Although a public offering from a solar installer met a chilly response on the Street this week, one of cleantech’s most mature industries, wind energy, might have an IPO of its own soon. Riding high on record wind installations, Noble Environmental Power, a developer and operator of wind farms in the Northeast, has filed for a $375 million IPO on the Nasdaq under the ticker “NEPI.” (Hat tip PEHub)
Following yesterday’s cloudy performance by solar stocks, this morning some solar players announced a deal that could help them weather the storm. Residential solar designer and installer Akeena is teaming up with residential solar financier Sun Run. The partnership will connect Akeena’s “LEGO-like” Andalay panel system with Sun Run’s power purchase agreement financing, maintenance and monitoring services.
As the debate over whether countries should mandate more or less biofuels rages on, Finland’s diesel car drivers — at least in the Helsinki area — now have a chance to fill up their tanks with a new diesel fuel blend whose biodiesel content is at least 10 percent. Neste Oil, Finland’s biggest oil refiner, launched the new biodiesel blend commercially this week, called Neste Green diesel; the biofuel is a mixture of fossil fuel diesel and Neste Oil’s NExBTL Renewable diesel, which is based on renewable raw materials such as palm oil, rapeseed oil and animal fats.
The economic slowdown continued to cloud the solar stock market today. Akeena Solar (AKNS) released its first-quarter results, reporting a widened loss of $4.6 million, or 16 cents a share, and warned that it sees softening demand for the remainder of the year. Meanwhile shares of Real Goods Solar (RSOL) made their debut on Wall Street, opening at $9, down from their IPO price of $10, which priced at the bottom of the $10-$12 range. The stock has continued to fall in after-hours trading, dipping, at last check, to as low as $8.65.
The economic slowdown continued to cloud the solar stock market today. Akeena Solar (AKNS) released its first-quarter results, reporting a widened loss of $4.6 million, or 16 cents a share, and warned that it sees softening demand for the remainder of the year. Meanwhile shares of Real Goods Solar (RSOL) made their debut on Wall Street, opening at $9, down from their IPO price of $10, which priced at the bottom of the $10-$12 range. The stock has continued to fall in after-hours trading, dipping, at last check, to as low as $8.65.
It’s time to see how our favorite gadget makers and Internet search engines fare when it comes to their commitment to fighting climate change. While Greenpeace has its green electronics guide, the non-profit Climate Counts released a new scorecard on companies this week, which includes a list of electronics makers and Internet/software firms ranked according to the actions they’ve taken to reduce carbon emissions and combat global warming (hat tip to CNET). IBM and Google lead their peers, while Apple, eBay and Amazon lag far behind.
While many cleantech startups are working on making cleaner burning fuels for our cars, a biotech firm Down Under is engineering cleaner digesting grasses for our cows. Gramina, a joint venture between Australian Molecular Plant Breeding and Kiwi PGG Wrightson Genomics, is genetically engineering pasture grass to be more digestible so that cows grazing on it burp up less methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas. (Hat tip Science Daily)
If you’ve got a YouTube account, a camera, and a deep-seated yearning to get behind the wheel of a plug-in hybrid, Google wants to hear about it. Google.org’s RechargeIT program is hosting a contest soliciting videos from wannabe plug-in drivers, as well as testimonials from proud plug-in owners, on YouTube. The winning videos will be featured on RechargeIT’s web site and win yet-to-be announced prizes.
Utilities plan to use solar power from both the massive solar plants that are being built in the California Mojave desert, as well as large scale distributed rooftop solar projects, like the one Southern California Edison is planning. So which technology is better? Centralized solar systems that use the sun’s heat to generate electricity, or hundreds of rooftops covered in solar panels strung together to generate power?
EnerNOC delivered first-quarter earnings Wednesday that were a mixed bag. The company beat Wall Street estimates, which is always nice; but its operating loss nearly tripled from the previous year to $11.7 million, which is not so nice. The net loss of 57 cents a share is down from 91 cents a year earlier, which sounds good. But it fell only because the number of shares used to calculate EPS (19 million shares vs. 4 million a year ago) grew faster than that loss.
Earth2Tech is a publication that is devoted to the intersection between technology and industry, their eco-moves and the next generation of tech innovation that will combat climate change. Earth2Tech scours university labs for the next clean tech leaders, keeps a close eye on tech giants green campaigns, and pulls together resources for those green-minded entrepreneurs out there.
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