While we take a stable electrical grid for granted in the developed world, that’s often not a certainty in the developing world, which can make running a business quite difficult. Airtel Nigeria has complained that 70 percent of its wireless downtime results from power supply issues. 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
- so awesome RT @peterrojas: After almost eleven years I finally get coffee with Douglas Rushkoff: http://t.co/hR9sY7Pr
- Ecotality sues to stop NRG electric charging network in California http://t.co/ruFEq9Ks
- @MLiebreich true, see article last graph
My Focus
Greentech
Smartgrid
Energy Management
Green IT
Recent Posts
Thanks to new legislation, a progressive utility, and smart grid firm Silver Spring Networks, Chicago is getting an energy makeover. Read More »
In a year of struggling cleantech firms in 2011, I’ve been searching for untold stories of successful cleantech startups that have been flying under the radar. Here’s one that’s been at the top of my mind: nuclear waste cleanup startup Kurion, which cleaned house last year. Read More »
My resolution: whip myself–and Path–into fighting shape
By Dave Morin
Jan. 4, 2012, 12:00am PT
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I think 2012 will truly be the year of mobile Internet. The growth we’re achieving through the second version of Path is like nothing we’ve ever seen. Read More »
As more consumers become comfortable with the idea of connecting with a stranger to rent out their stuff, more sites have emerged solely focused on connecting parking spot owners with parkers. Read More »
GigaOM Pro Green IT analyst Adam Lesser wants to know in his latest column: How is it that the political winds are beating against renewable energy when fossil fuels have been supported for almost a century and their support is growing and nobody blinks an eye? Read More »
The Nest thermostat has been sold out for months, but it looks like that backlog is starting to clear. While the thermostat still isn’t available on it website, the company is offering some potential customers on its email list a chance to buy the device. Read More »
More Must Reads
A startup that makes sugar from plants that can be turned into biofuel and biochemicals has brought on German chemical giant BASF as an investor. Renmatix announced on Tuesday that it has raised a round of $50 million, including $30 million from BASF. Read More »
Fisker has been rushing to fix the problem with the hose clamp for the batteries on its Karma electric car. It says that the “majority” of its customers’ and dealers’ cars with problem batteries have either gotten new batteries or have been repaired. Read More »
By Caterina Fake
Jan. 3, 2012, 12:00am PT
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Caterina Fake plans to launch her new company to the public in 2012. She says while 2011 has been about being heads down and working with the team, 2012 will be much more about going out and interacting with users. Read More »
China could be the largest market for grid energy storage technology, and now, according to battery maker BYD and China’s State Grid utility, the country’s potentially got the world’s largest battery energy storage station in Zhangbei, Hebei Province. Read More »
After scouring over our 2011 archives, we have come up with a list of 12 smart grid startups that you should keep an eye on in 2012. Some of them are well known names – Opower and Nest, for example, but others are equally impressive. Read More »
By Dennis Crowley
Jan. 2, 2012, 12:00am PT
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Dennis Crowley, the CEO of FourSquare, explains how as a company grows, the chain of communication changes and it’s a difficult balance to make sure the company can be as transparent with 100 people as it is with 20 people. Read More »
By Padmasree Warrior
Jan. 1, 2012, 9:31am PT
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As Cisco’s CTO Padmasree Warrior looks to the new year, she wants to ramp up being an advocate for women in technology. Check out her 2012 resolution: Read More »
By Dan Hesse
Dec. 31, 2011, 5:00am PT
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Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse talks about how AT&T’s attempted acquisition of T-Mobile set off all sorts of alarms, and made him realize just how tenuous the competitive situation in the U.S. wireless industry is. Read More »
eMeter’s Chris King explains that like any disruptive technology, the growing flocks of wind turbines and expanding acres of solar-equipped rooftops around the world are causing temporary growing pains for the energy industry. Good thing there are also solutions. Read More »
Peer-to-peer car sharing company RelayRides has decided to ditch its gas cards and will no longer cover gas within the cost of the reservation. The move shows how cost cutting will be a crucial way for these companies to make money. Read More »
By Mary Lou Jepsen
Dec. 30, 2011, 12:01am PT
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Mary Lou Jepsen, the queen of screens who designed the One Laptop Per Child project, is now the founder and CEO of PixelQI. In her view, the screens are not an after thought, they are key to the user experience. Read More »
Professor Tom Murphy explains why he thinks the future needs an attitude adjustment when it comes to consumption based on cheap and abundant fossil fuels. Read More »
Smart grid analyst Jesse Berst gives his smart grid predictions for 2012. Read More »
Here’s on the ground with clean power in India, featuring stories I’ve seen and covered, and what Vineeth Vijayaraghavan of Panchabuta, which is focused on cleantech in India, has been reading and writing on lately. Read More »
Oil giant BP has invested in biofuel startup CoolPlanet BioFuels, according to an announcement on Thursday. CoolPlanet BioFuels is the biofuel startup you have never heard of but that has unusually famous investors like GE, Google, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips. Read More »
Many people have declared the death of the web and the emergence of a new kind of Internet called the “App Internet.” Here’s some proper definitions about this change in the Web and what it really means for users and developers. Read More »
By Philip Rosedale
Dec. 29, 2011, 12:01am PT
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In GigaOM’s third article in our series on New Year’s resolutions from 12 tech leaders, Coffee & Power co-founder Philip Rosedale explains why he wants entrepreneurs to think really, really really big, and way outside the box in 2012. Read More »
We had a full year of GigaOM TV’s Green Overdrive show in 2011, and we took a look at some of the hottest electric cars and scooters coming to market. Companies that dominated the top videos included Tesla, Fisker, Mitsubishi, Brammo, Toyota, and the home-brew crew. Read More »
As we look toward the next year, the cleantech sector faces many challenges, which we examine in detail in our 2012 outlook, from GigaOM Pro’s Green IT analyst Adam Lesser. Read More »
Tres Amigas, a startup with an audacious proposal to build a transmission hub to connect the U.S.’s three major grids, has raised $12 million from Japanese conglomerate Mitsui. Read More »
By Matt Mullenweg
Dec. 28, 2011, 12:01am PT
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In GigaOM’s second article in our series on New Year’s resolutions from 12 tech leaders, Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg digs into why the Internet needs strong, independent platforms for those of us who don’t want to be at the mercy of someone else’s domain. Read More »
Out of all of Google’s close to $1 billion in clean power projects, turning biomass into energy seems like the least relevant technology to Google’s core business. But Google has made a few small investments into biomass projects, including a hog waste to energy project. Read More »
Let’s face it. For cleantech, at least in the U.S., this year was kindof a bummer. But that’s what New Year’s resolutions and wishes are for: turning a new page when the year starts over. Here’s what I want from cleantech in 2012. Read More »
Cell phones are one of the few products that have found mass success in developing countries. So why not use the model to sell other stuff, like solar power? That’s the idea behind Simpa Networks, a startup based in Bangalore, India. Read More »
The hottest item that you probably couldn’t get for Christmas this year was the Nest thermostat, which is sold out until 2012. But I bought one a couple months ago for a Christmas present and the device showed up a couple days before the big day. Read More »
Brian Robertson, a Canadian-born entrepreneur whose life was never taken for granted, “willed” success in everything he touched from the Internet to solar energy, died Friday in the Captain’s chair of his own plane. He was 38. Read More »
Which stories dominated the green GigaOM clicks in 2011? This year was filled with smart thermostats, a dream of Apple getting into solar, the bankruptcy of Solyndra, the efficiency of cloud computing, Google’s green data centers and Tesla’s Model S. Read More »
Professor Tom Murphy digs into the numbers for dam power and finds it’s damn lacking. Read More »
This weekend in the final leg of my trip to India with Geeks on a Plane, we stopped by GE’s research center in Bangalore. While GE works on a variety of technology at the center, I focused on the energy research that GE is conducting there. Read More »
I got my Nest learning thermostat in the mail on Wednesday (a couple of weeks early), but thankfully, when I woke up on Thursday morning, the folks at SparkFun did a complete tear-down of the Nest, so I don’t have to break mine up. Yay. Read More »
Nuclear startup TerraPower, which is backed by Bill Gates, now has a massive Indian conglomerate on its side: Reliance Industries. According to Business Week, Reliance Industries, which owns oil, telecom and retail businesses, has invested a minority stake in TerraPower through one of its energy units. Read More »
Yep, it’s that time of year where we look back at the trends of the year and then look forward to what we think the next year has in store. So, here we go. The top 10 trends in greentech in 2011: Read More »
Google isn’t the only one looking to the chilly Nordic waters to keep data centers cool in a low-energy way. There’s also the Green Mountain Data Center on the island of Rennesoy in Norway that uses the cold water of a nearby fjord for free cooling. Read More »
Companies continue to bow out of the solar market in 2011. This week it’s BP Solar, which is shutting down, as well as Solar Mlillennium, which has filed for insolvency. Last week it was German solar panel company Solon, which also filed for insolvency. Read More »
A startup that makes materials that can convert heat into electricity plans to develop a solar hot water heater using its materials that could go on sale next year. The device will be the first product from GMZ Energy, which recently raised $14 million in funding. Read More »
Thin film solar startup Stion has raised a massive $130 million round of funding led by Korean investors. Looks like the days of investors pumping money into thin film solar aren’t yet over. Read More »
GigaOM Pro’s Green IT analyst Adam Lesser points out in his weekly update how First Solar just does not want to play that subsidy “whack-a-mole” game any more. Read More »
Google’s investments in clean energy projects is climbing, and getting close to the $1 billion mark. On Tuesday the search engine giant announced that it has made yet another $94 million investment into four solar panel projects, which are being built close to Sacramento, Calif. Read More »
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