VentureBeat

Satellite company to privatize high-accuracy weather data

GPS satellite company GeoOptics wants to revolutionize how private satellite data is gathered. It’s developing a low-orbit satellite system that collects atmospheric information by recording how radio signals bend as they travel through the atmosphere to a receiver. It’s a technique known as radio occultation (RO), which was pioneered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the late 1960s.

Molecules and electrons in the atmosphere cause radio waves to bend and slow down. Scientists can measure the bend and signal… Continue Reading

“Green brick” turns waste into money

Freight Pipeline Company, a company in Columbia, Missouri, is manufacturer of the “green bricks” that were named one of 2007’s best inventions by both Time Magazine and Popular Science, says it’s seeking $1 million in venture funding. To date the company’s been funded primary by government research grants.

The bricks are used like conventional clay bricks – for building things from houses to factories. They’re called green because they are built from a toxic byproduct produced from… Continue Reading

Clean storage company Deeya gets $15M

Deeya Energy, a developer of energy storage devices using environmentally friendly materials, has secured a second-round investment of $15 million, continuing the trend we’ve seen lately in energy storage device investments (see our coverage of A123 Systems, Lilliputian Systems, M2E Power, and Boston Power Inc here, here, here, and here).

The company has also named Vic Mahadevan as President and CEO. Mahadevan was previously CEO of gaming company NeoEdge Networks and network-based storage company Maxxan Systems. 

Deeya Energy is… Continue Reading

Australian company develops clean water technology

Australian company Ioteq has revealed a new technology that it says will sanitize water with one of the most environmentally responsible systems around.

The technology, called Isan, and revealed at last week’s AlwaysOn Venture Summit in Monterey, Calif., uses iodine instead of chlorine to clean water. Since iodine is less corrosive than the commonly used chlorine filtration process, it’s more environmentally friendly.
Further, Isan recycles iodine for use in subsequent filtrations.

Isan can be used for things like… Continue Reading

Bad blood at Tesla

There seems to be a bit of tension lingering after the appointment of Ze’ev Drori (pictured left, bottom) as the new CEO of Tesla Motors, the high profile Silicon valley electric car company.

Tesla released a statement last Friday at 6pm, apparently in an effort to avoid news attention, that Martin Eberhard (pictured top), co-founder of Tesla Motors, has transitioned from the board of directors to the advisory board. This came after Eberhard had already been… Continue Reading

Electric car company Tesla appoints new CEO

Tesla Motors, the high-profile Silicon Valley electric car company, announced it has appointed Ze’ev Drori, an experienced entrepreneur and car enthusiast, as its new chief executive officer.

This completes an arduous search process that spanned several months.

Drori (pictured left) replaces interim CEO Michael Marks, who took the helm in August. The shuffle comes after the company announced a couple of delays to its first car’s release.

Tesla is first building an ambitious sports car that will go… Continue Reading

No surprise: Record breaking investments in clean-tech, with solar leading

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It’s no surprise this year is seeing record-breaking investment levels for the booming clean technology sector.

Venture capitalists invested $2.6 billion in companies that help the environment in some way during the first three quarters of 2007. That’s 48 percent more than the comparable period last year. In fact, its more than the entire level of investments in 2006, when investors pumped $1.8 billion into these companies Solar energy, in particular, is drawing interest this year.

The… Continue Reading

Google launches major alternative energy initiative

(We’re on the conference call; live updating below)

Google today has launched a renewable energy initiative, pledging it will invest hundreds of million in projects to produce electricity from renewable energy sources.

Most significantly, Google said it wants to produce electricity more cheaply than that produced from coal — which is the Holy Grail right now for most societies, which are struggling to find alternative electricity sources that are both green but also affordable. So far, there… Continue Reading

CARMA, where anyone can see the sources of greenhouse gases

A non-profit think tank based in Washington D.C., has released a service that estimates carbon emissions of power plants and power companies throughout the world.

The service, called Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA), is run by the Center for Global Development, and aims to provide a central location for anyone to access carbon emissions data of power plants.

CARMA is a visually compelling service based on a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of more… Continue Reading