Remember when Greenpeace totally didn’t like Facebook and its use of ‘dirty energy’ in its datacenters? Well, they’re best buddies now. Greenpeace and Facebook this morning announced that they’re teaming up on the promotion of renewable energy and “develop programs that will enable Facebook users to save energy and engage their communities in clean energy decisions”.
Facebook also committed to… → Read More
As you may have heard, Google is getting into the holiday giving spirit these days, as it late last night announced that it has dished out an additional $40 million in philanthropic grants, targeted at science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), girls’ education, and even fighting slavery. (You can read more in Google.org SVP Shona Brown’s blog post here.) → Read More
Car sharing network operator Zipcar this morning announced the exercise of its option to purchase a majority ownership interest in Barcelona-based Catalunya Carsharing, better known as Avancar, after investing in the company almost exactly two years ago.
In fact, the option had been extended for an extra year after Zipcar decided last year it wouldn’t yet exercise it, opting instead to give… → Read More
Car sharing network operator Zipcar this morning announced the exercise of its option to purchase a majority ownership interest in Barcelona-based Catalunya Carsharing, better known as Avancar, after investing in the company almost exactly two years ago.
In fact, the option had been extended for an extra year after Zipcar decided last year it wouldn’t yet exercise it, opting instead to give… → Read More
Getaround, the peer-to-peer car sharing company that won this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt NYC startup competition, this morning announced that it is poised to make its debut in the greater Portland metropolitan area by February of 2012, following an initial launch at Portland State University on the 1st of January.
To facilitate the launch, Getaround was selected by the Federal Highway… → Read More
Siemens this morning announced that it will acquire all of the stock of eMeter in an effort to enhance its smart grid offering. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. eMeter will be part of the Smart Grid Division of the Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector, which is housed within Siemens. → Read More
Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint, has a new project that he is spending half his time on (he continues to spend the other half as VP of Product Innovation at Intuit, which acquired Mint two years ago for $170 million). His new project is called Swift, and it is his vehicle (if you will) to exlore the feasibility of building a personal maglev vehicle transit system.
“The goal is to see if I can… → Read More
German researchers are testing a unique form of public transportation that borrows the best from busses, electric cars, trains and trams without contributing emissions. The vehicle, named AutoTram, is fully electric, but instead of running on a single charge, it charges when it stops, gaining enough power in 30 seconds to move another mile.
The project comes from the Fraunhofer Institute for… → Read More
Among yesterday’s service shutdowns at Google, which included underperforming and deprecated Web properties like Knol, Wave and Gears, there was also news of the end of RE<C.
What’s RE<C? Just one of those ambitious “we can save the world with Google money!” type projects that gave the search giant the appearance for caring about more than the influx of ad dollars. In this case, RE<C… → Read More
Well, it looks like Coda Automotive — makers of the zero emissions all-electric Coda Sedan — and General Electric (a name that requires no introduction) have teamed up to sell the Coda Sedan and the GE WattStation Wall Mount EV Charger in the same retail outlets.
Many of us are already feeling that a shift toward electric vehicles is the responsible decision, but a change that big… → Read More
GE is announcing the establishment of a new Global Software Center to be headquartered San Francisco. The new center will employ approximately 400 software developers.
The company’s current software portfolio includes technologies that help businesses improve productivity and increase cost savings, specifically in terms of operating power plants, jet engines, electric vehicle charging stations… → Read More
Many in motoring are looking forward to an all-electric future, but as long as we’re burning fuel we’ll need to keep incentivizing low emissions. In California, a limited number of low-emissions vehicles are given stickers that let them travel in the HOV lanes, which residents know is a hell of a perk. Now Volt owners can get in on that action.
Chevrolet is making a low-emissions package… → Read More
Apple met with leaders of five environmental groups in China yesterday to discuss pollution concerns. According to a report from The Wall St. Journal, Apple told the groups it had launched audits of 15 of its suppliers who have been suspected of violating environmental regulations, and has completed reviews of 11 of those. → Read More
Rear-facing car seats used to come at the expense of the trunk. That’s because a giant combustion engine had to go somewhere. But that was before Tesla invented the “Flat-Pack battery”. Laid along the bottom of the car, the “Flat-Pack” lets Tesla’s new Model S sedan keep the trunk while seating 7 and travelling up to 300 miles on a single charge. Oh, and it has a 3G 17-inch touchscreen computer… → Read More
Even though plants need only a few things to grow – water, air, light and minerals – maintaining the right proportions can make gardening feel like a high-maintenance hobby. Estonian company Click & Grow creates soilless, electronic flowerpots that do the work for you, providing the correct water and nutrient balance for indoor plants.
For some, this may seem like a superfluous product… → Read More
The initial run of of Nest’s artificial intelligence thermostats will be shipped out to pre-orderers tomorrow, said Nest founder and CEO Tony Fadell at GigaOm’s RoadMap conference today. Previously the company had said they wouldn’t ship until the end of November. Users are so desperate for the home heating revolution that the devices have sold out and are back ordered. Those who’ve since reserved… → Read More
Because our resident automotive enthusiast Matt Burns up and decided to go camping this week, I was lucky enough to attend BMW’s sneak preview event in NYC today where I got a first look at two new eco-friendly vehicles: the BMW i3 and i8. Referred to as mega-city vehicles (or MCVs if you will), both are built with the urban driver in mind, capitalizing on green features and stability. The… → Read More
Qualcomm has acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles.
The move is meant to strengthen Qualcomm’s technology and patent portfolio. → Read More
Bill Gates just gave a talk at the University of Washington’s School of Computer Science and Engineering. As is typical of his talks, this one was broadly focused on new and helpful implementations of technology. It was followed by an open Q&A session.
There was nothing radical or new proposed or revealed, but Gates was smart and compelling as usual, and the highlights of the talk are… → Read More
A Japanese company called Humanix [JP], in cooperation with Hiroshima University, has developed a small electric car that “wears” airbags on the body. I am not really sure if the result can be called pretty, but Humanix is claiming that (perhaps rightfully) their ”iSAVE-SC1” is the “safest electric vehicle in the world”.
The three-wheeled car offers enough room for three people and comes with… → Read More
TechCrunch readers may remember Brammo as the Oregon-based designer and manufacturer of all-electric motorcycles (and the battery technology and software that powers them), or as the makers of the bike one Mike Arrington was driving around the conference center at Disrupt NYC this year, whereupon he was almost removed from Disrupt by security. Later, in conjunction with Brammo CEO (And Disrupt… → Read More
Even if you read our story earlier tonight on iPod Godfather Tony Fadell’s new company Nest Labs and its new Learning Thermostat, you may still be wondering how anyone could make a thermostat an object of beauty. So we sat down with Fadell to get a video demo of the device that brought him out of retirement and has been eighteen months in the making.
True to the Apple aesthetic it’s one big… → Read More
For the last eighteen months, the tech world has been anxiously awaiting news of what iPod godfather Tony Fadell is up to. His staff has been sworn to secrecy since word got out he was leaving retirement to do something new. Despite reporters camping out in front of his office with cameras, the news somehow stayed a secret– no small feat in the ever-leaky land of Silicon Valley.
No doubt the… → Read More
San Francisco-based HiGear, a peer-to-peer car-sharing service focused on luxury vehicles, is expanding to L.A. starting November 1st. The move is part of the company’s continued expansion plans that will see it arrive in five additional markets, including Portland and San Diego, by year-end.
Unlike other car-sharing services, HiGear specializes in “high-end” auto brands only, including… → Read More
Changers is today launching its new solar powered gadget-charging system designed to power up your USB devices, including iPhones, iPods, Android phones and Kindles, using a simple, one-button device. The Changers Starter Kit, which includes the company’s “Kalhuohfummi” (TM) solar battery and Changers “Maroshi” (TM) solar module, can generate up to four Watts per hour.
The system has a social… → Read More
Solar manufacturer Solaria and solar performance monitoring software and hardware provider meteocontrol have today announced a partnership that will see meteocontrol’s Virtual Control Room (VCOM) monitoring system added to Solaria’s projects. The system aims to help Solaria’s customers increase their solar yields through remote management. → Read More
Car sharing network company Zipcar this morning announced the release of a Facebook application that allows its members to ‘reserve their wheels’ on the popular social networking site without having to leave it.
The Nasdaq-listed car-sharing company warns that the app is being tested in public beta for now. Aside from booking a vehicle, members can also use the app to check car availability… → Read More
Facebook, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and clean tech startup Opower are today announcing a partnership on a new social networking-based energy application that will help consumers monitor, improve and compare their home’s energy usage with their friends and other Facebook users.
The app, designed to improve energy awareness, has the potential to combine the 800 million+ users… → Read More
Most wind turbines have a recognizable shape, but a new design from Segway inventor Dean Kamen is less obvious in its functionality: This turbine is made of plastic fabric meant to be easily inflated by the wind.
Archetypal wind turbines require a good amount of steel and concrete to be built, and once installed, it is difficult to move them. Kamen’s design uses air to inflate the rotors… → Read More
GE has announced plans to spend $600 million on a new solar factory located in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado. The factory, which begins operations in 2012, will be capable of producing enough solar panels per year to generate 400 megawatts of power, or enough energy to power 80,000 homes. When completed, the factory will be bigger than 11 football fields – soon to be the largest factory of… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
San Francisco
