Green Tech

As eco-buzz grows, survey warns companies of green trap

America's consumers offer a warning to business leaders and marketers looking to ride the green wave: either back your eco-friendly words with socially responsible actions or risk a backlash.

The first major study to combine field observations with a national survey on purchasing behavior and social values has found increasingly conscious consumers who are demanding that companies be transparent about their practices and accountable for their impact on people and the planet.

According to the inaugural BBMG Conscious Consumer Report, nearly 9 in 10 Americans say that the words "conscious consumer" describe them well and that they … Read more

Tesla Roadster: an electric car with a diesel generator

The Tesla Roadster doesn't pollute, but you've got to wonder about the generator.

Tesla Motors is currently allowing prospective buyers to test-drive its all-electric sports cars. The test drives are taking place around the intersection of Skyline Boulevard and Highway 84 going toward La Honda.

I saw the company prep for some test drives while I was on a bike ride on Friday. (Thank you for repaving the road to San Gregorio, California Dept. of Transportation.) The company hauls the car up the hill in a trailer. But what does it also bring? A generator, to charge the … Read more

Software drafted to design greener buildings

CHICAGO--Fewer than half of architects were building with green features in mind five years ago, but 90 percent will be by 2012, according to Autodesk.

Seventy percent of respondents to Autodesk's Green Index survey said client demand is accelerating efforts to design buildings that use less energy, cut material waste, and cost less to operate.

Autodesk, which makes professional, 3D drafting applications, announced at the Greenbuild convention last week that it's developing software, code-named "Project Chicago," to help designers score ratings points from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system run by the U.S. … Read more

Al Gore joins Kleiner Perkins to perk up its green push

Former Vice President and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore has joined venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner to concentrate on green technology investments.

To date, Kleiner Perkins has had something of a mixed record when it comes to clean tech. The firm has invested in Miasole, which recently swapped CEOs and has had to delay products. It is also an investor in EEStor, a mysterious supercapacitor company that has delayed its product and is going through some management changes. The firm has also not been part of some of the early, successful IPOs in clean tech … Read more

Green chemistry--the tech behind a lot of green tech

Green chemistry is a green movement you may not have heard of, but one certainly worth paying attention to.

Over the past month, I got to hear some of the leading lights in the field, notably professors John Warner and Paul Anastas, speak about what green chemistry is and its effects. Click here for the full report.

Chemicals touch so many industries that the ideas behind green chemistry, such as reducing waste and making non-hazardous materials, can be applied very widely--electronics, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, bioplastics, water purification, green buildings, consumer health and care products.

In just one example, Anatsas, professor of … Read more

Next-generation solar electric outfits win NREL awards

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory gave out awards on Thursday to two companies developing solar electric cells they hope will bring a breakthrough in solar panel efficiency.

Top prize went to Wakonda Technologies, based in upstate New York, which is commercializing "virtual single crystal" technology.

The efficiency of converting sunlight to electricity in solar cells made from silicon--the most common material today--are in the 15 percent to 20 percent range. Companies are trying to manufacture cells out of other materials--copper-indium-gallium-diselenide or cadmium-telluride--to be more cost-effective.

The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of commercial cells is expected to improve incrementally over … Read more

Wave power prototype sinks in the sea

Finavera's AquaBuoy prototype is asleep in the deep.

The company placed a 72-foot-long buoy in the waters off of Oregon in September as part of an ongoing effort to assess the commercial potential for wave power. The buoy, however, sunk in 115 feet of water on October 27, according to a report on RenewableEnergyAccess.com.

"It seems to have something to do with the float section of the device," Myke Clark, a Finavera employee, told the Web site. After water started coming in, the bilge pump couldn't get rid of the water fast enough.

T'is … Read more

First Solar's stock: From $20 to $220 in a year

It's official. First Solar is the Google of solar companies.

The Phoenix, Ariz.-based maker of cadmium telluride solar cells and panels has soared past the $200 a share mark. It was up to $230 today and is currently trading at about $219.

Remarkably, First Solar had an initial public offering in the middle of November 2006. The stock went out at $20 a share, so effectively, it has gone up in value by 11 times in a little less than a year. Google went out at $85 a few years ago and is now above $700. The numbers … Read more

Solar ships coming to San Francisco in 2009

In two years, tourists will likely be traveling to Alcatraz on green energy.

Australia's Solar Sailor has come up with a way to make large solar panels that can also act like sails. Put one or more of the sails on a boat and the boat gets converted into a hybrid. The boat still has a diesel engine, but it mostly gets around on wind or sun power. A tour boat in Sydney Harbor has an array of eight small solar sails.

"It makes three runs a day and uses 1/10th of the fuel," says CEO … Read more