technology

The World Community Grid sets its sights — and processing power — on clean energy

IBM’s World Community Grid is a global network of computers linked up to become a single super-computer. The processing power of idling computers is put to use number crunching solutions to AIDS, Dengue Fever, um, Human Proteome Folding, and, now, clean energy: The mission of the Clean Energy Project is to find new materials for […]

Clean coal salesman Joe Lucas shucks and jives for NPR

This NPR story on clean coal is astounding. Pardon the long post, but I had to transcribe several parts of it so you wouldn’t think I’m making it up. The story begins with Al Gore making (and repeating several times) a single point: clean coal — insofar as that means coal power generation that has […]

Review of a converted 3Prong Power plug-in Prius

The world is waiting for the major car companies to offer electric vehicles. But you — you are accustomed to instant gratification. This is America, after all, and you want to plug-in now. Well, you don’t have to wait for the Big Three to get out of their corporate jets and get to work. You […]

Green tech is still selling

I have been quite critical of the mainstream media for using the global recession to attack clean tech. One reason the storyline was lame is that a recession this deep is going to hit all new capital projects. A second reason is that there had been no evidence that clean tech was being harder hit […]

Somebody’s going to get rich

“There is going to be a generation of Googles and Ciscos in the cleantech area. It’s coming.” — Alan Salzman, co-founder and chief executive of VantagePoint Venture Partners, which has more than $1 billion allocated to the clean-tech sector

Electronics, biomimicry, and design advances improve a mature technology

Solar energy sucks up a lot of research attention, partly because solar energy systems still have so much room for improvement. Wind turbines, on the other hand, have been around for over 1,000 years, and although the modern versions are vastly larger and more efficient than their ancient counterparts, the basic concept hasn’t changed much. […]

Google’s CEO is the one person who can engineer the transition

No position under the next administration will be more important for the economy, the environment, and national security than energy secretary. And no one fits the position as perfectly as Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Schmidt recently told the New York Times that he’s not interested in the role of "chief technology officer" in an Obama […]

New program will certify responsible e-waste recyclers

Monday saw the dawn of the e-Stewards Initiative, the first independently accredited certification program for responsible recycling of electronic waste. “By choosing an e-Steward recycler,” explains Sarah Westervelt of the program, “consumers and large businesses are assured that their old computers and TVs will be safely managed, and not simply tossed into a local landfill, […]

John Doerr recommends Bill Joy for chief technologist

Clean energy investor John Doerr advises Barack Obama to hire Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, as the nation’s first chief technology officer (a position Obama has said he’ll create). Doerr also says “the most important thing [Obama]’s got to do is kick-start a huge amount of research and innovation in energy.” Here’s Bill Joy […]