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 »
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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 »
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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 »
Malcolm Bricklin says he’s confident he will win the cash award for the Automotive X-Prize, (according to CarConnection), with a 100 mpg plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle from his company Visionary Vehicles. Yep, that sounds like good ol’ Bricklin. The 68-year-old car entrepreneur is famous for both bringing […] Read more »
It’s hard to get one’s head wrapped around all the money being poured into the various sectors of cleantech these days. Last year investment in clean energy surged 67 percent over the previous year, but at the same time there was more than $2 billion left […] Read more »
Another morning, another firm has announced the closing of a cleantech fund. This time it’s over $100 million for Expansion Capital Partners, a San Francisco based firm, founded in 2002 by Mark Donohue. Expansion says that it was the first fund to focus solely on expansion-stage […] Read more »
It was a who’s-who of cleantech last night at the AlwaysOn GoingGreen launch party. A bit smaller crowd than we expected, but a decent turnout for the announcement of AlwaysOn’s list of 100 emerging cleantech companies. Smart grid start-up GridPoint took home the title of “overall […] Read more »
Cleantech Up 10% in Q2: The Cleantech Network says that in the second quarter of this year North American and European cleantech venture investment totaled $1 billion, representing a 10% increase over the $903 million invested in Q1 2007 — release. Icy Thermal Investing: Iceland’s Glitnir […] Read more »
Yeasty Ethanol: “Yeast” would’ve been a better choice for our A to Z list of the Biofuel Economy, instead of, um, “Your chopsticks.” Anyhoo. University of California Irvine researchers have teamed up with Laguna Hills, Calif.-based start-up CODA Genomics to explore ways to turn a common […] Read more »
Update: We just chatted with Virent CEO Eric Apfelbach, who told us the company already has a pilot project “somewhere in the U.S.” Apfelbach also says that the company hopes to do an IPO “in a few years time.” Good luck with that. As traditional biofuels […] Read more »
Written by Georgia Biondo Flight Hybrids and biofuels may be hot topics on eco-watchers’ lips these days, but with two-thirds of the world’s goods still being transported by sea, forward-thinking companies will be focused less on the highway and more on the horizon. Enter UK-based Blue […] Read more »
We weren’t surprised to find Masa Ishii, one of Noventi’s managing directors, on the prowl for investment opportunities at the ASME Energy Nanotechnology International Conference yesterday. Menlo Park-based VC firm Noventi sits on a $100 million fund for early-stage cleantech investments. The firm, once an investor […] Read more »
Over $100 million in funding went to various types of solar startups in just the last few weeks alone. The bulk has been for equipment and manufacturing companies, but startups focusing on solar service business models are getting more cash, too. Tioga Energy, a solar service […] Read more »
To the skeptical consumer, carbon offsets can seem as shady as Karl Rove. I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of carbon offset providers out there — which ones are reputable, where does my money go, how effective are […] Read more »
Climate Change Capital, an investment banking group based in London that invests in cleantech, says it has closed a fund worth 200 million euros ($273 million). The fund is backed by investors Alpinvest, Robeco, HSBC, USS, Alliance Trust, Bankinter, Woelbern Group and Harcourt. The group, which […] Read more »
Since moving to California two years ago, it seems like I’ve landed in this eco-savvy bubble, cut off from the rest of the country. Looking at the amount of start-up activity and government support for the sector, it’s clear that California is one of the leaders […] Read more »
Written by Jackson West and cross-posted on our sister site NewTeeVee The latest show backed by Next New Networks, ZapRoot, kicks off Wednesday after a soft launch preview on ViroPOP, which claims to be a channel for the “new green generation.” The show is slick and […] Read more »
Greentech Media Launch: Our good friends Greentech Media launched their eco-tech news site today. Check out our blog feed on the site! – release. Cleantech Investing Acquired: As part of Greentech Media’s launch, Cleantech Investing was acquired by the Mass. news and research firm. The blog, […] Read more »
Electric car startup Venturi will start rolling out its first electric sports car this month, says Greentech Media, which recently talked to the CEO. And yes, it has the unfortunate name of the Fetish. Name aside, it’s about time — the Monaco-based company talked up the […] Read more »
The long, hot weekend got me thinking about motivation — and not only because I had none in the 100+ degree weather in the Labor Day L.A. sun. For example, I’ve known for awhile that I have a mild case of “Prius Envy,” but after reading […] Read more »
SolFocus, a Mountain View, Calif. based startup that develops solar concentrator technology said this morning that it has closed $52 million in funding, which included a $27.4 million series A for SolFocus Europe. The rounds were led by New Enterprise Associates, and included Moser Baer India, […] Read more »
The green-themed party is almost over in Black Rock desert, Nevada. Festival-goers at the annual Burning Man event are packing up their tents and festivity gear — think flame throwers and art projects — today for the last day of this year’s festival. The man might […] Read more »
Who: Zee Dynamics is a startup with a patent-pending technology that supposedly reduces the amount of fuel and energy used in the production of rubber products such as shoes and tires, and can also make the rubber last longer. The company is self-funded by founder John […] Read more »
Hopefully you’re not spending your Labor Day weekend like me, with a green guilt hangover after traveling hundreds of miles for my holiday festivities. Regardless, check out some of our killer stories from last week. The Tesla Roadster takes a Tahoe road trip after Gavin Newsom […] Read more »
Corporate VC for Cleantech: The National Venture Capital Association recently issued a report that says that corporate venture capital investment — ie. from the Intels and Ciscos of the world — in the first half of 2007 was the highest percentage of corporate venture deals and […] Read more »
If you’re like me, planning on doing a good deal of traveling to get to your holiday revelries this Labor Day Weekend, then maybe you feel similar to how I felt this morning – full of major green guilt. So far I’ve already logged more than […] Read more »
If you’ve been scratching your head over oil companies’ green PR attempts, there’s a new goodie coming up: Chevron (CVX) is due to unveil its latest eco PR effort, and this time it amounts to an earth-friendly-version of SimCity. We were recently emailed a link to […] Read more »
VC $$$ for Cleantech: A report released today by research firm New Energy Finance notes that VC and private equity investment in the cleantech sector surged 67 percent in 2006 over the previous year. Yet clean energy VCs only invested 73 percent of the total money […] Read more »
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