Archive for the ‘technology’ Category
U.S. Military Targets Toxic Enemy #1: Hexavalent Chromium
If hexavalent chromium doesn’t ring a bell, think chrome, the stuff that puts the shine on everything from bathroom faucets to motorcycles.
If that still doesn’t help, maybe Erin Brockovich does. In the 1990’s, the former legal clerk fought to expose hexavalent chromium contamination in drinking water, in the small California town of Hinkley. The result was a record-breaking settlement and a major motion picture. Fast forward to April 2009, and the U.S. military is adding a new chapter to the Brockovich book. The Department of Defense has issued a formal memo requiring an aggressive across-the-board reduction in the military’s use of hexavalent chromium, otherwise known as chromium 6.
VCs Expect Slow Recovery, But Cleantech Remains a Bright Spot
While cleantech investment appears to be on the rebound, it’s clear the recession isn’t over yet. Mark Jensen, managing partner for the venture capital services group at Deloitte & Touche, said Wednesday that about half of the largest venture-capital firms expect to reduce their overall investments in the next few years in response to the recession.
But venture-capital firms expect cleantech to fare better than most other categories. According to the Deloitte survey, a whopping 95 percent said they plan to either increase or maintain their level of cleantech investment, with 63 percent anticipating more investment and 32 percent expecting to invest the same amount as they do now.
Cleantech Group: Solar Startups See Venture Capital Fall in 3Q
Published on July 2nd, 2009
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Solar venture investments hit a three-year low in the second quarter, the Cleantech Group said Wednesday. According to Brian Fan, senior director of research for the group, solar startups in North America, Europe, China and India raised a total of only $113.8 million for the quarter, which is down 7 percent from $365.7 million in the first quarter and down 86 percent from $834.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Can the U.S. Government Be an Effective Cleantech VC?
As stimulus funding leads some industry insiders to think of Washington as “the new Wall Street” for green energy, some investment experts say they’re concerned about the government’s new role. “I worry about the government as a dealmaker in this space,” said Tom Bratkovitch, director of LP Capital Advisors, a consulting firm for private-equity investors, at a Thomson Reuters conference in Palo Alto, Calif., this week. “I just don’t know if the government is the best one to make decisions in this space.”
After all, the federal government has supported some technologies that have not panned out, while missing some that have ultimately been successful. The government also has a reputation for moving slowly – though the Department of Energy certainly is trying hard to get stimulus money out as quickly as possible – and the applications for the grants and loan guarantees can be extremely time-consuming. Read the rest of this entry »
Ultrasound Cleans Polluted Water, Makes Catfish Tastier
One solution to the world’s water pollution problems could be something you can’t taste, touch, see, smell, or hear. Especially hear. Ultrasound, the range of frequencies beyond the limits of human hearing, is starting to emerge as an effective water treatment that is more sustainable than chemical dosing. Researchers are discovering that ultrasound performs well on algae, and that’s only the beginning. Ultrasound can remove a variety of pollutants in water, including those that affect the taste of America’s favorite fish, the catfish.
GE to Cleantech Startups: We Can Help
Published on June 26th, 2009
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Cleantech startups have stopped seeing GE as an adversary and have started realizing the company can help them make a difference, Kevin Skillern, a managing director at GE Energy Financial Services, said in a keynote speech at a Thomson Reuters conference called “Financing the Cleantech Vision” in Palo Alto on Wednesday.
In spite of the recession, Skillern assured the audience that the long-term business opportunity for cleantech is still there, though it will require “a strong stomach and a lot of patience” to cash in on it. He also called climate change “one of, if not the biggest, societal challenges of our time” and said technology was an essential part of the solution.
Graphene Emerging as the Miracle Material of the New Millenium
Move over, silicon: graphene is ready for its closeup. Discovered just a few years ago, graphene is a sheet of graphite the thickness of just one atom. It can be processed like silicon to make electronic devices, which makes it easier to manipulate than the current “it” material, carbon nanotubes. Without the breakdown problems that beset silicon at the nanoscale, graphene is bringing the dream of a molecule-sized computer closer to reality.
Hydrogen Fuel Tanks Made from Chicken Feathers Could Save $5.5 Million
Scientists have discovered a remarkable, unexpected and cheap way to store hydrogen fuel– using carbonized chicken feather fibers.
The problem of storing hydrogen as fuel has traditionally been a perplexing and expensive dilemma. For instance, a car with a 20-gallon hydrogen storage tank made from carbon nanotubes or metal hydrides– two of the best ideas so far– would add $5.5 million or $30k respectively to the price of that vehicle.
A storage tank made from carbonized chicken feathers, however, would only mark up the cost a measly $200. The green bio-material would also help solve the problem of how to dispose of the 2.7 billion kilograms of chicken feathers generated each year by commercial poultry operations.
Greenfreeze Could Spell the Deep Freeze for Global Warming Refrigerators
Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants are a “natural” cooler widely used in domestic and commercial refrigerators all over the world, except in the U.S. and Canada. HC refrigerants produce less greenhouse gasses than hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) technology, but they aren’t approved for the U.S. market - yet. Now Greenfreeze, the Greenpeace-developed HC refrigerant, is poised to enter the U.S. thanks to a boost from an unlikely pair of companies, Ben & Jerry and General Electric. It’s not a moment too soon: a new study has fingered HFC refrigerants and other so-called F-gasses as a rapidly growing source of emissions responsible for global warming.
