The blurring of transmission and distribution sections of the power grid presents numerous challenges and opportunities for innovation and outreach. The smart grid can solve this missing link. Read more »
Cheap, abundant, natural gas in the U.S. is remaking the American energy landscape. Can turning it into chemicals make one startup – and its new investors, which include Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen – filthy rich? Read more »
It all started with a breakfast buffet and some leftover French toast. That was when Dan Blake, the CEO of composting soil startup EcoScraps, says he realized he wanted to make a business off of collecting food waste and turning it into something useful. Read more »
Proving that the venture model is working for at least a few select brand name venture capitalists, NEA announced on Wednesday that it’s closed a massive $2.6 billion new fund. The firm describes the fund as “one of the largest venture funds ever raised.” Read more »
A twelve-year-old company that makes wireless security and energy management systems called Alarm.com has just closed a round of $136 million in equity according to a filing. The company confirmed the round with me, but wouldn’t disclose any more details. Read more »
BMW’s venture fund, BMW i Ventures, has invested in electric car charging company Coulomb Technologies, according to a release. BMW launched its $100 million fund — its first to date — last year to focus on “mobility,” including mobile apps, in car services and auto navigation. Read more »
Following several years of development, demand response has now started transforming wholesale markets — and reducing costs for ratepayers. Read more »
The lithium air battery has long been over hyped — now add a pot of gold to the end of that rainbow. Scientists at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland have been using gold to make a prototype of a lithium air battery. Read more »
Investments by venture capitalists into smart grid companies — or firms that are adding digital intelligence to the power grid — has remained “extremely weak” over at least the last three quarters, according to research firm the Mercom Capital Group. Read more »
Facebook’s social platform will increasingly be focused on sustainability, if the company’s new manager of energy efficiency and sustainability, Bill Weihl, has anything to say about it. Read more »
Today’s itinerary takes us to Arizona, where researchers have developed a mirror technology they hope can make solar competitive. Next stop is a city in Massachusetts, which is a poster child for energy efficiency savings that other cash-strapped cities may find instructive; Plus three other projects. Read more »
Apple is building another smaller data center, next to its massive iCloud data center, in Maiden, North Carolina, according to local reports. The new planned 21,030 square-foot data center will store clusters of servers; for comparison the current data center onsite is 500,000 square feet. Read more »
Telcos, cable companies, startups and Internet giants are all looking to make your home smarter — so why not a big box retailer? On Thursday Lowe’s announced that its smart home service Iris, developed in conjunction with U.K. startup AlertMe, is now available for sale. Read more »
Imagine if we went to a filling station and matched at least the choices that Brazil provides its people. Imagine if your car had the flexibility to allow you to choose the fuel that was the cheapest at the time? Read more »
A solar startup with a new type of technology, and funding from Kleiner Perkins and the Department of Energy, has closed its factory in Las Vegas after 14 months, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. Read more »
Cheap, abundant natural gas is changing the game for energy in the U.S., and that means a renewed push for natural gas cars. Read more »
Apple seems to be increasingly willing to respond to negative publicity surrounding its sustainability practices, points out GigaOM Pro cleantech analyst Adam Lesser. Why? Read more »
Why can’t there be a solar panel rooftop system that works as easily as your TV: no professional installation, no permits, just plug it in and start it up? Read more »
American utilities are slowly starting to embrace using smart thermostats to help manage the energy consumption of their customers. Startups like EnergyHub, EcoFactor, Nest, and Opower are offering these tools. Read more »
The around 6 million subscribers to GM’s OnStar connected car service can now rent out their cars to other drivers via a deal between the auto giant and peer-to-peer car sharing startup RelayRides. The partnership was announced back in October of last year. Read more »
The Agua Caliente solar project in Yuma County, Arizona — which is one of the world’s largest solar panel farms — is now two thirds completed, according to the owners and developer of the project, NRG Energy, MidAmerican Solar and First Solar. Read more »
With the Model S launch in its rear view window, electric car maker Tesla is on its way to becoming a full fledged auto maker, and according to a report Tesla is thinking about one day developing an electric pickup truck. Read more »
After years of a declining gambling industry, Reno, Nevada — the so-called biggest little city in the world — is looking to remake itself, and part of that plan will include data centers. However, data centers don’t offer very many jobs to local workers. Read more »
It isn’t a $1 billion Instagram deal, but Facebook has acquired the team at mobile social book marking site Spool. Facebook doesn’t appear to be acquiring any of the Spool mobile product itself, and Spool will shut down its own service. Read more »
Apple, Google, Facebook and others have chosen a several hundred-mile stretch in North Carolina to build their mega east coast data centers. Check out my 4-part series on the cluster, the resources that go into it, and why some are betting on clean power: Read more »
The Department of Energy’s high-risk, early stage program — ARPA-E — has announced a new project that will give $30 million in grants to companies, university labs and startups building the next-generation of natural gas vehicle technology. Read more »
If you’ve been wondering how you can get your hands on one of Fenix’s portable off-grid battery and solar kits — previously only available in Africa — ponder no longer. The startup has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to sell their battery and solar kits in the U.S. Read more »
In an update to a controversial report, environmental activist group Greenpeace partly applauded Apple for taking more steps to add clean power to its data center, yet also said Apple should both be more transparent about its plans and should also be doing more. Read more »
Apple’s new $1 billion data center — one of the highest-profile new data centers in the world — has put the town of Maiden, North Carolina (population: just over 3,000) on the tech map. But it almost didn’t get built. Read more »
Despite that venture funding for cleantech is cooling off, some companies are still able to get money for growth. For example, biochemical company Elevance Renewable Sciences has raised a $104 million Series E round from oil giant Total’s investing arm, and Malaysian conglomerate Genting Berhad. Read more »
Clean technologies are ready for investments. Are the traditional investors in VC and project finance willing to change their approach? Read more »
Car sharing company Zipcar has acquired a startup in Austria to help expand its presence in Europe, Zipcar’s CEO Scott Griffith tells me. Read more »
As the world demands more clean energy, will North Carolina — and its power that largely comes from coal and nuclear — continue to attract these types of data center deals? Or will areas that can provide more grid-connected clean power win out? Read more »
One of the largest solar conferences in the U.S., Intersolar, kicked off on Tuesday in downtown San Francisco, and is expected to draw around 22,000 attendees in the solar and power sectors this week. Here’s photos of the latest solar gear shown across two floors. Read more »
Money from Chinese investors, conglomerates, cities and the government, continues to drive a significant amount of the future of next-generation technology for electric cars. Read more »
Not a bigger shocker from the Cleantech Group this morning: the amount of venture capital funding that went into cleantech startups worldwide in the second quarter of 2012 dropped by 25 percent, in terms of total dollars spent, from the prior year second quarter. Read more »
EcoMotors, a startup building an efficient engine, has raised a $32.5 million Series C round led by Braemar Energy Ventures, and including previous investors Khosla Ventures and Bill Gates. Read more »
We interviewed executives at some of the biggest Internet companies, as well as hardware vendors, economic development groups, and utilities to find out why North Carolina has emerged as a hub for Internet leaders mega data centers. Here are the 10 biggest reasons: Read more »
One day, one tank of gas, and three data centers – those were the terms of a road trip that only a geek would dream up. My destination: a new cluster of cutting-edge, massive data centers north of Charlotte, North Carolina. Read more »
Today in cleantech, we bring you the soft costs of solar, some awesome new research reports and content on electric cars, and the news of the day. Read more »
