Clean Tech Deal Flow

Ford Fusion Hybrid Qualifies for $3400 tax credit

2009-02-13T20:29:00.000-08:00

Looks like the Toyota domination might be shrinking a little. New challenges are arriving from Honda with their new Insight competing against the Prius, and Ford with the new Fusion Hybrid competing against the Camry Hybrid. Car and Driver had a recent comparison test, and picked the Fusion as their favorite. I've been reading C&D for as long as I've been able to read, so that review always

The new Whitehouse.Gov page on energy and the environment.

2009-01-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

We swore in a new president today, and with that, hopefully a new approach to energy and the environement. It's fresh, and limited, but here is the official plans: (Link at the bottom.) ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENTThe energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn't just undermine our national security and wreak havoc

Venture capital fund raising drops 71 percent in Q4

2009-01-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

By implication, that means less money for start-ups in the next few years. Companies are going to be forced to look for alternative capital sources. The big question will be, where? Consider what it cost to start a company like Facebook. Now consider what is involved in producing bio-fuels, or an electric car. The capital crunch is going to have deep effects on the green-tech market.

Where are the Hot Spots for venture capital? Tim Draper

2009-01-15T04:55:00.000-08:00

The $1 Myth of "Grid Parity" - Where solar and other alternative energies work.

2009-01-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

We are told that although solar has made considerable strides in its march towards this Mecca, we are not quite there yet. The magic number for modules, say they, is $1; at a buck a watt. At that point it will finally be cheaper to produce subsidy-free electricity from a module than buy it from the grid. Once you're convinced of this conventional wisdom, it's hard to see PV being cost-competitive

Sweet Electric Motorcycle - Vectrix

2009-01-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

"According to Vectrix, the Vx-1 costs just one cent per mile to operate (the equivalent of 357 mpg), compared to 50 to 87 mpg for most other gas-powered scooters. It’ll also do 0 to 50 in 6.8 seconds, so it’s not your granny’s scooter. Weighing in at 515 pounds, with a 60-inch wheelbase, the Vx-1 is powered by a brushless motor with a peak power capacity of 21KW, and a nickel metal hydride

Catch up posts - Products

2009-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

More Catch Up Posting - Products Convert Your Prius to a 100+ MPG Plug-In Hybrid Electric Car Infinite Power Solutions Gets $13 Million for Solid-State Rechargeable Batteries Honda says they will have an electric motorcycle on the market in 2 years. Why focus on electric motorcycles before a viable electric car? Says Fukui, "History shows that motorcycles remain strong in a difficult market

Saltwater Crops for Biofuels

2009-01-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of biofuels if the come from a smart feedstock. I don't know enough about aquaculture to know if this is the answer, but it's certainly a compelling argument. Citing the work of Robert Glenn, a plant biologist at the University of Arizona, two biologists argue in this week's Science that "the increasing demand for agricultural products and the spread of salinity now make this

Yeast producing Biofuels - First bread, then beer, then Biofuels.

2009-01-14T02:34:00.000-08:00

Is there nothing the might yeast can't do? Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led by Dr. Jay Keasling at UC Berkeley, have engineered the common industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae with an n-butanol biosynthetic pathway, resulting in a ten-fold improvement in n-butanol production from one of the strains to 2.5 mg/L. An open access paper on their work was published online

Catch-up Posts - Deals

2009-01-14T00:43:00.003-08:00

More Catch-up Posts - Deals announced Bio-fuels- Blackstone Cleantech Venture Partners Leads Coskata Series C Round of Financing Chemrec Completes US $20M Funding Round for Biorefinery Technology Typical pulp & paper mills produce thousands of tons a day of a liquid biomass called black liquor. Currently this by-product is burned in steam boilers with low energy efficiency for production of

Catching Up - Industry News

2009-01-14T00:43:00.001-08:00

Stories I found interesting, but didn't get around to blogging about. Recycling- Market for Recyclables in U.S. Dwindling Rapidly Via GreenBiz Efficiency- Turning Wasted Heat into Dollars in China Via GreenBiz "There is more opportunity in China than anywhere in the world," Ballentine said of waste-heat recovery.

Catching Up Post - Projects Announced

2009-01-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

There have been lots and lots of projects announced, and I just haven't kept up with them. This is a catchup post for anything worth reporting, but for things I don't have anything specific to say about. Roughly grouped together. Solar- 1 Gigawatt Solar project for Jordon Via Treehugger 850 MW Solar project for California Via Treehugger Florida - From Sunshine State to Solar State This

BYD introduces plug-in hybrid. 1/2 the price of the GM Volt

2008-12-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

3 years ago, the company didn't even build cars. GM has had nearly 100 years experience. Chinese cars are coming, and it seems to me that a plug-in like this could be the beachhead that they need to gain acceptance among US consumers. And strike fear in the hearts of the big 3. Remember, Toyota and Honda started building cheap economy cars, as kid Kia and Hyundai. All have proven to be

Australian scientists urge caution on Geo-engineering.

2008-12-17T00:32:00.000-08:00

Ocean fertilization may cause changes in marine ecosystem structure and biodiversity, and may have other undesirable effects. While controlled iron fertilization experiments have shown an increase in phytoplankton growth, and a temporary increase in drawdown of atmospheric CO2, it is uncertain whether this would increase carbon transfer into the deep ocean over the longer-term. I've posted

Tesla Electric Sports Car reviewed on Top Gear.

2008-12-16T23:36:00.000-08:00

As an environmentalist and a car guy, I love any excuse to post about cars here. I don't think the Tesla will ever make a meaningful impact on the global environmental situation. For $100K, someone that really cares about the environment could by 5 Honda Fits. One to drive and 4 to give to 4 drivers less fortunate than them, to use in place of the old, polluting cars they drive currently.

CellFor grabs $10M for improved tree seedlings

2008-11-30T23:45:00.000-08:00

Fascinating. I'm very leery of bio-engineering like this. How many well intended introductions have had disastrous long term consequences? (Nutria, Kudzu, etc, etc. ) But I can clearly see the economic and environmental benefits of creating trees that grow quickly, are disease resistant, and create high quality wood. Hmm. "Vancouver-based CellFor said it raised $10 million to expand the

WalMart buying wind power

2008-11-30T20:50:00.001-08:00

It will provide Wal-Mart with 226 million KWh of power annually, and will offset 139,000 metric tons of carbon — the equivalent of what 25,000 cars would emit.Hard to find fault with this. Whatever their motives, Wal-Mart moving towards green has the potential to be a real force in the evolving green-tech and alternative energy world. http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2008/11/20/

Simple Solutions - a Spoiler that could save several MPG

2008-11-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

My favorite kind of solution. Simple, elegant, and effective. "In a paper published in the International Journal of Vehicle Design, Inchul Kim of Metacomp Technologies, in Agoura Hills, California, working with Xin Geng and Hualei Chen of the University of Michigan-Dearborn report that the aerodynamic drag and lift on a mini-van moving at 108 kph (67 mph) are reduced by 5% and more than 100%,

Obama's Green stimulus plan.

2008-11-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

Business Week has a good summary and analysis of Obama's stimulus plan. http://www.businessweek.com/

Germany wants one Million cars on the road in 11 years.

2008-11-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

And I'd like 12 classic cars in my garage in 11 years. Who knows if either will happen? But Germany has a plan, and it includes: a large amount of funding for advanced battery development, investment in an electric car charging infrastructure, and tax credits for the adoption of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Conceived by four separate German agencies — the departments of Economics,

Wow. Chrysler kills its Hybrid SUV in the same month it goes on sale.

2008-11-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

In October, I noted the announcement of the new Chrysler Hybrid SUV models. According to the NY Times: The hybrid S.U.V.’s became available at dealerships in early October. But on Oct. 23, Chrysler announced that at the end of the year it would close the Delaware plant where they are built. Production of the hybrid models began on Aug. 22. Even if production continues until Dec. 31, the

Is Corn Ethanol dying?

2008-11-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

There are many good reasons to doubt the future of corn ethanol. (Not necessarily ethanol, but corn ethanol.) This Washington Post article puts it in perspective. But because of how corn ethanol currently is made, only about 20 percent of each gallon is "new" energy. That is because it takes a lot of "old" fossil energy to make it: diesel to run tractors, natural gas to make fertilizer and,

Has a scary line been crossed for VC's? I'm not 100% certain.

2008-11-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Adeo Ressi has made a presentation recently that argues that the traditional VC model is broken. I might agree that it has issues, but I think calling it dead is very premature. Over at TechCrunch much was made of the slide I copied above, from Ressi's original presentation. It does point out, correctly, that the line that represents the value that venture capital adds has dropped below

Searaser floating pump for wave energy

2008-11-26T00:19:00.000-08:00

Wave energy seems like it holds some promise for a renewable resource. Essentially, it is concentrated wind energy, since waves are formed by wind across large areas of water. Capturing it has it difficulties, marine environments are tough on moving parts, tough to maintain, and frequently create energy that must then be transported somewhere. Searaser seems to have a cool idea, but it's not

Connecticut Clean Tech Fund Launched

2008-11-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

"We want to position Connecticut as the preferred location to grow clean tech jobs,” said Governor M. Jodi Rell, who announced the fund in November." It seems to me that it will take a lot more than $9M to establish Connecticut "as the preferred location to grow clean tech jobs". Don't get me wrong, it's cool that they are doing it, and that more funding is available, but $9M isn't enough to