Amidst all the inflated rhetoric about the war in Iraq, health care and new taxes, you’ll be forgiven if you’ve had trouble separating one candidate from the next on environmental technology issues. But one of these people might become the next president, and billions in funding […] Read more »
If you can measure it, you can manage it. When the “it” is temperature, even small differences allow you to manage a host of things. Space Instruments, a small San Diego company, has a high-resolution infrared sensing system that helps fight forest fires, contain oil spills, […] Read more »
About half of the electricity Americans consume comes from coal, and China’s economic boom is being fueled by the dirty-burning stuff. So while we’d prefer an end to all coal, technologies to capture and store the carbon emissions from coal plants will just have to help […] Read more »
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Sun Microsystems (JAVA) today announced the first servers that deliver the compute power of up to 64 individual systems on a single server. The company says the performance is six times better, on a per-watt basis, vs. competing products. The servers use Sun’s Solaris Operating System […] Read more »
When corporations say they are going “carbon neutral,” they often focus first on cutting energy consumption within their own office buildings or data centers — a positive step, but one that often doesn’t look at the more far-reaching effect of their supply chains. So it’s a […] Read more »
Craig Venter, the high-profile genetic researcher and cleantech entrepreneur, is possibly weeks away from announcing that he and a group of scientists have created the first new artificial life form on Earth, according to the Guardian. As in, today I made: a) brownies, b) a blog […] Read more »
Outsourcing IT Saves Energy: Outsourcing IT and datacenter functions can mean an energy savings of up to 40 percent, according to IDC — Business Green Blog. Clipper to Make a Big Ol’ Wind Turbine: Clipper Windpower said today that it plans to develop a 7.5 megawatt […] Read more »
Compared to cleantech funds like Braemar’s $250 million or Expansion’s $100 million, a low double-digit fundraising might not turn too many heads. But Greenhouse Capital Partners, which says today it has closed $11 million for a fund that will focus between half and three quarters of […] Read more »
For two dollars, you could enjoy a hearty bottle of Trader Joe’s famous Two Buck Chuck, but it would hardly save the planet. Thanks to a group of clever MIT students, you may soon be able to take that lowly two bucks and do just that. […] Read more »
Back in February, BP Plc (BP) and UC Berkeley proposed a deal that could provide $500 million for research aimed at using genetic engineering to increase biofuel yields. The partnership was hailed by BP Group Chief Executive John Browne as “creat[ing] the discipline of energy biosciences.” […] Read more »
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First there’s uber investor Vinod Khosla with his burgeoning clean tech portfolio. Then father of the Ethernet, Bob Metcalfe joined the party. Now we have FON founder Martin Varvasky getting interested in solar farms. I guess with telecom operators deciding the fate of all telecom-related start-ups, […] Read more »
Now that corn-based ethanol is looking more and more unsustainable — and is the latest media punching bag — it’s time to make way for the next generation of biofuel startups. LS9, a San Carlos, Calif-based start-up that touts itself as a “renewable petroleum company” plans […] Read more »
The bulb as we know it is dying a flickering death. OK, so that’s a tad dramatic but states and even entire continents are considering plans to ban the incandescent bulb. Here’s yet another sign: General Electric (GE) said late yesterday it will restructure its lighting […] Read more »
When PG&E (PCG) and electric car startup Tesla said last month that they plan to research “smart charging” for electric plug-in vehicles — where the rate that a plug-in vehicle charges from the grid can be controlled remotely by a utility — we checked in with […] Read more »
Roughly 22 percent of the electricity consumed in the U.S. goes toward lighting, according to the Department of Energy. With such a big market, companies big and small are working on developing and selling energy-efficient lighting. Durham, N.C.-based Cree (CREE), maker of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), sells […] Read more »
While a lot of cleantech regulatory innovation clearly needs to come from the highest levels of government, local authorities are proving to be catalysts for the industry as well. The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Clean Cities Program work with local governments to […] Read more »
Tampa Electric Ditches Clean Coal: The Florida utility says its going to drop plans to use so-called “clean coal” technology — InsideGreenTech. Solar Servers: Business 2.0 checks out green server-farm company AISO.net — affordable Internet services online — Business 2.0. Sustainable Silicon Valley: The coalition of […] Read more »
Braemar Energy Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm devoted to investing in early-to-mid-stage energy startups, has closed a second fund with $250 million in capital commitments, according to PE Hub. Formed in 2002, nine of Braemar’s prior portfolio companies, including energy management firm EnerNOC (ENOC), […] Read more »
Investing in cleantech — with subsectors that range from energy to IT to water — takes a good deal of focus. NGEN Partner’s Robert Koch knows it and he’s currently concentrating on solar startups and electric vehicle companies. Focus also breeds enthusiasm. When talking about the […] Read more »
In the world of cleantech, women can be few and far between. Nancy Floyd, founder and managing director of cleantech VC firm Nth Power, knows this firsthand. Since founding Nth Power in 1993, she has sat on more than 15 boards — and only one of […] Read more »
Solar in Japan, Model of Government Support: NPR has a radio piece on how Japan has helped create a market for solar through government support, and reports on a solar-filled Kobe neighborhood — NPR. EnerNOC Boosts So Cal Edison Deal: EnerNoc announced a contract to provide […] Read more »
Engineered Eggshell Fuel: Don’t feel like walking on eggshells? — how about driving on them. Ohio State University researchers have found a way to turn discarded chicken eggshells into hydrogen fuel. The process uses eggshells to “soak up” carbon dioxide from a reaction that produces the […] Read more »
Most greentech watchers have lost their sense of wonder over the fact that pond scum, a.k.a. algae, could be one of the most efficient ways to make biofuels for our cars. These tiny chemical factories can turn sunlight and nutrients into fuel with an efficiency unrivaled […] Read more »
Wind energy developer EverPower Renewables says it has closed a $55 million financing commitment from Swiss cleantech investment firm Good Energies. This is the second deal of the week for Good Energies; it put more cash into thin film solar company Konarka. It also marks the […] Read more »
Bob Metcalfe, the father of Ethernet and founder of 3Com (COMS), says the history of the Internet is a “rich vein to mine” when it comes to building the next generation of energy technology. He should know — he’s been researching network and information technologies for […] Read more »
On Sept. 13, 2005, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels declared that the little town of Reynolds, Ind. — with a population of just over 500 — would officially become BioTown, USA. The idea was to re-energize the town and make it energy-self-sufficient through biofuels and waste-to-energy technology. […] Read more »
2007 is shaping up to be an excellent year for the solar power sector. In the first nine months through last Friday, Sept. 28, six solar stocks on U.S. exchanges have more than doubled their value. The biggest gainer is Littleton, Colo.-based Ascent Solar Technologies (ASTI), […] Read more »
With over a third of the world’s CO2 coming from energy production, innovations that promise to clean up that process are a breath of fresh air. So it’s fitting that a team of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim have patented […] Read more »
How Social Norms Effect Energy Consumption: If you have to read one article on this fascinating subject, check out this testimony from Robert Cialdini on this topic. Seriously, go read it now — The Oil Drum. Pentagon’s Eco Peeps: While we’re on the green military kick, […] Read more »
Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) has made a “significant investment” in Nordic Windpower, a company that manufactures utility-scale wind turbines. The investment, according to the privately held company’s release, will be used to help Nordic expand production efforts to the U.S. “The investment will enable Nordic […] Read more »
Wow, the bloom sure has started to come off the corn-based ethanol rose. We’ve been detailing the backlash against biofuels recently, and over the past few days, prominent articles in the mainstream media – The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Economist – […] Read more »
Comverge (COMV), an East Hanover, N.J.-based energy management company, said today it has acquired Public Energy Solutions in a $13.4 million deal consisting of cash, stock and convertible notes. Comverge, like its competitors EnerNoc (ENOC) and ConsumerPowerline (which raised its Series A round last week), aims […] Read more »
Another week, another round of funding raised by a company developing solar materials and struggling to get those products to market. Six-year-old Lowell, Mass.-based Konarka said this morning it has raised $45 million. The company had been rumored to be raising close to that size of […] Read more »
Normally losing a wheel slows a car down, but when it comes to electric vehicles, running on just three might actually speed up their time to market. Two freshly funded vehicle startups — Aptera and Venture Vehicles — want to bring hybrid and electric three-wheeled vehicles […] Read more »
Google Earth’s bird’s-eye view of the globe is not just a way to check out satellite pics of your crush’s apartment building (though we’re guilty of that one). The virtual space is being used by environmentalists, concerned citizens, and yes, eco-bloggers, to map the effects of […] Read more »
While Governor Schwarzenegger chanted for “action, action, action” on global warming at the UN climate summit on Monday, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked up the importance of maintaining the economy through emissions reductions at the White House climate meetings yesterday, leave it to the […] Read more »
We know you’re busy, so we’ll forgive you for overlooking this week’s announcement that researchers at England’s University of Leeds have discovered a way to mimic the toxic defensive spray of the bombardier beetle. But you’ll want to sit up and pay attention when you find […] Read more »
Dell Going Carbon Neutral: Dell has been one of the leading computer makers when it comes to reducing its carbon footprint, and now says its going carbon neutral by 2008. The hard part will be getting the suppliers involved — Marketwatch. Mutant Hydrogen-Producing Algae: A professor […] Read more »
It takes guts to file for a secondary offering only days after you lose your largest contract ever. But that’s what JA Solar did, and investors, oddly, seem thrilled. JA Solar (JASO), a maker of photovoltaic cells that went public in a $225 million IPO only […] Read more »
ConsumerPowerline, a New York-based energy management company, said today it has raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Expansion Capital Partners, with additional investment by Bessemer Venture Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures, the New York City Investment Fund, and Vantania Holdings. Following a year of […] Read more »
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