President Barack Obama is famous for his affinity for his BlackBerry and science fairs, but the tech love goes a lot further than that. Todd Park, the U.S. chief technology officer, today described the President as having a “very high geek quotient” with a “go go go” attitude when it comes to new tech initiatives — which, yes, he likes in and of themselves, but more importantly as a means to an… → Read More
Let’s be honest: Whether or not you’ve recently hugged a tree, buying branded tap water in a plastic bottle for $1.50+ a pop seems … well … completely #$%^&-ing ridiculous — unless of course your village has yet to secure a reliable source of potable water. In that case, we understand. But, with colleges (and apparently Concord, Massachusetts) moving to or actually banning bottled water… → Read More
Vigilent, a company that provides intelligent energy management systems for data centers, telecommunications facilities and large buildings, has raised $6.7 million in investments led by Accel Partners. This investment is part of Accel’s new $100 million Big Data fund. Angel investors including Gaurav Garg and Peter Wagner also participated in this round.
The startup’s services help data… → Read More
Debuting last week at the TED Conference was a new product by a pharma startup, which has largely flown under the radar. The company’s name may not be familiar, but you may have noticed its smartly designed products in drug stores around the country.
Founded in 2008, Help Remedies is a pharma startup trying to make waves in an industry dominated by Goliaths by re-imagining the over-the-counter… → Read More
Remember Greenstart, the San Francisco-based startup accelerator trying to make cleantech sexy? Well, today, it’s taking a big leap in that direction. The organization announced it’s bumping up the amount of funding its companies will receive. In addition to the $15,000 in seed funding the incubator provides, startups now also have the opportunity to receive a $100,000 convertible note. → Read More
Houseplants can be hard to care for, even when watered regularly on a sunny windowsill. A new device from Swiss startup Koubachi takes the guesswork out of plant care through real-time monitoring and notifications when the plant needs attention. → Read More
Australian-based travel marketplace Jayride.com has lined up $400,000 AUD in seed funding for its ride-sharing service, which also aggregates transportation data. The angel funding was led by Andrey Shirben, one of the first investors in Kenshoo, a digital marketing software company. In addition to helping in the financing, Shirben will also bring his digital marketing expertise to assist the… → Read More
Word got around way back in the middle of 2010 that Apple was building a monster data center near Maiden, South North Carolina. Later, it was shown to be hosting a ton of Nuance software, for obvious reasons. Less widely reported was the fact that nearby, scores of acres were being cleared for a solar array.
Now, it turns out that solar array will be the largest “end user-owned, onsite” one in… → Read More
Ethical Community, an online, eco-friendly marketplace (which has plans for a snazzier name in the works!), has secured a £200,000 ($316,640 USD) round of seed funding from a syndicate of angel investors, the company is announcing today. Founded in 2009, the marketplace has signed up over 850 sellers from around the world, who have now listed over 7,000 eco-friendly, organic and natural products… → Read More
Things are going smoothly for Tesla. Their big Model X debut was a success, their cars are pre-ordered to capacity, and new business opportunities are presenting themselves. They’re still posting a net loss, of course, but that was expected and will continue for another year or so.
Here are the most salient points from their latest earnings statement, released today. → Read More
Greenstart, the San Francisco-based startup accelerator dedicated to the cleantech industry – and more importantly, to making it “sexy” enough to attract investors – announced its second cadre of of companies this week. This time around, the organization is tightening its focus to concentrate solely on the intersection of I.T. and cleantech, specifically in areas of smart grid, the built… → Read More
Sony is working on a new technology that authenticates devices via the power outlet, allowing for a few interesting applications. The system, based on the Japanese Felica standard, would allow authenticated power usage, power management for cafes and offices, as well as payments for power use. The system could authenticate with the power outlet via a chip inside the laptop or device or through a… → Read More
Scientists at the University of Cambridge in the UK have found a way to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells by as much as 25% through harnessing more of the sun’s spectrum than most traditional silicon-based solar cells can. → Read More
On the surface, the StartX Demo Day last night could have looked like any other accelerator pushing its latest class of startups. Nine groups got on stage and fired off presentations about how they were working on something cool, and why they deserved funding.
But it wasn’t the rash of lightweight consumer applications you often see at other demo days. These were Stanford students, particularly… → Read More
The future of easy home energy monitoring may be a little bit closer, thanks to a government initiative designed to allow consumers direct access to their energy consumption data.
The White House’s new Green Button gives utilities a way to simplify and standardize sharing usage statistics with their customers via a one-click download. Two California providers, Pacific Gas & Electric and San… → Read More
Quick, what’s the second most traded commodity in the world, after oil? Sorry, no: it’s not coffee. In fact, while hard data is scant, it may well be — of all things — carbon. No, really. According to the World Bank (PDF) , the global carbon market was worth a whopping 1.42 Facebooks US$142 billion in 2010.
Mind you, it’s not like container ships weighed down to the gills with graphite are… → Read More
Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
Clay is moulded into a vessel;
Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
Walls are built around a hearth;
Because of the doors we may use the house.
Thus tools come from what exists,
But use from what does not.
- Tao De Ching
There’s a carousel in a small Cape Cod town that we visited this summer and the kids rode… → Read More
Electric car drivers deserve to see their positive impact on the environment and their wallets, but the official mobile apps for the Nissan LEAF and Chevy Volt only display remaining battery. GreenCharge is a new iOS app released today that displays your car’s remaining charge, but also its current range, the local energy price, a log of its usage, and your cost and carbon reduction versus driving… → Read More
Today two musicians sat down with me to have a chat: Andy Ross of OK Go, and Eytan Oren of Eytan and the Embassy. But we weren’t there to talk music.
The dynamic duo actually built an iPhone app called InBloom — a Yelp-style application that offers up sustainable businesses and eco-friendly/dietary food retailers based on location — and sat down with me to tell us how it came to be, and… → Read More
Buildings are blamed for as much as 40% of U.S. energy consumption, and while green construction is on the rise, identifying the best ways to make and older building more efficient can be a tedious manual endeavor. Retroficiency, whose aim is to disrupt the energy efficiency market, eases the process with the help of extensive data sets and predictive analytics. → Read More
First, Japan got the world’s first connected home garden device, and now it’s time for Nippon to get the world’s first cloud-based LED lighting system. Developed by Tokyo-based lighting tech startup Net LED Technology Corp., the so-called NetLED system will go on sale in Japan on February 20 (here‘s the company’s English website).
The 40W lights, which have a 40,000-hour lifespan, come with… → Read More
The WristQue may look like one of those cloth bracelets worn by old soul Sophomores who spent a semester in Prague and came back with dredlocks and an absinthe fetish, but it’s not. It’s actually a personal climate control system. Let me explain.
The bracelet identifies you to the building and allows it to follow you from room to room. Is the meeting room too cold? Press a button and it starts… → Read More
Flying a kite to produce power may conjure up images of Ben Franklin, who sought to prove lightning was electric. Makani Power releases turbine blades into the air, seeking to harness wind energy at higher altitudes. → Read More
The hottest and coolest thermostat on the market this year was clearly the Nest. This intelligent hunk of steel looks great on a wall and, more important, helps save energy in the home. The Nest learns as you use it, ensuring your home is comfortable year-round. → Read More
Spiderman might soon lose his dominance in harnessing spider silk superpowers. Scientists from the University of Wyoming, the University of Notre Dame and Zhejiang University in China have genetically modified silkworms to spin stronger silk using spider genes.The new material could be used for everything from bulletproof vests to replacing tough plastics. → Read More
In an unusual hybrid, British industrial designer Phil Pauley created Marine Solar Cells that harness energy from both the sun and water.
The web of energy generators capture energy off-shore, using a combination of floating photovoltaics and natural buoyancy displacement. Thanks to the reflective nature of water, the solar component’s efficiency is up to 20% greater than it would be… → Read More
Today, Cool Planet BioFuels, Inc. announced that BP Technology Ventures has made an investment in the company’s C round led by Shea Ventures. Current Cool Planet investors, General Electric, Google Ventures, ConocoPhillips, NRG and North Bridge Venture Partners also participated.
The amount of funding was not disclosed. → Read More
Well, it’s that time of year again when families come together to stare moodily at each other over lunch and, in theory at least, we’re supposed to be thinking about others less fortunate than ourselves. To that end, stay you hand before you switch off the office PC and head off for some seasonal shopping. For those CPUs could be put to good work for charity, no less.
Google is ending 2011 with an investment that brings its total of renewable energy investments to an impressive $915 million.
The online search and advertising juggernaut this morning announced that it is pumping $94 million in a portfolio of four solar photovoltaic projects being built near Sacramento, California by a solar development company called Recurrent Energy. → Read More
AMEE, backed by O’Reilly and Union Square Ventures among others, set out in 2008 to map, measure and track all the carbon and energy data on Earth. That’s a big job. It’s since won contracts with the likes of the UK Government, CNN, Google, the list goes on. But what it hasn’t cracked is a consumer-facing app which gets the issue of ‘carbon footprints’ into the mind of the ordinary member of the… → Read More
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