Nano for Solar: Adding a film of silicon nanoparticles onto a traditional silicon solar cell can extend the cell’s life, while boosting power, and cutting down on heat, claim researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For rays in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum, […] Read more »
We caught up with Sun Microsystems (SUNW) CIO Bob Worrall yesterday at the company’s “Eco Innovation” event to chat about Sun’s latest power-saving initiatives. As we reported yesterday, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has unveiled three new data centers designed to save electricity. In fiscal 2008, […] Read more »
Who: Ahwahnee Technology is angel-backed and looking for VC funding. Update: Ahwahnee has raised $1 million in angel funding. What: The company is developing a new energy-efficient lighting source for the general illumination market. The technology uses carbon nanotubes, nano-scale material 10,000 times thinner than a […] Read more »
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If you’re a tech geek and you’ve spent all morning pulling up your jaw, we bet you’re recovering from today’s news that Tilera Corp. is shipping a Linux-capable 64-core processor. Developed at MIT, the processor is more energy-efficient than one would expect for a chip with […] Read more »
Orion Energy Systems, a Plymouth, Wis.-based maker of energy-efficient lighting systems for the large commercial and industrial market, has filed for an IPO, which could raise up to $100 million according to a regulatory filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Orion has raised VC […] Read more »
Fujitsu’s Sunnyvale, Calif. campus looked a bit greener than usual yesterday morning, at the company’s public unveiling of its new 200 kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell generator made by UTC Power (UTX). The fuel cell is expected to power 7 percent of total power consumption at the […] Read more »
The NYSE IPO of Brazilian ethanol and sugar maker Cosan (CZZ) had us wondering if the future is bleak for other biofuel IPOs. The company raised about half of the originally planned $2 billion, notes Reuters. The reduced offering, according to Bloomberg, was a result of […] Read more »
Ethanol IPO Not So Sweet: Brazilian sugar and ethanol company raises $1 billion less than planned in IPO – Forbes; Reuters. Toyko Thin Film: Showa Shell, Japan’s fifth-biggest oil refiner plans to invest $127 million in non-silicon thin-film “solar batteries” – Reuters. Fuel Cell Speed Demon: […] Read more »
Paper Battery Researchers at Rensslaer Polytechnic Institute have developed an ultra-thin, flexible energy storage device that looks a bit like a small sheet of black paper. Looks aren’t too deceiving in this case, since more than 90 percent of the tiny battery is made out of […] Read more »
HelioVolt is the latest thin-film solar startup to rake in a multi-million dollar funding round. As we reported yesterday, The Austin, Texas-based company just snagged $77 million in Series B funding in a round led by the Paladin Capital Group and the Masdar Clean Tech Fund. […] Read more »
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Thin-film solar startup HelioVolt, based in Austin, Texas, has raised $78 $77 million in Series B funding. The funding was first reported by TechConfidential earlier today. Update: We spoke to HelioVolt [read our Q&A with the CEO here] and they confirmed that they’ve raised their Series […] Read more »
Rive Technology, a Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up and developer of a technology that makes the oil-to-gasoline conversion process more efficient, has raised roughly $3.15 million in additional Series A funding from Advanced Technology Ventures, Andrew Dougherty, Rive’s VP of operations tells us. The round was first reported […] Read more »
The TR35, MIT Technology Review’s annual list that recognizes talented tech researchers and entrepreneurs under the age of 35, is slated to be announced later today. The group of top tech wunderkinds includes six up-and-coming young scientists who focus on developing energy-related technologies. They include: Dr. […] Read more »
Jadoo Power, the largest supplier of fuel cells for portable electronics and military power applications, just raised another round of funding, a spokesperson from Velocity Venture Capital told us. Investors in the round included Jadoo newcomer Velocity Venture Capital, based in Sacramento, Calif. The amount was […] Read more »
Everyone’s trying to crack the code of cellulosic ethanol, that is, figuring out an affordable and efficient way to turn plant waste and other non-food crops into fuel. One of these companies, Amherst Mass.-based SunEthanol, just raised its first round of funding from corn-based ethanol producer […] Read more »
Clean energy is set to be the fastest-growing sector in Massachusetts, according to a recently released report: The Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Census. Second only to California in clean energy industry development, the state is home to 116 cleantech startups founded there since 2001, employs some […] Read more »
Sunny Grants: The Sun Grant Initiative will make $2.5 million available for clean energy research to universities in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico—Grainnet.com. Making Waves: Vancouver’s Finavera Renewables got a permit for a wave power project in British Columbia. The “Ucluelet […] Read more »
Last I heard, Plextronics, a Pittsburgh, Pa.-based organic semiconductor startup, was knee-deep in developing energy-efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for the flexible display market. When I spoke to CEO Andrew Hannah earlier this year in an interview for Red Herring, he said that Plextronics’ first sales […] Read more »
Cars powered by sawdust might sound a bit bizarre, but researchers across the country are looking into ways to turn all kinds of cellulosic biomass into fuels. Over at The University of Minnesota, scientists have developed a new process that efficiently converts waste biomass into a […] Read more »
The CEO of Ford (F) is saying that in order to reduce climate change and American dependence on foreign oil, we should consider the implementation of a European-style gasoline tax. He further suggests that our current fuel economy policy is doing more harm than good. Ford […] Read more »
While the cleantech niche known as thin-film solar is experiencing a growth spurt, the well of private equity once available for the sector is drying up, that is, at least according to The Information Network, a research and consulting firm that covers the semiconductor market. We […] Read more »
Big Wind: In London, International Power agreed to acquire the 648 megawatt Triergy Wind Portfolio from private investors – Renewable Energy Access. Craptastic: Israeli scientists are using cow dung to generate electricity. The dung transforming factory converts the waste into methane gas which powers electricity-generating turbines. […] Read more »
Boric acid — the same stuff found in antiseptics, eye cleansers, and insecticides — might hold the key to reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are conducting microscopic experiments with boric acid that they say have […] Read more »
Erik Straser, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, has led his firm’s cleantech investments in companies such as Energy Innovations, Jadoo Power Sytems, Recurrent Energy, ZeaChem, and Nanosolar. He obtained his PhD in engineering at Stanford, went on to work at Inteval Research Corp., a technology […] Read more »
Sweet, Sweet Ethanol: Brazil invests $50 million to improve efficiency of transforming sugarcane to ethanol – Renewable Energy Access. $$$ for Early-Stage: Cleantech companies are invited to apply for the Keiretsu Forum. Accepted companies could receive capital in the range of $500K-$3 million – Seattle Post […] Read more »
This morning we listened in on “The Green Grid” webcast, where members Jon Haas, energy efficiency programs manager at Intel (INTC), and Dell (DELL) technology strategist John Pflueger led a presentation detailing the group’s plans to develop and promote energy efficiency standards for data centers over […] Read more »
Imagine a day when your laptop won’t need a recharge from dawn till dusk. That day could come by the end of the decade, if the companies working on fuel cell development for the portable electronics industry can prove their technology. MTI MicroFuel Cells just received […] Read more »
If you’re in the market for an eco-friendly vehicle, sometimes the search can be daunting. Even though online searches for fuel-efficient vehicles tend to drop as gas prices begin to fall, according to the latest Cars.com Consumer Search Index [via GreenCarCongress.com], we know plenty of our […] Read more »
The controversial energy bill, which we wrote about on Friday, was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday. The bill says that most utilities could be required to generate 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources. The bill also would repeal almost $16 […] Read more »
A crucial bill, soon to be debated by the House, has the entire clean tech industry on tenterhooks. The 786-page energy bill is one of the top things on the House’s agenda before they go into four-week recess Monday. The energy legislation is controversial because it […] Read more »
With data center energy costs on course to outweigh the cost of the gear inside them, tech industry executives are beginning to realize the magnitude of the problem. At the “Building the Green Data Center” panel at the Always On Conference in Palo Alto, Calif., Dave […] Read more »
Group IV Semiconductor, a startup that develops silicon-based lighting technology said yesterday that it has raised a second round of funding. The CEO of Group IV, Stephen Naor, told us that the funds will be used to commercialize the company’s technology within two years. The Ottawa, […] Read more »
District Heating: Olivier Barbaroux poses that “district energy”–systems of heating and cooling networks–is a realistic solution to many of today’s environmental concerns—Forbes.com. IBM’s Server Savings: Big Blue will transfer its current computing load, now on 3,900 servers, onto about 30 System z mainframes running Linux. The […] Read more »
University researchers are tinkering over hydrogen and clean cooking fuel this week. Here’s three examples of the latest green research taking place on campus labs around the world: Hydrogen Storage: An international team of researchers working out of the University of the Basque Country in northern […] Read more »
There are countless startups like Zondu and Verdiem that are devoted to selling energy saving technology for the office. But saving power doesn’t always need high-tech intervention — why not just turn off lights and computers at the office? According to a new survey, though, that’s […] Read more »
We just got a heads up on an announcement that the X Prize Foundation plans to put out a release tomorrow about its Automotive X Prize, which will award cash to a team that has developed a super-efficient vehicle. The non-profit prize institute is planning to […] Read more »
Green development projects in China will get a boost from a new partnership with U.S. organizations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and non-profit U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” to work together on eco-friendly development projects in China. The U.S. agencies […] Read more »
The site Localcooling.com says its downloadable power-saving software has helped its users save over a million KWh. How so? It’s an application created by Malta-based software company Uniblue Systems, which optimizes your PC’s power consumption through what it says is a “more effective” power saving mode. […] Read more »
Solar One’s $$$: Acciona Energy has closed on a $266 million project for Nevada Solar Ones’ 64 megawatt Concentrated Solar Power Plant—United Press International. Virtualization’s Hot: Desktone gets $17M in first-round funding as VMWare’s IPO looms—The Alarm Clock. Driving Fjord: Norwegian electric-car maker Think Nordic gives […] Read more »
Another thin film solar startup is giving it a go. Sierra Solar Power, a 5-month-old Sunnyvale-based solar startup, recently raised $6.86 million in a series A round led by GSR Ventures according to PE HUB. Sierra founder and CEO Zhang Xu told us in a phone […] Read more »
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