In previous posts here and here I discussed a companion lawsuit to the major GE-Mitsubishi wind patent litigation in which GE and a former employee are fighting over the rights to certain wind turbine technology.

In that suit, filed in the Eastern District of California, GE accused Thomas Wilkins, an electrical engineer (more…)

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been successfully testing a breakthrough biofuel at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. The biofuel, made by California-based Cool Planet Energy Systems, is produced using a “carbon negative” process that actually removes carbon from the atmosphere during the course of production. (more…)

Green continues to be a dominant shade of innovation in the automotive sector as 2013 looks to be a banner year for vehicle efficiency. According to AutoTrader.com, total shopper interest for alternative fuel and highly fuel-efficient models is up 54 percent so far in 2012. This year’s LA Auto Show ® reflects this trend and will host significant debuts in electric, (more…)

A generation of businesspeople is emerging that is primed to change the way consumers consume. These businesspeople are both technologically literate and have a conscience to act sustainably beside their business ambitions.

The previous generation of consumers were sold to (more…)

Bill Powers, of Solar Done Right, tells Business Week in a timely article about the political hitches holding solar back in the U.S., that “economically and technologically, the game is over. The hang-ups in the U.S. are strictly political,” he said. Oil and gas still dominate the agenda of the political debate and alternative energy is treated with a certain indifference. (more…)

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently shut down an anti-wind power ad run by the Trump Organization and Communities Against Turbines Scotland on the grounds that the picture and text of the ad were misleading (see the Treehugger piece here).

The ad (reproduced below) said “Welcome to (more…)

Will new technologies democratize energy much the way the Internet did information?

Industry movement seems to point in that direction with the rise of the smart grid, time-of-day pricing, distributed solar, and the electric vehicle. Together these technologies offer a vision of a less centralized energy system, one where communities and households ‘vote in’ or shape the (more…)

Recently, I spoke on an online dialogue about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Canada and had an audience member asked me about how business’ CSR investments will be affected by the economic downturn. This great question is one that numerous professionals are concerned with as they move into budget season… (more…)

From solar-in-a-suitcase to super-efficient irrigation systems, my time at the CleanTech Open’s North Central awards show proved that the U.S. has no shortage of innovators, entrepreneurs, or passion. I came away feeling hopeful about our future, patriotic about the diversity of our country, and humbled by the perseverance of our entrepreneurs. (more…)

As one can imagine, the law firms that work for the renewable energy industry are quite busy in helping their clients navigate the issues that surround the development of major projects, whether they’re in solar, wind, biomass, etc. The large law firm Stoel Rives specializes in this space, and was good enough to speak with me at length at last month’s (more…)