Siemens amps up its smart grid bid with eMeter startup acquisition

German electronics giant Siemens has just bought eMeter, a San Mateo-based startup focusing on smart grid technologies for utilities such as power and water.

eMeter, which is led by Veritas CEO and former Oracle executive Gary Bloom, gathers information from two-way meters. The data then travels to utility companies and allows them to make better business decisions, to understand peaks in demand and to read meters automatically.

Consumers can also use the information to find … Continue Reading

Building energy efficiency analytics provider FirstFuel Software raises $2.4M

FirstFuel Software, a provider of analytics software that tracks energy usage in commercial buildings, announced today it has raised $2.4 million from Battery Ventures in its first round of funding.

The company tracks energy usage in a building without installing energy-tracking devices like smart thermostats and plugs. Instead, the company tracks energy usage data from utilities and then combines it with weather data — such as how hot or cold it is near the building … Continue Reading

Mocana gets funding Intel to protect smart devices from hackers

For all the talk about the “internet of things,” or web-connected sensors of all kinds, there’s a grim reality. Hackers are going to have a field day unless those things are protected from cyberattack. Mocana aims to protect all of those smart devices, from cars to smart meters, and that is why Intel Capital has just invested an undisclosed amount of money into the security startup.

The deal being announced today shows that smart devices … Continue Reading

Home energy management provider EnergyHub raises $14.5M

EnergyHub, a provider of energy efficiency products and associated software, announced today that it has raised $14.5 million in its second round of funding.

The company builds web-enabled home energy software that tracks electricity usage. It sells outlets, surge protectors, thermostats and the like that plug into a home’s network and then exports that data to a web-based interface. It then gives home owners suggestions — such as powering down an air conditioning unit — … Continue Reading

Fuel cell manufacturer ClearEdge raises $73.5M

ClearEdge Power, a manufacturer of fuel cells that run on natural gas, announced today that it has raised $73.5 million in its fifth round of funding.

The company manufactures fuel cells that run on natural gas, which is broken down into a hydrogen-rich gas. The natural gas mixes with oxygen in the fuel cell, inducing a chemical reaction and generating electricity within the cell. The reaction also produces heat, which can be used in commercial … Continue Reading

Nearly profitable smart grid developer Silver Spring Networks files for IPO

Smart grid hardware provider Silver Spring Networks filed to go public on Thursday. The company lost $1.3 million in the first quarter this year, compared to $22.2 million in the first quarter a year earlier, according to the company’s S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company wants to raise up to $150 million in its initial public offering.

Silver Spring creates the equipment that creates wireless networks that transmit energy consumption data … Continue Reading

Smart energy management software developer Clean Urban Energy raises $7M

Clean Urban Energy, a provider of web-based software designed to improve energy efficiency for commercial buildings, announced Thursday that it has raised $7 million in its first round of funding led by Battery Ventures.

The software keeps track of certain zones of a building and regulates the heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) units associated with those locations. That means that if one part of a building doesn’t require as much heating or cooling, the software … Continue Reading

Kleiner Perkins leads slower Q2 cleantech investing

Investments in clean technology projects fell 10 percent in the second quarter this year to $1.83 billion when compared to $2.03 billion in the second quarter of 2010, according to research firm Cleantech Group.

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led venture capital firms in the number of fundraising rounds. The venture capital firm participated in a total of 12 rounds, including those of electric bus manufacturer Proterra and iControl Networks. Draper Fisher Jurveston had the … Continue Reading

Solar installer Astrum Solar snags funding from Baltimore utility

Constellation Energy, a holding company for Baltimore Gas & Electric, said it’s investing an undisclosed sum in Astrum Solar, which will provide solar panels for around 1 million of the utility’s customers.

Astrum, one of the largest residential solar panel providers on the East Coast, will install systems on around 2,000 homes this year. The average price for a home solar system is around $30,000 for an array that generates 10 kilowatts of power, based … Continue Reading

New study shows cable set-top boxes are electricity vampires

Think you’re running an energy-efficient household? You better turn off that cable box. Digital video recording (DVR) set-top boxes burn through more electricity than an energy-efficient refrigerator, according to a new study by the National Resource Defense Council.

The DVR set-top boxes can consume as much as 446 kilowatt-hours a year. The boxes are typically running because they are recording television shows while the owner is away from their home. There is at least one … Continue Reading

Home energy network provider iControl raises $50M

iControl, a provider of broadband home management software, said Monday it raised $50 million in its fourth round of funding. Investors in the latest round included Cisco Systems, Comcast Ventures, Intel Capital, Charles River Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Rogers Communications and Tyco International.

The Palo Alto, Calif., company sells networking software that telecom and other companies can wrap into their larger home automation and energy management software. Broadband providers can then give homeowners … Continue Reading

Fuel cell manufacturer ClearEdge snags $2.8M DOE grant

ClearEdge, a manufacturer of fuel cells that run on natural gas, announced today that it has secured a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The grant will give ClearEdge working capital to produce and install fuel cells in 10 new businesses in Oregon and California. The funding came from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which will monitor the fuel cells to see if they are producing the kind … Continue Reading

Obama administration pledges $250M to smart grid developers

The U.S. government will make $250 million in federal loans available to developers of smart grid technology.

The new loans will be doled out to companies that offer some new way to improve the electrical grid in parts of the rural United States, where it can be difficult to get utility workers out to fix problems because the locations are remote and difficult to reach.

Rural homes might be the last in the U.S. to … Continue Reading

JouleX clips energy costs and raises $17M

JouleX, a company that creates software that monitors data center energy usage, announced today that it has raised $17 million from Intel Capital and a batch of other investors.

The company creates software that gives other businesses a way to monitor the energy usage of every device attached to a computer network. That business can then write specific rules for how it wants to conserve energy or eliminate carbon emissions — like powering down lights … Continue Reading

Toshiba buys smart meter maker Landis+Gyr for $2.3B

Toshiba, a Japanese mega-conglomerate that produces products ranging from power infrastructure tools to consumer electronics, announced today that it is purchasing electricity monitoring device manufacturer Landis+Gyr for $2.3 billion.

While Toshiba is mostly visible as a consumer electronics manufacturers — creating televisions and laptops and other devices — the company’s Infrastructure Systems Group is actually a large developer and deployer of nuclear power technology. The company supplied reactors to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant … Continue Reading

Solar power dominated cleantech investments in April

Investors were still pouring money into solar power ventures in April — with about 45 percent the $330 million invested in clean technology ventures pointed toward solar power startups.

Wind power ventures were still able to attract nearly $45 million, or 14 percent of investments made in clean technology in April, despite the technology already being far along. LED lighting systems, which are more efficient and last longer than typical lighting systems, brought in about … Continue Reading

DOE to grant up to $130M for renewable energy projects

The U.S. Department of Energy said today it will grant up to $130 million to renewable energy projects that can’t find funding from private investors.

The projects the DOE plans to fund are riskier than their solar and wind power counterparts, focusing on the research and development of technologies that are not yet commercially viable.

The funding will come from the Advanced Research Programs Agency — Energy (ARPA-E). President Barack Obama created the agency in … Continue Reading

GE to pick up power management pro Converteam for $3.2B

General Electric will acquire Converteam, a company that specializes in technology that converts electricity to mechanical energy and vice versa, for a whopping $3.2 billion to improve its power transmission and management network.

The deal is not specifically a clean-technology play because it is focused on improving the efficiency of transmitting power from oil- and other fossil-fuel-based power generation methods. Companies like GE have had to rely on less conventional sources for oil and other … Continue Reading

How the Internet of things could save the environment

By 2020, there will be around 50 billion devices connected to a wireless network — and a huge chunk of those devices will be able to drastically reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact by virtue of being connected to the Internet, said telecom giant Ericsson’s chief executive Hans Vestberg.

That’s because having all those devices connected to a network will make it easier to run any number of aspects of life that have an impact … Continue Reading