FAQs

Let’s face it: Green technology can be a complex and confusing topic. The industry is made up of so many sectors — solar, biofuels, green IT, etc. — and many of these different technologies are relatively young. But green business information overload can give you a case of brain freeze faster than slurping down a smoothie, particularly if all you really wanted to know is: Who are the important players, and what are the trends in a given sector?

So, over the past two years, we’ve been amassing content that cuts through the noise and gives you a snapshot of the landscape quickly and easily. And we’ve decided to pull all those resources here onto this FAQ page. We’ll be updating this section regularly as we drill down into what you want to know:

13 Battery Startups Hitting the Road With Lithium-ion: With billions of dollars in government funds coming down the pipeline for advanced batteries courtesy of the stimulus package, and the auto industry gearing up to make its first real go at marketing plug-in vehicles for the masses, the race to build lithium-ion batteries for vehicles has never been hotter. Here’s 13 startups developing lithium-ion battery technology that will power next-generation plug-in vehicles.

FAQ Smart Grid: The smart grid will use information technology — microprocessors, software, communication networks — to turn the power grid into a network that works efficiently and will be able to connect to renewable energy generation. Read more on “what it is,” the “key players,” and the projected market size.

FAQ Energy Storage: The ability to store energy across the power grid will enable the addition of renewable energy, like solar and wind, that is only available during certain times of the day. Read about 9 of the most promising energy storage technologies.

10 Startups Selling Software to Manage Carbon: With legislation that could create a U.S. cap and trade system, and the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, asking its suppliers to start tracking their environmental impact, tools to manage carbon emissions are about to take off. Read more about these 10 startups that have spent the past few years developing carbon management software tools.

15 Promising Algae Startups: Entrepreneurs, investors, big oil companies and the federal government are increasingly working on different ways to turn algae into fuel for transportation. Whether it’s genetically tweaking the pond scum to be carbon-munching fuel-producers, or taking the algae itself and mashing it into oily fuel, here’s 15 startups that have taken on the task.

Cheat Sheet of the Biggest Algae Fuel Deals: After ExxonMobil and startup Synthetic Genomics announced one of the biggest deals in algae fuel — more than $600 million for a 5-6-year algae biofuels development program — we put together this cheat sheet comparing the 8 biggest deals in algae fuel, whether it’s equity investments, government grants and contracts, joint ventures, strategic alliances or licensing deals.

10 Energy Management Startups: As the smart grid is rolled out and 2-way digital meters are installed in U.S. homes, utilities, consumer electronics firms and startups are starting to offer energy dashboards that will sit in the home, monitor the home’s energy consumption and hopefully help the home owner cut energy use. Read about the 10 most promising startups building these home energy management tools.

13 Solar CPV Startups: What do you get when you combine solar panels and solar thermal technology, which uses the sun’s heat to produce electricity? The solar hybrid — concentrating photovoltaic technology (CPV) — which uses mirrors and lenses to concentrate sunlight hundreds of times onto tiny, highly efficient solar cells. Read about 13 of the most promising solar CPV startups.

11 Companies Racing to Build Cellulosic Ethanol Plants in the U.S.: While first generation biofuels like corn ethanol have shown serious drawbacks, next-generation biofuels made out of waste, plant byproducts and woody energy crops — called cellulosic ethanol — could prove to be a lot more sustainable. Problem is commercialization of these technologies is years away, and with the recession companies have struggled to hit their production deadlines. Here’s 11 companies that are racing to be the first in the U.S. to produce cellulosic ethanol at a commercial scale.

An A to Z of the Biofuel Economy: Thought biofuels were made of just corn or plant byproducts? Think again, here’s an alphabet soup of feedstocks that researchers have looked at.