In the venture capital community, one hears a great deal about “technology risk.” In my most recent meeting with Ray Lane, Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins a few months ago, he told me: “We want all technology risk removed before we put more than a few million dollars into a deal.” (more…)

Most people think of massive wind farms when they think of wind power. But there’s a small revolution going on, and one that some people are, quite literally, screaming from the rooftops about.

One small wind technology recently appeared in Time Magazine’s list of Top 20 Green Tech Ideas. (more…)

Primus Power is a Hayward, California, startup that makes flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage. A flow battery is a type of rechargeable battery that works by the flow of electrolytes through an electrochemical cell, which converts the chemical energy to electricity. (more…)

Part of the events at the Electric Drive Transportation Association’s conference here in Washington DC was a press conference in which a few dozen of the currently- and soon-to-be-available EVs were displayed outside the Department of Energy Building. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and a few others spoke to an enthusiastic audience. (more…)

Besides being good for the environment for reducing emissions and being a renewable source of power, wind energy also uses less water than other types of power generation, stated the American Wind Energy Association recently.

This is an important aspect of energy generation (more…)

The high tech industry will play a significant role in the battle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as long as the Internet remains a level playing field. The opportunities for software companies to innovate in the energy generation and energy efficiency sectors are substantial if the priority of traffic over the Internet remains neutral (i.e., the FCC adopts net neutrality rules).

The smart grid is the main prerequisite to the Internet’s involvement in energy. The Obama Administration recently announced $3.4 billion in the development of the smart grid and related technologies. Much of these funds went directly to utilities to provide smart meters in homes and businesses. Southern California Edison has already started its rollout of smart meters under a program called SmartConnect; they hope to have 5 million smart meters active by 2012.

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