Sustainable Industries Daily Update

The big news on Tuesday, of course, was Tesla Motors' initial public offering. With a starting IPO price of $17, the automaker closed the day at almost $24 per share—a more than 40 percent increase that gave the company the year's second-highest IPO gain, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company sold 13.3 million shares Tuesday, raising $226.1 million.

SunRun, a San Francisco-based solar financing company, said Tuesday that it closed a $55 million Series C funding round from Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Foundation Capital. The news came a week after SunRun and Pacific Gas and Electric announced a $100 million residential solar financing fund.

Cisco Systems jumped into the home energy management space with the unveiling of its new home energy controller. Cisco plans to market the controller through utilities, and to test the device through a pilot program with Duke Energy. The company also launched its new Cisco Network Building Mediator Manager, which would manage the energy use of multiple buildings—hundreds or thousands, according to the company—through a central portal.

We took a look at Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) earlier this year when the founder of Oregon food company Bob's Red Mill gave the company to its employees. Now Clif Bar is also going the ESOP route—the owners have sold 20 percent of the company to its 239 employees, while retaining the other 80 percent.