While the financial turmoil has put a damper on some electric car companies’ plans, Mississauga, Ontario-based Electrovaya, which makes battery systems for hybrid and electric vehicles, has been making some notable moves lately. The company said yesterday it had signed three deals with … 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.
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Greentech
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Recent Posts
Venture capitalists, who backed Obama 6 to 1 over McCain, weigh in with their thoughts on what his victory means for cleantech. Read More »
A world in which networks stream feature-length Hulu movies to laptops and virtual worlds to PCs requires a whole lot of power to run the servers, routers, desktop computers and other gear that make it all possible. The electricity used by servers alone doubled between 2000 … Read More »
The eighth annual World Toilet Summit and Expo, which opens today in Macau, looks at how to provide affordable, environmentally friendly and basic access to sanitation. Forty percent of the world’s population — 2.5 billion people — do not have access to a hygienic toilet, … Read More »
The big day is finally here, folks! You can have your say in how the federal and local governments will deal with clean energy, alternative transportation, getting the U.S. off foreign oil and fighting climate change. Obviously there’s the historic presidential election, but there are also … Read More »
Solar’s got a few dark secrets: Sometimes toxic materials are used in panels and sometimes chemicals get dumped in the manufacturing process. But what’s the real dirty secret? According to OCS Energy, a startup based in Petaluma, Calif., it’s actually, well, dirt — … Read More »
When SolFocus execs aren’t hobnobbing with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, it looks like they’ve been hard at work signing deals in Europe. On Monday morning the startup announced that it has signed a $103 million (€80M) agreement with EMPE Solar to install … Read More »
More Must Reads
Last week, Elon Musk, the CEO and Chairman of electric vehicle maker Tesla, revealed that the company only had $9 million in the bank and was looking to raise a more than $20 million internal round from existing investors. This turn of events came after … Read More »
A little over a week after Tesla CEO and Chairman Elon Musk said that the company had pulled back from raising a $100 million round because of the credit crunch, Musk tells Reuters (and Tesla confirmed with us this morning) that the electric car … Read More »
Network-connected appliances that can be remotely turned off and on at various times of the day have largely been stuck in the realm of dark corporate labs; at least that’s how Andrew Tang, senior director of California utility PG&E, explained it to us recently. But … Read More »
UPDATED: Politicians are lining up to appear alongside renewable energy projects these days — yesterday it was Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, and earlier this month it was California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This morning it’s Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who … Read More »
This morning the CalCEF Angel Fund say it has invested in three firms — efficient-lighting startup HID Labs, biofuels company Allopartis Biotechnologies, and an undisclosed solar investment that is adapting chip manufacturing to make cheap, efficient solar cells. Read More »
This morning Earth Class Mail said it has signed up Switzerland’s mail operator Swiss Post as the first national mail provider that will offer the service for a fee to its customers. The company says it also recently raised $5.1 million in bridge financing and is … Read More »
T. Boone Pickens could scale back his plans for a massive 4,000-MW wind farm in Texas, we’ve confirmed. A local Amarillo news channel was reporting the possibility recently, and SolveClimate had heard the rumor from a distressed asset sales specialist. In a statement … Read More »
The credit crunch and dropping oil prices could threaten certain aspects of cleantech investing, but there’s a silver lining — at least for venture capitalists. The valuations of companies are dropping, and that means the VC is in the catbird seat when it comes to … Read More »
We pointed out Sunday night that investor and wind crusader T. Boone Pickens admitted on 60 Minutes that he and his fund are down a staggering $2 billion from the drop in oil and natural gas prices this year. For someone who’s touting an energy … Read More »
Amidst the venture funding hangover that appears to be descending onto the cleantech industry, the deals that are being made are especially notable. On Tuesday Ice Energy, a company that has developed an ice-based energy storage and air conditioning system for buildings, will announce … Read More »
San Francisco-based startup Identity Commerce is launching a private beta version of its site Vanno, which features a company reputation index where users can submit news stories and vote on the reputation of companies, including aspects like environmental impact and social responsibility. Read More »
BrightSource, a solar startup that is looking to build some of the first massive solar projects in the California desert, is facing a possible regulatory delay and has been attending hearings on how to streamline the approval process. The Associated Press noted the delay … Read More »
Yet another profile of wind crusader T. Boone Pickens aired Sunday night — this time on 60 Minutes — and it had the usual details about the 80-year-old former oil baron’s plan to get the U.S. off its addiction to foreign oil. But 60 Minutes … Read More »
Plastic parts maker Cascade Engineering is bringing a small rooftop wind turbine called the SWIFT to North America. The company says the SWIFT is significantly quieter than traditional small wind turbines — less than 35 decibels, compared with 40 to 50 decibels for … Read More »
We’ve been wondering what the former CEO of biodiesel company Imperium Renewables, Martin Tobias, was going to do next. When we interviewed the serial entrepreneur and angel investor back in May at the Future In Review Conference he said he was mulling over his … Read More »
HelioVolt, a well-financed startup that has been working on its thin-film solar material for the past seven years, is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony today for its first factory in its home city of Austin, Texas. Read More »
After reading Wired writer Alexis Madrigal’s post on receiving his smart meter, and checking out the various smart meter photos on Flickr (here and here), it’s clear that the excitement over smart meters among enviro-tech nerds out there is growing as an increasing … Read More »
Ausra, the posterchild for the next generation of utility-scale solar thermal plants, has turned on its first solar project dubbed the Kimberlina Solar Thermal Energy Plant in Bakersfield, Calif. The 5 MW plant will provide the equivalent power for 3,500 homes, and the company … Read More »
General Motor’s great electric hope — the Chevy Volt — will likely first go to market with a battery made by Compact Power, a unit of LG Chem, according to a report in Reuters citing undisclosed sources. Read More »
Energy storage and batteries are constantly named as the pressure points of the power grid, our gadgets and the next-generation of electric vehicles — which is why many young startups are hard at work on new innovations. Planar Energy Devices, which was spun out of … Read More »
GE said today that through GE Commercial Finance, Equity and GE Energy Financial Services it made its sixth equity investment into lithium-ion battery maker A123Systems, raising its stake to $55 million. Read More »
The good ol’ kite is making a comeback for clean power’s sake. While Earth2Tech readers might be familiar with Makani, the high-altitude wind startup backed by Google, another group of kite enthusiasts based in North Carolina is looking to fly kites to produce power:
Nuclear-in-a-box startup Hyperion is in the process of raising a Series B round of funding and plans to raise a Series C in about two years time. Read More »
“Today Tesla is in pretty good shape, actually,” says Tesla Chairman and CEO Elon Musk this morning to an audience at the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Conference in Redwood City, Calif., less than one week after announcing layoffs, a delay of the company’s next-generation … Read More »
GreenFuel, a startup that uses recycled CO2 to grow algae, which can be turned into biofuels and feed, says tonight that it is in the process of building 100-hectares of algae greenhouses — at the cost of $92 million — that can produce 25,000 tons … Read More »
Google was the second most active cleantech investor last quarter, has unveiled a $4.4 trillion U.S. energy plan, and could one day actually make revenues off energy management tools. But Google CEO Eric Schmidt has his own plans when it comes to energy and … Read More »
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, who recently unveiled a sweeping $4.4 trillion energy plan, will join Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign trail this week to publicly back the Illinois Senator, according to the Wall Street Journal. What a good way to start off a week! … Read More »
The mantra “if you measure it, you can manage it” is key to reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, and using open web tools seems to be one of the best ways to do it. That’s why we were encouraged to hear that AMEE, one … Read More »
Despite the winds of green job creation starting to blow across the U.S., the UK’s ambitious goal of supplying a third of its electricity from wind by 2020 is starting to look like it could be unachievable. Read More »
The CEO of thin-film startup Nanosolar, Martin Roscheisen, is an outspoken guy — so of course he has something to say about how the credit crunch will effect the solar industry. He says in a blog post this morning that solar companies with capital … Read More »
Shai Agassi, the founder and CEO of electric vehicle infrastructure startup, Better Place could create an electric vehicle infrastructure that would scatter charging spots and battery swapping stations across the nation during the president’s first term, he said Thursday night — at a cost of $100 … Read More »
While OptiSolar, the solar photovoltaic startup that scored that massive deal with California utility PG&E, is remaining mum on the details of its technology, the company did confirm with us that it expects its solar power plant in Sarnia, Ontario, to start producing … Read More »
Clean Energy Fuels, the natural-gas vehicle distribution company of which former oil barron T. Boone Pickens is a director and largest shareholder, said last month it planned to buy FuelMaker from Honda and the FuelMaker Trust for $17 million. Well, late yesterday … Read More »
Tesla chairman and investor Elon Musk explained in a blog post this afternoon that, in an attempt to become cash-flow positive within 6 to 9 months, he has taken over as CEO of the electric vehicle startup and will soon be conducting layoffs. While the … Read More »
Electric car maker Tesla has confirmed with us that Chairman and investor Elon Musk has taken over the role of CEO at the company. (The Register confirmed the news earlier this morning) Ze’ev Drori who was hired as CEO last December will continue on … Read More »
Robotics are making a move in the world of solar. Earth2Tech has video and pictures of cleantech robotics from Solar Power International in San Diego. Read More »
Most of the talk about solar being integrated with vehicles focuses on solar rooftops that can charge features like air conditioning — the solar roof of the next generation Prius will reportedly power just part of the 2- to 5-kilowatt air conditioning system. But what if … Read More »
By Katie Fehrenbacher
Oct. 14, 2008, 9:00pm PT
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A private equity firm that was trying to raise a $300 million fund to invest in biofuel startups has apparently ditched its fundraising plans, according to PE Week’s Alex Haislip. The firm, Biofuels Capital Partners, had been trying to raise its first fund for 18 … Read More »
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