COMPANY SET TO FLY FROM NEST : CLUSTER HELPS HATCH ENVIRONMENTAL FIRMS.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Energy 2000 is ready to explode onto the environmental technology scene.

Five Ventura County men launched the company to distribute fuel cells and other energy-efficient devices. Energy 2000 is among a dozen companies that have been incubating at the Thousand Oaks Environmental Business Cluster.

Now Energy 2000 is on the threshold of signing with a private concern for a project in the Ojai Valley, said Jim Millard, vice president of manufacturing and international affairs.

The contract could be worth up to $40 million, he said.

``We made a lot of progress, a lot of connections, right to the point where this whole thing could explode,'' he said.

He said TOEBC nurtured the fledgling company, whose fuel cells convert natural gas into electrical energy.

``It's a godsend, really,'' Millard said about the year spent in TOEBC. ``It allowed us to get up and running, and it's centrally located. It offered a lot of support.''

On May 15, TOEBC will send the 12 companies flying, then shut down the nest.

TOEBC has been a complete success, executive director Yu-Yue Widrig believes.

``We feel we have accomplished everything we have set out to do,'' she said - helping environmental businesses get up and going. Energy 2000 has been in the cluster for a year. Some other companies have been there longer in the two-year project.

As the project nears its end, there was some hope of keeping TOEBC going longer, but further financing failed to materialize. So the nest will vanish.

``We felt it's the best decision at the moment because the companies are ready, so we should just graduate them,'' Widrig said.

TOEBC raised $90,000 that kept it going two years, she said. ``That was a major accomplishment.''

Other companies launched under TOEBC's wing include:

Alternative Transportation Technologies Inc., which works with natural gas vehicles.

America Hualong Investment & Development Co. Ltd., a developer of plants utilizing recycled paper and plastic.

Asset & Energy Management Inc., which maximizes the energy efficiency of commercial buildings.

EcoTelesis International Inc., an education and public outreach company focusing on emerging environmental technologies.

Environmental Products & Technologies Corp., a provider of nontoxic insecticides and systems to control pests and odor.

Green Suites International Inc., an environmental marketing and distribution company focusing on the hospitality industry.

I.C.-Net Inc., which provides electronic paycheck transmission systems, wireless electronic supermarket price systems and land-mine disposal.

Moore Enviro-Chemical Inc., a provider of environmentally safe industrial cleaners and hazardous waste management.

Naturam Inc., working with natural-occurring soil microbes in agriculture.

Troxel Hughes & Associates, an investigator in environmental issues for law firms and other clients.

VR-One, a designer of paperless office environments.

In all, 16 companies got started in the cluster. Four already moved on.

Millard said that his only regret is that Energy 2000 got only one year in the cluster.

``We really hate to see it go,'' he said.

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Photo

Photo: (Color) Thousand Oaks Environmental Business Cluster leaders David Oeffling, left, and Yu-Yue Widrig, center, meet with executives of Energy 2000, which TOEBC helped get started: from left, Scott Archibald, Jim Millard and Tom Nielsen.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News