Solar startup GreenVolts says it has laid off more than 60 of its 80 person staff, as a result of investor ABB removing its support. A small staff remains at GreenVolts to offer customer support of its systems and to look to sell itself or assets. Read more »
One less reason to hate Walmart — the retail behemoth uses the most solar panel systems out of any other company in the U.S. Collectively companies and governments in the U.S. are delivering 2.3 GW of solar power, mostly on the rooftops of their buildings. Read more »
The growing data center clusters in Oregon and Washington could suck up 10 percent of the regions power by 2030, if the facilities and infrastructure don’t become more efficient, according to a report. Read more »
Solar panel power projects in the U.S. are a bright spot for the solar sector, in a difficult year for solar manufacturing. Read more »
A startup that aggregates data about energy use and green characteristics of buildings, Honest Buildings, has raised its first venture round. Using information technology to address resource constraints is one of the few areas of cleantech that VCs still seem willing to invest in. Read more »
In the first announcement since SeaMicro was acquired by AMD, AMD has detailed its new server tech, which is optimized for big data and cloud computing. The new platform improves performance by moving storage closer to the computing center. Read more »
According to a new report out on Monday, traditionally Republican and Swing states are showing the most growth in green jobs. That’s pretty surprising if you’ve been listening to all the Solyndra and anti-green job rhetoric of the election cycles. Read more »
Google kicks off its data center push in Latin America in Chile. Will other locations in Brazil, and Peru follow? Read more »
California utility PG&E continues to sign contracts to buy solar power from solar panel projects in California deserts. On Friday SunPower announced that it will build a 100 MW solar panel farm in Kings County, Calif., which will be enough power for 36,000 homes. Read more »
Two battery startups join forces on the long road of next-generation battery manufacturing. Contour Energy Systems, which makes fluorine-based batteries, has acquired Actacell and its lithium ion battery material tech. ActaCell will operate as a subsidiary under Contour Energy Systems. Read more »
It’s the one year anniversary of the bankruptcy of solar maker Solyndra! What will you do on this most special day? Oh wait, you’re sick of this story and topic? Here’s how we got here. Read more »
Bill Clinton praises Obama’s “all of the above” energy strategy and fuel efficiency standards, but only briefly. Climate change, energy policy and clean power still seem like topics that are being kept to a minimum during the DNC this week. Read more »
The first employee and lead architect of the company that later became Twitter has sold his Uruguay-based dev shop to lean startup consulting group New Context, which counts Eric Ries as a partner. The move marks the emergence of customer development as a service. Read more »
The Nest learning thermostat has sold in the mid hundreds of thousands range, which shows how the venture backed startup has ramped up production. Read more »
Startup WikiCell Designs is creating edible food and beverage packaging, and just raised a first round of funding from venture capitalists Polaris Venture Partners and Flagship Ventures. The idea could reduce the use of plastics and perhaps also gross people out. Read more »
At the end of the day, it may be the really boring stuff — uh, industrial energy efficiency — that does the most good and needs the most support. Read more »
Batteries fall pathetically short of our customary fossil fuel energy storage medium. When we wake up to a declining global availability of petroleum, we won’t just switch over to electric cars. Read more »
The Indian government has announced an aggressive $4B plan to get 6 million electric and hybrid vehicles on its roads by 2020. Here are at least five hurdles I see for the plan. Read more »
Today in cleantech, check out some new research and articles from our GigaOM Pro analysts. Read more »
An underwater swimming solar robot FTW! Courtesy of AeroVironment. Read more »
Electric car charging startup Better Place has raised another $50 million, this time in the form of a loan from European Investment Bank. The company has raised a whopping $800 million, mostly in equity to get its charging networks built out in Denmark and Israel. Read more »
Come take a look at the first phase of Sapphire Energy’s algae farm in New Mexico. When eventually built out it will produce 100 barrels of algae biofuel a day, and currently the five-year-old startup is making algae fuel on ponds across about 100 acres. Read more »
Electric car startup Coda Automotive joins the ranks of its peers that have recalled early cars because of faulty parts. On Sunday Coda recalled 78 of its electric sedans because of a mis-installed side curtain air bag. Read more »
Liquid Metal Battery — a promising battery startup backed by Bill Gates, Khosla Ventures and oil giant Total — has changed it’s name to Ambri, a shorter and less literal word that’s a nod to Cambridge, where the company was founded. Read more »
Will a potential fundamental flaw in energy efficiency technology hold back the progress society has made with more efficient appliances and systems? Read more »
While Wanxiang is not a known name in the U.S., it’s one of China’s largest industrial parts makers and it’s making very aggressive bets on U.S. cleantech startups, some of which have been struggling. Read more »
Despite layoffs and business model changes, Smart Grid News’ Jesse Berst thinks home energy startup Tendril is in a good position for growth. Read more »
First Solar is looking to double down on building solar projects, not just be a panel supplier, in India in the wake of the wide sweeping grid blackouts of the Summer. Read more »
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Is it the end of an era for the former rock star venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins and did greentech play a large part in that fall from grace? Read more »
Silicon Valley solar startup AQT Solar is the latest thin film solar company to struggle: the company is reportedly looking to sell its assets. Just earlier this year the company raised more funding and planned to make 30 MW of its solar cells by mid year. Read more »
The digital green incubator Greenstart announced four new startups in its mentoring and investment program. Who were the winners that beat out over 160 other teams to gain advice and funds? Read more »
Mexican venture firm Alta Ventures Mexico has closed a $70 million fund to invest in startups across Mexico and Latin America. Is Mexico the new Brazil for venture capital investing in Latin America? Read more »
Startups that are developing off grid clean power devices are turning to Kickstarter to kick start production. The latest is Peppermint Energy, which has created a “utility in a box” solar device. Read more »
More computer malware that targets the energy industry has been found. Are power companies ready for these types of attacks? As the power grid and energy companies embrace digital technology, wireless networks, and big data, they’ll have to also embrace the security tools of the Internet. Read more »
Electric car maker Fisker recalls a cooling fan for its electric Karma car that led to a fire earlier this month. Read more »
Follow along our tour as we take you on a rare journey through Facebook’s first data center in Prineville Oregon, which houses its Open Compute servers. We’ll bring you along the air flow route, and down into the secret server room: Read more »
Facebook is building a deep storage facility at its data center in Oregon. Read more »
Fisker is raising even more money — another $150 million — on top of the $1 billion it’s already raised. How long will private investors be willing to keep funding the electric car maker? Read more »
Buying IT services should be the opposite of how you buy produce: “No you don’t want to consume your IT locally. Trust us,” says Google’s Peter Magnusson. That’s because products like Google’s platform as a service App Engine are energy efficient and carbon neutral. Read more »
Yesterday’s toilet is like your parent’s phone line system: wired, and expensive. The next-generation bathroom for the next billion people in the developing world will be “wireless,” and water-free. Read more »
