Wind

A 7 point plan for clean energy

In a difficult year for clean energy we need as many calls to action as possible. Here’s a 7 point plan for clean energy that Michael Liebreich, CEO and founder of Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance, showed off on Tuesday morning:

Introducing the power router for the grid

In the telecom and Internet worlds, it’s standard to re-route data over different lines when one path is overloaded. But not so much, when it comes to the power grid. However, a newly-emerged startup called Varentec, backed by Khosla Ventures, is looking to change all that.

Today in Green IT: solar-powered cell phone networks

While we take a stable electrical grid for granted in the developed world, that’s often not a certainty in the developing world, which can make running a business quite difficult. Airtel Nigeria has complained that 70 percent of its wireless downtime results from power supply issues.

How renewable energy is a disruptive technology

eMeter’s Chris King explains that like any disruptive technology, the growing flocks of wind turbines and expanding acres of solar-equipped rooftops around the world are causing temporary growing pains for the energy industry. Good thing there are also solutions.

Behind the scenes of GE’s India energy lab

This weekend in the final leg of my trip to India with Geeks on a Plane, we stopped by GE’s research center in Bangalore. While GE works on a variety of technology at the center, I focused on the energy research that GE is conducting there.

Cleantech Open announces winners

Twenty-one cleantech startups from across the U.S. competed for a grand prize of $250,000 in investment and services at this year’s Cleantech Open Business Competition. And the winners are . . .

Oregon: An undercover cleantech player

Is Oregon the next promised land for clean technology? The Beaver State has, in recent years, has been trying to position itself as a major player with regards to support for green energy, electric vehicle development and more.

Aquion Energy raises $20M for its grid battery

Aquion Energy, which is developing a low-cost battery for the power grid made from sodium and water, has closed $20 million of a planned $30 million round and has brought on investor Foundation Capital in addition to existing investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

China’s role in 2nd quarter greentech figures

The common thread in greentech is: China. The country, which has been the world’s key growth engine for clean energy and green technology over the past few years, has begun to see some weakness, and that’s causing ripple effects through the global green economy.

Funding for Clean Energy Projects Took a Dive in Q1

Global clean energy investment fell to $31.1 billion in the first three months of this year, its lowest quarterly total in two years, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported Friday. That contrasts with an uptick in greentech venture capital investing in Q1.

A Mega Wind Farm, Needs Lots Of Batteries

Battery startup Xtreme Power just landed its biggest grid energy storage deal yet, a 36-megawatt battery for Duke Energy. Could its secretive, solid-state energy storage technology challenge sodium sulfur and lithium ion for reigning grid champion?

Chu Weighs in on China-U.S. Green Competition at Google

Energy Secretary Steven Chu stopped by Google headquarters on Friday to talk about green technology. He would like China to invest in America’s green future, not own it. To challenge China’s growing lead, the U.S. may have to boost its support of homegrown technologies.

8 Promises from the Capitol's Cleantech Confab

Many of the initiatives detailed at this week’s Clean Energy Minsterial seem more like pledges to figure out how to reach green energy goals and gain access to necessary data than a definite road map with all the answers in place.

In the Heart of Texas, a Wind Power Transmission Snag

Nobody likes high-voltage transmission lines running through their backyards, not even in the energy-loving heart of Texas. Recently a group of landowners (the Heart of Texas Landowners Coalition) persuaded the state’s regulators to force utility Oncor to reroute a $100 million transmission line around their property.

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Obama Nobel Speech: Climate Action Needed for Peace: “In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, President Obama touched briefly on…

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Senate Panel Green Lights Climate Bill, Sans GOP: Sen. Barbara Boxer has moved the energy and climate bill out of the Environment…

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Slow Going for Solar Phones: “Solar technology in mobile computing devices is still impeded by performance and price issues and isn’t likely…

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What About Charging?: The Department of Energy is spending $2.4 billion to help develop technology for electric vehicles, but relatively little has…

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Nissan, EnerDel Team Up for Battery Research: Lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel (an Ener1 (s HEV) subsidiary) and Nissan (s NSANY) Motor Co.…

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Smart Grid Challenge: Can competing smart grid models “challenge and complement one another, or will they be driven by infighting—over standards, regulations,…

Why It's the Megabits, Not the MIPs, That Matter

Two items caught my eye today: SanDisk CEO Eli Harari explaining how we are counting down to the end of Moore’s Law in terms of electrons per cell, and news that Apple will increase the speed of its processor by 1.5 times to 600 MHz, making it easier for the iPhone to render web pages and enhance application usage. The two stories elicited a similar response from me: Why are we measuring Moore’s Law using a yardstick from the PC era? In today’s world, don’t megabits per second (Mbps) matter more than the MIPS?

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Uncle Sam, Hybrid Car Salesman: Soon the Obama administration and whoever is running GM and Chrysler will have to confront the challenge…

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China Mulls Carbon Tax: Government researchers in China are expected to issue preliminary proposals for a carbon tax within a month. Yes,…

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Oil Demand Set to Drop: Today the International Energy Agency lowered its estimate for 2009 global oil demand, saying demand will drop…

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EPA Reveals Emission Reporting Plan: The U.S. EPA proposed a comprehensive system for reporting greenhouse gas emissions today. The new rule would…

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Alt-Fuel Freeway: The governors of California, Oregon and Washington are considering a plan to make Interstate 5 a “green freeway,” installing batter…

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Ford Sees EV-Filled Future: Ford Motor Co (s F) expects electric vehicles to represent a “major portion” of its lineup within 10-12…

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Finavera Forfeits Wave Power Permits: Finavera Renewables plans to give up its FERC license for two Pacific Coast wave energy pilot projects…

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In the Money: VantagePoint Venture Partners said in Davos this weekend that it plans to invest more than $1 billion in 10…

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Iowa E85 Tanks Up: Iowa’s Renewable Fuel Infrastructure Program board has awarded $1.52 million to 43 applicants for E85 and biodiesel infrastructure,…

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Bring On the Renewables: A new study suggests California’s electric grid may be able to handle three times as much wind and…

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UK to Cut Emissions: The UK government’s Climate Change Committee issued its first report today, calling for greenhouse gas emissions to drop…

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Lights Out: Shell exec Jeroen van der Veer told the Confederation of British Industry today while the financial crisis will pass, the…

BP's Wind Plans Blow Toward the U.S.

London-based oil giant BP has changed its renewable energy tune, moving its investments in wind to the more favorable U.S. onshore market, and dropping plans for wind developments in the UK, China, India and Turkey.

UK Wind Plans Could Spin Off Course

Despite the winds of green job creation starting to blow across the U.S., the UK’s ambitious goal of supplying a third of its electricity from wind by 2020 is starting to look like it could be unachievable.

Ericsson Unveils Wind-Powered Cell Tower

Swedish telecommunications provider Ericsson is putting some wind power into it network with a new wind-power radio communications tower unveiled today. The wind-powered Tower Tube uses a vertical-axis turbine from Vertical Wind AB to help power the radio base stations and antennas.

TechnoSpin Winds Up With $8M

TechnoSpin, a New York-headquartered small-scale wind turbine maker with big-time plans, has raised $8 million in a Series A financing that was…

3 Bites of Wisdom from Barksdale

My friend, and founder, Amy Lang, has about as well-rounded a portfolio of experience as any startup-type could hope for. Having begun…

BT Bets Big On Wind Power

In our increasingly digital world, power is one of the main “cost centers” and most large Internet and telecom companies are grappling…

NPD December Top 10 List

December is one of the busiest months for gaming… for obvious reasons. The holiday season pushes game sales way up, and, of…

Akamai hacker pleads guilty

C/Net News.com reports that John Bombard, a Florida man who hacked Akamai back in 2004 has pled guilty and is facing upto…

Xero, Still A Zero

Xero Mobile, a MVNO with roots going back to the infamous Gizmondo device company has now gone public by executing a reverse…

What I Got Done

So finally the day is coming to an end, and I have to feel pretty good about what I got done: 1.…

Software You Should Be Using

SCIT For some reason or another, Apple has made the poor decision (in my opinion) to make the default format for screenshots…

(VoIP) Forecast Calls For Pain

Frost & Sullivan says that the North American VoIP residential revenues will hit $4.07 billion by 2010, up 1300% from 2004 sales…

09/18/2004 Random Bytes

Come on Baby Light my Fire: FireFox that is! Politics of WiFi in Redwood City: Chris Nolan writes in EWeek about WiFi…