• With 300 million users, you can imagine that Facebook is becoming quite the data center energy hog.
• Good news is that they’re making changes to ensure Facebook is getting more efficient.
• They just leased more data space from Fortune Data Centers in San Jose.
• Fortune utilizes water-side economizers, environmental monitoring, and hot/cold air containment, which are all staples of an efficient data center.
• They’ve signed 4 new leases this year alone, all of which have been to centers on track for LEED gold status.

• Fisker’s been all around the blogosphere lately.  Of course we all heard about the $529 million loan they just received from the Department of Energy.
• They just opened their flagship retail store in Los Angeles with 32 planned locations across the US.
• LA Dealer, Mike Sullivan says they’ve already had 120 reservations for the plug-in hybrid, of which 2/3rd of those he says “you would recognize on the cover of a magazine.”  Even with that being said, he’s confident he’ll be able to sell 15 per month once they’re in full production.  Sounds like wishful thinking to me, judging by all the hurdles Tesla’s had to go through thus far.  That being said, if all 32 locations could keep up with Mike’s forcast, that’d be 9600 Karmas in the first year.
• Even further on the celebrity tip, we just learned that, believe or not, the Karma was actually inspired by Leonardo Dicapprio.
• It’s also not much of a surprise to hear that Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has “some reservations about the feasibility of Fisker’s approach.”  He thinks “Fisker is very far from overcoming those [engineering obstacles to build an electric car].”
• Whether Musk’s statements are valid or not doesn’t take away from the fact that it’ll be exciting to see how everything pans out for Fisker.
• I want them to succeed, I mean, how else is the price going to get driven down so I can buy one?  Keep up the good work guys.

• Sharp just announced a new record in solar cell conversion efficiency.
• The new material is a high-efficiency crystalline compound called indium-gallium-arsenide which assisted in bumping the  record from previous 31.5% to 35.8% efficiency.
• Well done Sharp, wonder who will push it over 40%, any ideas?

• TinyComb’s live at the ad:tech conference in NY.
• If your company/startup is present and interested in a write-up, tweet @hohme.

• The Windows 7 hype has been a little overbearing for the last couple months, but it sounds like there might be a great deal of good that comes out of the new OS, no matter hard it is for me to say.
• Along with promises to drive down the cost of computers and change the memory business for good, Windows 7 also makes some pretty notable efforts to reduce energy.
• Microsoft says that “Windows 7 runs with fewer background activities so your PC processor doesn’t work as hard and draws less power. Other innovations include less power-hungry DVD playback (handy on long flights), automatic screen dimming, powering off unused ports, and a more accurate battery-life indicator. So you’ll be less likely to be surprised by a dead battery.”
• If you think about the fact that PC’s and their respective third party hardware additions make up 60% of all the energy consumed by the IT industry, you can understand how big of an effect Windows 7 will have on energy reduction and even further, greenhouse gas reduction.
• Now if they could only get their marketing in order they might be somewhere.

• Google wrote this fluffy piece about an hour ago regarding their launch of AdWords Comparitive Ads. Don’t be fooled, beware. Google describes it as:

“Today we’re excited to begin testing a new feature of AdWords called AdWords Comparison Ads, which lets users compare multiple, relevant offers more easily. Comparison Ads is part of our continuing effort to make ads more relevant and useful to our users and to help you, our advertisers, reach the people who are most interested in your products and services.

AdWords uses a host of targeting and relevancy signals to determine the best ads for each query. However, sometimes a user’s query doesn’t provide enough information for us to confidently predict what they want. Take, for example, users who search for “mortgage.” Do they want a new home loan or a refinance? Do they want a fixed rate or an adjustable rate loan? Comparison Ads improves the ad experience on Google.com by letting users specify exactly what they are looking for and helping them quickly compare relevant offers side by side.

With Comparison Ads, you can also target your offers at a more granular level, leading to more valuable, qualified leads. To see how it works, let’s use our mortgage example. Users searching for “mortgage” on Google.com may see a promotion from Comparison Ads prompting them to select the type of loan they are looking for and to compare various rates”

• Don’t be fooled. This is Google’s soft way of saying, “We recognize how many millions of dollars we have been generating for lead generation companies through our engine. Now it’s our turn”. Google is going to attack the mortgage industry first as you can see by the screenshot below, which shows an example of Google comparing mortgage rates from different lenders they have now partnered with. Such a service cuts out major players in this industry such as Lending Tree, who I’m sure you have all heard of. They have been in a heated lawsuit with Google moving into this space since this time last year, when I first heard of this bold attempt. Just how big is this for Google? Well, I can’t say for the mortgage industry because it is not my expertise, but I can give you a comparative example if  Google were to jump into an industry just as powerful, Insurance. NetQuote, one of the industry leaders in providing leads to qualified insurance agents across the country, buys consumer traffic off of Google in hopes that they will fill out one of their forms and that information is then sold off to brokers. NetQuote sells each lead to 5 different agents for $15 a pop. They are generating at or over $100M in revenue a year from lead generation. Google can slip right in and generate this business right away at a fraction of the cost (NetQuote’s biggest expense besides employees is to pay Google). So, now we have mortgage, insurance and I’m sure just around the corner: comparison travel, dentists, doctors, colleges, etc. Pretty much any lead gen driver in the industry right now has something to fear, so long as they are using Google as a major platform to drive their business of buying traffic and reselling forms. No one is safe anymore.

1. Top 10 solar technologies to watch out for.
2. Door opens for Aptera, 3 wheelers to grab DOE green car funds.
3. How Fort Irwin just signed the largest solar farm in the department of defense’s history.
4. After Bitter Feud, hybrid car startup, Greentech plans $6.5 billion plant.
5. Tata Nano increases production to keep up with strong demand.  Like I said, a carbon emissions nightmare.

• This is big.  Not just blogosphere big…..this is complete cultural shift big.
• Yale Physicists have for the first time in history made a definitive measurement of a “persistent current.”
• This persistent current, they describe as a “small but perpetual electric current that flows naturally through tiny rings of metal wire even without an external power source.”
• That’s right folks, a completely sustainable form of energy has been discovered.
• For years, these kind of studies have been covered up and slandered as fringe science and the work of conspiracy theorists, but now, with a school like Yale putting their name behind it, there’s no telling what’s to come next.  Exciting.

• Dow Chemical just announced they’ll be producing consumer-based solar roof shingles by mid-2010.
• The shingles are made of thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide photovoltaic cells
• John Cleereman, Senior Director of Solar Development, has some pretty ambitious goals for the product.  “One day, a person would no more think about buying a house without solar shingles than they would buy a house without plumbing. That is our hope, at least.”
• Sounds like a plan to me.

• George Soros, Hedge-fund manager and billionaire just went green.
• He recently announced that he would be investing over $1 billion of his own cash into clean energy technology.
• Of course, he’s doing this because of the profitability of it all, and what hedge-fund manager would do it for anything else?  Although, he did mention that the investment should “actually make a contribution to solving the problem.”
• Congrats Soros, you’re a winner, now just convince your friends to stop being cheap bastards and do the right thing as well.

• Look at that face.  This man isn’t messing around.  He wants cleantech, and he wants it now.
• That’s why he’s made statements like this; “If it were up to me, I would put every cent into electric cars.”  I like your blunt nature, sir.
• Already, the DOE’s put billions into the auto industry for plug-in vehicles: Ford ($5.9 billion), Nissan ($1.6 billion), Tesla ($465 million) and Fisker ($528 million).
• I know a lot of people don’t like him.  I say, let’s re-visit this topic 3 years down the line, I think they’ll be singing a different tune by then.

• EcoATM, a new startup out of San Diego, just introduced their new e-cycling kiosks.
• First, the machine electronically inspects the phone for damage and automatically give it a real-time secondary market value.  If it’s actually worth something, you can opt for an in-store payment or simply donate the money to your favorite charity.  If the phone’s not worth anything, it goes into the recycling bin.
• EcoATM’s first location at the Nebraska Furniture Mart saw such success that they’ll be installing machines at wireless and big box stores in and around San Diego as well as Washington state and Vermont.
• The company is promising nationwide machines by the 2nd quarter of next year where they’ll be able to accept other gadgets like cameras, laptops, and MP3 players.  What a great startup.

• A new national survey just came out from Kelton Research that shows some serious support for solar power:

92% of Americans think it is important for the nation to develop and use solar energy. This was consistent across all political party affiliations.

77% of Americans feel the Federal government should make solar power development a national priority, including the financial support needed.

Almost half (49%) of all Americans are currently pondering solar power options for their home or business.

43% of Americans make solar their top energy source, followed far behind by other sources including their second choice, wind (17%).

• That’s pretty awesome.  Progress is coming.

• GM just sold 80% of the Hummer brand to Tengzhong and 20% to a private investor for $150 million.  They apparently have plans to manufacture a “green” hummer.  Good luck with that.