More stories from Katie Fehrenbacher

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Japan is often a few years ahead of much of the world when it comes to implementing advanced technology — mobile, computing, robotics, etc. The same can be said for Japan’s solar initiatives, and according to Kyodo News, the country is aiming for 30 percent of […] Read more »

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The editors of Scientific American, in the January issue, lay out an ambitious solar scheme that any cleantech fan would love. According to the magazine’s solar manifesto, for a cost of $420 billion, we could cover 46,000 square miles of land in the U.S. Southwest with […] Read more »

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We’ve spent some time looking back to 2007, so now it’s time to look ahead to 2008. Below are our predictions for the new year. (Also check out some excellent predictions from Clean Break). Greentech Investment to Rise in 2008 — But So Will Valuations: Even […] Read more »

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After posting our coal plant deathwatch map last week, several readers have emailed us about various climate change maps that they’ve seen around the web. A comprehensive one comes from several University of Kansas professors along with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), called NatCarb: A […] Read more »

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Solar panel production is the “world’s fastest-growing energy source,” according to the Earth Policy Institute. Now that’s a bright thought. Kick-started by climate change concerns, electricity price worries, the hip-to-be-green consensus, and pro-solar regulations, solar PV production has been doubling every two years, growing to 3,800 […] Read more »

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There’s been a lot of interest in Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s application to bid in the upcoming U.S. auction for wireless spectrum. When speculating as to what he might do, it’s important to remember that this is far from Allen’s first involvement in wireless auctions. Read more »

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We were lucky enough to sit down with Tesla’s new CEO Ze’ev Drori last week, and we updated you folks on the status of Silicon Valley’s high profile electric vehicle startup. This week Drori, who is a man of a few carefully selected words, blogged an […] Read more »

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Series A Shines on Solar Startup: Pyron Solar, which makes concentrating photovoltaic systems on a utility scale, says it has closed a Series A round of investment from New Energies Invest (NEI). Other solar concentrating startups are GreenVolts, Energy Innovations, and Cool Earth Solar. — Renewable […] Read more »

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When Shai Agassi launched his electric vehicle infrastructure venture, Project Better Place, he already had a whopping $200 million in commitments. According to media reports (via Globes, Reuters), Agassi just received another commitment for $30 million from Ofer Shipping Holdings. Ofer is owned by Sammy and […] Read more »

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We’ve been live for 6 months in one of the greenest years on record (yes, that would be 2007) and we loved every minute of it. We broke some news, took a look at some major trends, and wrote some fun lists. Here’s our favorites of […] Read more »

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While we’ve been busy compiling the cleantech trends of 2007 and predicting those of 2008, we’ve been admiring some of the end of the year lists compiled by our ecoblogging peers. Here’s a list of our favorites we’ve been mulling over so far: The Year in […] Read more »

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Test Driving Aptera’s Typ-1: Popular Mechanics takes Aptera’s 3-wheeler for a ride and interviews founder and CEO Steve Fambro (our interview with Fambro and Aptera coverage here) – Popular Mechanics. Greenflation?: The International Herald Tribune Blog raises questions about using environmental arguments to back unrelated goals. […] Read more »

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As the end of the year creeps closer, another well-known cleantech startup has parted ways with its CEO. The Friday before Christmas, biodiesel producer Imperium Renewables said its CEO Martin Tobias is being transitioned from his roles as CEO and chairman of its Board of Directors. […] Read more »

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Here’s a brief note to digest during your Xmas cheer-induced hangover. Nanosolar’s landmark “#2″ thin-film solar panel, which was put up on eBay last week, has yet to find a home with an adoring fan. The thin-film solar startup that just started shipping its solar panels […] Read more »

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We learned about the future plans of a couple of thin film solar startups this week — Nanosolar and HelioVolt. Wondering what’s up with six-year-old Miasolé? We just read a report from Venture Wire that says the thin-film solar startup, which has raised over $100 million […] Read more »

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We guess solar thin-film startup HelioVolt was feeling a bit outshined this week with Nanosolar’s big announcement that it was shipping its first panels. The Austin, Texas-based company has revealed plans to build its first manufacturing facility, in the Expo Business Park in its hometown. Our […] Read more »

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Update: The FutureGen Alliance, the industry group behind the “clean coal” project just named Mattoon, Ill. as the site for the plant. The release says that the group used “over 120 different factors in the general areas of cost, risks to cost and schedule, and benefits […] Read more »

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We brought you word last week that thin-film solar company Nanosolar had recently started producing solar panels at its plant in San Jose, Calif., meeting its goal of beginning manufacturing before the end of 2007. Now Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen writes on the company blog that […] Read more »

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Folks, it’s getting to be that time again, when the New Year’s predictions start to roll in. An early, and unsurprisingly bullish one for the cleantech industry was released this morning, from the National Venture Capital Association. It says that the majority of NVCA venture capitalists […] Read more »

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The McKinsey Quarterly is circulating a chart-filled newsletter this morning, highlighting four sticking points that will determine the future success or failure of the biofuel industry. The data is from a report the research firm released earlier this year, but it’s still timely, and we thought […] Read more »

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Solar and defense have a long history, as alternative energy sources can help out in remote locations. (Ironic when you think about securing nations with rich oil reserves.) And this morning a well-known Air Force Base, Nellis, in Nevada, is switching on what the Air Force […] Read more »

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Plans for ethanol plants are dropping faster than the price of Christmas cards in January. Earlier this week, construction of the third plant in as many months was put on hold, with Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) (which was recently ditched by Bill Gates) suspending the building of […] Read more »

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We definitely wouldn’t want the job of steering a massive power company that delivers 70 percent of its generation from dirty coal, making it one of the largest emitters of CO2 in the U.S. Not in this day and age of increasing attention to climate change […] Read more »

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World’s Clean Energy Climbing Faster than 10 Percent per Year: According to a report from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), renewable energy use is growing faster than 10% per year globally — EERE release. Middle America’s Got GreenTech Too: “The IT […] Read more »

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Ausra, the solar thermal startup backed by Kleiner and Khosla, said today it plans to build a 130,000-square-foot plant in Las Vegas that will manufacture and distribute solar thermal gear including reflectors, towers and absorber tubes. The company said the plant, which will employ 50 workers […] Read more »

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SunPower, the Silicon Valley-based solar manufacturer, said Thursday that it will buy Solar Solutions, a solar systems integrator based in Faenza, Italy. Solar Solutions is a division of Combigas, a petroleum products trading firm. No word on the amount of the purchase of the company and […] Read more »

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Energy & Power Solutions, which helps manufacturing businesses reduce their energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, said it has raised $20 million in a Series A funding. The Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company’s funding was provided by NGEN and Robeco Group. Investment bank Windstone Capital Partners put […] Read more »

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Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen tells us this morning that the company has already started production of its thin-film solar panels. The company had set a goal to start production and shipping by the end of this year, and in our post “10 Questions for Nanosolar CEO […] Read more »

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Solar thermal power plants are a good candidate for everyone’s favorite clean technology of 2007. The technology to build massive solar installations in the desert that use sunlight to heat liquid that in turn power steam turbines has piqued the interest of such high profile investors […] Read more »

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Although we’ll have to wait and see if consumers are willing to pay extra to put more eco-friendly consumer electronics under the tree this year, analysts are predicting it’ll be a growing trend. We agree, and in the new year — Feb. 1 — we’ll be […] Read more »

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The construction wrap just went up around the future site of Silicon Valley-based electric sports car maker Tesla’s Los Angeles store. The LA site is on Santa Monica Blvd., just east of the 405, and a tipster sent in this nice photo. While no Tesla stores […] Read more »

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Nanostellar is Golden: The Redwood City, Calif.-based developer of engineered nano-materials for emissions control, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from the World Gold Council, which says it invested in the company to “facilitate the commercialization and marketing of the gold-based technology that could increase industrial […] Read more »

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As an old high school teacher of mine always used to say, “Three trees make a row,” meaning it only takes three occurrences to equal a trend. Ethanol producer Pacific Ethanol said today it has suspended construction of its Imperial Valley plant near Calipatria, Calif. “until […] Read more »

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We’ve been hearing bits and pieces about Draths Corp., a bio-chemical engineering startup, in various speeches from venture investor Vinod Khosla. He hasn’t divulged too much information about the company, only that it was in his portfolio and that it has applications for green materials. Well, […] Read more »

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Fun time quote of the week comes from the LA Times coverage of the House passing the Energy Bill: “The static electricity created by my shoes rubbing across this carpet creates more energy than the Democrats’ energy bill,” said Rep. George P. Radanovich (R-Mariposa) — LA […] Read more »

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Over A Billion and Counting: Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureOne rehash some cleantech investing data that they put out in September: that global venture capital investments in clean technology companies grew to just over $1 billion in the first six months of 2007 – […] Read more »

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We love cleantech investors who blog. Andrew Chung, a senior associate at Lightspeed Venture Partners, pens an interesting post today on five predictions for the solar market in 2008. Chung says the Lightspeed team has evaluated over 400 cleantech startups to date and has made investments […] Read more »

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Dubai Investor Invests $40M in Phoenix, too: Dubai-based investor Al Yousuf has put $40 million invested an undisclosed amount of convertible debt financing in Phoenix Motorcars, after investing in lithium-ion battery maker Altair Nanotechnologies — GreenCarCongress. Barclays Capital Kicks off Carbon Index: Barclays Capital has launched […] Read more »

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Although Tesla’s flashy red electric sports car was parked outside of the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco on Thursday, former CEO Michael Marks, who was supposed to give a presentation at the ThinkGreen conference being held inside, was MIA. Marks, who took over the reins […] Read more »

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