Jacob Brody
Recent Posts
Shoeboxed to make expense reports easier with iPhone app
Online receipt scanning and expense management service Shoeboxed.com wants to become an essential tool for mobile businesspeople. The company recently introduced an iPhone app that lets users upload pictures of their receipts to be scanned and indexed. Using proprietary optical character recognition and computer learning technology, Shoeboxed lists the vendor, purchase date, and expenditure type for each receipt in an easy to use format.
The iPhone app is efficient, processing my crumpled up grocery receipts correctly… Continue Reading
Regional carbon market will have a limited effect on cleantech investment
As the Chicago Climate Exchange began trading as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on Friday, considerable doubt remained about whether the cap-and-trade system will actually effect emissions reductions. The system is plagued by poor design, merely a marginal improvement over the status quo.
The RGGI, a cooperative of 10 Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic state governments, saw trading of 70,000 carbon permits on its first day. The RGGI only regulates emissions from power generators, and… Continue Reading
Who wins big from the Climate Security Act? Not solar or wind, but carbon capture
The United States Senate is on break for summer recess, so the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (CSA), a bill intended to nationally lower greenhouse gas emissions, remains unpassed. But with an election victory by Barack Obama continuing to look likely, it’s possible the bill could be passed this year.
If that happens, areas of the cleantech industry connected to fossil fuel could flourish in ways that grassroots supporters of the bill never foresaw. Coal industry-backed… Continue Reading
Northwind Ethanol, another cellulosic startup, claims cheap production from retrofitted plants
Ethanol production has proved to be both cost and energy intensive, distilled with basically the same methods used in biblical times. The latest effort to crack that problem is by Northwind Ethanol, which claims that its low-cost method can efficiently make ethanol using feedstocks like sawdust and switchgrass.
Mantra Venture Group, a publicly-traded investment firm, is in negotiations with Northwind to finance a new cellulosic ethanol venture called NextGen, which Northwind projects producing ethanol for less… Continue Reading
India joins the race for carbon credit investment
India has long trailed China in drawing foreign investment for cleantech projects. With prices in the energy and emissions markets surpassing historical highs, the venture capital community and Indian government are finally directing investment into Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.
While India is currently the second largest host country of CDM projects with an average allocation of 31 million credits annually, investment in large scale reduction projects has been lacking since the establishment of the CDM… Continue Reading