Verizon’s long-rumored push into the smart energy home is, finally, on its way. Well, a trial version is. The phone company said today that starting in January it will conduct a home monitoring and control pilot program in homes in New Jersey that will include energy management. Read more »
Biofuels took a step away from the limelight in 2010, replaced by the buzz surrounding electric vehicles. But there were still a variety of policy decisions, and economic milestones that made the sector interesting in 2010. Here’s the year in review for biofuels. Read more »
Lithium-ion battery startup ActaCell, which has already raised funds from such high profile groups as Google.org, DFJ Mercury and Applied Ventures (Applied Materials venture arm), is out touting over $3 million in newly acquired financing this morning. Read more »
GreenVolts is raising even more funds. On top of a round of debt in August, GreenVolts is looking to raise close to $40 million in equity funding from Oak Investment Partners, and has closed on $22.44 million of the round from existing investors Oak Investment Partners. Read more »
Car sharing is a particularly high capital business to be in. You might say “Duh,” but as of September 2010, Zipcar had 8,541 cars in its fleet, most of which it leases, but 1,692 of which it owns outright. Read more »
2010 was a year of ups and downs for the smart grid industry. Here are my thoughts on what needs to happen — both across the industry and with some of the individual players — for this sector to hit a home run in 2011. Read more »
After 6 months and close to 30 shows on green vehicles, we’re ready to ring in 2011 with a brand new year of eco-vehicle content for the Green Overdrive. Here’s my personal favorite 10 (+1) episodes from the Green Overdrive Show in 2010: Read more »
It’s that time of year again: time to get rid of your old, busted or just plain out-of-date gadgets, cell phones and computers to make way for your brand spanking new ones. Here some new, old and innovative ways to do it: Read more »
With a fresh blanket of snow covering the East Coast, the electric cars that have just been delivered to consumers in the U.S. will have their first chance for a winter driving test. Will GM’s Volt and Nissan’s LEAF maintain their battery range? Read more »
Electric car maker Tesla Motors is about to hit a public company milestone: the company’s 180-day lock-up period is reportedly up on Monday, and some analysts think that means the stock is headed for a major slide. Read more »
Biofuel station owners tell us their businesses are going well, but clearly they’re still a niche market. Why are biofuel stations still a hippie niche? Read more »
Wikileaks has given the cleantech world ammunition to show how our sector offers a solution to the extremely unstable world problems, and national security issues. We are bankrolling the same enemies we proclaim to be fighting in the battle against fundamentalist Islamic terror groups. Read more »
The “other” electric sports car company, Fisker Automotive, has bumped up the price of its inaugural vehicle the Fisker Karma — yet again. According to Green Car Reports, the Fisker Karma will now cost $95,900 for the baseline price. Read more »
Not many big auto makers are producing fuel cell cars, but that isn’t stopping Mercedes-Benz, which has produced 200 of its F-Cell vehicles. For this week’s Green Overdrive show we take the F-Cell to the streets of Los Angeles. Read more »
Following on the heels of the Obama administration’s plan to streamline the DOE’s loan guarantee program, the DOE has given final approval to its largest clean power loan guarantee to date: a $1.45 billion guarantee for a solar thermal project in Arizona built by Abengoa Solar. Read more »
Since influencers are what makes the greentech industry world go round, we thought we’d bring you the 10 individuals that we think had the biggest effect on the greentech sector this year. From corporate bigwigs to policy wonks, these are the people changing the sector. Read more »
We’re all going to need to become a lot more energy literate if we’re going to fight climate change. Now the DOE has started working on a collaborative Energy Literacy document that will help guide energy education in schools, as well as federal policy and funding. Read more »
There’s cash in the smart grid for telcos — close to $5 billion by 2016, according to a report out this morning from Pike Research, and most of that revenue opportunity will go to wireless operators such as AT&T and Verizon. Read more »
The year in greentech was influenced by a whole grip of startups, investors, innovators, and policy makers. But when it comes to page views, there were a couple of companies that dominated: Bloom Energy, and Bill Gate’s TerraPower. Here are the Top 10 stories of 2010: Read more »
Biofuel and biochemical startup LS9, which is using a genetically modified version of e.coli bacteria to make diesel, has closed a round of $30 million led by the investors at BlackRock, and also including the company’s existing investors Khosla Ventures, Flagship Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures. Read more »
According to filings via the Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, GM outspent Nissan North America when it came to climate and energy-related lobbying in 2010. Will that give either company an edge in the U.S. market with their inaugural EVs? Read more »
Will California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger be the next Obama Administration energy policy official? It’s just one idea that Schwarzenegger, who will step down from the governor role in a couple weeks, kicked around in an interview with the L.A. Times on Friday. Read more »
The Center for Public Integrity reports that funds from the stimulus package for clean power and energy efficiency were issued with “sweeping exemptions” from basic environmental oversight. Read more »
Yep, it’s that time of year again; get ready for the flurry of end-of-the-year market prediction posts. Here’s 9 predictions from Jeff St. John (plus 1 from me) laying out what the greentech sector will look like in 2011. Read more »
Despite Mission Motor’s delays of its Mission One high-performance electric motorcycle, the company is unveiling a new racing version of its electric super bike the Mission R, which has 141 horsepower, 115 ft-lbs of torque and speeds of 160 mph. Read more »
Everyone’s favorite DOE Chief Steven Chu was mighty busy today — he ushered in a report that establishes “solar energy zones” on public lands, as well as an announcement that the DOE will give out $184 million in grants for efficient vehicle technology project. Read more »
Tesla is showing off an investor presentation this morning that, while not earth-shattering, has a few tidbits of information, one of which is that a result of the Panasonic’s deal will be a custom-made battery cell that will have improved life cycle, performance, safety and cost. Read more »
Twenty-year-old Norwegian auto maker Think is kicking off the U.S. market this morning by delivering its first U.S.-made Think City’s to the state of Indiana for a government fleet. Read more »
Your weekly Green Overdrive episode is here, and we’ve brought you the ins and outs of the concept Honda Fit electric vehicle, an EV version of Honda’s cute and boxy Fit line. It’s the company’s first pure EV since the late 90′s. Read more »
In addition to the high price and the incredibly slow pace of R&D, the technology for capturing and sequestering carbon emissions from power plants is facing another potential hiccup: earthquakes. That’s according to Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback. Read more »
O.K., so there’s been a whole lotta funding news today. Here’s something a bit lighter. This weekend at a holiday gift fair in San Francisco I bought an awesome t-shirt featuring rockstar Department of Energy’s Chief Steven. Actually I bought like three of them. Read more »
The largest car sharing company in the U.S., Zipcar, said this morning it has raised $21 million in a Series G financing round. While that could sound like a good thing, it could also mean the company’s highly-anticipated IPO is on the rocks. Read more »
Startup EnergyHub is raising funds to help make the transition from small-scale utility pilots to commercial deployments over the coming years, and has also brought on a high-profile new independent director onto its board: EnerNOC President and Co-founder David Brewster. Read more »
Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu shows off the DOE’s new cool roof and explains the benefits of ditching a dark roof and opting for a cooler (lighter one). Read more »
Pike Research digs into some of the complexities of its Cloud Computing Energy Efficiency report in a bit more detail. Read more »
Would you save money on your commute if you bought an electric car? Here’s a handy dandy Facebook app that will help you figure it all out: Read more »
Computers that can deliver an exaflop of performance — producing a billion billion calculations per second — aren’t the stuff of science fiction. But according to one researcher, an exascale supercomputer could require 7 GW of power. Clearly that needs to come down. Read more »
The modest agreement that came out of the Cancun climate talks this weekend points tells me one thing: It’s time to start talking a lot more about adaptation to climate change. It’s time for those in greentech to bet adaption will be a hot market. Read more »
From the folks that brought you the disturbing story of how big auto crushed the EV comes the much-anticipated follow up: Revenge of the Electric Car. Here’s the just released trailer: Read more »
There’s been so many acquisitions in the smart grid sector as of late, we’ve been updating the tally every couple of months. Since September there’s been at least six more, so we’re updating our list once again. Read more »
