image: Mafic Studios Could this be another sign that Jerry Brown’s return to the California governorship is imminent? As I write Thursday in The New York Times, the state’s public utilities commission has greenlighted a contract for the world’s first orbiting solar power plant: California regulators on Thursday went where no regulators have gone before [...]
Archive for the ‘green startups’ Category
Green light for world’s first space-based solar farm
Posted in green policy, green startups, solar energy, solar power plants, Solaren, tagged California Public Utilities Commission, solar power plant, Solaren, space-based solar on December 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The new green wave: Sustainable surfing
Posted in corporate sustainability, enviro capitalism, green startups, green tech, tagged Action Sports Environmental Coalition, Frank Scura, Green Foam Blanks, Joey Santley, Lost Enterprises, Matt Biolos, Steve Cox, sustainable surfing on November 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Thursday’s New York Times, I write about the latest trend to come out of Southern California — sustainable surfing: SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. A few blocks from the beach, the pungent smell of polyester resin wafts from the surfboard factories that crowd an alley known as the surf ghetto in this Southern [...]
Using smart thermostats to cut utility bills
Posted in energy efficiency, environment, green grid, green startups, tagged EcoFactor, home energy management, Oncor, smart meters, smart thermostats on November 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A Silicon Valley startup called EcoFactor aims to cut consumers’ electricity bills and help utilities manage peak demand by controlling homes’ heating and air conditioning systems over the Internet. As I write on Tuesday in The New York Times: As utilities install more smart meters in homes, more companies are offering services that tap the [...]
From Motor City to Solar City
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green startups, green tech, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Cosma International, green manufacturing, Magna International, Skyline Solar on October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Skyline Solar Silicon Valley startup Skyline Solar has joined other green energy companies beating a path to Detroit to take advantage of the down-and-out auto industry’s manufacturing might. As I write in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday: Skyline Solar, a Silicon Valley start-up, has become the latest green energy company to tap the [...]
Paging Dr. Chu, venture capitalist
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, enviro startups, environment, global warming, green financing, green policy, green startups, investment tax credit, tagged BrightSource Energy, Department of Energy, green tech startups, green technology, Silicon valley, venture capital on October 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Stefano Paltera/DOE In my new Green State column on Grist (I’m stealing the above headline from Grist executive editor Russ Walker), I take a look at the state of green tech venture investing gleaned from a recent seminar at the University of California, Berkeley: Silicon Valley is by nature an optimistic place. After all, [...]
How electric cars will drive solar power
Posted in electric cars, green cars, green startups, renewable energy, solar energy, SolarCity, tagged electric cars, electric vehicle charging stations, Elon Musk, Lyndon Rive, Peter Rive, SolarCity, Tesla Motors on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: SolarCity In my new Green State column on Grist, I write about how SolarCity, a Silicon Valley rooftop solar installer, is getting into the electric-car charging station business: You can’t get more California greenin’ than this. Peter Rive can charge up his Tesla Roadster electric sports car in his San Francisco garage with carbon-free [...]
SolarCity scores $100 million to finance solar arrays
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, enviro startups, environment, green financing, green startups, renewable energy, solar energy, SolarCity, tagged investment tax credit, residential solar, SolarCity, tax equity partnerships, U.S. Bancorp on September 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: SolarCity When Wall Street collapsed last year so did tax equity funds, the primary vehicle to finance renewable energy development. But as I write in The New York Times today, investors are beginning to jump back into the game. U.S. Bancorp has agreed to finance $100 million of solar installations in 2009 for California [...]
Home market dead, desert developer goes solar
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green startups, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, tagged BrightSource Energy, Coyote Springs Land Company, Harvey Whittemore, Nevada, solar energy, solar power plants on September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Photo: BrightSource Energy In today’s New York Times, I write about how Harvey Whittemore — one of Nevada’s biggest power brokers and a confident of Senate majority leader Harry Reid — has responded to the housing crash by leasing desert land at his mega-home development to BrightSource Energy for a 960-megawatt solar farm complex. What [...]
Vinod Khosla: Green tech must pass “Chindia” test
Posted in alternative energy, biofuels, climate change, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green financing, green startups, renewable energy, tagged Calera, green tech, Khosla Ventures, venture capital, Vinod Khosla on September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Ausra In my new Green State column on Grist, I sit down with legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla to talk about his approach to green tech. Khosla — who raised a record $1.1 billion for green tech investing earlier this month — believes that unless a technology can scale and be adopted [...]
Nanosolar books $4.1 billion in orders, reveals tech
Posted in alternative energy, First Solar, green startups, Nanosolar, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged First Solar, Martin Roscheisen, Nanosolar, solar cells, thin-film on September 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Nanosolar A day after First Solar made waves with its agreement with the Chinese government to build a 2,000-megawatt solar farm in Mongolia, Silicon Valley startup Nanosolar took the wraps off its much-hyped thin-film photovoltaic technology and announced it has booked $4.1 billion in orders from solar developers. As I write in today’s New [...]
