There are expected to be over 9 billion on the planet by 2050 and you can expect that to strain the world’s resources like energy, water and food. But big data tools will be able to help organizations track and attempt to solve this problem. Read More »
Bio:Katie Fehrenbacher, Editor, Earth2Tech
Katie Fehrenbacher has been covering cutting-edge technology, startups and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley for over 7 years. She is the founding Editor of Earth2Tech, which she launched in July 2007. Prior to starting Earth2Tech she was a Staff Writer for GigaOM where she covered wireless and broadband technology. She has been a Reporter at Red Herring, an Editor at Engadget and began her career as a Reporter in the Silicon Valley bureau of the largest Japanese daily newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Latest Tweets
- @rafat Met these guys recently, http://t.co/ipI69lmT for travelers https://t.co/y8mkpgYE
- awesome. applying the same determination to the future of energy RT @mathewi: "Elon Musk's determination" http://t.co/Udu0fRw7
- so awesome RT @peterrojas: After almost eleven years I finally get coffee with Douglas Rushkoff: http://t.co/hR9sY7Pr
My Focus
Greentech
Smartgrid
Energy Management
Green IT
Recent Posts
Young, early-stage green-focused startups are a rare breed these days. The demo day for the green digital-focused accelerator Greenstart was one of the first times in a long time that I’ve seen a grouping of new young green-leaning startups looking for their first round of funding. … Read More »
Six smart grid projects you don’t see everyday courtesy of Smart Grid News. Read More »
In the emerging vision for the smart city of tomorrow, we often hear about next gen smart grids, smarter buildings and smart transportation systems. But we hear much less about smart water systems and the need to develop more efficient approaches to water as a resource. Read More »
The story behind why solar thermal company BrightSource Energy pulled its IPO: basically because it could. Read More »
Watch out Opower. Carbon and energy software player C3 — the quiet firm started by Thomas Siebel and which counts Condoleezza Rice as a director — has acquired another energy software startup Efficiency 2.0. Read More »
Japan is even hip when it comes to nuclear fallout. The Gamma Watch Squadron is a crew led by a Japanese rapper that takes Instagram photos of elevated Geiger counter readings in public places around the Fukushima area. Read More »
More Must Reads
We were wondering where Apple and Bloom Energy were planning on getting all that biogas to run the large fuel cell farm at Apple’s North Carolina data center. According to a filing with FERC, Apple will get the biogas from landfills. Read More »
On Monday clean water startup NanoH20 announced that it’s closed $60 million in financing from chemical giant BASF, oil refiner Total, and Valley investors Khosla Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, and CalPERS Clean Energy & Technology Fund. Read More »
Last month I exclusively reported that Apple was buying fuel cells from Bloom Energy for its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. Well, on Monday morning Bloom Energy has finally confirmed that yes, it is supplying fuel cells for Apple’s data center, reports CNET. Read More »
Despite the series of withdrawals of greentech IPOs this month, solar rooftop installer SolarCity announced on Monday that it is planning for an IPO. Will it fare better than the other greentech IPO hopefuls this month? Read More »
On the occasion of the groundbreaking of Bloom Energy’s new east coast factory, the company gives us a rare video interview detailing its next-gen fuel cell tech, which has double the power in the same footprint, and is 20 percent more efficient than its older tech. Read More »
India is struggling to add more electricity capacity for the country’s rapidly growing economy, but the domestic coal industry is an absolute mess. That situation means that India could possibly be one of the most high-growth solar markets in the world. Read More »
You can’t build an iPhone battery without many rare earth elements and China controls about 90 percent of the rare earth supply. Read More »
Three greentech IPO hopefuls pulled the plug on their public market plans this month. There’s a lot that these companies have in common, and it’s not that they’re green: it’s the lack of profits and even revenues. Read More »
It’s no secret that it’s been a rocky road for many venture capitalists that have invested in greentech. Now according to Dow Jones Venture Wire, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which has one of the largest greentech portfolios, is shifting away from investing in greentech startups. Read More »
Waste to fuel startup Enerkem has withdrawn its IPO plans citing — what else — poor market conditions. The move is the third greentech IPO hopeful to cancel public market plans this month. Read More »
Greentech investor Nancy Pfund — who I once called the most successful and positive greentech investor you haven’t heard of — can’t always be positive. Her fund’s portfolio company BrightSource pulled its IPO plans in the same week that Dunkin’ Donuts raised a secondary offering. Read More »
Why are there so many snake oil salesmen and scam artists in the energy space? Read More »
The market was not in love with Zipcar’s Q1 earnings, which drove the share price down 10 percent this morning. Read More »
Greenpeace’s main concern for where Internet companies build their data centers is clean power. But data center builders actually think more about the cost of the energy than how clean the source is, and they also think about the volatility of the price and supply. Read More »
Buried in last week’s catfight between Apple and Greenpeace over the energy sourcing for Apple’s new North Carolina data center and how clean it would be, was a surprising fact — that the conversation between Apple and Greenpeace was happening at all. Read More »
A partnership between an LA-based electric car startup and a Chinese auto maker intends to produce “the most affordable EV on the market.” On Tuesday Coda announced that it has a new deal with Great Wall Motors Company to co-develop a low cost electric car. Read More »
At the Beijing Auto Show this week, Volkswagen is showing off its concept E-Bugster. But as our Green Overdrive watchers know, this isn’t the first electric Bug to hit the roads. Read More »
The second greentech startup that had planned an IPO this month has now withdrawn its plans citing market conditions. Luca Technologies, a startup which uses biotech to produce natural gas via microbes in coal beds, announced that it intends to withdraw its IPO plans. Read More »
Two opposing reports were just published, each supporting solar. Which one should we listen to? Read More »
Come check out our Common Wealth Club segment on electric cars at noon today in downtown San Francisco. Read More »
At first glance biogas — gas that is produced by the breakdown of organic matter — and data centers that are powering the world’s always-on websites don’t seem like a clear fit. But some data center operators are researching ways to use biogas and here’s why: Read More »
If a breakthrough air-breathing battery design, created by none other than IBM, ever makes it out of the lab, the world could one day see an electric car with a whopping 500-mile range — about five times what the current electric cars today are offering. Read More »
The amount of energy consumed by video game consoles has increased by almost 50 percent between 2007 and 2010 in the U.S., according to a report out from Carnegie Mellon University. Read More »
It looks like the end times are near for U.S. support for cleantech, at least according to a report out from the Breakthrough Institute, the Brookings Institution and the World Resources Institute. Read More »
In the wake of Solar Trust’s recent bankruptcy, conservatives were eager to brand the company’s collapse as another Solyndra. Cleantech has become highly politicized, so much so that Obama’s first reelection ad was a defense of his clean energy policy. Read More »
Despite that Apple is building a large solar and fuel cell farm at its data center in North Carolina, Greenpeace say in a new report that Apple is one of a couple of Internet companies that are falling short on sourcing clean power for data centers. Read More »
Electric car company Tesla and solar roof installer SolarCity have quietly been making deals that could one day lead to dozens of sales of battery projects coupled with rooftop solar systems built at both residential and commercial buildings in California. Read More »
Ford is finally showing off its biggest push to date into the electric car market: an electric version of its Ford Focus. For GigaOM TV’s Green Overdrive show, we bring you a test drive! Read More »
Working with David Anthony wasn’t always easy, but it was always inspiring. His tone, his cadence, and these pregnant pauses he always took when he spoke were more suggestive of a Zen Buddhist than your typical type-A venture capitalist. His patience was one his defining characteristics. Read More »
Kleiner Perkin’s partner Ray Lane is not listed as a general partner on fund documents for prospective limited partners for Kleiner Perkin’s next early stage fund, though Lane will still be active at the firm, reports Fortune’s Dan Primack. Read More »
Esses, a startup building a sort of Google Street View-style business around building energy consumption, has raised $6 million in its first round of funding. Read More »
Will a relatively young site called Snip.it, which has a growing eco-minded user base, be the one to galvanize the web around environmental issues? Read More »
Utilities and companies that make smart meters and related technology must tighten their “human security measures.” This includes planning for the worst case: rogue employees. Read More »
One thing that stands out in my mind about Ford’s electric car ambitions is that it is uniquely pushing a home charger that can charge the Focus fully in a little over three hours. It costs extra, but could a three-hour charge be a game changer? Read More »
This is a presentation I made for a decal class at UC Berkeley’s Haas school on Wednesday night. I learned of BrightSource pulling its IPO on my way out of the class, which made me feel like the guy in the first slide. Read More »
Harvest Power is raising $110 million from investors including Al Gore’s fund, venture firm Kleiner Perkins and a fund led by former First Solar CEO Michael Ahearn to build out its facilities that turn organic waste into fertilizer and energy. Read More »
If you were wondering if smart thermostat startup Nest was going to roll over to be squashed by the Honeywell thermostat gorilla, the answer is a resounding no. Nest announced has officially denied Honeywell’s patent infringement claims, and has brought on Apple’s former patent chief. Read More »
As The Daily Show’s John Stewart says in this interview with Tesla co-founder Elon Musk: a lot of people talk a good talk about ambition and sustainability, but not everyone builds a rocket, an electric car and a company to proliferate solar power. Watch the clips! Read More »
Most Commented
Popular Now
Latest News
