Green Tech

An economic stimulus plan passed the Senate on Thursday without extending an important tax credit for the solar and wind industries.

Renewable energy companies and advocates were bitterly disappointed late last year with the passage of the Energy Act, which did not extend an investment tax credit. It would have been funded by repealing an existing tax break to oil companies.

Right now, renewable energy projects receive a federal tax credit once they are completed, but that provision runs out at the end of 2008.

On Thursday, the Senate again left out the tax credit extension, which solar and wind … Read more

Real Goods Solar, which installs solar panels on homeowners' rooftops, filed paperwork on Thursday to go public with the goal of raising up to $57.5 million.

The company, now a subsidiary of environmental lifestyle company Gaiam, said it is the largest installer of grid-connected solar panels in California. It also operates in Colorado, where it is based.

The company was founded by John Schaeffer, who learned about solar electricity while living off-grid in a California commune in the 1970s.

It had revenues of almost $19 million last year. Including revenue from two installers it acquired, it had estimated 2007 … Read more

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--It's going to take one big pile of money and a lot of work to go green, according to CEOs of two of the country's larger utilities.

By 2020, approximately $750 billion to $800 billion will have to be invested in the electrical grid and generating infrastructure, said Jeff Sterba, CEO of PNM Resources at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place here. That's as much as has been invested in the grid to date.

"In 13 years, we will double the amount of investment that has ever been made," he said. … Read more

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Nuclear fusion will move from the lab to reality in a few years, a noted venture capitalist says.

"Within five years, large companies will start to think about building fusion reactors," Wal van Lierop, CEO of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, said in an interview at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place here this week. In three to four years, scientists will demonstrate results that show that fusion has a 60 percent chance of success, he said.

If van Lierop were some crazy guy off the street with an old stack of Omni magazines, you … Read more

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Jails or jobs. Those are the terms of a battle over a plot of land in the South Bronx, according to activist Majora Carter.

The Sustainable South Bronx, a community group focused on cleaning up poor communities, is trying to build a green industrial park on a 25-acre piece of land in a blighted section of the Bronx slated for redevelopment. The idea is to draw in companies that will make solar panels from solar cells and/or "green roofs" (lawns that are put on top of apartment buildings). The development will create jobs in … Read more

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Twelve other states are examining ways to implement the strategy adopted by California in getting utilities to separate profits from energy production, according to Terry Tamminen, the Cullinan Senior Fellow at the New America foundation and the former secretary of California's EPA.

California implemented regulations that encourage utilities to conserve energy by tying profits to conservation rather than selling power years ago, he said during a presentation at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place here this week.

And the results are fairly dramatic. The average Californian consumes about 6,700 kilowatt hours of electricity a … Read more

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Tesla Motors is contemplating selling the drivetrains and software components necessary to build electric cars to other companies.

The company will probably come out with an announcement on this initiative in the second quarter of this year, and parts and software from Tesla could start shipping to other carmakers by 2010 or earlier, said Tesla Chairman Elon Musk during an interview at the Clean Tech Investor Summit taking place this week in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs. Of course, any third-party deals will depend on Tesla's success in getting its own cars on the road. The … Read more

Year-and-a-half-old ethanol company Coskata made its public debut at the North American international Auto Show in Detroit in January, where it announced a partnership with General Motors.

On Wednesday, Coskata said it has signed a deal with ICM to manufacture a cellulosic ethanol plant that will be up and running by 2010.

ICM is an ethanol plant design and engineering firm responsible for about half of North American ethanol production, according to the companies.

When he announced the GM deal, Coskata President and CEO Bill Roe said that the company will be signed on to many partnerships to commercialize its … Read more

WASHINGTON--Dell chief Michael Dell and other high-profile technology company CEOs descended on the nation's capital Wednesday with a message for policymakers: do more to encourage energy-efficient practices, but don't spell out specific standards for the products that companies like theirs build.

On behalf of a lobby group known as the Technology CEO Council, Dell, EMC chief Joe Tucci, and Applied Materials head Mike Splinter suggested the government should do more to "lead by example." They said it can do that by reevaluating its own power consumption, setting "high goals" for energy efficiency, awarding presidential … Read more