Jim Conca
APRIL 20, 2014
Can we stop pretending biofuel from corn is helping the planet and the environment? The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new report reversing its previous support of biofuels, stating, “Increasing bioenergy crop cultivation poses risks to ecosystems and biodiversity” and “[Use of biofuels]…can lead to greater total emissions than when using petroleum products.”.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 23, 2014
Correction appended February 26 You can measure a winter in many ways: temperature records, snow cover, even travel delays. But to truly see how frigid this winter has been—at least for the eastern half of the U.S.—you need to go way up. Satellite imagery shows that an incredible 88% of the Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie—are now frozen over.
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Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
Posted by Rosana Francescato. How can we increase the visibility of women in cleantech? And why is it important that we do so? We know that in tech in general, women are underrepresented. The average breakdown is about 30% women to 70% men in tech companies. What’s being done about this? In tech, not much. A recent article in the Atlantic pointed out that although a number of tech companies have finally responded to the many calls to reveal their demographic data, that’s about all they’ve don
Martin LaMonica
JULY 12, 2014
Anybody who follows energy knows that the biggest story, by far, is fracking. The combination of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and horizontal drilling has opened up huge reserves of natural gas, oil, and other hydrocarbons in the U.S. It’s pushed the U.S. closer toward the once-fanciful notion of energy independence and is bringing massive investment as chemical companies seek to take advantage of cheap natural gas.
Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions
In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets.
Cleantech Blog
JANUARY 2, 2014
Every year, Eco-Pro features a particular theme. With the recovery of Fukushima on everyone’s mind and the uncertainty in fossil fuel supply, the focus on 2013 was on renewable energy. In July 2012, the government of Japan introduced a feed-in tariff (FIT) to promote energy generation from renewable resources including solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass.
Better Ventures
DECEMBER 9, 2014
Accelerating the Transition to Solar Energy We are thrilled to announce our seed investment in UtilityAPI , an enterprise software company that is accelerating the worldwide shift to renewable energy by making it easier and more cost effective to switch to solar. The company's API portal service enables solar companies to seamlessly connect to prospective customers' utility accounts and instantly download structured data that is used to better qualify leads and improve the likelihood of a sale.
CleanTech Focus brings together the best content for cleantech professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 12, 2014
When physicists first split the atom in 1938, in the process known as nuclear fission, the feat led very quickly to the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ended World War II. A mere decade or so later this destructive force had been tamed to power the first commercial nuclear power plants. In the late 1940’s, meanwhile, physicists forced atoms to combine against their will to create hydrogen bombs in what’s called nuclear fusion, and they thought they could follow up in the civilian
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 25, 2014
Small volcanic eruptions might be part of the reason why the pace of global warming hasn’t kept up with previous predictions, a new study published in Nature Nature Geoscience suggests. Eruptions of at least 17 volcanoes since 2000, including Kasatochi in Alaska and Merapi in Indonesia, seem to have had a cooling influence on the temperature of the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 28, 2014
Invasive species aren’t just species — they can also be pathogens. Such is the case with the West Nile virus. A mosquito-borne virus identified in the West Nile subregion in Uganda in 1937 — hence the name — West Nile wasn’t much of a concern to people elsewhere until it broke out of Africa in 1999. The first U.S. cases were confirmed in New York City in 1999, and it has now spread throughout much of the world.
TIME Ecocentric
MARCH 4, 2014
All it takes is a trip to the closest Whole Foods to discover how much more varied the offerings of an American grocery store have become in recent years. Organic asparagus from Mexico, papaya from Hawaii, dry scallops from Nantucket Bay—the foodstuffs available to American consumers have never been more diverse. And on a country by country basis, that diversity is growing around the world, as people take advantage of economic growth and urbanization to move away from basic staples like rice and
Speaker: Ayesha Choudhury - Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets at Infinium
With the first wave of the energy transition, renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) have begun replacing coal power generation. However, some sectors are lagging behind and struggling to decarbonize more than others, including large-scale transportation like commercial aviation, shipping, and rail transit. Electrofuels (aka eFuels) are the next generation of solutions to help the hardest-to-abate sectors pivot from their reliance on fossil fuels.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
I’m just going to say it: Los Angeles is abuzz over urban beekeeping. For years the city has had a thriving underground beekeeping culture, with hives kept in backyards by Los Angelenos who want their honey extra local. It’s part of a national trend that has even luxury hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria in New York keeping bees on city roofs or in tiny urban backyards.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
It’s been a shaky week in Oklahoma. The Sooner State has experienced more than 150 earthquakes over the past week, far more than the Okies usually get. And while the vast majority of the quakes were fairly minor, one, on Feb. 16 measured 3.8 on the Richter scale, followed by a number of aftershocks. There’s been little damage reported, but the quakes jolted folks in a part of the country who aren’t accustomed to the Earth moving under their feet. “[It] felt like bombs goi
TIME Ecocentric
MARCH 5, 2014
You don’t get any brighter than the reflecting mirrors at the just-opened Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, in California‘s Mojave desert. When I visited the project back in May, I was warned not to look directly at the mirrors, lest my eyeballs end up as scorched as some of the birds that have flown through the 1,000° F-plus (538° C) heat generated by the solar towers.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 14, 2014
President Obama will get to see California‘s disastrous drought first hand today on a visit to the farming city of Fresno. It won’t be a pretty sight. While the conditions are arid across the state, with 91.6% of California in severe to exceptional drought, agricultural areas are suffering the worst. The state’s Central Valley has long been the fruit and vegetable basket of the country, growing nearly half of U.S. produce.
Speaker: Nik Gowing, Brenda Laurel, Sheridan Tatsuno, Archie Kasnet, and Bruce Armstrong Taylor
With 191 country signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement now hard at work in the race to zero carbon by 2050, much of the heavy lifting in ecosystem sustainability falls on the shoulders of the world's densely populated urban centers. This conversation considers how today's AI-enabled simulation media, such as AR/VR, can be effectively applied to accelerate learning, understanding, training, and solutions-modeling to sustainability planning and design.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 24, 2014
How extreme is the drought in California? Right now the federal government says that every square mile of California is in some state of drought—and 14.62% of the state, concentrated in central California’s agricultural heartland, is in the most extreme state of exceptional drought. Rainfall in some of the most populated parts of the state have been all but nonexistent—since July 1, San Francisco has experienced just 5.85 inches of rain, about 35% of what’s normal, and Los Angeles ha
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
Leading nations gathered in London this week for the highest-level meeting ever to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife products. Illegal wildlife trafficking—the unlawful slaughter of endangered animals to trade their valuable parts—has risen alarmingly in recent years. Campaigners estimate that more than 30,000 elephants were killed in Africa last year for their ivory and 1,000 rhinos killed in South Africa alone, an increase of some 5,000%.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 25, 2014
If there was one thing that seemed certain in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in 2011—the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl—it was that nuclear power in Japan and the rest of the world was in major trouble. Japan, which before Fukushima had generated 30% of its electricity from nuclear, eventually took all of its 50 commercial reactors offline to pass new safety tests.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
I should be in Florida. I was supposed to fly to Miami from New York this morning to report a magazine story, but my flight, along with more than 12,000 others, was cancelled thanks to the massive winter storm currently ravaging the East Coast. So instead I wound up staying home, helping my injured girlfriend wade through the snow to the doctor’s office, struggling through the latest storm in the winter that will never end.
Speaker: Bruce Armstrong Taylor, Co-Founder & Managing Director of SmartNations Foundation, Jimmy Jia, Venture Partner at Pi Labs, Fabienne Durand, Senior Advisor to the SmartNations Foundation, & Roger Strukhoff, Executive Director of the Tau Institute
The Climate 4.0 Economy. Climate change is here. We see it in many ways already. Weather catastrophes: Texas freezing over, the wildfires of California, the increasingly unpredictable violence and frequency of hurricanes, the rapid melting and disappearance of polar ice caps. Much more evidence all around us. What can we do in our corporate organizations, in our homes and communities, to change the current course?
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 12, 2014
How severe is the combination snow and ice storm whiplashing the Southeast today? At 7 AM today a weather balloon was launched from Atlanta, to aid meteorologists in determining just how badly screwed the Peach State was. (Answer: very.) Heavy ice began to accumulate on the balloon, until it was finally lost at about 12,500 ft. (3,810 m) above the ground.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 11, 2014
Wildlife trafficking—the illegal killing of endangered animals and international trade in their parts—isn’t just a conservation problem. It’s a worldwide threat, one tied to global crime syndicates and international terrorism. So it’s good to see the U.S.—the second-biggest market for legal and illegal ivory after China— beginning to take the problem more seriously.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 17, 2014
Britons are normally never more comfortable than when talking about the weather, but recent extreme weather events have began to test that theory. Since December, the U.K. has faced a relentless assault from some of the worst winter weather on record. It began with the worst storm and tidal surges in 60 years hitting the North Sea coastline, floods that ruined Christmas for thousands across Surrey and Dorset and in January, the most exceptional period of rainfall since 1766.
TIME Ecocentric
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
There’s never a bad time to be named CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but when Ellen Kullman took over the 211-year-old DuPont at the beginning of 2009, things could have been better. The global economy was tanking, sales were dropping and the future was hazy. Fast forward five years later, though, and DuPont is surging. Kullman has transitioned the company away from some of its traditional fields—including the performance chemicals business, best known for its nonstick frying pans and paints
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
DECEMBER 17, 2014
Posted by Guest Contributor By Lindsay Wood “I have to write a blog” to “I get to write a blog” to “this blog is going to write me” – these are the thoughts that come to mind when sitting down at the control panel of my life … my MacBook Air and my brand new 27” screen. What makes it look so good? LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. Everyone with a smartphone has LEDs.
Better Ventures
DECEMBER 2, 2014
Computer Vision Technology Saves Lives Through Safer Roads We are pleased to announce our seed investment in Augary , a company that saves lives by using computer vision and artificial intelligence to help fleets drive more safely while capturing valuable visual information about the world. The company's software uses smart phone cameras to help drivers detect common driving hazards including following distance, inadvertent lane changing, and exceeding posted speed limits.
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
NOVEMBER 18, 2014
Posted by Guest Contributor By Christie McCarthy Originally published on the Vista Solar blog Advanced nations are beginning to understand this phenomenon: that healthy economies cannot exist without the contributions of women; and to the extent that women thrive, countries thrive. As Secretary of State John Kerry says, “women’s issues are not just women’s issues, they’re family issues, they’re economic issues, they’re community issues.
Better Ventures
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
Funding will Catalyze Goal of Deploying $1B in Solar Loans We are thrilled to announce that Better Ventures portfolio company SunFunder recently closed a Series A round with Khosla Impact and a group of existing angel investors. This is a big milestone for SunFunder and marks the next step on their journey to be the leader in emerging market solar finance.
Better Ventures
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
Funding Will Advance Development and Commercialization of Water Condensation Technologies We are excited to report that Better Ventures portfolio company NBD Nano has closed a $5.2M Series A round of financing led by Phoenix Venture Partners , a leading venture firm in advanced materials innovations. Supply Chain Ventures and previous angel investors also participated in the round.
Better Ventures
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
Funding will Scale Sales Acceleration Solutions while Creating Thousands of Fair Wage Jobs Worldwide We are thrilled to report that Better Ventures portfolio company LeadGenius (formerly MobileWorks) has closed a $6M Series A round of financing led by Sierra Ventures. Other participating investors include Kapor Capital, Bee Partners, Sam Altman, 500 Startups, and others.
Better Ventures
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
Two Investments Completed and Actively Seeking New Deals We normally reserve this space for portfolio news, but we wanted to steal the limelight momentarily to announce that we held our first close for Better Ventures Fund II on October 2nd! We're thrilled to welcome a world-class group of investors into our second fund, including Brad Feld (Foundry Group), Tina Ju (Kleiner Perkins China), Arno Harris (Recurrent Energy), John McAteer (Google), Charly and Lisa Kleissner (KL Felicitas), Jason Seat
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
NOVEMBER 12, 2014
Posted by Rosana Francescato What would you do if you found you were living a lifestyle but not a life? If you were Anne Martin, the Reinvention Mentor , you’d set about creating a life you could love – and you’d reinvent yourself. Martin told her law-to-lipstick story at a recent WCS event that had her audience persuaded we too can reinvent ourselves.
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
OCTOBER 28, 2014
Posted by Guest Contributor Why aren’t there more women in solar and other industries related to cleantech and sustainability? This kind of question is being asked across many tech fields. When it comes to cleantech, quite a few areas are still in the process of maturing — and with that maturation comes both a greater awareness of the issue and more initiatives to do something about it.
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
OCTOBER 26, 2014
Posted by Guest Contributor By Pamela Cargill If you’ve ever experienced a career setback during your time in the solar industry and had nowhere to turn, bemoaned the lack of visibility of women and minorities in leadership positions, or felt alone in your career journey, you have an opportunity to shape the future you want to see in supporting the diversity of the solar workforce.
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
OCTOBER 19, 2014
Posted by Rosana Francescato “The metamorphosis is now.” That’s what Lisa Ann Pinkerton, founder of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability, affirmed to a packed room at the first annual WCS Talks. What did she mean by this? We’re facing a change to business as usual, Lisa Ann believes, one that will take us from a top-down way of operating to a new way that can help us save our planet.
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