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cleantech
Posts Tagged “
cleantech
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marketing
Neil Young versus the bloggers at JavaOne
As part of Neil Young's appearance at Sun's JavaOne conference, groups of hacks were herded into a conference room to ask questions of the aging rock legend, presumably about how awesome Java is, but I think the plan is that Java is just awesome because Young says so, and he trotted out an expansive interactive discography powered by the Java functionality built into Sony's Blu-ray hardware and a clean car project with telemetrics powered by Sun-sponsored software. Because I doubt there's anything baby boomer executives and the formerly flannel-shirted Gen-X set they spawned like more than getting the most out of their cars and home theater systems. Except maybe hearing Young pontificate on the virtues of an all-analog recording process. More »
cleantech
Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up to Tesla dealership opening
A coterie of B-list celebritards including Jenny McCarthy and Darryl Hannah, as well as California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, showed up to an opening party for the new Tesla Motors dealership on Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood last week. Why LA and not the Valley? "Because it's Hollywood and glamorous, this is the flagship store," Tesla client services manager Jeremy Snyder told the AP. The next dealership will be built in San Carlos, home of Tesla Motors. The $2 million showroom is based on an Apple retail outlet, according to CEO Elon Musk. While the 400-strong waiting list, including the Governator, means you can't actually drive away in a new Tesla roadster until 2009 at the earliest, you can at least ogle the floor models and maybe convince one of the Tesla employees on hand to let you take one for a test drive. Better you behind the wheel than Musk — his driving record's not so clean. (Photo by AP/Mark J. Terrill)
van jones
Oakland activist sells cleantech as jobs machine
Treehuggers proclaim the threat of environmental catastrophe with rapturous religiosity. The eyes of Valley capitalists bulge at the windfall that awaits who can find a renewable energy solution cheaper than fossil fuels. But East Bay community activist Van Jones is preaching the sermon of jobs, and that's what will win the popular and political will to build the kind of modern, clean-energy infrastructure California and the rest of the country so desperately need. Says Jones:Say a bunch of guys in the carpenter's union don't know how to work with bamboo. Well, here are some young people who have been trained to work with bamboo. Suddenly, rather than them being in the back of the line for the less-skilled blue-collar jobs, these kids have the advantage.But that raises the question of whether these "green-collar" workers will enjoy the benefits their "blue-collar" grandparents did. And what will happen when they've tiled all available roofs with photovoltaic cells? More »
google
Larry Page says be like Thomas Edison, not Nikola Tesla
While taking risks is valuable, it's only those who can successfully commercialize their breakthrough ideas who will succeed, Google cofounder Larry Page told Fortune in a feature interview.You also need some leadership skills. You don't want to be Tesla. He was one of the greatest inventors, but it's a sad, sad story. He couldn't commercialize anything, he could barely fund his own research. You'd want to be more like Edison. If you invent something, that doesn't necessarily help anybody. You've got to actually get it into the world; you've got to produce, make money doing it so you can fund it.In other words, it's not enough to innovate — you need to make a profit, too. Further nuggets of wisdom from the paper billionaire after the jump. More »
Kleiner Perkins closes $500 million green growth fund
John Doerr has closed a half-billion dollars in capital for the new Kleiner Perkins cleantech growth fund, with buddy Al Gore kicking in some dough from his Generation Investment deal. [CNet] (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)
cleantech
Al Gore has another $683 million to spend on climate projects
Former U.S. vice president Al Gore will chair a new $683 million Climate Solutions Fund from Generation Investment Management. The money will be used to seed public and private companies in long-term investments in carbon markets, renewable energy and cleaner fossil fuel use. Generation includes Gore's BFF John Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist, on its advisory board, and has partnered with Doerr's firm in the past. Doerr and Gore are currently raising another $400 million late-stage investment fund for Kleiner. Preaching climate-change end-times sermons can get the creative-capitalist congregation to dig deep when the collection plate comes around.
IBM researcher plugs house into Twitter for energy usage updates
It's only a matter of time before the inanimate home of inventor Andy Stanford-Clark somehow pisses off TechCrunch publisher Michael Arrington and feels the wrath of "@andy_house blocked." [Earth2Tech]
2009 toyota prius
New hybrid Prius to conspicuously consume slightly less gas
Details have emerged about the latest model of the Valley's most self-righteous ride, the 2009 Toyota Prius, which hasn't been significantly updated since 2004. It will reportedly be longer, faster and more fuel-efficient. Also, the range of available models is expected to grow — anything from a smaller coupe to a larger, Lexus-like luxury sedan. What's not mentioned? More »
cleantech
Al Gore, Kleiner Perkins raising $400 million green fund
John Doerr and Al Gore have been taking their pitch for a new $400 million environment-friendly venture fund to prospective limited partners, and have already hired a veteran investment manager from Goldman Sachs to run it. This fund, which would invest in late-stage — that is, larger — clean energy and carbon reduction projects, comes in addition to the money already reserved for cleantech in KP's $600 million early-stage investment warchest. Helping to scale electric car manufacturing comes to mind — KP just threw some money at Norway's Think Global. And existing ethanol distillers could also benefit. After all, that kind of money would certainly buy a whole lot of Brazilian slave labor. (Photo by AP/Graham Hughes)
cleantech
Think electric cars coming to America
Norwegian electronic car manufacturer Think Global will ship 50,000 units to American customers, reports Alarm Clock. How much will this cleantech toy with a top speed of 65 mph set you back? $30,000. But hey, think of all the money you won't be spending on gas when you plug the car into our coal-fired power grid. The news comes as Think also announced funding from Kleiner Perkins, which presumably set the VC firm back more than $30,000. Video of the twee coupe zipping around Paris and London after the jump. More »
confirmed
On Earth Day, Yahoo dumps "Green Guzzler" shuttles
Yahoo has indeed axed its San Francisco-to-Sunnyvale shuttles, a tipster tells us, confirming a longstanding rumor. Ah, but here's the twist: Yahoo has replaced earth-friendly biodiesel buses from Compass Transportation with vehicles from Bauer's Limo. No one told Yahoo's purchasing department that today is Earth day. Bauer's also supplies Google with shuttles, but according to our tipster, Yahoo is getting the dregs of its fleet: More »
mine is greener
Prius drivers officially crowned with smug-emitting halos by Salon
In a blow to environmentally conscious socialists who espouse the frugal, sustainable sensibility of Cuban car culture, Salon's Pablo Päster has done the journalist math. It turns out that a brand-spanking-new Toyota Prius is more energy efficient over the expected lifetime of the vehicle than an old beater Mercedes from Daimler-Benz. What Päster doesn't take into account are alternative energy retrofits to classic cars, like MTV's pimping out of a Chevy Impala to run on biodiesel, like the one picture above. Because while a twee Prius might say "enviromentally conscious" to Stuff White People Like readers, Stuff White People Do readers (myself included) would much rather cruise El Camino Real in a biodiesel-fueled lowrider, mijo.
cleantech
How to get Gavin Newsom to give you taxpayer dollars
San Francisco's evil Board of Supervisors is standing in the way of hunky god-mayor Gavin Newsom and his efforts to save the world by giving thousands of dollars to San Francisco home and business owners to install solar panels on their property, if you believe the San Francisco Chronicle. This should give Valley privateers a good idea of how to work with City Hall. Need to divert public money to the private sector, get a few laws changed, and at least win favor with our possible future governor? All it takes if five easy steps. More »
exits
Longtime CNET editor Michael Kanellos leaving for Greentech Media
CNET editor-at-large Michael Kanellos is leaving for a post at the Oakland office of Greentech Media according to a tipster. Kanellos has been with the company for 12 years, and recently added cleantech stories to his beat. While no editorial staff were handed pink slips in the last round of CNET layoffs, Kanellos may have taken a look at the green tea leaves and left before the company had the chance. As for the promise of cleantech media? We suspect he's hedging his bets. Greentech is more an analyst shop than a publisher, and enviro-mad VCs who pay for research reports are a surer source of revenue than advertisers.
cleantech
U.S. imperialism can now run on biodiesel
San Francisco cleantech startup Solazyme, which manufactures "Soladiesel" from genetically engineered algae grown in tanks warmed by solar heat, recently completed a successful test running heavy-duty vehicles on its homebrewed fuel, according to a press release. R. James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, arrived at the DESC Energy Conference in Arlington, Virginia in a Ford F-450 with a stock diesel engine powered entirely by Solazyme's B100 all-biodiesel blend. Which means that it can begin powering M1 Abrams tanks that measure fuel use in gallons-per-mile. The tests conducted by the Department of Defense concluded that Solazyme's concoction operates better than existing biofuels in cold temperatures. In other words, look out, Canada.
cleantech
Tesla finds the electric car business is a litigious one
The New York Times reported earlier today that local electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors is suing Fisker Automotive, alleging breach of contract by a designer who took his trade secrets to the upstart rival. Earth2Tech pointed out that the two startup automakers are the pet projects of rival VCs, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson on Tesla's side and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers on Fisker's, making for a classic Valley catfight. But that's not the only case bedeviling Tesla. More »
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