consumers, hindering economic development.
Market-based solutionsThe implications of DG are widespread and disruptive. Positive environmental impact, decrease in business risk, smart grid design and innovative new technologies are just some of the immediate consequences of increased DG. As investors who believe in market-based solutions and are mindful of disruptive forces material to company valuations, we seek to transform risk into opportunity by seeking to invest in those companies poised to solve society’s ‘big problems’ by leveraging technology and innovative business models.
Sustainability MetricsGreenhouse Gas Intensity per sales - Greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity calculated as metric tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted per million of sales revenue in the company's reporting currency. Ratio is calculated based on data items disclosed in company filings. Calculated as: Total GHG Emissions / Sales Revenue generated by the Russell 1000 is 6x more greenhouse gas intensive than our portfolio, aided by security selection in Energy, absence of Material stocks which have the highest intensity, and our industrials, many of which are clean technology, water, etc.
The information contained herein should be considered to be current only as of the date indicated, and we do not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein in light of later circumstances or events. This publication may contain forward looking statements and projections that are based on the current beliefs and assumptions of Collaboration Capital and on information currently available that we believe to be reasonable, however, such statements necessarily involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and prospective investors may not put undue reliance on any of these statements. This communication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or a solicitation to buy, hold, or sell an interest in any Collaboration Capital investment or any other security.
Integrated into the Collaboration Capital investment process are five investment theses: energy efficiency, renewable resources, food systems, financial inclusion, and parity. This quarter’s focus is on distributed energy generation, a theme related to renewable resources. Collaboration partner Bill Page of Essex Investment Management has identified an industry-wide shift to distributed energy generation, where electricity supplies shift from central to distributed sources such as wind or solar, and energy is produced and consumed on-site.
Electric Grid 101• The ‘Grid’ is a network of power plants, distribution and transmission wires and end-users of electricity. • Centralized energy generation refers to large scale centralized power plants generally located far from end users.• The majority of electricity used by American consumers is from centralized power plants which primarily use fossil fuels (67%). • The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that 6% of the electricity generated is lost during transmission and distribution.
Distributed energy generationDistributed energy generation (“DG”) refers to power generation on-site by end users at point of consumption, eliminating the need for transmission and distribution.
Control is effectively shifted to the consumer similar to distributed telephony (mobile phone) and distributed computing (pc). Solar panels are an example of DG, as is a hospital recycling the waste heat to wash bedding, or a farmer generating electricity using the animal waste. The U.S. has over 12 million DG units or approximately 1/6th of the capacity of the existing centralized power plants. Residential DG systems commonly include solar panels and small wind turbines while commercial DG resources include combined heat and power systems, solar, wind, biomass combustion, municipal waste incineration and fuel cells. Benefits of DG include eliminating wastage, cost savings, reduction in adverse environmental impact, increased reliability, and reduction of peak power requirements, improvements in energy quality, reduction in land-use effects and reduction in vulnerability.
Disruption creates opportunity DG technologies are disrupting the business models of traditional electric utilities, specifically the competitive advantages often affiliated with a centralized network monopoly. These technologies are creating investment opportunities while reducing adverse environmental impact. As Jack Welch has said, “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” Electric utilities’ century-old centralized high-emissions electric networks (often using coal plants) stand in stark contrast to the DG model where a Costco warehouse has its own clean power plant through the use of solar panels on its roof. Pricing is the primary driver of the increased penetration of renewables such as solar. It is estimated that solar will be the least-cost generation technology in most countries by 2030, with solar PV supplying an estimated 15% of world electricity by 2040. Bloomberg estimates that the cost of new utility-scale solar will fall 60% from a $74-$220/MWh range today, to an estimated $40/MWh worldwide in 2040.
Path to a more flexible electricity gridThe long-term increase in DG is eroding the value of electric utilities’ centralized networks as the cost to maintain and operate the electricity grid must be spread over a smaller customer base. Net metering allows consumers who generate their own energy to use the electricity any time they want, ultimately reducing demand from the utilities. According to Fitch Ratings, this reduction in demand and revenue may impact the credit worthiness of the utility companies. Utilities are therefore increasingly pressured to embrace renewables. New technologies are aiding this transition such as those provided by technology concern Silver Spring Networks. Silver Spring Networks helps create a more flexible grid which enables virtual power plants, or anyone generating power, to sell energy to the market. Many utilities such as Duke and Southern Co. that had previously had a negative stance on renewables are increasing deployment. Energy companies such as Total S.A are starting to diversify into renewable energy, having announced plans to invest 20% of its assets into low-carbon business over the next twenty years, and purchased 60% of a solar company in 2011.
60%
45%
30%
15%
0%
US STRATEGY RUSSELL 1000® INDEX
PERCENT OF COMPANIES REPORTING
300
225
150
75
0
ME
TRIC
TO
NN
ES
PE
R $
MIL
LIO
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ALE
S
US STRATEGY RUSSELL 1000® INDEX
GREENHOUSE GAS INTENSITY PER SALES
GEORGE W. ROONEY, JR., CFAChief Investment Officergrooney@collaboration.capital
WILLIAM J. MORGAN IVSenior Portfolio Managerwmorgan@collaboration.capital
WWW.COLLABORATION.CAPITAL
Corporations control risks Corporations are increasingly using renewable energy such as solar in order to control business risk through the purchase of energy for multiple years through power purchase agreements, mitigating cost variations associated with traditional energy sources. Technology companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are focused on getting to 100% renewable energy to power their data centers. Access to cost-effective renewable energy is one of Facebook’s primary data center site location criteria. Google has a 100% renewable power goal, and has committed to purchase over 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy; equivalent to taking over 1 million cars off the road and making Google the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Apple uses renewable energy to power its server farms, and recently installed a solar system with electricity priced at $.05/KwH, versus $.10/KwH for grid-provided electricity. As Bill Page at Essex Investment Management points out “owning the DG asset for power-hungry Apple server farms is a long-term value proposition.” Apple recently formed an energy company gaining approval by the US Federal Energy Regulation Commission to distribute and sell electricity in California.
Reducing energy povertyThe United Nations has established a goal to “Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Universal energy access pertains to providing household access to electricity and clean cooking facilities (that don’t cause air pollution in houses) to everyone globally. Approximately, one in every five people or 17% of the global population (1.2 billion people) lacks access to electricity due to lack of penetration of the grid into rural or impoverished regions, and many more suffer from poor energy quality. Electrification in urban areas has outpaced rural areas two to one since 2000. Solutions include micro-grid rural electrification, pay-as-you-go solar with mobile payments and smart metering. Over 38% (2.7 billion) people lack clean cooking facilities, relying on the use of solid biomass for cooking generally on inefficient stoves in poorly ventilated areas, 95% of which are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia and 80% in rural areas. DG will help bridge the gap where the electric grid in developing countries does not meet the basic needs of consumers, hindering economic development.
Market-based solutionsThe implications of DG are widespread and disruptive. Positive environmental impact, decrease in business risk, smart grid design and innovative new technologies are just some of the immediate consequences of increased DG. As investors who believe in market-based solutions and are mindful of disruptive forces material to company valuations, we seek to transform risk into opportunity by seeking to invest in those companies poised to solve society’s ‘big problems’ by leveraging technology and innovative business models.
Sustainability MetricsGreenhouse Gas Intensity per sales - Greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity calculated as metric tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted per million of sales revenue in the company's reporting currency. Ratio is calculated based on data items disclosed in company filings. Calculated as: Total GHG Emissions / Sales Revenue generated by the Russell 1000 is 6x more greenhouse gas intensive than our portfolio, aided by security selection in Energy, absence of Material stocks which have the highest intensity, and our industrials, many of which are clean technology, water, etc.
The information contained herein should be considered to be current only as of the date indicated, and we do not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein in light of later circumstances or events. This publication may contain forward looking statements and projections that are based on the current beliefs and assumptions of Collaboration Capital and on information currently available that we believe to be reasonable, however, such statements necessarily involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and prospective investors may not put undue reliance on any of these statements. This communication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or a solicitation to buy, hold, or sell an interest in any Collaboration Capital investment or any other security.
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