Energy efficiency

It's not often that I handle a ton of anything but I recently took delivery of 2 tons of wood pellets for home heating. Pellets aren't perfect but I see them as one of the ways consumers can diversify their energy sources and "go green" on a personal level.

The pellets, which are compressed sawdust, come in 40-pound bags stacked about 5 feet high on wood pallets. Those 2 tons, stashed in my garage until the cold weather hits, will cover the bulk of my household heating needs for the coming season.

It happened to be … Read more

It's no secret to anyone following green tech that the Department of Defense has taken a particular interest in advanced biofuels, vehicle fuel efficiency, renewable energy, and building efficiency. But many may not realize to what extent the DOD has changed its policy, or the large impact this shift is going to have on the economy, according to a report released yesterday afternoon by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The report (PDF) asserts that the DOD is one of the world's largest institutional consumers of fossil fuels, consuming 300,000 barrels of oil a day in 2009. The DOD's energy cost for 2010 was $15.2 billion (PDF) … Read more

Now there's an app to tell you how to make commercial buildings more energy efficient.

Startup FirstFuel announced today it has raised $2.4 million from venture capital companies Nth Power and Battery Ventures to commercialize a software system to remotely evaluate and measure commercial building efficiency.

What's unusual about the application is that it doesn't require a person to be dispatched to perform an energy audit or install meters to gather data. Instead, the company collects utility data on hourly energy consumption and combines it with weather information to create a profile of a specific building. … Read more

Second-quarter U.S. installations of photovoltaic solar panels rose 17 percent from the previous quarter as increases in non-residential and utility-scale projects offset a weakened residential solar market.

Installations were also up 69 percent from the same period the previous year at 314 megawatts, according to a report released today by industry trade group the Solar Energy Industries Association and research firm GTM Research.

Installations are poised to double this year, though SEIA said it revised its outlook for the residential and utility segments while raising its non-residential market forecast.

"We have to step back and remember that we are in some dire economic times, and to see 17 percent quarter-over-quarter growth and 69 percent year-over-year growth is really quite astounding," said Tom Kimbis, vice president for strategy and external affairs at SEIA.

Solar module prices fell 12 percent in the United States during the quarter--bringing the decline for the year to about 30 percent, the report said, adding that without that decline, U.S. installations may have been flat this year.

"We're benefiting from competition. It's driving some companies out of business, but on the other hand it's a real boon for homeowners and small businesses who want to install solar," Kimbis said. … Read more

Raytheon this morning said that it has passed a major milestone in its bid to win a multi-billion dollar U.S. Navy radar contract.

The Tewksbury, Massachusetts military contract is currently competing against Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the lucrative contract to provide next-generation Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) technology for the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. As part of its efforts to win the deal, Raytheon has just surpassed 1,000 hours of degradation-free testing on its Gallium Nitride transmit/receive modules. Completing the 1,000 hours of testing, during which the modules were said to have … Read more

Calisolar announced today it's firing 80 workers from its polysilicon solar-cell manufacturing plant in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The solar start-up, which was founded in 2006, has more than 350 employees, according to the company Web site.

As with many solar manufacturers, Calisolar has been plagued by a price war against cheaper solar cells made by foreign manufacturers. Solar cell prices have dropped drastically in the last year, forcing companies like Evergreen Solar and Solyndra to file for bankruptcy.

But in this case, the job loss in California may be balanced out by job creation by the company in Mississippi.

Calisolar … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--In 20 years, a majority of new cars will be electric and the world's single largest source of energy will be solar power, Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said today.

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference here, the 40-year-old billionaire co-founder of PayPal shared his vision of the future, and also gave the room full of would-be entrepreneurs some sobering advice about what they should expect when trying to get companies off the ground.

"Expect it to be difficult," Musk said. "A friend phrased it well: 'Starting a company is like eating glass … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--In a "fireside chat" at TechCrunch Disrupt today, Silicon Valley venture capital guru John Doerr announced the launch of Erly, a new social network built around "experiences."

Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner who is considered among the most important VCs in Silicon Valley, said during an interview by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington that Erly was built around the idea of "a different kind of interaction, an experience graph." Erly was founded by Eric Feng, the founder of Hulu (who was also a Kleiner, Perkins partner).

Erly's first product is … 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