It might elicit protests from the college crowd, but university and corporate research partnerships are a lifeline for emerging innovation in the cleantech industry. There was two more of these big academia/big industry cleantech unions this week.This morning BP and Arizona State University, as well the Science Foundation Arizona, announced a research partnership to work [...]
The maturing of the car-sharing industry was illustrated by ZipCar and Flexcar announcing a merger, this week. Perhaps the market is ready for an even more sustainable approach developed by researchers at MIT: the City Car, a personal, stackable, electric, goldfish bowl-esque mode of transport, meant to be picked up in one location — and [...]
Unlike the “green guerillas,” IBM believes in the power of financial markets to help fight climate change — and bring in customers. This morning, Big Blue said it will offer customers “energy efficiency certificates” in exchange for reducing the energy consumption of their data centers. Participants in the program will be able to trade the [...]
The burgeoning carbon trading industry is getting prominent enough to have its very own “greenwash guerillas.” These two eco-activists briefly take over the podium at a New York carbon trading conference, offer attendees a ???Deed to the Sky,??? and declare carbon trading a scam. OK, so they’re a bit hardcore, but the industry is controversial [...]
Golden Soybeans: A team of researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have discovered how to make gold nanoparticles chemical-free by using only gold salts, soybeans and water — Eureka Alert.TeleSoft Taps Energy Software: VC firm TeleSoft Partners says it has acquired a majority interest in Energy Software & Consulting I and II which, together, are [...]
In the quest to find the best types of tiny algae for biofuel production, Big Oil is teaming up with Big Government.Chevron (CVX) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories announced yesterday that they are joining forces to select and develop algae that can be processed into biofuel. Chevron Technology Ventures will fund the project. CTV [...]
German photovoltaics manufacturer Q-Cells (QCE) said today that it has bought Toledo, Ohio-based Solar Fields for $5-million plus stock. Solar Fields will be merged with Q-Cell’s Calyxo subsidiary to form Calyxo USA, of which Solar Fields LLC now owns a 7 percent share.Calyxo USA assumes control of all of Solar Field assets and intellectual properties, [...]
We were wondering when Vinod Khosla would divulge information about his latest biofuel play, KiOR. The first time we heard about the company was when the venture capitalist briefly mentioned the company’s name during a speech earlier this month. At that time he described the startup as working with a catalyst to produce biocrude that [...]
Mega-retailer Wal-Mart said last week that it’s partnered with The Cleantech Group to create a web portal on which companies and individuals can pitch their ideas as to how Wal-Mart might decrease its carbon footprint while at the same time helping its bottom line. The site, dubbed The Cleantech Accelerator Project, launched earlier this week.Wal-Mart [...]
