photo: Todd Woody In an interview I did with green tech entrepreneur Bill Gross for Yale Environment 360, Gross talks about the future of solar energy, his relationship with Google, and how to avoid battles over building large solar farms in the deserts of the Southwest: Bill Gross is not your typical solar energy entrepreneur. [...]
Archive for the ‘enviro startups’ Category
An interview with eSolar’s Bill Gross
Posted in alternative energy, energy, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, eSolar, Google, green startups, green tech, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Bill Gross, eSolar, green technology, solar energy, solar power plants on March 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Another day, another big solar deal
Posted in alternative energy, Ausra, energy, enviro startups, environment, solar energy, solar power plants, SunPower, tagged Areva, Ausra, solar energy, SunPower, SunRay on February 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Ausra The week kicked off with French nuclear energy giant Areva’s acquisition of Silicon Valley solar company Ausra. As I wrote Monday in the Los Angeles Times: French nuclear energy giant Areva has jumped into the U.S. renewable energy market with the acquisition of Ausra, a Silicon Valley solar power plant startup backed by [...]
Utilities want to move slow on EV fast-charging
Posted in Better Place, electric cars, enviro startups, environment, green cars, green policy, PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, tagged Better Place, California, Coulomb Technologies, electric car infrastructure, electric cars, fast-charging, utilities on February 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The ability to fast-charge electric cars is seen as key to the adoption of battery-powered vehicles. But as I wrote in The New York Times on Thursday, utilities are worried such devices will overload the grid: Think, the Norwegian electric automaker, announced a deal this week with a California company, AeroVironment, a maker of electric [...]
eSolar’s two-gigawatt China deal
Posted in alternative energy, energy, enviro startups, environment, eSolar, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Bill Gross, China, eSolar, Penglai Electric, solar energy, solar power plants, solar thermal on January 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: eSolar In Saturday’s Los Angeles Times, I write about a ground-breaking solar thermal deal struck by eSolar of Pasadena, Calif., to build two gigawatts of power plants in China over the next decade: ESolar Inc. of Pasadena signed an agreement Friday to build a series of solar thermal power plants in China with a [...]
Green tech investing down but on the rebound
Posted in alternative energy, electric cars, energy, energy efficiency, enviro startups, environment, green financing, solar energy, tagged clean tech investing, green technology, venture capital on January 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
image: SolFocus In The New York Times on Wednesday, I write about the year-end green tech investing numbers for 2009: In a flurry of dealmaking bolstered by government subsidies for renewable energy, venture capitalists invested $5.6 billion in green technology companies worldwide in 2009, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the Cleantech Group [...]
Solar showdown in the Mojave
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, endangered species, enviro startups, environment, global warming, green policy, green startups, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, tagged BrightSource Energy, desert tortoise, Goldman Sachs, Mojave Desert, Senator Dianne Feinstein, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, wildlife on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In Tuesday’s New York Times, I write about California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s move to ban renewable energy production in two proposed national monuments in the Mojave Desert: AMBOY, Calif. — Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big [...]
Solar startup files for IPO
Posted in alternative energy, enviro startups, environment, green startups, green tech, solar energy, Solyndra, tagged IPO, solar energy, Solyndra on December 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Solyndra In The New York Times on Friday, I write that Solyndra, a Silicon Valley photovoltaic module maker, has become the first solar startup in years to brave the public markets: Solyndra, a well-financed solar module maker, filed a registration statement for an initial public offering on Friday to raise $300 million to expand [...]
Who will become the Apple of home energy management?
Posted in energy efficiency, enviro startups, environment, green startups, tagged AlertMe, home energy management, Pligrim Beart, smart grid on December 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In my latest Green State column for Grist, I take a look at AlertMe, a British startup that’s making a play to become a consumer brand for managing home energy use: I’m sitting in a conference room at a PR agency on the San Francisco waterfront when the chief executive of AlertMe, a British energy [...]
Detroit puts the wheels on solar manufacturing
Posted in alternative energy, corporate green, enviro startups, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Stirling Energy Systems, tagged Detroit, Magna International, Skyline Solar, solar energy, Stirling Energy Systems, Tower Automotive on November 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
In Monday’s Los Angeles Times, I write about the migration of renewable energy firms from California and the Southwest to the nation’s industrial heartland to tap the down-and-out region’s manufacturing might: At a recent solar energy conference in Anaheim, economic development officials from Ohio talked up a state that seemed far removed from the solar [...]
Silicon Valley solar star Ausra seeks buyer
Posted in Ausra, Australia, energy, enviro startups, environment, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarReserve, tagged Ausra, OptiSolar, solar energy, solar power plants, Solel on November 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Photo: Ausra Ausra has become the latest credit-crunched solar startup to seek a buyer/investor to bankroll its expansion. As I write Tuesday in The New York Times: Disrupting trillion-dollar energy markets is expensive, as solar companies like OptiSolar and Solel have found. Both sold out to larger, deep-pocketed companies this year. Now Ausra, a high-profile [...]
