ABB plans to buy power inverter leader Power-One for around a billion dollars. The move shows the expected strong growth in solar panel installations, despite the hard times for the solar panel makers themselves. Read more »
It may be the most amazing substance known to humanity – potentially – but pioneers in the graphene scene are still scratching their heads as to the material’s killer app. Read more »
Google is asking utilities to create programs that will sell companies clean power if they’re willing to pay for it, starting with Duke Energy in North Carolina. Read more »
From smart fabrics to sensors that are powered by the very vibrations they measure, researchers and companies are hard at work figuring out how to make the most of the energy around us. Read more »
The funny little thing about shareholder voting at biofuel company Kior. Read more »
If you ever wondered what happened to the algae fuel work between Synthetic Genomics and Exxon — it was scaled back and now is focused on long term research instead of commercialization. Read more »
Following on previous quarterly disclosures on energy and water efficiency, Facebook is unveiling dashboards showing its data centers’ near-real-time performance. Read more »
Promising young startup Enlighted is powering up with new funds and new customers for its sensor, big data and lighting control tech that can reduce the lighting energy in buildings by 50 to 70 percent. Read more »
We bring you the behind the scenes story of how electric car startup Fisker Automotive spent over a billion dollars, took down a government loan and ultimately delivered about 2,000 cars, a small fraction of what it originally promised. Read more »
Power grid operators and utilities are increasingly turning to big data analytics and tools. This week European power giant E.ON said it plans to work with Ericsson for a smart meter data project in Sweden. Read more »
We upgrade our smartphones every one to two years. Why not our smart cars? Nvidia has developed a chip architecture that could let us boost the brainpower of our connected cars after they roll off the lot. Read more »
Data scientist might be the sexiest job of the 21st century, but it’s hardly an easy gig to land. Here is some advice from practitioners at Netflix, Orbitz and Hortonworks on how get hired and even do the hiring. Read more »
Of greatest concern is that as financing for cleantech gets tight, the brightest startups will struggle to find early stage capital and those companies nearing the path to commercialization will find it hard to find scaling capital. Read more »
China’s cities are macro-laboratories that the government has been using to test out various roll-out strategies from industrial partnerships, to fast charging stations to rental systems. So why have the early numbers fallen short? Read more »
Mercedes-Benz, Bosch and the industrial insurance firm HDI have partnered up with European accelerator network Startupbootcamp. With names like that on the roster, it’s a fair bet that connected car technology will be a focus. Read more »
GE and Quirky have tapped Electric Imp to provide connectivity for a collaboration that will enable people with an idea for a physical product to take their ideas from conception to reality. Read more »
One company peddling products that keep servers cool in liquid, Green Revolution Cooling, expects two webscale companies to make announcements soon about production-scale plans. The company’s chief executive sees wider adoption down the line. Read more »
Utilities are increasingly embracing the tools needed to manage big data, and on Monday data warehouse software firm Teradata said it’s teamed up with power grid giant Siemens for a better way to manage the massive data flowing off the smart grid. Read more »
Swedish thin film solar manufacturer startup Midsummer is taking a cue from optical disc manufacturing for its solar panels, but is facing a difficult solar market. Read more »
The lawsuits are piling up for electric car startup Fisker Automotive — here’s the third this month, this time from design and communication firm Ignited over an alleged unpaid bill of $535K. Read more »
It’s easy to be sniffy about the concept of sending odors through the internet, but researchers are nonetheless hard at work on folding the sense of smell into the digital repertoire. Read more »
Fisker’s landlord has filed a suit that says the electric car company has to pay its April rent or evacuate its headquarters. The company seems to be getting ever closer to bankruptcy. Read more »
Dennis Crowley can bask in the positive reviews of Foursquare’s latest software release, but only briefly. Because that praise will soon fade away and once again, he’ll have to deal with the flurry of armchair critics. Read more »
Quantance has gone back to its investors for a $12 million Series D, which it plans to use to bring its envelope tracking chip to market. The technology promises significant gains in LTE device battery life. Read more »
Tesla is battling Texas over selling its electric cars directly to customers. CEO Elon Musk spoke at the Texas Capital Wednesday morning calling for support of a new bill. Read more »
Enevo’s services, which involve putting sensors into trash bins to optimize collection times and routes, provide a useful reminder of the potential of the internet of things. Read more »
What do you get when you combine cleantech, server tech, the internet of things and robotics with a surfboard? The answer can be found in this week’s podcast featuring Liquid Robotics. Read more »
Good news for startups hoping to draw on public road traffic and weather data, among other types: changes agreed on Wednesday should allow the use of such data for free or at very low cost. Read more »
A stealthy Silicon Valley startup called TetraSun, which designs silicon solar cells, has been acquired by solar giant First Solar. It’ll be First Solar’s first commercial foray into highly efficient silicon panels. Read more »
First Solar’s stock is smoking hot on Tuesday, soaring almost 50 percent to reach almost $40 per share. That’s quite a turn around for the solar thin film leader who had such a difficult year in 2012. Read more »
Five-year-old, Bill Gates and Khosla-backed, EcoMotors is finally commercializing its efficient engine technology. And it’s got a killer deal to do it: a $200 million plant being built by Chinese auto giant Zhongding Power. Read more »
A Swedish startup has developed a new technology that it says can boost the efficiency of standard solar panels at a minimal cost using nanowires. Is this the great bright hope for solar manufacturers who have been crippled by the difficult solar market in 2013? Read more »
The SumAll Foundation, a non-profit effort by cloud analytics startup SumAll, is trying to change the world by showing non-profits how to get the most out of their data by thinking more like businesspeople do. Read more »
Taiwan and Japan are dealing with similar energy challenges as they boost clean power production while debating the merit of nuclear power. Read more »
Solar financier Clean Power Finance has raised a large round of $37 million from Valley investors Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and Claremont Creek. Solar financing and installations are one of the bright spots in the solar sector. Read more »
Following Fisker’s decision to layoff 160 employees, or 75 percent of its staff, last week, the company has been hit with a class action lawsuit for allegedly violating the WARN Act, which says large companies need to give employees 60 days notice for mass layoffs. Read more »
A data democracy built to last needs tools that empower everyone to work with data rather than relying on apps and data scientists. Tableau helped ignite the data revolution, and its IPO could help it keep going. Read more »
Fraunhofer is testing optical communications components that will turn an off-the-shelf LED into a broadband transmitter. Read more »
According to sources electric car startup Fisker Automotive is laying off most of its staff and is announcing that to employees today. Read more »
In this week’s news wrap up we go “Home” with Facebook’s phone announcement, get electric with Tesla’s lease, and sit down for Vdio. Read more »
