The internet of things is purportedly going to change our lives, boost our profits and create loads of economic opportunity. I don’t doubt this, but I do want to know how we’ll measure these gains. 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 »
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 »
Cathy Zoi has joined C3 as its Chief Strategy Officer following her work with Silver Lake clean energy fund Kraftwerk. She was formerly the acting under secretary for the Obama Administration. Read more »
GE, an airline and a health system have crowdsourced data science questions using Kaggle and are now paying out $600,000 to winners of two competitions. Read more »
Remember eSolar, the solar thermal startup incubated by Idealab, and backed by Google.org, GE, and others? It’s still here and trying to raise a $30 million round, of which it’s close almost half. Read more »
Cleantech VC is receding because of poor short-term performance – no surprise in a post-bubble field with outsized time and money requirements. The category is about to go on a walk in the woods, where innovators will blaze a new trail. Read more »
The LED chip and component maker has launched a line of low cost LEDs that it thinks could be a game-changer for consumers buying LED bulbs. The cheapest retails for under $10. Read more »
LED production has grown tremendously, accompanied by a significant fall in prices that will further propel the sale of this energy-efficient digital-lighting technology. But challenges remain on the road to widespread adoption. Figuring out ways to use power efficiently for lighting will be crucial for a future when the world’s population will likely be much larger. Read more »
Data analytics will be able to help lower the cost of solar through cutting installation costs, making solar cells more efficient and creating better market mechanisms. Here’s 7 projects that the DOE is funding to use data to make solar cheaper. Read more »
Keeping the innovation ecosystem alive in the smart grid will depend on the big players like Silver Spring taking an active role working with startups. Read more »
Feel free to bemoan that frustrating power outage on Twitter or your Facebook page. You could be doing your utility a favor. Read more »
A Colorado startup has come up a light-weight motor for wind turbine generators that borrows the design of a printed circuit board. Boulder Wind Power is lining up its first customer that plans to give its technology a try. Read more »
LEDs for our homes are starting to come down and price and look – gasp — like actually normal light bulbs. Philips has a newly designed LED 60-watt incandescent replacement that looks, well, just like a regular light bulb. And that’s a good thing. Read more »
To stay relevant and to continue GE’s move beyond hardware into software, GE is looking to make relationships, investments and even acquisitions of Valley software analytics startups. The conglomerate is holding a splashy event, and launched a competition, in San Francisco to get that point across. Read more »
GE’s lighting division has acquired an LED startup based in Boulder, Colorado: Albeo. The move shows how LED technology is dropping in price and improving in performance — at least for the commercial and industrial sectors. Read more »
GE is spearheading a rebranding of green. In a new report out this week, the conglomerate pushes the “Industrial Internet,” which is really mostly about using information technology for energy efficiency gains for industry — across transportation and power generation and distribution. Read more »
General Electric, the mega-conglomerate behind machines from household appliances to jet engines, says there are huge productivity gains to be had by connecting manufacturing and test devices up to the “industrial internet.” Read more »
LG’s Smart Thinq connected appliances were all the rage last year at CES and just last week the hit stores in South Korea. The connected fridge is coming soon to the U.S. either next month or in the first quarter of next year. Read more »
Soladigm is emerging from stealth after five years as View, and is now commercially selling its dynamic windows that can be tinted on demand by an iPhone app. Read more »
Energy giant Siemens is leaving the solar market after investing heavily in solar technology and power plant construction. The decision is bad news for startups looking for corporate VCs. Read more »
Big companies, like GE, need to take on cleantech challenges and carve out a protected space to incubate start-ups. Read more »
Because battery chemistry is such a hard problem, it’s pretty natural that we’re turning to the power of analytics, big data, cloud computing and all those other fun IT buzz words to solve it. Read more »
The U.S. government continues to give small grants to early stage next-generation battery technology in an effort to boost innovation in the U.S., and provide energy storage for electric cars and the power grid. Read more »
Today’s itinerary takes us to Arizona, where researchers have developed a mirror technology they hope can make solar competitive. Next stop is a city in Massachusetts, which is a poster child for energy efficiency savings that other cash-strapped cities may find instructive; Plus three other projects. Read more »
Cheap, abundant natural gas is changing the game for energy in the U.S., and that means a renewed push for natural gas cars. Read more »
GE was set to become a major solar manufacturer when it announced a 400 MW factory in Colorado last year. Over a year later, though, it’s putting that plan on hold for 18 months or more while it works on coming up with more competitive technology. Read more »
Soladigm, a startup that makes windows that can be tinted on demand, has raised another $55 million, bringing the company’s total funding to $125 million. Read more »
There is no mistaking that SCADA (traditional control networks for utilities) is under assault. Over the past several years, wireless IP-based communication networks have proven to be worthy for distribution automation applications. Read more »
Kurion, a startup that has developed technology that cleans up nuclear waste and is one of the most successful cleantech firms you haven’t heard of, has been acquiring more cleanup tech. Read more »
About an hour drive outside of the packed streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and into the sprawling Sorocaba region, GE has quietly been leading the way on clean water technology. Read more »
Many have predicted a “big data tsunami” that will transform the energy sector and open an entirely new market for smart-grid data analytics. Stepping into the fray is the next generation of smart-grid companies poised to use data to change energy consumption. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Solexant, a Silicon Valley solar thin film startup that once plotted to build its first commercial-scale factory in Oregon, has quietly raised a $30,000 round. Read more »
The folks at GE and PDC are integrating Apple’s iPad into a new medical product called the MR Suite as a way to bring a sense of control and calm to the experience of getting an MRI. Read more »
Nuclear waste cleanup startup Kurion (which I once called the most successful greentech startup you haven’t heard of) says it’s responsible for removing 70 percent of the radioactivity from the waste water at the Fukushima nuclear plant after last year’s disaster. Read more »
GE is launching more gadgets to help consumers monitor and manage their home-energy consumption. Read more »
For the occasion of Siemens’ swallowing eMeter, we have pulled together our recurring smart grid acquisitions list, including the new ones we have seen in recent months. Read more »
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. And as the web and mobile connectivity change our consumer experiences, the opportunities to redefine cleantech are rich, and they are already happening. This research note examines the cleantech space in that context and analyzes the car-sharing, home-energy-management and smart-grid sectors and their relevant companies to see how connectivity will play into their future endeavors. Companies mentioned in this report include RelayRides, Opower, Silver Spring Networks and Nest. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Facebook unveiled its green data center in Oregon this Spring, but now the social network giant has achieved another milestone: it’s been granted a LEED gold certification for the Oregon data center, which uses 52 percent less energy to operate than a standard data center. Read more »
Better Place, which hopes to build an empire of electric car charging and battery swapping stations, said Friday it has closed a $200 million funding that will bring the company’s valuation to $2.2 billion. Read more »
