Tuesday morning at a special event hosted by Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco, the five winners of the California Clean Tech Open will be announced.

The winner in each category—energy efficiency, smart power, renewable energy, transportation and water management—will receive a $50,000 cash infusion plus office space and legal, accounting and public relations services worth another $50,000. In short, winners get the means to get their enterprise off the ground.

Finalists include:

• "SoCool" has developed a solar-powered air-conditioning unit for automobiles.
• "Hive Power" aims to become a utility that uses only renewable energy sources.
• "Crystal Clear" reduces the cost of purifying water to 1.5 cents per gallon.
• "Reclaim Electric" regenerates wasted heat from computers, HVAC and other sources as usable electricity.
• "Meridian Design" has designed a $20 retail water purification system that  uses ultraviolet light to eliminate all water-borne pathogens.

Clean Tech has become a fast growing sector in Silicon Valley.

Link to CNN:  Silicon Valley goes solar