For many hybrid drivers, hypermiling, the practice of changing driving behavior and in some cases making tech mods to their vehicles in order to eke out triple-digit MPGs, has become a way of life — never mind complaints that they drive like a granny. A number of smartphone apps and after-market vehicle retrofits have emerged [...]

  10 Things to Know About Smart Grid Security: The energy information that will be unleashed by the creation of the smart grid could be valuable to people who would use it for ill will. Don’t fret too much, but here’s what you need to know about the security risks of adding digital intelligence to the [...]

  Solar thermal developer eSolar is continuing its rush of deal-making, saying today that it’s inked a partnership with a South African-based energy firm to expand sales operations across the sub-Saharan region of the continent. Under terms of the deal, Johannesburg-based Clean Energy Solutions will exclusively represent and distribute eSolar’s concentrating solar power technology across seven [...]

  As if Chris Anthony didn’t have enough to do as chief of composite operations for Aptera, a startup working on a futuristic-looking, ultra aerodynamic three-wheeled vehicle, and CEO of hybrid boat maker Epic Boats. The multi-tasking entrepreneur has just taken on another project as the head of a new company called Flux Power, which plans [...]

  The partners at venture firm Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) say there’s a dirty little secret in the current cleantech investing climate: Much of the sector has been based on modernizing outdated industrial technologies and we’re missing out on a new transformational industry. In an article in Forbes this week MDV partners Josh Green and Will [...]

  The energy information that will be unleashed by the digital technologies of the smart grid is valuable. That’s why companies and policy-makers are pushing so hard to add infotech to our electrical system. But that information is also valuable to people that could use it for ill will — to disrupt the power grid, for [...]

  EU Clean Energy Growth, Now Tracked Online: “The European Commission this week launched an open-access online tool to monitor the development of about a dozen low-carbon technologies in the trade bloc.” — NYT’s Green Inc.Chamber Credits/Blames Environmentalists for Resignations: Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said in a press conference today that “an orchestrated pressure [...]

  Ultracapacitors, energy storage devices that can deliver quick bursts of intense power and withstand more charge and discharge cycles than batteries, could provide a twofer — disrupt the vehicle market and revolutionize the power grid. That’s the basic pitch from developers of next-gen ultracapacitors (most audibly from stealthy and controversial startup EEStor). But, like most [...]

  Slick, efficient and wireless — that’s the focus of an upcoming generation of greener gadget designs on display at this year’s CEATEC, the consumer electronics show in Japan. As Pedro Hernandez notes this morning over on GigaOM Pro (our subscription-only research service), exhibitors in the event’s Green IT Pavilion are showing off a range of [...]

  Daimler AG, as it closes in on the November start date for its initial run of electric vehicles — 1,000 Smart Fortwo minicars set to be built with Tesla Motors battery technology — is mapping out the road to large-scale production. The German automaker this morning announced that it will invest a “double-digit million euro [...]

  This week Google announced its first device partner for its energy management tool PowerMeter, which will enable PowerMeter to bypass the smart meter and the utility. Part of the benefit of cutting out the utility is that the device can use an Internet connection to feed energy data directly to a user’s computer in practically [...]

  A year ago, venture capitalists at the firm Kleiner Perkins let slip a few juicy details about their first cleantech investment: quiet fuel cell maker Bloom Energy. Now in an interesting and rare interview with Alison van Diggelen, who produces Fresh Dialogues, Bloom Energy chief executive KR Sridhar has shared a few more tidbits, including [...]

  While I was edumacating attendees of our “Biggest Opportunities of the Smart Grid” webinar this morning (for subscribers to GigaOM Pro), I learned a great deal from Pike Research analyst Clint Wheelock, who gave an overview of the market on the call. Most interesting to me was that out of a predicted massive investment in [...]

  Renewable energy has for years been hailed as the predominant solution to California’s energy dilemma, a sentiment that more recently has been supported by public policy as well. But while there’s no question that sustainable energy is exciting, if Spain’s experience is any example, misplaced government mandates, aggressive special interests and taxpayer-funded subsidies for the [...]