If you’re like a lot of computer users, you’ve got applications on your computer that you rarely, if ever, use. Sprint Nextel Corp., until recently, was like you, but on a much larger scale. The company found as many as 127 underused and nonessential applications, for […] Read more »
Solar-Powered Cell Phone: Japan’s No. 2 wireless carrier, KDDI Corp., said today it will start selling a waterproof, solar-powered cell phone made by Sharp Corp. this summer. — Forbes Guv to Join Detroit Green Car Talks: This week’s Society of Automotive Engineer’s conference, titled “Racing to […] Read more »
If you’re planning to roll out a hybrid or electric fleet vehicle technology in China, it’s nice to have the government on board. That’s what powertrain developer Adura Systems (not to be confused with lighting management company Adura Technologies) has found. Two-year-old Adura — a self-described […] Read more »
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“The smart grid means many things to many people,” said Mark Farber, co-founder of Evergreen Solar and now a consultant with Photon Consulting, at the Ceres Conference in San Francisco, Calif., last week. Indeed, and given that Uncle Sam plans to spend $4.5 billion developing and […] Read more »
Some standards for plug-in vehicles may have come sooner than we thought, but work still remains for standards that General Motors sees as “necessary for consumer acceptance of electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt,” according to the automaker’s latest FastLane blog post. We noted in December […] Read more »
EPA Endangerment Finding: The U.S. EPA said today that greenhouse gases pose a danger to the public, paving the way for the agency to place limits on carbon dioxide and other emissions from vehicles, power plants and factories under the Clean Air Act — and increasing […] Read more »
You knew smart grid technology made off with billions of dollars under the stimulus package. But who’s getting it and how? Drum roll, please: The Obama administration laid out details yesterday on how it plans to distribute nearly $4 billion for smart grid technology under new […] Read more »
The wind, sun and ocean represent exciting resources for clean energy backers. But for the bulk power system, the prospect of more than 145 GW of power from these resources in the next decade presents a daunting amount of variability in the power supply. According to […] Read more »
It’s no secret that the UK government wants its roads to one day serve a fleet of clean plug-in vehicles. Earlier this month we wrote about Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s pledge to launch up to three electric car pilot projects within a year, eventually building out […] Read more »
Nissan Expands Arizona EV Plans: Nissan has promised to supply more than “a couple hundred” highway-legal electric vehicles to the Phoenix area, as well as the previously announced Tucson area, for public and private fleets by the end of 2010. Ecotality now also plans to expand […] Read more »
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It’s a bright day for lighting startup Luxim Corp. The Sequoia Capital-backed company has just announced $12 million in Series C funds to help it expand and ramp up production of its energy efficient, solid-state plasma lighting — bringing its total venture investment to some $72 […] Read more »
“The dog finally caught the car” is how Dan Reicher, Google.org’s director of climate and energy initiatives put it today — with the dog being clean energy advocates, and the car being government funding for renewables. Now, according to Reicher, who spoke on a Ceres conference […] Read more »
Updated with clarification from Richard Sedano: Utilities are stuck between two sets of agencies that could make the road to a smarter grid much shorter — if they would only get together and talk. That’s according to the Regulatory Assistance Project’s Richard Sedano, who spoke at […] Read more »
With market bubbles, the truth about risks is simply too painful to confront, Denis Hayes said at the Ceres conference in San Francisco this morning. It’s no different with our current “ecological bubble,” he said, explaining that no one wants to confront the real risks and […] Read more »
Palin on Climate Change: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has previously questioned the science behind predictions of sea ice loss, acknowledged yesterday that climate change is harming her state, but said increased natural-gas production could mitigate its effects. — Los Angeles Times Peapod on the Way: […] Read more »
For most Twitterers, it’s safe to say that the environmental impact of tweeting what you had for dinner ranks quite below top of mind. But web applications that involve constant updates and real-time information — such as many of those on the Twitter platform and especially […] Read more »
Take Tom Delay, the former congressional GOP leader with a longstanding hatred for the U.S. EPA and doubt about climate change, and figure out how, by six degrees of separation, he triggered the Supreme Court ruling that’s now giving Congressional Democrats leverage to push climate policy […] Read more »
Bill Gates Gets Into Hybrid Car Tech: Microsoft founder Bill Gates appears as a principal applicant on a new patent for a smart engine that could theoretically switch between electricity and gas power “in response to actual or predicted operating conditions.” — Fast Company Uh-Oh Nano: […] Read more »
Firing up its first full-scale factory today, the solar startup known until last month as AVA Solar has a new name — Abound Solar — but a tried-and-true target: Beat sector-leading First Solar on cost. When we covered Abound’s massive $104 million equity financing round last […] Read more »
By 2020, every one of the thousands of homes built in California each year should be generating its own energy, according to state Assemblywoman Lori Saldana. New homes built after that date would be required to draw zero net energy from the power grid — feeding […] Read more »
BYD Auto has been the poster child for electric cars in China ever since Warren Buffett invested in the company back in September. But in recent months new players, including the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Daimler AG and battery maker Electrovaya, have come onto the scene as well […] Read more »
Pentagon Picks Up Alternative Fuels Projects: The Defense Department, the largest consumer of energy in the U.S., spent some $18 billion on energy last year. Now it’s prioritizing development of alternative fuels and energy saving technologies in an effort to reduce the number of convoys put […] Read more »
The winnings for the Automotive X Prize competition inevitably represent a huge boost for DIY garage-based teams hoping to launch a real business. In today’s economy, the $7.5 million awaiting the winner of this year’s competition — to build the best 100 mpg car with a […] Read more »
Compromise on Cap and Trade?: Top science adviser John Holdren hinted yesterday that the Obama administration might agree to auction only a portion (rather than all) of the emissions allowances initially granted under a cap-and-trade scheme — a compromise likely to please utilities and manufacturers but […] Read more »
Londoners and travelers with some time to kill in the neighborhood of Heathrow Airport — or at least the electric sports car fiends among them — may have a new destination this spring. Tesla Motors, which has the chassis for its Roadster assembled about 100 miles […] Read more »
Brits Go Ahead With Green Auto Bailout: Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan’s British factory have won hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to develop cleaner vehicle technology. The money comes from the European Investment Bank in the first round of money for UK-based carmakers. — […] Read more »
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has big hopes for an electric auto industry in the United Kingdom. He told the Independent in an interview published today that 2-3 British cities will launch trials of all-electric cars within a year, with funding for the projects allotted as […] Read more »
It sounds like a job for Captain Obvious: Why not team the top car-sharing service, Zipcar, with Zimride, a leader among the growing number of startups trying to reinvent carpooling on the web? Both appeal to green-minded urban drivers, and they have worked to build a […] Read more »
Late last year, National Semiconductor CEO and Chairman Brian Halla said at the EcoChip forum in Silicon Valley that the big chipmakers had relied too heavily on consumer electronics — a market that was then in rapid decline. “Too many of us were chasing the easy […] Read more »
SunPower, Xcel Team Up in Colorado: Xcel Energy and SunPower Corp. announced plans today to build a 17-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant in Colorado’s Alamosa County by the end of next year. — Silicon Valley Business Journal X Prize Race Heats Up: A field of 111 […] Read more »
The media blitz for the New York International Auto Show doesn’t kick into high gear until tomorrow, but automakers are itching to get their new toys out ahead of time. Among the concept cars slated to debut at the show this week is a Toyota Scion […] Read more »
Fisker Automotive is rounding the bend on production of its first vehicle, the luxury plug-in hybrid Fisker Karma. A Department of Energy loan still hangs in the balance for a lower-cost model, but the Irvine, Calif.-based startup has just announced $85 million in new venture capital […] Read more »
It’s not every day you find $4.4 million lying around at the Empire State Building. But that’s how much former President Bill Clinton and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today said they expect the Empire State Building Co. to find in annual energy savings after the […] Read more »
Buying Time: The draft energy bill introduced in Congress last week leaves a big hole for the business-as-usual development of traditional coal-fired power plants over the next six years. — WSJ’s Environmental Capital Cash for Clunkers Under Fire: A growing chorus of critics say cash-for-clunker programs […] Read more »
With less than a month left to finalize a tie-up with Fiat SpA as a condition of additional aid from the U.S. government, Chrysler is plowing ahead with plans for a lineup of five extended-range electric and all-electric vehicles. Today the automaker announced that Massachusetts-based startup […] Read more »
Internet-enabled refrigerators and other household appliances outfitted with enough computing intelligence to manage their own energy use have existed in corporate labs for years. If the climate and energy bill now being debated in Congress is passed, they may finally make it into your kitchen. Combined […] Read more »
The ethanol industry just can’t catch a break. We started tracking plant closures more than a year ago, when record-high corn and soy prices and an ethanol glut had squeezed ethanol’s profit margin to a slim 25 cents per gallon, down from $2.30 a gallon in […] Read more »
REC Halves Solar Cell Output: Renewable Energy Corp. plans to cut solar cell and module production in the second quarter by nearly 50 percent to adjust to weak markets, although it will restart halted production later in the year. — Reuters Think to Scope Out Oregon: […] Read more »
Charging ahead with its plan to make electric vehicles for the masses, the Renault-Nissan Alliance and the Irish government today said they’ve teamed up to develop an electric car network with ESB, the Irish electricity provider in which the government holds a partial stake. Energy Minister […] Read more »
For Mitsubishi Motors, finding buyers for 2,000 of its electric vehicles was a snap. In fact orders rolled in so quickly for the iMiEV model, which is scheduled to begin leasing in Japan this summer, that the automaker now plans to ramp up production volumes faster […] Read more »
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