Green Tech

Greenpeace's clean cloud push: Hey, they've got a point

Commentary In its trademark smashmouth style, Greenpeace this week took cloud computing companies to task for using dirty energy -- and then came under fire itself over its methods and assertions.

Whatever Greenpeace's shortcomings, though, its activists have a point.

In the latest event of its "Clean our Cloud" campaign, Greenpeace activists yesterday rappelled off a building near Amazon and Microsoft offices and attached a banner which reads "Amazon, Microsoft: How Clean is Your Cloud?"

Earlier, it released three videos that poke fun at Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft by showing workers shoveling coal into a smoky fire behind scenes more

Nuclear renaissance? More like nuclear standstill

Modern nuclear power designs are safer, but that isn't enough to rekindle the long-sought nuclear renaissance.

One year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, nuclear power is either slogging ahead or at the end of the road, depending on which country you live in. How nuclear grows in the years ahead largely depends on whether new designs can demonstrate better safety and, more importantly, compete on price.

Rather than freeze nuclear's progress, Fukushima simply made it harder to make the case for building new plants, experts say. Indeed, one of the primary barriers to a nuclear renaissance is cheap more

Fukushima, one year later: Safety fears and slow fixes

One year after the worst nuclear disaster in decades reinvigorated fears of nuclear energy in the United States, we're still waiting for the implementation of safety standards intended to address the problem.

In response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan one year ago, a task force created safety recommendations for existing plants to protect against natural disasters, such as earthquakes and floods, and extended loss of power. Final orders are expected soon, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said this week it doesn't expect to be able implement the more

Japan 'astonishingly unprepared' for Fukushima disaster

A panel set up to review the events of last year's nuclear disaster in Japan has released a withering criticism of the country's nuclear industry and the government's response to the crisis.

The investigation details mistakes made in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami one year ago which killed tens of thousands of people in Japan and caused the worst nuclear accident in decades. It was prepared by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation (RJIF), a think tank created last year and funded by individuals and businesses.

The latest version of the report, published today on more

Five things we learned at the ARPA-E Summit

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.--There's good energy at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit.

The conference, held this week and organized by the ARPA-E agency, brings together the movers and shakers in clean-energy technologies who are trying to take inventions from research labs and make them viable commercial products.

So far, no startups which received grants have gone on to become a Google or Apple of green tech. But ARPA-E, which operates with a $180 million budget this year, has had a big impact on entrepreneurship by setting a high bar for technical performance and asking technologists to think big.

Here'more

Gates on energy: IT revolution has warped our minds

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.--Even with the exciting work being done on energy at countless labs and startups, Bill Gates isn't counting on a repeat of what happened with info tech.

Speaking at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit here today, Gates argued that the amount of government funding for energy research and development should be doubled to speed the pace of innovation.

Even with a massive increase in research and other policy mechanisms, such as a tax on carbon emissions, Gates said energy moves slowly just by its nature. Unlike IT, the energy industry is capital-intensive and heavily regulated, and more

Steven Chu puts clean energy on faster learning curve

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.-- Steven Chu is on the hunt for technology breakthroughs that will make renewable energy affordable and thus improve the long-term economic health of the U.S.

During a keynote talk at the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit here today, the Department of Energy secretary used the history of aviation and automobiles to demonstrate how innovations in science, often funded by government, have changed how we live and brought prosperity to the U.S.

Looking ahead, he said rapid advances in renewable energy and storage mean that electricity can be delivered without transmission lines in remote areas of more

Apple planning environmental audits of Chinese supply chain

Apple's Chinese supply chain has come under fire over the years for its allegedly poor environmental record. But according to a new report, Apple now plans to address that with independent audits.

Apple is bringing in independent environmental auditors to at least two supplier factories in China, USA Today reported yesterday, citing environmental activists. Speaking to USA Today, Ma Jun, founder of the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPEA), said that Apple agreed to the reviews in January and will allow auditors in two facilities, possibly starting in March.

The reviews, Ma told USA Today, will focus on the more

Lovins: How to break the fossil fuel deadlock

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--To those who say the world needs dramatic technology breakthroughs to get off of fossil fuels, energy guru Amory Lovins has a succinct answer: integrated design.

Lovins has been working in the trenches of energy and efficiency for more than 30 years, gaining a reputation as a radical thinker able to imagine possibilities others can't. He was here at MIT yesterday giving a presentation on his latest book, "Reinventing Fire" and speaking to entrepreneurs and investors at an event organized by Xconomy.

The book, written by Lovins and colleagues at his "think and do tank" Rocky Mountain more

Gates-backed TerraPower pitches new nuclear tech

To leap to the next generation of nuclear power technology, Bill Gates-backed start-up TerraPower is approaching countries rather than individual utilities or financiers.

Gates last week disclosed that he brought up TerraPower's fourth-generation nuclear power technology with government officials at the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology during a visit to China. "TerrPower is having very good discussions with [China National Nuclear Corporation] and various people in the Chinese government," Gates told the Associated Press.

Bellevue, Wash.-based TerraPower then said that the company has visited energy experts in the U.S. France, India, Japan, Korea and Russia, but more