photo: CoolPlanetBiofuels In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote about Google Ventures funding a Southern California startup that is developing mobile biofuel refineries that will travel to the fuel source to process agricultural waste and other biomass: Google Ventures has led a $20 million financing round in CoolPlanetBiofuels, a Southern California start-up that [...]
Archive for the ‘Google’ Category
Google Ventures funds mobile biofuel refineries
Posted in biofuels, global warming, Google, renewable energy, tagged CoolPlanetBiofuels, Google Ventures on March 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Startup gets $42m to predict extreme weather for farmers
Posted in Agriculture 2.0, climate change, global warming, Google, tagged WeatherBill on February 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In The New York Times on Monday, I write about WeatherBill, a San Francisco startup that announced a $42 million round of financing from Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures: Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures have led a $42 million financing round in WeatherBill, a San Francisco start-up that insures farmers against extreme weather that can [...]
Google-backed startup aims to slash gadgets’ energy use
Posted in alternative energy, energy efficiency, Google, tagged Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Transphorm on February 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In Wednesday’s New York Times, I write about a Google-backed startup that unveiled a new power conversion technology it claims will dramatically cut the energy consumption of motors, electronic gadgets and other devices: A Southern California start-up backed by Google and prominent venture capital firms announced on Wednesday a technology it claimed could slash the [...]
Google 3D Trees mapping tool used to preserve forests
Posted in climate change, Google on January 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Reuters, where it first appeared on November 29, 2010. Environmentalists have long used Google Earth to keep tabs on mountaintop mining and to monitor deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Now with the release Monday of the latest version of Google’s virtual world maps, they’ll be able to literally see the [...]
Stanford student gives $100,000 to No on Prop 23 campaign
Posted in Google, Proposition 23, tagged Google, Larry Page, Lucy Southworth, Proposition 23 on October 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Talk about student activism: Lucy Southworth, a Stanford University doctoral student, has given $100,000 to the campaign to defeat Proposition 23, the California ballot initiative that would suspend the state’s global warming law. If the name doesn’t ring a bill, try Googling. In Silicon Valley, [...]
Silicon Valley: Prop 23 will kill off the Googles of green tech
Posted in alternative energy, environment, global warming, Google, green financing, green policy, green tech, tagged Bill Weihl, Google, Mary Nichols, Proposition 23, Vinod Khosla on August 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: eSolar I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. As the traditional Labor Day kickoff to the fall election campaign approaches, the battle is intensifying over Proposition 23, the California ballot initiative that would effectively repeal the state’s landmark climate change law. And thus the title of a gathering Tuesday at Google’s [...]
Google’s big green power purchase
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, Google, green financing, green tech, renewable energy, wind power, tagged Google, Google Energy, NextEra Energy, wind power on July 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Image: Google I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Google is officially in the green energy business. The search giant announced on Tuesday that its Google Energy subsidiary signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy. Google will begin buying 114 megawatts of electricity from an Iowa wind farm on July [...]
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 »
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. [...]
Beyond the Bloom backlash
Posted in Bloom Energy, energy, fuel cells, Google, tagged Bloom Energy, fuel cells, Google, K.R. Sridhar, Wal-Mart on February 26, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In my latest Green State column in Grist, I take a look at why, despite the hype, Bloom Energy’s fuel cell breakthrough could change the energy game: Green tech had its Google moment this week in Silicon Valley when one of the most secretive and well-funded startups around, Bloom Energy, literally lifted [...]
Google to map green energy zones
Posted in alternative energy, Ausra, BrightSource Energy, endangered species, energy, enviro startups, environment, First Solar, Google, green startups, green tech, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, SunPower, wind power, tagged Google, Google Earth, green energy zones, Map Green Energy, renewable energy projects on April 1, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Can Google help defuse a simmering green civil war between renewable energy advocates and wildlife conservationists in the American West? That’s the idea behind a new Google Earth mapping project launched Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Audubon Society. Path to Green Energy will identify areas in 13 western states potentially [...]
