Latest in cleantech, via GigaOM Pro
The latest in cleantech from GigaOM Pro this week: advanced battery technologies, the fate of clean energy post election, and should the U.S. aggressively export natural gas? Read more »
Green clouds are all about scale
photo: WCNC-TV
Do data centers that run on clean power seem like pipe dreams? Not when companies hit the massive scales of webscale computing. Execs creating business models from green data centers say that it’s the large size of the projects that makes clean power attractive. Read more »
Google powers a data center directly with wind for the first time
For the first time Google has purchased wind power to directly power a data center in Oklahoma. Previously Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into clean power projects, but had yet to power its data centers directly with clean power. Read more »
Behold Apple’s massive solar farm from the sky [photos]
A TV station in North Carolina snapped these still video clips of the solar farm being built next to Apple’s data center. It looks like it’s getting close to being completed. Read more »
How awesome is this combo: An underwater solar robot
An underwater swimming solar robot FTW! Courtesy of AeroVironment. Read more »
IBM squeezes more power from new solar cell
The more sunlight a solar cell can convert into electricity, the cheaper the solar power. Companies like IBM are turning to new materials to try to break efficiency barriers for solar cells. Read more »
Report: AQT Solar searching for a buyer for assets
Silicon Valley solar startup AQT Solar is the latest thin film solar company to struggle: the company is reportedly looking to sell its assets. Just earlier this year the company raised more funding and planned to make 30 MW of its solar cells by mid year. Read more »
Now on Kickstarter: A solar utility in a box
Startups that are developing off grid clean power devices are turning to Kickstarter to kick start production. The latest is Peppermint Energy, which has created a “utility in a box” solar device. Read more »
India’s blackout exposes choice between water & electricity
In India, like in the United States, the power sector is the single largest user of water – more than agriculture. Presuming that India could solve its power problems and build more coal, they would run out of fresh water even faster. Read more »
The controversial world of clean power and data centers
As the world demands more clean energy, will North Carolina — and its power that largely comes from coal and nuclear — continue to attract these types of data center deals? Or will areas that can provide more grid-connected clean power win out? Read more »
A green Hadoop could manage solar-powered data centers
Finally the worlds of big data geeks and clean energy nerds have collided. Researchers have proposed building a “GreenHadoop,” that is a version of the MapReduce programming framework that could manage a data center’s computing workload to optimize clean energy from a solar system. Read more »
Introducing the Android for grid batteries: GELI
A startup called GELI, lead by battery guru Ryan Wartena, has developed an operating system and software for grid batteries and plans to launch its beta software in the coming weeks. Think of it like the Android for energy. Read more »
Clean power isn’t a leading concern for data center operators
Greenpeace’s main concern for where Internet companies build their data centers is clean power. But data center builders actually think more about the cost of the energy than how clean the source is, and they also think about the volatility of the price and supply. Read more »
Apple’s NC data center: transparency and the pressure to go green
Buried in last week’s catfight between Apple and Greenpeace over the energy sourcing for Apple’s new North Carolina data center and how clean it would be, was a surprising fact — that the conversation between Apple and Greenpeace was happening at all. Read more »
End times near for U.S. support of cleantech
It looks like the end times are near for U.S. support for cleantech, at least according to a report out from the Breakthrough Institute, the Brookings Institution and the World Resources Institute. Read more »
Chart: Japan to see a solar power boom
In the wake of one of the world’s largest nuclear power disasters in history last year in Japan, the country is re-thinking its energy policy and looking to provide incentives to boost clean power starting this July. Our charticle: Read more »
Report: The clean power cash grant program was working
A new report out of the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Labs says that the $9 billion clean power cash grant program (formally called the 1603 grant program), which expired at the end of 2011, was actually working and creating jobs and economic output. Read more »
Are we ready for energy literacy?
Education about energy is crucial for smarter decision making, which is why I’m excited that the Energy Literacy document, created by the DOE and many others, is finally out. Read more »
Shell CEO: Energy efficiency, not clean power, is key
Royal Dutch Shell CEO, Peter Voser, says energy efficiency technology is a must-have to help feed a world with a growing appetite for energy, but the same can’t be say for alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. Read more »
A year later: Fukushima and the Japan cleantech opportunity
There’s a massive cleantech opportunity right now in Japan, and one small way to commemorate those who lost their lives in Fukushima is to create safe and renewable sources of energy fed into a reliable grid infrastructure. Read more »
My great hope for the energy future
Professor Tom Murphy lays out his rosy vision for what he thinks the world could accomplish in the near term to maximize the chances of coming out shiny and happy on the tail end of the fossil fuel saga. Read more »
Chart: What Cali’s clean power will look like by 2020
Solar panel projects only started to vie for California utilities’ interest in 2007, yet the tech is set to become the largest piece of renewable energy in the state in less than a decade. Check out our charts: Read more »
Fossil Fuels: We’re not dead yet
Professor Tom Murphy looks at a future that will inevitably be dependent on fossil fuels for quite some time. What does this future look like? Read more »
Crunching the numbers for nuclear fusion
Professor Tom Murphy crunches the numbers for nuclear fusion power, and dissects its potential and problems. Read more »
10 things you should know about the DOE loan guarantee program
As a result of the bankruptcies of Solyndra and Beacon Power, the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program is now under heavy scrutiny. But a new Bloomberg report digs into the numbers and finds the program is a lot more successful than it has seemed. Read more »
The state of cleantech venture capital, part 4: Parting thoughts
When it comes to cleantech investing, we’re in the early innings of a long ball game. The last in a 4-part series from Venrock’s Matthew Nordan. Read more »
3 energy innovators under 35 you should know
MIT Tech Review’s annual list looking at 35 innovators under 35 always has gems for the energy sectors. This year’s list is no different and the publication highlights three under-the-radar entrepreneurs at startups including ultracapacitor company FastCAP, geothermal drilling startup Foro Energy and battery company Wuhe. Read more »
The state of cleantech venture capital, part 3: The companies
Half of successful VC-backed cleantech start-ups stumble along the way. Entrepreneurs who raise big financing rounds at sky-high valuations can end up shooting themselves in the foot. Read more »
Morgan Solar raises funds, plans production in Cali
Morgan Solar, a startup whose technology uses optics to boost solar cells’ power output, said Tuesday it’s lined up $9.8 million to commercialize is technology. Read more »
The state of cleantech venture capital, part 2: The investors
There’s a widespread perception that cleantech venture capital must be tanking compared with VC overall. That perception is wrong. Read more »
Cleantech, meet connectivity: a new era of energy efficiency
When people think about cleantech, they typically think about solar panels or converting biomass into fuel. But the momentum right now in cleantech is as much about connectivity and how it can drive energy efficiency as it is about advancing sources of renewable energy. Read more »
Solaria raises $30M to push concentrating solar PV
Concentrating solar photovoltaics use optics to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells to boost energy production. While the tech is still in an early stage, some startups are looking to ramp up, like Fremont, Calif.-based Solaria, which has raised another $30 million. Read more »
The state of cleantech venture capital, part 1: The money
Plenty of late-stage financing will be available for cleantech start-ups over the next few years, but seed/Series A money is another matter. Read more »
Thank you Google for a green victory
Despite that Google is ending its efforts to reduce the cost of clean power below coal, we’ve actually made it there. And clean power entrepreneur Jigar Shah says to Google: Thank you for pioneering this, and it’s time to declare it a victory! Read more »
Google shuts down its initiative to reduce the cost of clean power
Google is officially shutting down its own in-house research initiative and equity investing focus on lowering the cost of clean power, called Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal, or RE
On the ground with clean power in India
Vineeth Vijayaraghavan is the founder and editor of a site focused on cleantech in India, Panchabuta, and here’s what he’s been watching, reading, and writing about this week: Read more »
Pump up the energy storage
If we adopt solar and wind as major components of our energy infrastructure, we have to solve the energy storage problem in a big way. Here, we will take a peek at pumped hydro and evaluate what it can do for us. Read more »
OPINION: Jumbo-sized solar is a jumbo-sized mistake
The article this weekend on the front page of The New York Times, “A Gold Rush of Subsidies in the Search for Clean Energy,” clearly underscores why the U.S. should phase-out all permanent and long-term subsidies for energy. Read more »
Our Pearl Harbor moment for solar is coming
There will soon be enough solar projects globally to drive economies of scale to reach our Pearl Harbor moment in solar. That moment won’t be the end, but will start the first war for control of the power sector in 100 years. Read more »
Why we need to focus on solar deployment jobs in the U.S.
We need smart government but we have limited funds for incentives, so we have to focus on our core strengths. For us that is innovation and deployment, particularly for solar. Read more »
