New Ventures

Cloud Computing Clears the Way to Solar Power

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An environmental activist and two business executives walk into a bar…and they start a solar power company. While this may not make your favorite jokes list, it serves as an interesting background story for an innovative residential solar startup.

“The solar power industry is at an inflection point,” and with low cost cells produced in China and elsewhere, companies like Sungevity are on the cusp of putting solar everywhere – “it’s becoming ubiquitous,” the company’s President and founder Danny Kennedy recently told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 24, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Energy Storage Startups Battle Natural Gas, Looking to Asia and Europe

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Startup Battlefield Finalists pose onstage at Day 3 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2011 held at the San Francisco Design Center Concourse on September 14, 2011 in San Francisco, California.

Low natural gas prices in the US have slowed momentum in the development of grid-level energy storage solutions, an expert panel gathered from venture capital, power generation and utility companies said last week. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 15, 2012 at 9:00 AM

The Electric Race from Extraordinary to Ordinary

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How a quest for a ten-fold improvement in batteries promises to make electric vehicles deliver on their remarkable potential.

The din that accompanied the birth of modern electric vehicles has quieted, despite a steady parade of new models and the ascent of gas prices to worrisome highs. The relative quiet is good news though, a sign that electric vehicles (EVs) are entering a critical period when the technology must evolve from exotic to everyday. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 4, 2012 at 11:50 AM

Biofuels Producer Launching Ethanol Replacement

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In the race to commercialize the next generation of advanced biofuels created from inedible plant material, 50/50 BP – Dupont joint venture Butamax is pushing to make biobutanol the next big thing. The company is moving toward the commercial phase of its program to make biobutanol the US fuel blend of choice.

“We are very excited about this product – biobutanol is the highest value biofuel that can be made,” Butamax CEO Paul Beckwith recently told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 1, 2012 at 8:00 AM

What Does it Mean to be a High Performance Building?

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According to the US Energy Information Administration, 47% of all greenhouse gas emissions are from existing buildings. From a global perspective, reducing energy consumption in buildings is imperative for a sustainable future.

So when property owners and managers transform an existing facility into one that’s a high-performance building, what does that mean? Essentially, it means doing more with less. High-performance buildings are energy efficient, and therefore, easier and more affordable to operate and maintain. They provide healthier and more comfortable workspaces, making them more attractive to tenants and more desirable to own. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 27, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Solar Shakeout Survival Guide

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There are many ways to survive in the solar business, but relying on protectionist policies and planning to serve only one part of the growing marketplace are not successful strategies for survival.

“A global manufacturer has to be willing to look at its product portfolio and participate in all aspects of the market,” Canadian Solar VP of US Sales and General Manager Alan King told Breaking Energy recently. Canadian Solar, despite its name, has an expanding presence around the world and is a NASDAQ-traded company determined to survive the fallout from falling panel prices. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 13, 2012 at 10:15 AM

IT to Lead Energy Revolution In ‘Age of Empowerment’: NRG Chief

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IT is poised to revolutionize the energy industry by ceding control of consumption and generation to consumers and lead to an “age of empowerment”, an influential figure in the wholesale power sector said yesterday.

David Crane, the outspoken CEO of NRG Energy, told the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco: “We’ve come a long way from the days of the legendary Henry Ford and his comment that the American consumer can have any color of model T as long as it’s black. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 29, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Honeywell Turbo-Charges Its Engine Technology

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Transportation has always been a huge consumer of energy, but basic efficiency increases in gasoline-powered central combustion engines there has been minimal change to energy use in the transportation sector for the last century.

A transformational combination of shifting fuel prices and availability, leaps in technology development and looming regulatory deadlines are poised to create huge changes in the transport sector, though many of them may be at first invisible to customers. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 16, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Sabine Pass Natural Gas Plant, The Next ‘Keystone’

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At the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico along the Texas-Louisiana border, Cheniere Energy could be just weeks away from breaking ground on the first natural gas exporting facility ever built in the lower 48 states. It’s also where a new fight with echoes of the Keystone pipeline is building, pitting economic development against environmental protection. To Cheniere and its supporters, the 500-plus acre, $10 billion plant represents a boon for the American economy.

 /  Published March 14, 2012 at 10:00 AM

World’s First Military Fuel Cell Vehicle Fleet Unveiled

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Much like microwaves and satellites, the US military could serve as an incubator for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technology, helping it advance to a point where it can stand on its own in the global marketplace. In one of the latest examples of the private sector collaborating with the military on new technologies, General Motors and the U.S. Army, Pacific recently launched a 16 hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fleet in Hawaii.

The US Army views this as a worthwhile investment because its desire to reduce fossil fuel reliance, which can be a security concern. The contract is for a fleet of administrative vehicles that will be driven on base and around Oahu. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 8, 2012 at 2:00 PM
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