What you need to know about Tesla's future

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors announced this week an update to its plans to deliver its Model S sedan, a hotly watched launch for the company.

It’s not just electric-car fans who are itching to hear the progress on the Model S (pictured), which starts at $57,400 before federal tax incentives. Investors are watching the Model S’s progress closely too. This represents the first time Tesla is building a car from scratch, and the company aims … Continue Reading

Solar financing in U.S. going strong for now, but 2012 question looms

Government incentives and a rich pool of investors will make this a good year for solar projects, but one big question lingers — what will happen in 2012?

“There’s a tremendous pool of capital out there … a deep and liquid capital market for renewable projects,” solar developer Recurrent Energy’s CEO Arno Harris told VentureBeat recently. “The rub is that we’ve got some policy issues that may make it difficult to tap those markets.”

Last … Continue Reading

New gadgets take the traffic light approach to saving energy

Whenever I write about smart grid gadgetry, much of it is probably quite boring for the average consumer. Meters, protocols, wireless networks, software — who cares?

But just as utility-side smart grid products have grown, so has technology tailored to the consumer. Some of the early offerings have struggled to engage users: Industry executives like Opower’s Dan Yates and Ecobee’s Stuart Lombard have all said the flaws with the first generation of home energy dashboards … Continue Reading

Monsanto invests in Sapphire for algae, crops research

Global agriculture and biotechnology giant Monsanto has taken an undisclosed equity stake in biofuels player Sapphire Energy. The two companies will also team up for a multi-year research collaboration.

Sapphire is working on what it calls “green crude” created from algae, which can be refined into gas, diesel and jet fuel. Monsanto, a top supplier of genetically modified seeds, is on the hunt for genes that can be applied to agriculture, especially those that increase … Continue Reading

Biofuels to anti-age your face. Seriously.

Biofuels for your face will be on sale soon.

Well, that’s the gist of it, anyway. The story: Algae biofuels company Solazyme has formulated a skincare line called Algenist using “anti-aging breakthrough ingredient alguronic acid” that will go on sale this spring in eight countries, via makeup shop Sephora and TV shopping company QVC. The skincare products use Solazyme’s technology and research on microalgae strains, through which the company discovered alguronic acid.

Yeesh. Maybe we … Continue Reading

Tesla's Model S update: pricing and deliveries

Tesla has just released an update on its  upcoming 2012 Model S all-electric sedan, for which it has received 3,700 reservations (each costing $5,000).

The main points from the update:

The company expects to produce about 5,000 units in 2012 while ramping up for capacity of 20,000 cars per year in 2013.
Deliveries for North America will start in mid-2012
The first 1,000 Model S’s will be part of the “North American Model S Signature

… Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: PlugShare app finds car chargers, Suntech beats First Solar in panel production

Here’s the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

Transphorm unveils first product — The company unstealthed last month with $38 million backing from investors like Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, showing off technology that can save energy losses that happen when power is converted from one form to another (which happens in almost everything that uses electricity). It announced its first product today, power diodes based on its gallium nitride technology, which promises … Continue Reading

Global LED market surges, doubling last year

The global high-brightness LED market doubled last year, jumping from $5.6 billion in 2009 to $10.8 billion in 2010.

That marks a 93 percent growth rate, according to Strategies Unlimited, an LED market research firm. LEDs are championed within cleantech as energy-efficient, longer-lasting lights. But their costs are still not completely cost-competitive, a factor in the heated debate over whether the U.S. should stick with a 2007 mandate that will effectively phase out the incandescent … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Solyndra's star fades, admits to mistakes; Khosla says new biofuel IPO coming

Here’s the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

Solyndra star fades, admits to mistakes — Once-bright rooftop solar startup Solyndra (pictured) has had its share of troubles lately. After raising $1 billion, the company was forced to slash costs, close a factory and cancel an IPO. Now its $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy is under investigation by Congress. Its recent $75 million secured debt round forced several equity investors … Continue Reading

A sensor-driven life: IT companies wire up cities of the future

In a hospital somewhere, a patient falls out of bed. A loud alarm goes off, and nurses rush in. Then three blood pressure monitors and a crash cart go missing from the ER. Operations managers quickly locate them in other parts of the hospital via a GPS-like function loaded into the software on their computers.

The key to all this is sensors. The aforementioned hospital isn’t really a hospital, but a demonstration lab at IBM’s … Continue Reading

Making people happy about the smart grid: There's (probably) an app for that

Smart grid and smart meters are an inevitable part of America’s energy future, but at least when it comes to consumers, it has gotten off to a bumpy start.

Consumers have sued PG&E and Oncor over smart meters that they felt overcharged them (both suits were found to be without merit). Consumers in Illinois have claimed smart meters cause headaches and impotency. Recently, protesters in California’s West Marin County tried to block smart meter installers … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Nexterra bags $15M for biomass power, Johnson Controls make $32.3M smart grid buy

Here’s the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

Nexterra Systems raises $15M for biomass power — The Candian company raised the cash from ARC financial and Tandem Expansion Fund. It makes small-scale biomass gasification systems that generate renewable heat and power systems. The company’s clients include the U.S. Department of Energy and Johnson Controls.  It also has strategic relationships with GE and Johnson Controls. The cash will go towards market expansion.

Johnson Controls … Continue Reading

Amprius raises $25M for breakthrough batteries from Kleiner, Google CEO

Battery startup Amprius has raised $25 million to commercialize what it says will be the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, signing on major new investors like Google CEO Eric Schmidt and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.

Amprius is looking to commercialize high energy, silicon-based materials to turbo-charge the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in everything from laptops to electric cars. The company says battery cells with Amprius technology will … Continue Reading

Electric car startups to square off against Big Auto competition

Competition is heating up in the electric car sector, and the next few years will be a challenging testing ground for startups looking to gain a foothold among consumers as more and more major automakers launch electric and hybrid cars.

Some startups have lofty ambitions. Electric car startup Coda said today it aims to sell 50,000 cars by 2015, or 12,500 cars a year. It will launch its electric sedan (pictured, right) late this year, with … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Coda wants to sell 50,000 electric cars by 2015, Powerit raises $5M

Here’s the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

Coda aims to sell 50,000 electric cars by 2015 — The clean-wheeling startup recently hired a new chief executive and former GM executive Phil Murtaugh, who told reporters of its lofty sales goals for its electric sedan. While there’s been some skepticism about the car’s potential given a high price tag compared to the similar and better-known Nissan Leaf, Coda has said in the past … Continue Reading

How solar and oil can coexist in Saudi Arabia

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia wants to become an exporter of solar.

Yup, that’s right. The country’s oil minister confirmed Saudi Arabia’s solar ambitions last year and said the country has the potential to export power, not just oil. So far it seems to be moving on that promise. The Saudi Arabia-South Korea joint venture Polysilicon Technology Co. said this week it had signed a $380 million deal to build a $1.5 billion plant for manufacturing polysilicon, … Continue Reading

On the GreenBeat: Warren Buffet, wind king? 1366 raises $28M; Soliant suspends operations

Here’s the latest action we’re following today on the GreenBeat:

1366 raises $28.4 million for cheaper wafers – Silicon wafer startup 1366 has raised $28.4 million in capital from investors that include GE Energy Financial Services, VantagePoint Venture Partners and Hanwha Chemical. It is an $8 million addition to $20 million raised last year.  The company can directly convert molten silicon to wafers, which reduces costs, waste and time compared to slicing wafers off an … Continue Reading

Greylock: $1 billion more and new fund for "winner's circle"

Venture capital firm Greylock Partners said today it would expand an early-stage fund to $1 billion and start a growth fund to usher in the next phase of its investment strategy.

The new funds show that while angel investors like Chris Sacca and Mike Maples have managed to take on impressive stakes by betting on startups like Twitter when they’re still quite young, the conventional venture-capital model as practiced by Greylock and a few other … Continue Reading

Genomatica raises $45M for renewable chemicals

Renewable chemicals company Genomatica has raised $45 million for a demonstration-scale production and early commercialization plans for a green version of butanediol (BDO), a chemical used in spandex, automotive plastics and running shoes.

“It’s all about making the same chemicals that are made today from oil and gas, but from renewable feedstocks and at a cheaper cost,” chief executive Christophe Schilling told VentureBeat last year.

The company has developed organisms (pictured) that can make BDO … Continue Reading

WeatherBill nabs $42M from Khosla, Google to help farmers cope with climate change

Weather-based insurance startup WeatherBill said today it had raised $42 million and signed on new investors Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures for its second round of financing.

The company, which was founded by two ex-Google employees in 2006, offers what it calls “disruptive” technology that delivers personalized weather insurance products for the $3 trillion global agriculture industry. In a statement, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said WeatherBill has the potential to “fundamentally change the risk profile” … Continue Reading