Peter Thiel is leading a large investment into an air energy storage startup called LightSail Energy. Thiel joins Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures as investors. Compressed air energy storage tech pumps air into tanks and releases it on demand to create a sort of air battery. Read more »
A biofuel startup with some stellar investors is making some big claims about its technology and production costs. But it will have to raise some serious money to prove itself. Read more »
Oil giant BP has invested in biofuel startup CoolPlanet BioFuels, according to an announcement on Thursday. CoolPlanet BioFuels is the biofuel startup you have never heard of but that has unusually famous investors like GE, Google, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips. Read more »
A startup that makes materials that can convert heat into electricity plans to develop a solar hot water heater using its materials that could go on sale next year. The device will be the first product from GMZ Energy, which recently raised $14 million in funding. Read more »
Earlier this week figures from the latest MoneyTree report found that VC funding for web startups has reached a 10-year high. Contrast that with the funding figures from Dow Jones, which found that venture investment in the energy sector dropped by more than half. Read more »
Four-year-old OPX Biotechnologies, which uses genomics to make biofuel production more efficient and economic, is in the process of raising a $45 million round, and has closed on $37 million of that funding, according to a filing. Read more »
Turning wastewater – from cities or food processing plants – into electricity has always attracted investors fancy. Now an investor consortium of GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips is making its first bet on an Israeli technology developer via its new fund called Energy Technology Ventures, the companies said Tuesday. Read more »
The next-generation of technology to use compressed air for energy storage is on its way. One of the companies leading the way — General Compression — has raised another $20.39 million Series B round, according to a filing. Read more »
On Wednesday morning energy software startup Hara plans to announce that it’s raised another $25 million from new strategic investors, including the collaboration of GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips (called Energy Technology Ventures), as well as the investing arm of Japanese conglomerate Itochu. Read more »
Corporate investors will play an increasingly important role in the energy technology world and perhaps even outshine the traditional VC firms. The latest evidence: NRG Energy, Conoco Phillips and GE have created a $300 million greentech fund. Read more »
In the second quarter of 2010, greentech startups scored record venture capital and increased spending despite a weak economy. Solar power retained its lead in greentech venture financing, while global investment for clean energy asset financing fell. China, meanwhile, underscored its rising might in the greentech industry, raising billions of dollars in green energy financing. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Old Wind Turbines Get Second Life on the Farm: Massachusetts-based Aeronautica Windpower recycles mid-sized wind turbines from aging wind farms by refurbishing them and selling them to farmers – Press Release. Redwood Systems Raises $4M for Building Energy Conservation: The Danville, Calif.-based startup has raised $4 […] Read more »
Fossil fuels aren’t going away anytime soon emphasized Stephen Brand, senior vice-president of oil and natural gas giant ConocoPhillips, who spoke before a full house at the Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum in Houston on Thursday. Brand stressed the continuing importance of fossil fuels, which […] Read more »
[qi:_newteevee] The entertainment industry has been hiring companies to pollute P2P networks with phony files for years, and now some of these very same companies are going into marketing. Instead of sabotaging file transfers, they offer their own media for download, and instead of corrupted files, […] Read more »
