Jiminy Cricket, Tesla Motors is really standing the automotive industry on its ear. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has awarded the Tesla Model S a 5-star safety rating, not just overall, but in every subcategory without exception; it’s the highest safety rating of any car ever tested.
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silicon valley
Here’s an article that raises some interesting points about the future of smart grid. Billionaire Tom Siebel of customer relationship management fame is asserting that companies like his, whose expertise is enterprise software, are going to be the leaders in smart grid analytics, rather than the hardware giants like GE
We all know that Silicon Valley is the beating heart of the tech industry, with large corporations, tiny start-ups, entrepreneurs and the finance community all living, working and drinking coffee together. (This last bit isn’t a throw away reference to our increasing addiction to the black magic bean, but to an article I read in Harvard Business Review in 2010 which said
This month’s issue of Wired magazine includes a long feature, written by Washington Post national environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin, headlined “Why the Clean Tech Boom Went Bust.” (Disclosure: I’m a contributing editor at Wired, and Eilperin is an acquaintance.) The story, which joins a lengthening list of obits for the cleantech industries, has a certain
Fortunately for the rest of us, some people missed the message, the one that says we’re in an economic slide so slippery there is no climbing back up.
I had a chance to speak to several of these optimists recently. No, they are not members of the Pollyanna Club; they are green energy entrepreneurs, those
Clean tech investors seem to agree that the criteria for a sound investment are still focused on the “Team, Technology, and Markets.” But according to John Denniston, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, “We’re either at the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning” (March 15 Keynote at the 2011 San Francisco Cleantech Forum). This shift in the clean
In many academic, policy and business circles, the term “clean tech” is synonymous with renewable energy. While renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and biofuel are a critical component of a more sustainable world, the race to lead in their development has the U.S. pulling up lame. Political games and malign neglect continue to stall comprehensive clean
California’s high-tech giants have long used renewable energy to help power their Silicon Valley headquarters. Now, companies such as Google, Adobe Systems, and eBay are preparing for the next step — investing in off-site solar and wind installations and innovative technologies that will supply their offices and data centers with green electricity.
From the street, Adobe Systems’ San Jose headquarters looks like any other collection of skyscrapers that dot the downtown of the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley.
But ascend to a skyway that connects two of the software company’s towers and you’ll find a wind farm. Twenty vertical turbines that resemble a modern art installation slowly rotate in the breeze that blows through a six-floor plaza. Down in the parking garage, a dozen electric car-charging stations have been set up. Adobe, which makes the ubiquitous Flash player software, will install 18 more chargers this year to accommodate workers expected to be first in line when the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, and other battery-powered vehicles roll into Silicon Valley showrooms later this year.
What lessons can California learn from Sweden’s successes in sustainable innovation? What are the California’s energy and environmental goals, and what progress has been made to reach them?
The 2009 Sustainable Innovation Event, presented by the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce San Francisco/Silicon Valley, will discuss these questions and more Monday, Oct. 5 in South San Francisco.
Readers of CleanTechies, a media partner for this event, can attend for a discount price of $55.00 (regular $65).