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 »
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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 »
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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 »
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the federal government spent $1.5 billion fighting fires last year, and with a near-record wildfire season underway, that number is sure to continue to rise. Unfortunately, much of that money was spent using equipment that spews toxic chemicals and […] Read more »
William McDonough, the architect and author of sustainable design book Cradle to Cradle is so old skool he was building solar-heated homes in the 70′s and carbon offsetting his buildings in the 80′s. He showed off some of his designs in an inspiring speech for the […] Read more »
Energy from Man-Made Tornadoes?: Here are some rather bizarre energy conductors that scientists are using to produce electricity (think tornadoes, kites, and lighting) — Business Week. Positive Energy Snags $1.55M: Positive Energy, an Arlington, Va.-based energy efficiency company, raised its first round, which was led by […] Read more »
Here we go again. In the inexhaustible game of leapfrog between Silicon Valley chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel Corp (INTC), it’s AMD’s turn to jump. Today, after more than six months of delays, the Sunnyvale, Calif. underdog of the multiprocessor arch-rivalry finally announced the […] Read more »
We’ve written about how the current corn-based ethanol industry is unsustainable. And we particularly enjoyed reading this rant from Juliette Anthony, environmental research consultant and activist, on how ethanol will place a burden on California’s water resources, air quality, and the price of food. She says: […] Read more »
Before we invest in all these clean energy sources such as solar and biofuels, we should really be cutting back on the energy we consume. Or so the argument goes. Well sure, in a perfect world consumers and businesses would just voluntarily use less, and energy-efficient […] Read more »
That deafening roar you hear is the collective masses railing against the evils of bottled water. Unless you’ve been on a media fast over the past few months, you’ve probably read stats similar to those that have come from the Earth Policy Institute showing that the […] Read more »
There’s been a lot of chatter about the secretive solar thermal startup, Ausra, which was known to be backed by high-profile venture firms Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup decided to open the kimono a bit Monday morning and […] Read more »
Sure we’d love to purchase an all electric car like the Telsa Roadster, but its $98k price tag doesn’t quite fit into a bloggers budget. Lucky for us, automakers around the world are starting to seriously address engine fuel efficiency, and will show off the eco-car […] Read more »
It was a short week — and seems like an even shorter weekend — but the 4-days managed to see plenty of cleantech startups raising cash and investors closing cleantech funds. Here’s a few of our best stories from last week that didn’t have to do […] Read more »
Fuel Cell Lobbyists?: Fuel-cell company Plug Power spent $125,000 in the first half of this year on federal lobbying, for a fuel-cell tax credit extension and spending programs for the Defense and Energy departments — AP. Wal-Mart as Green Hub: Sustainable startups are moving into Wal-Marts […] Read more »
We’re already feeling a bit sunburned from all the solar funding over the past few weeks. But serious folks, there’s even more that we’ve learned about. On Monday SolarCity, which provides solar systems for homes and businesses, plans to announce they have closed $21 million in […] Read more »
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