Cleantech investment is not dead, it just requires new approaches and a recognition that the traditional oil and gas industry may very well be the best patron for cleantech development and deployment. At least for now.
John Hofmeister, the former President of Shell Oil, isn’t one to mince words. He thinks the U.S. is going about energy policy “planlessly,” due to its short political cycles, and he called the stimulus package’s funding for green technology “a frittering number.”
For biofuels to make a dent in the U.S. fuel supply, big oil will have to get on board. Case in point: this morning biofuel startup Virent Energy Systems announced that it has raised $46.4 million from oil giant Shell and agriculture company Cargill.
The Motorola Backflip is AT&T’s foray into the open world of the Android phone. Unfortunately, it seems the carrier wasn’t just content to replace Google search with Yahoo’s offering, it also has disabled some of the capabilities that make an open platform like Android popular.