The vast majority of solar cells today generate electricity by facing the sun, but what if you could engineer their backside to make use of reflected light as well? That’s the idea underlying the technology of bSolar, an Israeli startup who recently launched the so-called bifacial solar cells. Read more »
A solar-powered loo prompts us to wonder where else can solar cells go to produce and promote clean power use. See our list of 8 places where solar cells make a good source of power. Read more »
Japan has long supported solar energy development, but the nuclear disaster this spring pushed it to expand its clean power supplies. That effort reached a milestone on Friday when its lawmakers approved a program that will require its utilities to buy renewable electricity at government-set prices under long-term contracts. Read more »
Power company AES is in the process of scaling up its lithium-ion grid battery projects to a commercial size, and by the third quarter of this year, plans to start operating a 32-MW project in conjunction with grid operator PJM in West Virginia. Read more »
The television business is on the cusp of the biggest technological upheaval since the introduction of cable TV. The addition of Internet connectivity to living room devices will enable new functionality around programming services, program discovery, social networking, ad targeting and measurement — aspects of the TV viewing experience that have remained largely unchanged for decades. These trends have the potential to become the foundation for new economic models around how viewers pay for video service and how program creation is financed. In this report, we examine the leading contenders’ strategic positioning, relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide the early line on their odds of success. Companies mentioned include Google, Apple, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, Samsung, Microsoft and Sony. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Panasonic Corp. plans to spend up to about $9.5 billion buying out two of its subsidiaries in an effort to go greener, faster. The company announced today that it aims to take total control of Sanyo and Panasonic Electric Works. Read more »
What a year. Coasting on the momentum that propelled cleantech to the forefront of venture capital investment in Q3, the fourth quarter capped off a year that, when all was said and done, saw a total of $4.85 billion invested in the sector. However, as the […] Read more »
Electric car startup Tesla Motors and battery cell giant Panasonic announced today that they will together develop nickel-based lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles. Panasonic has been rumored for months to be a battery cell supplier for Tesla’s planned Model S sedan, and today Naoto Noguchi, President […] Read more »
It seems Netflix has already reached a tipping point in the consumer electronics market, as it signed up five more CE manufacturers to enable its streaming services on their devices. Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba and Funai (the CE maker behind the Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania and Emerson […] Read more »
Take that, Boxee Box! Take that, Roku Player! Sure, those companies are adding lots of content to their broadband set-top boxes through channels or apps developed by third-party content partners. But while those guys are competing to get more apps delivered to the TV through a […] Read more »
