energy

Google has created a $75 million fund with Clean Power Finance, a company that offers financing for residential solar panel installations.

The investment will enable 10,000 homeowners to install solar panels on their homes.

The upfront cost is the largest obstacle to installing residential solar panels, and solar installation companies don't always have the means to offer financing. Clean Power Finance seeks to overcome that hurdle by offering installers a way to provide financing to potential customers, while also giving companies without ties to the solar community a way to invest in the industry.

Google, the investor in … Read more

OneRoof Solar is offering a new twist on the solar lease: when you replace your roof, you can get integrated solar panels with no incremental cost.

The company today announced it raised a $50 million series A round led by the solar arm of Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group. The company also said it has secured the funding to finance solar installations at residential customers.

Solar leases, which are available in about 20 states now, have quickly become a popular way to have solar photovoltaic panels installed. Instead of purchasing the panels, homeowners pay a monthly fee and the solar installer … Read more

Ever wondered what we could do with those annoying used coffee grounds?

Engineer Martin Bacon and a group of volunteers from Teesdale Conservation in Durham, England, have been hard at work making those often-overlooked grinds into something special: gas for a speedy coffee-powered car.

This is not a joke; in fact, the car earlier this month broke a Guinness World Record "for vehicles run on gas from organic waste," according to the BBC. The coffee car--a modified Rover SD1--topped out at 77.5 miles per hour and hit average speeds of 66.5 mph after many modifications, including the removal of more than 550 pounds of excess weight from inside the vehicle.

The previous speed record in this category was 47.7 mph, set by the wood-burning Beaver XR7 in 2010. … Read more

It's been said that utilities see electric vehicles as batteries on wheels. A university project to use electric cars to stabilize the grid has brought utility NRG to put that idea to the test.

NRG Energy said today that it will partner with eV2g, a project developed at the University of Delaware to earn EV drivers money by providing services to grid operators. The technology behind the system is being developed by University of Delaware professor Willett Kempton.

The system treats a network of electric or hybrid electric vehicle batteries as a distributed energy source. Plugged-in vehicles provide a … Read more

Outside of the battle between iPhone fans and Android advocates, few debates in the cell phone world are more divisive than that over whether the radio frequency (RF) energy emitted by cell phones is harmful. Though the industry and some members of the scientific community insist that there is no danger, other researchers and a growing number of public officials believe that there is cause for concern. No consensus exists, and as CNET has reported, any agreement or firm evidence may not come for a long time, if it does at all.

In the meantime, some CNET readers will feel more comfortable erring on the side of caution. If you're concerned, you can use a headset, text instead of talk, and limit calls when your carrier signal is low (more RF energy is emitted when a phone is working harder to reach a tower). Yet, since that advice isn't always practical, Pong Research has another solution, with a case that is designed to refocus RF energy, or radiation, away from your head while not reducing signal strength. So in other words, you can use your phone just as you normally would.

If you think that sounds like pseudoscience, I don't blame you. Honestly, I've never taken seriously the cheap radiation "shields" that you can find online. Usually nothing more than tiny stickers, I didn't believe that they did anything, except spread a false peace of mind. Few of the products backed up their claims with solid proof, and, even worse, some can actually interfere with your cell phone's signal. That's why I was pretty skeptical when I first heard of the Pong case. But as it turns out, the company has done its homework. … Read more

WASHINGTON D.C.--The smart grid was hyped and then deflated. Now, it's looking to rebound, this time with consumers along for the ride.

Consumer "engagement" is a persistent theme at the GridWeek conference here, where people said new grid technologies need to be made relevant to consumers.

Smart-grid technology is already bringing more information about energy usage, shortening power outages, or generating tips to improve home efficiency. The problem is that many advanced services are only offered to small groups of people as part of pilot programs.

So what will it take to speed up the … Read more

WASHINGTON D.C.--Best Buy plans to start selling home energy management products in stores later this year, creating a channel to introduce consumers to emerging grid technologies.

The consumer electronics retailer in late October will start a trial in which three stores will have dedicated areas to demonstrate and explain a range of home energy technologies, said Kris Bowring, senior director and platform lead for home energy at Best Buy, at the GridWeek conference here yesterday.

The choice of products has not yet been finalized but there will be a variety, ranging from simple whole-house energy monitors to a … Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The gateway to controlling home energy--the thermostat--is joining the Internet in the name of better and more customized energy efficiency.

Thermostat maker Honeywell today announced a partnership to develop a product platform with Opower, which provides customized home energy efficiency recommendations by analyzing home energy patterns.

Products from the collaboration will be ready for testing with utilities in the next few months, according to representatives from the company. The deal was announced at the GridWeek conference here.

The companies were cagey on precise details about the product, but said it will combine Opower's energy efficiency recommendation … Read more

Aquion Energy, a developer of nontoxic batteries, announced today it has raised $30 million in venture capital funding.

Investors in this round of funding include Foundation Capital, TriplePoint Capital, Advanced Technology Ventures, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.

The company previously was operating on venture funding from Kleiner, as well as a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Pittsburgh, Penn. start-up, which grew from a Carnegie Mellon University research project, has been developing grid-scale energy storage without the use of "hazardous materials, corrosive acids, or noxious fumes," according to Aquion.

Specifically, Aquion Energy has developed … Read more