Walmart To Install Solar on 27 Massachusetts Stores by 2014
With the announcement that it will install solar panels to generate electricity at 27 stores in Massachusetts by 2014, Walmart will become the largest user of solar power in the state, generating more than 10 megawatts of power. Walmart’s move demonstrates how solar energy has grown and become a mainstream part of our energy system....
Upcoming Clean Energy Events in April
Springtime in New England means many things, including a variety of terrific and informative clean energy industry events! We’d like to highlight some of the great events that are taking place locally during the remainder of the month. This Friday, our friends at Foley Hoag will host the latest edition of the Restructuring Roundtable,...
The Push for Clean Energy
Inspired in part by the continuing Solyndra debate and recent comments by the New York Times on the automotive industry’s stance on electric vehicles, a recent Boston Globe Editorial highlights the results of political uncertainty on federal funding on a national and local level. NECEC’s President Peter Rothstein weighed in on the Globe piece, citing those costs. Continuing,...
The Complicated Energy Innovation Challenge
The Energy industry abounds with unique and often conflicting interests. Incumbent players have little incentive to change the status quo because of enormous capital investments in infrastructure, production capacity, and supply chains. Fortunately, scientists and entrepreneurs continue to face these challenges head on, charging ahead to lead a revolution that will be won in incremental...
What Is the Appropriate Role for Government in Cleantech Innovation?
(This post originally appeared at Greentech Media.) It’s not a popular thing to argue right now, but yes, there certainly is a vital role for government in support of cleantech innovation. Let me start by acknowledging that I absolutely understand and quite often agree with the sentiment that government shouldn’t be in the business of...
What’s Going On With Corporate Investors in Cleantech?
(This post originally appeared at GreentechMedia.) Walt Frick posted a good rebuttal to the Wired “cleantech bust” article recently, in which he points out that venture dollars going into the sector remain high. This is true, but as one of my fellow panelists at the Kellogg PE/VC conference yesterday pointed out, a lot of those dollars...
Manufacturing Cleantech in the Bay State
Increasing jobs was a key point in last week’s discussion of the NStar / Northeast Utilities merger, and economic development is a thread throughout two op-eds in yesterday’s Worcester Business Journal by Secretary Rick Sullivan and Clean Energy Council President Peter Rothstein. With wires buzzing around job creation in clean energy, the following is an important point that...
Why I Believe 2012 will be a Record Year for Cleantech Innovation Financing
(Sheeraz Haji is CEO of San-Francisco-based Cleantech Group. This post originally appeared on Cleantech Group’s Cleantech Insights Blog.) The death of cleantech venture capital has been greatly exaggerated. Yes, there were a few massive failures in 2011, and of course it’s been difficult for a number of cleantech venture capitalists to raise funds. However, cleantech...
In Defense of Clean Energy
In the era of Solyndra slurs and of political attacks that ignore or misstate significant clean energy benefits, it’s welcome to see a growing number of thoughtful opinions from the mainstream media. This past weekend, the New York Times took advantage of the post-State of the Union moment to make a strong defense of clean energy policies....
Don’t Worry – Cleantech Will Be Fine
Michael Kanellos had a good piece at GigaOM recently that pushes back against the idea that cleantech is on the decline. Sure, there have been setbacks, but that's the nature of innovation sectors.
Summing up Cleantech VC
If you haven't been reading Matthew Nordan's posts at GigaOM this week on cleantech venture capital you've really been missing out. There are four posts in total, all of which are linked below and I strongly encourage you to take the time and read through all of them. But for those in a rush, here's...
Overcoming Hurdles to Clean Energy Commercialization
In the absence of a global framework for regulating emissions, the future of the planet largely rests on choices by private firms and investors regarding which technologies to pursue and commercialize.