Worldwide, investors put $1.9 billion into clean tech startups in the first three months of 2010. That is an 83% increase from the same quarter last year and a 29% increase from the fourth quarter of 2009. Additionally, the number of deals hit a record high. This is what a … [continued]
Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection announced new guidelines relating to mountaintop removal coal mine permits, and the coal industry promotion group FACES of Coal was right on the case. FACES promptly issued a blistering press release lambasting the EPA for attacking the Appalachian economy with “as dangerous and threatening … [continued]
So who knew? The manufacture of cooking oil involves hexane, a solvent that separates the oil from crushed seeds. Hexane is a volatile organic compound found in gasoline. Hexane is also a degreaser used in the printing industry. It dissolves glues, varnishes, and inks. Aside from the ick factor of … [continued]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seems to be making up for lost time when it comes to enforcing the Clean Water Act. That includes closing the door on mountaintop coal mining, also known rather delicately as mountaintop removal. In reality there is nothing delicate about it. The practice involves blowing … [continued]
People in California’s hinterlands pay a very high price for electricity. They use three times more power than the average; trying to stay cool, and they now pay more than four times the base rate for it. They think that’s not fair, and PG&E agrees with them. PG&E is applying … [continued]
[social_buttons] Nike, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and other major international companies have opposed the US Chamber of Commerce’s negative stance on climate and clean energy legislation in the past year (as well as the hundreds of millions of dollars it is spending on lobbying against such legislation). Now, electronics retail … [continued]
A new report by Bloomberg finds that renewable energy investment may increase by 23% worldwide this year and could hit $200 billion. Renewable energy investment was $162 billion last year, but Bloomberg predicts that it will be somewhere between $175 and $200 billion this year. But the real questions are, … [continued]
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory have partnered up to take us another step closer to low cost solar power. The lab is hosting a test run of Alcoa’s new concentrating solar power technology, which was designed to be competitive in the U.S. energy market partly due … [continued]
This summer Alcoa will test a new way of making the solar troughs used to make concentrated solar power (CSP) that could reduce the cost by 20%. [social_buttons] Alcoa is working with the NREL, funded by a $2.1 million DOE grant under the Recovery Act funding for renewable energy – … [continued]
South San Francisco’s Solarzyme has just taken home the gold in the Sustainable Biofuels Technology category at the 2nd Annual Sustainable Biofuels Awards held in Amsterdam. The international awards offer companies from around the world the ability to showcase significant accomplishments in the biofuels industry. [social_buttons] Solarzyme’s accomplishment? The lowest … [continued]
