Ask a die-hard altpower fan if they’ve ever seen a functional wind turbine in the urban jungle, and chances are, the answer is no. Today we bring you some exclusive footage of this rare species. This Skystream 3.7, built by Altira-backed Southwest Wind Power, sits atop […] Read more »
We already brought you an early glimpse of the West Coast Green conference’s eco picture opp — the earth-friendly prefabricated home that was assembled in downtown San Francisco this week. The green building industry is growing so fast that both the architect and builder behind the […] Read more »
T Boone Pickens, Still Going: I absolutely love stories about this Texas oil billionaire. Best quote: “I like to be associated with younger people. It keeps the motor running at a high rate of speed.” Close contender: “I’m afraid I’ll die,” when asked why he won’t […] Read more »
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Salmon Sperm Key to Green Electronics?: Professor Andrew Steckl at the University of Cincinnati is looking into the ways salmon DNA (taken from salmon sperm) intensifies the properties of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The release notes that “Skeckl evaluated the source of materials with an eye to […] Read more »
While thin-film solar investments are all the rage, we haven’t seen much funding recently for companies working on the more mature cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology. Newer and competing material copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) is the focus of VC-heavy players Nanosolar, Miasole, Heliovolt, and others, while […] Read more »
We’ve been getting a little tired of comparing web-based carbon calculators — how many different ways can we feel guilty for driving too much? So we were interested to check out ChooseRenewable’s “MyWatts Renewables Estimator,” which offers a free service to evaluate whether — based on […] Read more »
There seems to be a growing number of us who diligently recycle, compost and shop organic, yet still cling to our old, non-hybrid cars like security blankets. Fear not: Eco-friendly car parts and manufacturing processes that look beyond the gas tank will soon bring hope to […] Read more »
Solar Cash: Solar Power Partners, which sells solar services raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Globespan Capital Partners — release. Traffic=Fuel Waster: If you haven’t noticed, traffic congestion in our nation’s cities is getting worse. A new report notes that the problem, besides […] Read more »
Venture firms, particularly Khosla Ventures, can’t get enough of biofuels. Amyris Biotechnologies, an Emeryville-based synthetic biology start-up that develops a fermentation process to produce biofuels, just landed the first part of $70 million in VC backing from DAG Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and TPG Ventures, […] Read more »
Flywheel technology doesn’t have the wow-factor of electric cars or solar panels in the cleantech world. Listen to the description: spinning discs that store energy of motion and can replace lead acid batteries in backup power systems. Investors are paying attention, though. Chatsworth, Calif.-based flywheel maker […] Read more »
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It’s a depressing reality that no matter how diligently you recycle, compost and repurpose, a huge amount of your trash still ends up baking in the sun in a landfill. The EPA estimates that U.S. residents and businesses produce more than 245 million pounds of MSW […] Read more »
AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC) might haggle over the power efficiencies of their chips, but we didn’t expect to hear about Intel developing anything close to a green consumer gadget. Huh. ZDNet writes about a presentation by Intel research VP Andrew Chien on an internal project […] Read more »
Looking for more green home investments? While we were checking out Michelle Kaufmann’s prefab eco pad this weekend, we got a chance to chat with the CEO and founder of the building company behind the mkLotus, XtremeHome’s Tim Schmidt. Based in Oroville, Calif., Schmidt’s XtremeHomes produces […] Read more »
EnerNOC (ENOC), a company that sells demand response and energy management services to commercial and industrial customers, is trying to stay on top of its game. On Monday, the company said it has snapped up Stamford, Conn.-based startup MDEnergy, adding to its portfolio of energy management […] Read more »
Efficient Toner: Xerox will open a $60 million energy efficient manufacturing plant to produce a toner that takes about 25 percent less energy per pound compared to conventional toner — GreenBiz. Red, White and Biofuels: The US is the “fastest expanding market in the world” for […] Read more »
We recently ran into Nate Tyler, founder of Lights Out San Francisco, a grass-roots organization that’s trying to get the city of San Francisco to turn off all non-essential lighting for an hour on Oct. 20. Tyler, who was passing out flyers at the Treasure Island […] Read more »
For all those fighting for a future without coal power, the cause just got a high-profile supporter — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has opened an investigation of five large energy companies, looking into whether investors were given enough information about the financial risks of […] Read more »
Architectural design firm Michelle Kaufmann Designs invited us to check out their latest green prefabricated home, which they are assembling in San Francisco this week for the West Coast Green conference. The factory-manufactured ‘mkLotus’ home is the brainchild of architect Michelle Kaufmann and is made of […] Read more »
A friend of mine who runs a very large data center told me recently that his biggest day-to-day challenge is one that is becoming commonplace in his industry: how to consume less energy. Data centers consume vast amounts of energy, and rising energy costs are cutting […] Read more »
We’re soaking up some of the sun over at the Treasure Island music festival this weekend. We’ll let you know if the event’s got any of those Live Earth-style green elements. Wherever you’re at, check out some of our goodies from last week: Who’s the greenest […] Read more »
When it comes to energy policy in the U.S., the states are increasingly calling the shots — and they know it. This week, the Governors Association officially launched a task force to advance clean energy development at the state level, and it’s being given $610,000 from […] Read more »
It was about two months ago that we launched Earth2Tech — and in blogging years that can feel like a lifetime — but in that time there’s been some significant investments and acquisitions in green media. Today is the latest, with VentureWire reporting that the Cleantech […] Read more »
The CFO of publicly traded solar company SunPower (SPWR), Manny Hernandez, says solar manufacturing companies looking to go public this year are in for a real challenge. “The field is getting pretty crowded,” he explained, referring to numerous Chinese solar companies like Trina Solar (TSL) and […] Read more »
Admit it–you went out and bought an iPhone when they were still $599 (and if you didn’t, you’re probably headed out to get one now for $399). So what did you do with your old cell phone? The worst thing you could have done is toss […] Read more »
Miasole CEO is Out, Funding In?: Thin film startup Miasole’s CEO Dave Pearce is being replaced by Joseph Laia, a veteran of the semiconductor chip equipment industry. Trouble in thin film land? The company is also reported to be raising more money — CNET Euro Cash […] Read more »
Yes, you read that right. Pork energy — a.k.a. pig-produced waste energy — will be the subject of a town hall meeting next week in Goldsboro, N.C. If the latest legislation on animal waste management systems passed by the State’s senate becomes law, it’ll encourage pork […] Read more »
Canadian biomass-based biofuels have been given a boost with a C$500 million ($484.4 million) fund launched yesterday by the country’s federal government. The fund, which will be managed by Sustainable Development Technology Canada, is designed to jump-start the development and production of “next generation” biofuels in […] Read more »
Will Wynn, the mayor of Austin, Tex., says he publishes his electricity bill in the paper to show how a little energy management can produce results. (It’s frequently below $50 per month.) Sure, we have Al Gore, and every trend-seeking celebrity waving the climate-change flag and […] Read more »
“Traffic sucks” — that was the basic gist of a pitch that Michael Ostrom, CEO of traffic optimization startup Mygistics, delivered this week at the GoingGreen conference. Ostrom says his company is looking to supply better traffic data, which could help with all of the obvious […] Read more »
Electric cars are starting to plug into the grid, and even Google (GOOG) is hopped-up on the technology, as it made clear with its $10 million pledge for eco-car startup investments. So it’s interesting that PG&E (PCG) and Tesla said yesterday that they are planning to […] Read more »
How Green is that PC in the Window?: Lenovo rolled out its eco-friendly ThinkCentre A61e desktop, codenamed “Blue Sky” today. We’re seriously craving one –- release. Why Green IT?: Conference attendees at Infrastructure Management World questioned why energy-efficient IT is gaining popularity, money or morals? — […] Read more »
Smart grid startup GridPoint is having a good week. The Washington DC-based company won the overall startup award at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference earlier this week. And now there’s word that the company has raised $32 million in a series D round, according to a regulatory […] Read more »
Parking Lot Pollution: Besides car emissions, it turns out automobiles are indirectly causing yet another environmental problem: parking lot pollution. Researchers at Purdue University say giant parking lots raise urban temperatures and add to water pollution. Parking lots accumulate pollutants such as oil and heavy metals […] Read more »
Former Rhode Island Congresswoman Claudine Schneider says that when it comes to the potential of solar energy, the U.S. government has failed to take the lead. That’s why she’s charging ahead as the president of a newly launched organization called The Solar Alliance, whose aim is […] Read more »
You might have traded your beloved SUV for a hybrid vehicle, but park your eco car next to your gas-guzzling lawn mover and your green points drop dramatically. You’re probably thinking, “How could mowing my puny little lawn possibly contribute to global warming?” Apparently a lot […] Read more »
Last June, Google (GOOG) co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin drove a plug-in vehicle around the company’s campus and pledged $10 million in funding for plug-in electric vehicle startups. Today, Google.org said it is accepting proposals, so all you eco-car startups out there, check out the […] Read more »
Alcoa Wants Geothermal: Alcoa said it plans to do R&D in Iceland that could lead to the first geothermal powered aluminum smelter in the world. — WSJ blog. OECD Says End Biofuels Subsidies: Biofuels are unsustainable, and causing a rise in food prices and natural habitat […] Read more »
What if you were able to fight mass extinction by snapping nature photos with your GPS-enabled device? Soon you will be with the Encyclopedia of Life, an uber-wiki that will one day “provide single-portal access to all knowledge of living organisms.” The ambitious project is the […] Read more »
David Mills, co-founder, chief scientific officer and chairman of solar thermal startup Ausra, is convinced that solar thermal technology will one day replace coal. “It has to,” he told us at AlwaysOn’s GoingGreen conference earlier today. No other technology, he argued –- including geothermal, nuclear technologies, […] Read more »
Even though environmentalism is part of the cleantech investing equation, we were reminded during a VC panel held at AlwaysOn’s GoingGreen conference this morning in Davis, Calif., that cleantech investing is about another kind of green: cash. “We are a single, bottom-line entity,” said Bill Green, […] Read more »
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