Following the Fisker debacle, another auto maker with a government loan has stopped operations. Vehicle Production Group, which made natural gas and gas-powered vans for disabled passengers, says it’s closed up shop. Read more »
Four years after the Pickens Plan was first announced, former oil baron T. Boone Pickens finally sells off his stake in the planned wind farm in Minnesota. Read more »
Developers of renewable-energy projects frequently spend more time obtaining permits than the actual projects. Such delays — often unanticipated — pose serious financial risks. But several key steps will help developers navigate successfully through the thicket of nonuniform regulations, jurisdictions, and lawsuits that await them. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The abundance of natural gas in the U.S. was referred to as a game-changer and a black swan event at the Wall Street Journal Eco:nomics conference last week, but what will the effect be in renewables and climate change? Read more »
A morning chunk of last week’s Wall Street Journal ECO:nomics Conference focused on hydraulic fracking and natural gas. It represents an aggressive new vision for the U.S. energy economy that will contribute to climate change and could slow development of renewable energy. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A year after the Vehicle Production Group (VPG) closed a $50 million Department of Energy loan for designing a natural gas vehicle, the company used the money as planned, began production and is seeing hundreds of vehicles on the road so far. Read more »
President Obama wants more natural gas development, and with it he wants to see more natural gas powered cars on American streets. He announced Thursday a $30 million R&D fund to develop technologies that will make natural gas cars cheaper and safer to drive and refuel. Read more »
Corporations are some of the few types of investors still pursuing new opportunities in greentech investing. Here’s the latest: natural gas company Chesapeake Energy announced on Monday that it plans to invest up to $1 billion into technologies that can use natural gas instead of oil. Read more »
The road hasn’t been easy for Next Autoworks (formerly V-Vehicle), which is backed by Google Ventures, T. Boone Pickens, and Kleiner Perkins. But the way forward has grown even rockier as legislators consider a proposal to shuffle around funds set aside for Next Autoworks’ project. Read more »
Close to three years after T. Boone Pickens launched his Picken’s Plan, the 82-year-old has just reached a major milestone. On Wednesday, a group of Congressmen introduced into the House the NAT GAS Act, which would give tax credits to natural gas vehicle makers and buyers. Read more »
T. Boone Pickens — BP Capital founder, and creator of the Pickens Plan — hit The Daily Show for the second time in as many years last night, and discusses how Obama’s pledge to reduce oil use from the Middle East hasn’t moved forward. Read more »
As countries gather in Cancun, Mexico to figure out a coherent plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you can bet that natural gas will get plenty of attention. A study says 40 percent of the U.S.’s electricity could come from natural gas by 2035. Read more »
Oil baron turned natural gas vehicle advocate T. Boone Pickens, and the company he founded Clean Energy Fuels, were crucial figures in terms of VPG scoring the DOE’s latest conditional loan commitment of $50 million just last week. Read more »
The DOE has joined the small group of supporters — led by T. Boone Pickens and Honda — of the natural gas car. DOE Secretary Steven Chu announced a $50 million loan for The Vehicle Production Group, which will use the funds to make a 6-passenger natural gas car. Read more »
It’s a new day for V-Vehicle, an auto startup with ambitions to produce low-cost efficient cars. The company has just taken two steps common among startups whose investors are unhappy and pushing for a restart: a new name — Next Autoworks Co. — and a new CEO. Read more »
A tear-down of the new Apple TV reveals that the device loads a whopping 8 GB of Flash memory. Wait, didn’t Steve Jobs tell us that we won’t download any movies to the device? That’s because he wants to keep those 8 GB for apps. Read more »
If only U.S. energy policy had the same economic criteria as most startups. Here’s pet peeve of mine in the energy policy arena: the lack of ROI and ability to measure success. Read more »
Apple is going to offer $0.99 TV show rentals for its revamped Apple TV, Google is betting on integrating a search bar with your cable content and Boxee has alsways had a really slick UI. So which box are you going to buy this fall? Read more »
Great companies make it easy for employees to do their jobs, whether they have a cubicle in the corporate headquarters, work out of a remote office or work from their home. By giving everyone remote participation options, you make everyone more productive. Read more »
The newest music video by pop music sensation/possible crazy person Lady Gaga is a darker spin on her signature “out there” style. While free of product placement (as well as eyeliner) it’s getting a perfectly-executed premiere courtesy of Vevo and YouTube. Read more »
Former oil baron turned natural gas and wind backer T. Boon Pickens is hoping to stick his halved wind plan in Goodhue, Minnesota, according to local Minnesotan media, with the help of GE, Xcel Energy and National Wind. Read more »
That looming March 1 deadline for V-Vehicle to raise $350 million — the amount that the T. Boone Pickens and Kleiner Perkins-backed startup needed in order to release the bulk of an incentive package put together by state and local authorities in Monroe, La., (or else […] Read more »
For at least one green car maker out there, tomorrow may be the lucky day. According to a press advisory from the Department of Energy today, Secretary Steven Chu will — drumroll please — “make a loan announcement” related to the agency’s advanced technology vehicle loan […] Read more »
Two years ago energy baron T. Boone Pickens had visions of building the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, starting with a $2 billion order of wind turbines from General Electric. That project was put on hold indefinitely last year, but there are new […] Read more »
Last week the news about yet another non-belligerent iPhone worm did the rounds and people responded by saying things like “How silly jailbreaker’s are for not changing their SSH root passwords,” and “It’s only a matter of time until a worm appears that’s not so friendly…” […] Read more »
