More stories from Katie Fehrenbacher

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GreenFuel Technologies, a startup that uses recycled CO2 to grow algae, which can be turned into biofuel, says it is weeks away from completing the goals of its “7-step” turnaround plan. The company had hit a few speed bumps over the past year, resulting in layoffs, […] Read more »

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Turns out Dell showing off an ultra-small bamboo-encased PC at a conference in April (pictured below) was just one step toward the company offering “greener” computers. This morning, the Round Rock, Texas-based company said it will design its laptops and desktops to consume up to 25 […] Read more »

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Silicon Valley’s green car fisticuffs is going into round two this week. According to CNET, electric vehicle company Fisker Automotive, maker of the Karma, plans to file for arbitration today in an attempt to derail the suit filed by competitor Tesla, which accuses Fisker of stealing […] Read more »

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The future of biofuels belongs to biology, and startups are getting more and more funding to engineer alternative fuels. Synthetic biofuel startup Gevo has raised another $17 million in a Series C funding according to Pehub.com. Existing investors Khosla Ventures and Virgin Green Fund participated, as […] Read more »

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Chinese solar cell wafer maker LDK Solar posted what appeared to be a pretty strong first quarter earnings report on Monday: a net income of $49.8 million, compared with $21.6 million from a year ago reports Reuters, and a raised revenue outlook for the year. But […] Read more »

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PowerGenix, an eight-year-old startup based in San Diego, Calif., will be showing off its nickel-zinc battery in a retrofitted Prius this week at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference. Yeah, that’s nickel-zinc, not the nickel metal hydride battery that the Prius has already made famous. But the […] Read more »

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While we’ve been waiting for HelioVolt, the Austin, Texas-based thin film solar company to start selling its product, the startup said on Monday that it has produced solar cells that are 12.2 percent efficient — and manufactured them in under 6 minutes. That’s one of the […] Read more »

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We talk a lot about new energy opportunities and technology breakthroughs here on Earth2Tech, and less about the high risks involved in developing new cleantech markets and commercializing unproven technologies. But at the Berkeley-Stanford CleanTech Conference this week, there was a lot of discussion over the […] Read more »

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It’s time to see how our favorite gadget makers and Internet search engines fare when it comes to their commitment to fighting climate change. While Greenpeace has its green electronics guide, the non-profit Climate Counts released a new scorecard on companies this week, which includes a […] Read more »

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Utilities plan to use solar power from both the massive solar plants that are being built in the California Mojave desert, as well as large scale distributed rooftop solar projects, like the one Southern California Edison is planning. So which technology is better? Centralized solar systems […] Read more »

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Record Windy Year: The American Wind Energy Association says the if the pace of wind installations keeps going like it did in the first quarter of 2008, there will be a record 5,600 megawatts of power installed this year — MarketWatch. Poulsen Hybrid an Auto X-Prize […] Read more »

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The Energy Biosciences Institute, a first-of-its-kind, half-a-billion-dollar partnership between energy giant BP and the labs of UC Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Lawrence Berkeley National, has published its list of the first 49 projects it will fund to the tune of $20 million. […] Read more »

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HelioVolt Building Deals: Austin-based thin film solar startup HelioVolt announced a deal with Architectural Glass & Aluminum Co. to work on building-integrated photovoltaic products. We can’t wait for solar-embedded walls! — release. Food Prices Up, Washington Ethanol Support Down: McCain and Republican senators are calling for […] Read more »

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Gordon Murray, former Formula One race car designer, is working on a city car based on lightweight materials that could come in hybrid, all-electric and gas versions. While the Surrey, UK-based venture, Gordon Murray Designs, has been pretty stealthy over the past year, the Wall Street […] Read more »

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While young cellulosic startups like Mascoma and Coskata are pulling in funding this year, in 2007, investments into alternative fuels were down significantly, according to a new report out this morning from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The difficult economics and increasing public backlash against corn-based ethanol, combined with the […] Read more »

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Exxon Plays the Waiting Game: Green business guru Joel Makower writes a smart post on how Exxon is mistakenly waiting for a breakthrough in renewable energy technology before investing more in the sector. — Two Steps Forward. Triodos Plans to Raise Public Fund: A so-called “ethical […] Read more »

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Hey Israel’s green-leaning innovators, Israel Cleantech Ventures, a firm focused on funding green technology innovations in Israel, said this morning that it’s closed $75 million for its debut fund. The firm has been around since 2006 and has already made seven investments, many of which we’ve […] Read more »

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With their dotcom and broadband-based winnings in tow, serial entrepreneurs of the information technology age have been taking the plunge into the energy and cleantech markets, looking to recreate their e-successes. Some are finding more success than others, and some are, frankly, finding no success at […] Read more »

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There’s a massive 2.5GW of solar thermal projects planned for the California and Arizona deserts, and with construction starting to get underway on a good number of them, there’s bound to be a variety of hurdles. But what are some of the lesser-known obstacles when you […] Read more »

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Fuel cell maker MTI Micro is showing off a prototype of a GPS system with an embedded fuel cell at a fuel cell conference in Atlanta this morning. The company, which is based in Albany, New York, says its fuel cell-connected GPS system can provide 60 […] Read more »

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The CEO of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, says that, when it comes to the large-scale manufacture of electric vehicles, GM will ultimately beat out the dozens of electric-vehicle startups that have recently started racing to sell green cars. This is a high-volume, tough game to compete […] Read more »

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On the heels of A123System’s plug-in hybrid conversion company Hymotion finally offering its kit to consumers, words is out that the lithium ion battery company is very close to filing its IPO, according to Scott Kirsner via Pehub.com. Kirsner says A123Systems will likely file next month […] Read more »

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Can Twitter help you turn your lights off? IBM’s “Master Inventor” Andy Stanford-Clark has rigged up his home to twitter its energy use, and if you follow the tweets you can see in real time when Stanford-Clark has turned his lights and fountain off or on […] Read more »

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A solar startup building solar concentrating systems is coming out of stealth in time for the National Energy Marketers Association convention today and claiming some really incredible figures. Los Angeles-based newcomer Sunrgi says it can use lenses to concentrate sunlight by more than 1,600 times to […] Read more »

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We just checked in on Khosla Ventures’ portfolio on its web site and we noticed four startups we haven’t looked into before that could deliver some interesting innovation to the electric car space: Sakti3, Firefly Energy, Ramu and Tula. As Khosla’s more than a dozen biofuel […] Read more »

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While solar thermal companies eSolar and Stirling both announced funding in the 9-digits last week, another startup using the sun’s heat to create energy disclosed a more modest round this week. SkyFuel, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based company that has created a cheap, light material called “ReflecTech” for […] Read more »

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Backyard biofuels is the latest venture of entrepreneurs Floyd Butterfield and Thomas Quinn. The two have started the E-Fuel Corporation, which will sell a washer-and-dryer-sized home ethanol system called the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler for $10,000 (though it could be half of that with government incentives) according […] Read more »

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Cleantech startups have been liberally taking cues from the Internet world, like using IP tech for a smarter power grid or leveraging Web 2.0 tools to sell solar. Here’s another one for ya: The creators of the well-known interactive web technology Flash are building web-based software […] Read more »

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Ever since battery maker A123 Systems bought plug-in hybrid converter company Hymotion last year, everyone’s been waiting for the time when consumers would be able to get their hands on the conversion kits. This weekend A123 Systems emailed us to let us know that they have […] Read more »

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Verdiem, a Seattle, Wash.-based startup that makes power management software for office PCs, told us back in February it was in the process of raising “a substantial” round. Well, the company confirms with us this morning (hat tip Venture Wire) that it has closed that round […] Read more »

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Kleiner Perkins, the green-leaning venture capital firm, is reportedly raising a “green growth” fund of more than $400 million for investment in later-stage, less risky cleantech startups, says Pehub.com (full story on Pewnews.com). The firm has already allocated a good third of its $600 million main […] Read more »

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Electric vehicle startup Fisker Automotive has officially responded to the lawsuit that competitor Tesla Motors has filed against it for allegedly stealing its design ideas and trade secrets. Kleiner Perkins partner and Fisker investor Ray Lane already called the lawsuit “ridiculous” at a conference this week, […] Read more »

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BP is looking to go “beyond petroleum” via Brazilian ethanol, with an investment it calls the “largest made by an international oil company in the Brazilian ethanol industry.” This morning the British oil giant said it intends to pay about $60 million to take a 50 […] Read more »

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The biggest barrier to building all these solar thermal power plants in the Mojave desert is, unsurprisingly, cost. At this week’s Fortune Green conference the CEO of California utility PG&E, Peter Darbee, said he’s had discussions about using PG&E’s deep pockets to buy their own solar […] Read more »

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Craig Venter’s Synthetic Genomics, a startup that is looking to do no less than overthrow the petrol industry and create an artificial life form, is in the process of raising another round of funding in the “$100 million to $200 million range,” the company’s Chief Financial […] Read more »

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We just listened in on Dell CEO Michael Dell’s speech at the Fortune Green conference, during which he showed off a “never before seen” eco-inspired computer with a bamboo casing. Dell said the computer is 81 percent smaller than a standard desktop, uses 70 percent less […] Read more »

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Earth Day is starting to feel like just another holiday created to sell a lot of stuff. Our email inboxes have been bombarded over the past month with announcements from traditional tech companies touting their eco moves. As the coordinator of the first Earth Day, Denis […] Read more »

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Shai Agassi, who turned 40 this weekend, gave some new details about his plans to build infrastructure for the world’s electric vehicles at the Fortune Green conference on Monday. He detailed his startup’s subscription plans, which will mirror cell phone services (noting MetroPCS, prepaid plans, and […] Read more »

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“Ridiculous” is the way Kleiner Perkins VC and Fisker Automotive investor Ray Lane described the lawsuit filed against the car maker last week by competitor Tesla Automotive. Tesla is accusing Fisker of stealing design ideas and trade secrets, but Lane says Tesla’s just trying to generate […] Read more »

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Cleantech investors Kleiner Perkins and RockPort Capital Partners are thinking U.S. consumers will be interested in a mainstream electric vehicle that is cheaper than the Prius. The duo announced today that they have decided to create a joint venture with one of their investments, Norwegian company […] Read more »

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