Data center managers aren’t the only ones suddenly charmed by solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing storage needs. A growing number of VCs are also warming to the green, high-performance potential of the storage technology (GigaOM Pro Research, subscription required).With no moving parts to speak of, a solid-state drive is far and away more energy [...]

  Want to transform urban transit? Take a cue from Google, and invent a better algorithm. Service-based transportation networks offer a key for cities to address urban traffic congestion, encourage adoption of alternative transit and slash greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, says Ryan Chin, a PhD candidate in the Smart Cities research group at [...]

  At this point, the number of creative ways that companies have developed to help home owners monitor and manage their energy consumption, seems to far surpass the volume of consumer interest. That’s OK, though, because the home energy management market is so new, and it’s still unclear which services and technologies will be the most [...]

  The Departments of Agriculture and Energy late yesterday announced they will be doling out a dozen grants — ranging from $1 million to $4 million each — to private sector and university research projects focused on alternative fuels and bio-based products. In total, the departments will give out $24.4 million in funding, part of their standard [...]

  Lithium-ion battery maker A123Systems reported its first earnings this week since going public in September, showing a widening loss for the third quarter ($22.9 million, compared with $18.9 million a year ago), but also a revenue increase of 3 percent to $23.6 million, up from $22.9 million for the same period last year. What’s next [...]

  Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup Coda Automotive, a spinoff from low-speed electric carmaker Miles Electric Vehicles, doesn’t want to play nice with the big guys. With an overhauled web site launched on Thursday, Coda now urges visitors to “flip gas prices the bird,” and writes in a blog post titled “Detroit Doesn’t Have the Answers,” that:“It’s [...]

  It’s that time again — when the year-end roundups start rolling in. On the Time 50 Best Inventions of 2009 list published today, green energy innovations are out in force.Some of the 10 green picks on the list of 50 inventions, like the YikeBike electric bicycle and the World First Formula 3 race car design [...]

  Army Orders Recycled-Plastic Bridge: “Axion International Holdings has won a $957,000 contract to provide the U.S. Army with two bridges made from a thermoplastic composite and recycled plastic.” — CNET’s Planetary GearReinventing the Interstate: Op-ed contributor Karrie Jacobs argues for invention of new uses for the almost 47,000-mile long Interstate highway system, since it “can’t [...]

  On Friday Microsoft plans to announce that its energy management online tool Hohm is now live and available to utility Xcel Energy’s 3.4 million customers. Troy Batterberry, Microsoft’s product unit manager of its Energy Management & Home Automation division, plans to break the news at an event tomorrow at the Microsoft Fargo campus, which is [...]

  The findings you’re most likely to hear this morning from a new report by the European lobby group Transport & Environment include these three hot-button points: electric cars could increase carbon emissions, could “speed climate change,” and may not reduce oil dependency.But a closer read of the report reveals its basic premise shouldn’t actually be [...]

  As recently as August, the largest lithium battery recycler in North America — Toxco — snagged a $9.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to build out battery recycling capacity in Ohio and pledged to provide “end of life management” for advanced vehicle batteries “in a safe and environmentally sound manner.”But this weekend [...]

  Despite attempts by companiesand industry groups to paint the wireless standard Wi-Fi (the one commonly used within buildings for Internet connections) as a winner for smart grid rollouts, it’s looking like Wi-Fi will end up taking a back seat for the next generation of the digital power grid. This morning the trade group the [...]

  Water scarcity is becoming a hot-button issue in the U.S. (and globally), with water managers in 36 states saying they expect freshwater shortages hitting their states by early in the next decade. But the coming shortages could present opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors to develop new water-saving technologies. One ripe area for innovation is the [...]

  Louisiana offered up a hefty incentive package in order to bring the Kleiner Perkins and T. Boone Pickens-backed auto startup V-Vehicle Company to the state. And over the next few weeks, businesses in the state will be racing to secure some of the direct benefits of that move.According to the latest report on the company [...]