Earth

Earth Aid Raises $4M, Readies to Ramp Up

Will an energy management option that is free, web-centric and doesn’t require utility permission be a hit? That’s the idea behind Earth Aid, a startup that launched its beta site about a year and a half ago, and has raised its first round of funding.

What's More Accurate Than GPS? Photographs

Locations identified within the 10 or 20 meters possible by GPS today are far too inaccurate — we need to know where we are we are right down to the millimeter! One futurist says with millimeter accuracy enabled by photographs, augmented reality will actually become possible.

Earth Hour: A Social Media Letdown?

Each year, the WWF encourages individuals, businesses and communities to participate in a global rolling blackout campaign called Earth Hour, which calls for shutting off the lights for a solid hour and leans heavily on social media. But is WWF tweeting up the wrong tree?

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Live Event Coverage: Next-Gen Applications for the Smart Grid

This morning, we’re hosting the latest GigaOM Bunker Series event here at our San Francisco offices. The topic this time is next-generation applications for the smart-grid sector. We’ll examine what applications and services will be delivered on top of the current smart grid infrastructure buildout, including home and commercial building energy management, smart EV charging, and next-gen demand response and billing — all potentially billion-dollar markets. The underlying question is, how can tech companies, utilities and investors create an environment that delivers a future of innovation, energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions? Andrew Tang, senior director of PG&E’s Smart Energy Web; Scott Lang, CEO of Silver Spring Networks; Warren Weiss, partner at Foundation Capital; and John Steinberg, CEO of EcoFactor, will lead the conversation. Join us here for a livestream, along with exclusive video, post-game analysis, and live blog coverage starting at 9:30 a.m. PST.

"I Felt That": USGS Leverages Earthquake Tweets

The forward-thinking scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey are trying to figure out what they can do with a set of user-contributed data, and started the Twitter Earthquake Detection Program using funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Earth Class Mail Partners with Swiss Post for Web Mail Deal

This morning Earth Class Mail said it has signed up Switzerland’s mail operator Swiss Post as the first national mail provider that will offer the service for a fee to its customers. The company says it also recently raised $5.1 million in bridge financing and is currently raising a $15-30 million Series B round.

EarthTronics: Wind-In-A-Box

We’ve got the “in-a-box” versions of nuclear power, data centers and biofuels. Why not wind power? Courtesy of Muskegon, Michigan-based company EarthTronics,…

Time for Software Code to go Green

[qi:_earth2tech] Virtualization and on-demand computing are giving companies new reasons to worry about code efficiency. Once upon a time, lousy coding didn’t…