Climate
Highlights (And Low Budgets) From The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit 2011
3:55 pm PST • March 2, 2011
Today marked the last day of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) 2011 summit in Washington D.C. Here are some of the deals and agency decisions…
Climate
Genomatica Raises $45 Million To Make Sustainable Chemicals, And Greener Spandex (A Good Thing, In This Case)
5:20 pm PST • March 1, 2011
Genomatica, a San Diego based producer of chemicals from renewable sources including sugar, raised $45 million in a new round led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, a fund that has committed…
Climate
Solar Equipment Made From Castor Beans, BioBacksheets, Going Commercial In U.S.
3:23 pm PST • March 1, 2011
BioSolar, a small public company (OTCBB: BSRC.OB) that makes solar backsheets — a component of the equipment used to hold solar photovoltaic modules in place within frames and racks, and…
Hour.ly Lets Employers Interview Potential Temp Hires With Browser Based Video Chat
8:39 am PST • March 1, 2011
Hour.ly, a New York City startup that matches temporary job seekers and freelancers with prospective gigs and employers online, unveiled two new features and partnerships on Tuesday with Trufina and…
HackNY Doubles Effort To Match Top Tech Students With NYC Startups
5:00 am PST • March 1, 2011
In a quest to start something as big as the Apple in the Big Apple, a number of incubators, funds and fellowship programs have sprung up in New York City…
Climate
Nexus EnergyHomes Raises $1.5 Million To Build Luxury, Net Zero Energy Houses
5:47 pm PST • February 28, 2011
Annapolis-based Nexus EnergyHomes raised the first $200,000 of a $1.5 million dollar series A round, a new SEC filing revealed. The company designs, sells and builds pre-fab homes that are…
Climate
Dow Chemical Spending $100 Million On Energy Efficiency, Emissions Reduction
10:00 am PST • February 28, 2011
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) — which makes specialty materials and chemicals for electronics, automotive, water, energy and agricultural sectors — today announced that it aims to green its…
Climate
Solo Drivers In Los Angeles Will Soon Be Allowed To Drive In Carpool Lanes For A Fee
4:50 pm PST • February 25, 2011
This week, Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) — which was acquired by Xerox (NYSE: XRX) in February 2010 — announced that it’s building a new, electronic toll system on the…
Flavorize.com Looking For $1 Million To Build "Pandora For Food"
7:27 am PST • February 25, 2011
According to a late Thursday SEC filing the New York City startup behind Flavorize.com, FlavorMetrics Corp., is seeking a $1 million investment to build a “Pandora for food.” The company’s…
Climate
Disposables Debate: Can Recycling, Materials Innovation Make Plastic Bag Bans Obsolete?
6:00 pm PST • February 24, 2011
Single-use plastic grocery bags, and the various fees, taxes and bans proposed to curb pollution from their disposal, are causing controversy again this week. A newly surfaced study, still under…
Climate
Phononic Devices Raises $10 Million To Turn Heat Waste Into Energy
8:53 am PST • February 23, 2011
A Raleigh, North Carolina-based maker of thermoelectric coolers and generators, Phononic Devices, closed a $10 million series B investment from Venrock and Oak Investment Partners, the companies revealed today. Often…
New York City To Put QR Codes On All Building Permits By 2013
9:06 am PST • February 22, 2011
New York City’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced the use of Quick Response or QR codes (which are something like a smartphone-readable barcode) on building permits, to provide New…
Climate
GoodGuide Ranks Mobile Phone Sustainability: RIM Worst, Nokia Best
3:29 pm PST • February 17, 2011
Today, GoodGuide (a TechCrunch50 alumni company) added mobile phone rankings to their comprehensive database that ranks the environmental and social performance of products, and the companies that make them. In…
Climate
Harris Poll: Majority of Americans Oppose Cuts To Pollution Control Spending
8:53 am PST • February 16, 2011
A new poll from Harris Interactive finds that a majority of Americans oppose government budget cuts impacting mass transportation (by 54 to 35 percent) and pollution controls (by 54 to…
Climate
Philips Predicts LEDs Will Take 50 Percent Of Lighting Market By 2015
12:13 pm PST • February 15, 2011
Today, Philips announced that their Philips Ambient LED 12.5 watt light bulb — which gives off as much light as incandescent 60 watt bulbs, using less energy — attained Energy…
Climate
Funding: $3 Million More For Large-Scale Geothermal Contractors, Enlink Geoenergy
11:15 am PST • February 14, 2011
A new SEC filing revealed today that Los Angeles-based clean energy business, Enlink Geoenergy Services raised $3 million more from Craton Equity Partners to build large-scale, geothermal systems for businesses…
Climate
Lenovo ThinkPad T420 Is First Laptop To Get UL Environment's Gold Certification
9:10 am PST • February 14, 2011
Underwriters Laboratories’ UL Environment group — which validates claims, through lab testing, that a company or its product is environmentally sustainable, and helps thwart “greenwashing” — today reported that its…
Climate
Telogis Raises $2.9 Million More To Help Companies Manage Fleets, Reduce Emissions
6:07 pm PST • February 11, 2011
Telogis, a location-based technology firm in Aliso Viejo, Calif. has raised another $2.9 million, according to a new SEC filing, to help businesses track and manage their fleets of vehicles,…
General Electric (GE, NYSE: GE) announced today that it acquired technology from Wind Tower Systems, that can enable the company to build and ship wind energy equipment that’s more efficient,…
Climate
Hertz Spending Estimated $10 Million On Solar Rooftops In U.S. This Year
1:52 pm PST • February 10, 2011
Rental car stalwarts, The Hertz Corporation (Hertz, NYSE:HTZ) revealed plans to install 2.3 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic systems at sixteen locations across the U.S. this year. As the first…
Climate
Abe's Market, Natural Products Retailer, Closes $3.4 Million Series A Investment
12:08 am PST • February 10, 2011
A Chicago-area startup that sells natural consumer goods online, Abe’s Market, closed a $3.4 million series A investment the company announced today. Accel Partners led the round, joined by the…
Climate
LED Mania: Bridgelux Adds $21 Million Funding, Digital Lumens Goes Global
4:38 pm PST • February 9, 2011
Despite conservatives’ misgivings about Whitehouse moves to retire old, incandescent light bulb technology (and its energy inefficiency) the market for light emitting diodes and efficient lighting systems continues to gather…
Climate
Gevo, A Branson-Backed Biofuels Maker, Goes Public And Nets $95.7 Million
10:03 am PST • February 9, 2011
A Richard Branson- and Khosla Ventures-backed biofuels and biochemicals maker, Gevo, raised $107 million, netting an estimated $95.7 million after expenses and underwriting discounts, in an initial public offering yesterday.…
Climate
Blue Marble Energy Raises $1.3 Million More To Make Carbon-Neutral Fragrances, Flavors And Fuel
1:36 pm PST • February 8, 2011
According to a new SEC filing, Blue Marble Energy attracted another $1.3 million investment — this time in a series A-1 convertible note deal — to create carbon neutral alternatives…
Climate
As Non-Proliferation Treaty Takes Effect, Should Nukes Be Seen As Clean Energy Source?
4:39 pm PST • February 7, 2011
This weekend, a ratified nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States went into effect, reducing and limiting each nation’s allowable arsenal of nuclear weapons. The new Strategic…
Climate
Everblue.edu Poised To Become The Kaplan Test Prep Of Sustainability
2:29 pm PST • February 5, 2011
Everblue Training (Everblue.edu) — an environmental education startup with offices in Berkeley, Calif. and Charlotte, N.C. — this week attained accreditation from the group that verifies the quality of non-collegiate,…
Transportation
New GroundLink App Lets Travelers Book A Green Limo, Shuttle or Car Service
8:31 am PST • February 4, 2011
GroundLink — a New York City transportation technology and travel services business — released a new mobile app this week. The second iPhone app from the company, GroundLink allows users to…
Climate
Ascent Solar, Makers of Thin Film Modules, Get Distributors In Singapore, Malaysia, Greece
9:00 am PST • February 3, 2011
Colorado-based Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ: ASTI) — the makers of flexible, thin film modules under the brand name WaveSol — scored a distribution deal with Cyprus-based SW Solarwatt Ltd. the…
Climate
Turning One Company's Trash Into Another's Treasure, RecycleMatch Brings Site Out Of Beta, Hires New CEO
1:15 pm PST • February 2, 2011
Today, RecycleMatch — a Houston-based startup that helps businesses sell or give away stuff to recyclers and manufacturers so that they don’t have to send it to a landfill —…
Climate
Boulder's eSpace Center Wants To Make Aerospace A Startup-Friendly Industry
1:15 pm PST • February 1, 2011
Private sector space tech companies — from Virgin Galactic to Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) — have been doing what only government agencies were empowered to do in earlier generations, launch…