Company: New Sky Energy Inc.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: [small biz] TECH STARTUP - Company overview

INITIAL LIGHT BULB: Physicist Deane Little moved to Boulder in 2006 with the idea of starting a company, only he wasn't quite sure what kind of company. He stumbled upon the concept of using water electrolysis to remove carbon from flue gas, and inspiration struck: New Sky Energy's now-patented technology makes "high value chemicals out of low-value salts," says Little, now the company's CEO, "I was amazed no one had commercialized it yet."

After a year refining the technology and the business model, Little met Mike Ashford, a veteran of the carbon market, at a 2008 Rockies game, and he came aboard as the executive vice president of business development.

The company was a national finalist in last year's Cleantech Open (www.cleantechopen.com), one of three companies from the Rocky Mountain region to advance from an initial field of more than 60 companies, ultimately finishing in the top five. "We think we would have won, but we were a little earlier stage," Little says.

IN A NUTSHELL: New Sky Energy utilizes water electrolysis to turn water, carbon dioxide and inexpensive salts into hydrogen, oxygen, sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide--a.k.a. caustic soda or lye. The industrial markets for these byproducts are so large that Little anticipates the company can be profitable even without a carbon market or cap-and-trade legislation.

"You can do it anywhere because carbon dioxide is everywhere, but you can get more carbon dioxide from near a coal-fired power plant," Little says. Such a location is a mixed blessing, however, due to increased concentrations of other contaminants as well.

Ashford pitches New Sky's technology in less technical terms: "We're mining carbon out of the atmosphere rather than the ground.

"We're essentially enabling companies and individuals to purchase products that have a lower carbon footprint than ever before," Ashford adds. "We essentially become a way to diversify supply away from the standard commodity markets to a dedicated supply that has all of these environmental benefits. It's a disruptive...