There’s hundreds of software tools and companies to choose from when it comes to helping organizations manage energy consumption, carbon emissions and water use. But a report out this morning from researchers Groom Energy singles out the top 10 companies providing these important tools. Read more »
I’m very excited to officially announce our third annual GreenNet conference, which focuses on digital energy, or how information technology — from software to networks to the web — can fight climate change! We’ll be holding GreenNet 2011 on April 21, in San Francisco. Read more »
It’s time for the home energy management firms that have been leading the pack to bulk up. Home automation company Control4, is in the process of raising $25 million and has closed $15 million of that round, according to a filing. Read more »
In case you missed the Super Bowl game last night, GM debuted another Chevy Volt ad focused on historical innovations. Instead of the “more car than electric” tagline, GM went with a simpler approach, highlighting how important the Volt technology will be for transportation. Read more »
Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems, which has built a business off of power tools and electric cars, has been increasingly focusing on the power grid and can thank power company AES for pretty much all of the growth of its grid sales. Read more »
The DOE’s program to fund high-risk, early-stage, greentech projects is working, the DOE says this week. The indicator, says the DOE, is that private investors have invested a combined $100 million into at least 6 ARPA-E awardees. Here are the six ARPA-E graduates: Read more »
Will an energy management option that is free, web-centric and doesn’t require utility permission be a hit? That’s the idea behind Earth Aid, a startup that launched its beta site about a year and a half ago, and has raised its first round of funding. Read more »
If you live in a city, you might have a car sharing service, but some day you could have car sharing 2.0. That’s what RelayRides, a young startup that offers neighbor-to-neighbor car sharing, and is backed by Google Ventures and August Capital, is trying to offer. Read more »
President Obama’s State of the Union address called for 80 percent clean energy by 2035. While laudable, and reachable, the goal excludes 72 percent of petroleum’s usage, and so far there are few good substitutes for petroleum as a transportation fuel. Read more »
Nuclear pod company Hyperion has raised $2.8 million in financing, according to a filing, and has also boosted the price of its nuclear device to $50 million from $25 million, according to its website. Will nuclear-in-a-box ever make it to market? Read more »
For months, Verizon has seemed to be trailing rival AT&T on smart grid initiatives. Not anymore, if news from the smart grid conference Distributech in San Diego this week is any indicator, including an announcement to offer a cloud-based smart meter management service with eMeter. Read more »
While energy management startup Tendril announced a partnership and web services this week, the company also quietly confirmed with me that it won’t be selling its sleek “Vision” energy dashboard. It’s the beginning of the end of the stand alone high-end home energy device. Read more »
Startup Alphabet Energy, which is developing materials and devices that convert waste heat into usable electricity, told me this week that by 2012 they will deliver products to customers and throughout 2011 will be moving from the lab into the factory. Read more »
The annual smart grid event Distributech kicked off in San Diego Tuesday morning and — as expected — it’s unleashed a whole series of news from smart grid-focused firms. Here are 10 trends and news bits out of Distributech this morning. Read more »
President Obama visited a company called Orion Energy Systems, which makes energy-efficient lighting and solar power projects, last week and touted the company in a weekend video. Given such an all-out endorsement, I would expect a rockstar company — not so much. Read more »
Is 2011 the year that consumers will finally warm to using gadgets and software to manage their home energy consumption? Startups like Tendril and Control4 are using the DistribuTECH show this week to tout new deals and partnerships that they hope will build up the market. Read more »
The next-generation wireless broadband technology Long Term Evolution (or LTE), might not be available to the utility world just yet, but that isn’t stopping a handful of vendors touting LTE smart grid solutions at DistribuTECH next week, including Alcatel Lucent and Tantalus. Read more »
T. Boone Pickens — BP Capital founder, and creator of the Pickens Plan — hit The Daily Show for the second time in as many years last night, and discusses how Obama’s pledge to reduce oil use from the Middle East hasn’t moved forward. Read more »
Wireless spectrum: It’s the air that mobile service providers breathe, and the FCC has been freeing up chunks of wireless spectrum for our insatiable appetite for wireless services. But turns out it’s not just cell phone companies that want more spectrum; utilities want more, too. Read more »
BMW’s Mini-Es might just be prototype electric cars, but they’re some of the most fun ones we’ve driven. With the heavy regen and the speedy pick-up, we had a blast test driving one around the streets of LA. Check it out! Read more »
GM Ventures is now rapidly starting to invest its $100 million fund into auto innovations. This morning GM Ventures said it has pumped $7 million into battery startup Envia Systems, and has secured the rights to use Envia’s cathode materials for future GM vehicles. Read more »
President Obama went out of his way to include natural gas in his definition of clean energy in the State of the Union last night, quietly pointing to the fact that coal is the real problem, and also bringing attention to the debate over natural gas. Read more »
Silver Spring Networks might be the technical “Cisco of the smart grid” (well, before Cisco joined the space), but demand response company EnerNOC has the famous acquisition habits of the router giant. And this morning there was one more — here’s the tally to date. Read more »
President Obama addressed renewable energy briefly and early on in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night and unveiled a new U.S. clean energy challenge that said by 2035, “80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.” Read more »
Rachel Botsman, author of What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise Of Collaborative Consumption has given an awesome TED talk that is now online. The video inspired me to republish the essay I wrote late last year on How Web Sharing Sites Can Save The Planet. Read more »
The threat of the government stepping in and legislating the smart grid standards making process was a useful tool for helping the process along, says Raj Vaswani, CTO of smart grid networking firm Silver Spring Networks. Read more »
CNN founder, and “Mouth of the South,” Ted Turner has officially turned on his jointly-owned, 30-MW, solar farm in New Mexico. Turner and co-owner power company Southern Company Monday said morning that the so-called Cimarron Solar Facility “has begun commercial operation.” Read more »
Just when Apple was starting to draw praise from environmental groups, a report focused on its supply chain is pointing more fingers. A group of Chinese NGOs issued a report that accuses Apple of working with suppliers that have used chemicals that have made workers sick. Read more »
It’s almost that time again! Our third annual Green:Net 2011 conference, which focuses on digital energy and how information technology can be used to fight climate change, is fast approaching on April 21 in San Francisco. Read more »
Ford’s Ed Pleet gives us a video demo of Ford’s new mobile app, MyFord Mobile, that will help drivers remotely manage energy consumption in the upcoming Ford Focus Electric vehicle. The software allows users to remotely monitor the car’s battery and plan trips around recharging stations. Read more »
Electric car startup Coda Automotive has found its new CEO. GM veteran Phil Murtaugh, who launched GM’s Shanghai-based business, is taking over as permanent CEO for interim CEO Steven Heller. Coda’s previous CEO Kevin Czinger stepped down from the company late last year. Read more »
The biggest missing ingredient in the energy discussion is that the clean power and natural gas groups are not sitting down and creating a dialogue, says Carl Pope, Chairman of the Sierra Club. Read more »
John Hofmeister, the former President of Shell Oil, isn’t one to mince words. He thinks the U.S. is going about energy policy “planlessly,” due to its short political cycles, and he called the stimulus package’s funding for green technology “a frittering number.” Read more »
Hug Energy, which had developed an application for computer energy management, is shutting down. CEO Marcus Tallhamn made the announcement in a blog post and an email to users, citing weak investor interest. It’s a sign of how crowded the energy management space has gotten. Read more »
The DOE has offered a $967 million loan guarantee for the Agua Caliente Solar project, a 290 MW photovoltaic facility that will be built in Yuma County, Arizona, will be developed by NRG Energy and will use First Solar panels. Read more »
The most talked about company in cleantech in 2010, fuel cell company Bloom Energy, announced Thursday morning that it’s launching an offer for 10-year electricity contracts with no upfront payment for the Bloom Box fuel cell itself, which costs between $700,000 to $800,000. Read more »
It may not be the greenest battery-powered car we’ve driven (at between 21 to 25 MPG) but it’s got the performance of a Porsche, but with some nifty green features, like when you’re driving around 80 mph the power kicks off and you’re basically coasting. Read more »
Even though Tesla’s second electric vehicle the Model S is still about two years away, Tesla CEO Elon Musk laid out the company’s road map for two more new electric cars at an event in Palm Springs: the Model X SUV and a $30,000 EV. Read more »
At the Cleantech Investor Summit in Palm Springs, Calif. on Wednesday, GM Ventures President John Lauckner highlighted how GM Ventures could help entrepreneurs and startups, and also what GM Ventures is looking for in terms of its investments. Read more »
Making the automation systems in commercial buildings smarter – that’s the idea behind startup Scientific Conservation, which today announced a new $15.65 million funding round led by DFJ Growth Fund Managing Director (and Internet exec entrepreneur) Barry Schuler. Read more »
