GreenTech

For the past few years, direct air capture has been seen as a potential silver bullet to the climate crisis. But now a startup originally from the snowy wastes of Iceland is taking a new approach: removing carbon from seawater.  The industry standard for removing carbon with direct air capture methods costs anywhere between $230

Funding for green hydrogen startups — particularly at the growth stage — has dipped. Hydrogen plants and fueling stations across the U.S. have shut down. And automakers and governments seem to be on the battery electric vehicle (BEV) buzz. And yet, BMW recently announced plans to work with Toyota to develop a hydrogen fuel-cell consumer

The race for commercial fusion power is heating up. Investors have poured money into fusion startups over the last several years, and one of the more recent beneficiaries of their beneficence is Zap Energy, an Everett, Washington-based startup that’s pursuing a clever approach to harnessing the power of the stars. The company recently closed a

When it comes to fusion power, there are two basic approaches: One, create a small star here on Earth that’s held in place by powerful magnetic fields. Two, use intense lasers to make a succession of even smaller stars, but repeat the process several times per second. Moritz von der Linden likes his odds with

Toyota Ventures started in 2017 to help startups figure out what the future will look like, with an eye towards ensuring Toyota as an automaker and brand would stay at the forefront of innovation.  While the firm initially targeted mobility startups, the crossover into climate tech was a natural progression. Today, Toyota Ventures has over

As a fuel, hydrogen has a lot going for it. You can burn it for heat to replace coal, you can run it through an electrolyzer to generate electricity, and you can use it to refuel a vehicle as quickly as gasoline or diesel. But it’s challenging to get hydrogen to where it’s needed. As

James McGinniss has been obsessed with decarbonization and the energy grid since he was a high schooler over a decade ago. Now, his startup David Energy has a lofty goal: getting the energy grid to run entirely on clean energy in the next 10 years. Brooklyn-based David Energy is a software-enabled retail energy provider. It

Jim Adler, founder and general partner at Toyota Ventures, is concerned that climate technology gains could fall into the “valley of death” if companies fail to drum up enough demand to survive.  And he’s not wrong to be worried.  Climate tech investments in the first half of 2024 dipped for the second consecutive year, both

When is raising $14 billion not enough? When you’re a battery startup. Northvolt, Europe’s attempt at building a competitor to Asia’s battery manufacturing powerhouses, announced on Monday that it had halted work on a factory expansion and laid off 1,600 employees, or about 20% of the workforce. The company was planning to expand its Ett

After taking on water during the pandemic, Zin Boats is back with a bigger, better electric watercraft that it has built from the hull up — again. And with the first craft off the line going to none other than Bill Gates, the company’s plan to power a new generation of clean, high-tech boats has

Microsoft made waves last week when it announced a deal with Constellation Energy to restart a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island to meet its surging data center power needs, bucking the power source’s seemingly terminal decline. In the last decade, seven nuclear reactors have been decommissioned in the U.S., while only two new ones

Rivian has revealed the first $10 million worth of grants from the Rivian Foundation, just three years after promising to make the “natural world” a “stakeholder in our success.” The company launched a website for the foundation on Monday that details 41 grantees who will collectively receive just north of $10 million in funding. The

When it comes to climate change, there’s no such thing as a “get out of jail free” card. But there might be an inexpensive alternative: direct air capture. The technology isn’t exactly an exoneration, but more like community service; it promises to suck massive amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, atoning for our

A hopeful entrant in the emerging market of electric watercraft is out of action and being sold for parts. Pure Watercraft was founded in 2011 with the intention of replacing gas-based outboard motors with fully electric ones. We covered the company in 2016 when it began taking preorders for its first commercial outboards, and in

Industrial heat, which is used by companies as diverse as breweries and food processors to chemical manufacturers and paper mills, is one of the last bastions of fossil fuels. After all, it’s pretty hard to beat a flame when you need to heat something up. But recently, a slew of startups have started exploring ways

The federal government is handing out another $3 billion to startups in the buzzy battery tech sector.  The investment, which the Biden administration announced Friday, is the latest injection of capital to come from a $16 billion pot that the Department of Energy set aside to build out local battery manufacturing, processing, and recycling facilities.

The data centers that train all the large language models behind AI consume unimaginable amounts of energy, and the stakes are high for big tech companies to ensure they have enough power to run those plants. That’s why Microsoft is now throwing its weight behind nuclear power. The tech giant on Friday signed a major

Last year, the U.S. designated magnesium as a critical mineral, one of the “electric 18” that are critical for the energy transition. The metal is used in a range of electronics, and it weighs less than aluminum, making it an attractive alternative for automakers.  But like with so many other minerals, China has grown to

The use of 3D printing has been praised as an alternative to traditional construction. It promises to deliver faster construction times, creative design, and fewer construction errors, all while reducing carbon footprints. New research out of MIT points to a compelling new take on the concept, relying on 3D-printed glass blocks shaped like a figure

Launching a new product is challenging, but doing it in a space dominated by tech giants requires bold innovation, sharp strategy, and the ability to scale quickly. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 — taking place at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30 — brings together three experts who are doing just that, while simultaneously addressing

Al Gore has enjoyed a very successful career, including as a U.S. senator, U.S. Vice President, U.S. presidential nominee, and even Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2007 for “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change.” This past May, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his lifetime of service. What

Hydrogen might be touted as a fuel of the future that stands ready to decarbonize shipping and industry, but for the 90 million metric tons used today in everything from fertilizer production and chemical manufacturing, 96% is derived directly from natural gas, oil, or coal. For instance, one of the most common ways is through

Next year, even wildfires won’t be able to hide from Google. The company is working with Muon Space, the Earth Fire Alliance, and others to launch FireSat, a constellation of satellites that will monitor Earth’s surface for wildfires, updating imagery for authorities every 20 minutes. Google helped develop the infrared sensors that’ll look for telltale

Accounting for the emissions of a global tech empire is not a simple task, and what industry standards we do have for disclosure may allow tech companies to systematically understate their carbon footprint. A Guardian report compares official declarations of carbon emissions, including what amount to offsets purchased elsewhere, with “location-based” emissions, another standard metric

Over the last several years, fusion power has gone from the butt of jokes — always a decade away! — to an increasingly tangible and tantalizing technology that has drawn investors off the sidelines. The technology may be challenging to master and expensive to build today, but fusion promises to harness the nuclear reaction that

What could be more frightening than Friday the 13th? How about a realization that AI is in its awkward tween stage? At least, it was for the TC Equity pod crew, which this week included hosts Devin Coldewey and Kirsten Korosec along with TC reporters Tim de Chant and Dominic Madori Davis. AI is often

Working away on his PhD in Munich only a few years ago, Stephan Herrmann (now a doctor) couldn’t have conceived of a time when his idea for a carbon-negative power plant would attract millions in funding. But now, together with Reverion co-founder Felix Fischer, he has a $100 million backlog of orders for his invention

A U.K. startup wants to do for utilities what neobanks have been doing for the financial sector for more than a decade: disrupt an age-old industry using technology, streamline it and cut out the middlemen. London-based Tem has built a marketplace and platform to connect businesses directly to renewable energy sources, and it is working

What will it take for a startup to make a dent in climate change? The most promising candidates tend to be hardware startups that have spent years developing and proving their technologies, according to a new report. Oh, and it helps to specialize in energy or raw materials. The report, published by Congruent Ventures and

Last year, Apple couldn’t say enough about the reduced climate impact of its products, going so far as hiring Octavia Spencer to play Mother Earth in a highly produced, five-minute promo spot. This year? Apple spent just a few minutes on the subject, total. That’s not to say the company is backsliding on its prior