GreenTech

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

Nearly 20 years ago, Andrew Bissell was sitting in the living room of his beachfront home in the Edinburgh area. He and his wife, Susan Lang-Bissell, had just sold their medical imaging startup, and he was pondering his future. “Do we retire or do we go again?” Bissell told TechCrunch. Around that time, he was

Hydrogen startup C-Zero has raised $5 million of an $18 million funding round, according to an SEC filing. The company is developing a way to strip hydrogen from methane without emitting carbon dioxide. The resulting hydrogen can be used in a range of industries today, including ammonia and petrochemical production, and potentially others in the

French clean tech startup Calyxia has profitability within sight. The company just raised a $35 million Series B round that will help it further ramp up industrial production of its sustainable alternatives to microparticles and microcapsules, setting it on the path to net profitability by 2026. But co-founder and CEO Jamie Walters says the B

Copper is critical to the energy transition away from fossil fuels. The metal is an excellent conductor of electricity, used in everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines. But by the end of the decade, the International Energy Agency expects copper supplies to fall 20% short of demand. One stealthily operating startup thinks it can

European regulators are pushing hard for greener energy. The REPowerEU plan calls for 10 million additional heat pumps to be added by 2027, and solar panels are also on the rise. But most installations are done by small businesses that could be more productive with better work processes. This is where German startup Reonic comes

New climate tech VC firms have emerged in recent years, but existing ones are also raising larger funds. Founded in 2007, Dutch firm SET Ventures is one of the latter. Its fourth fund, which just closed at €200 million, is twice the size of its previous one, and will be deployed into 20 to 25

Many airlines and shipping companies say they’ll hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but right now they have no clear path toward hitting that target.  From a scientific perspective, ridding those industries of fossil fuels is possible; economically, it’s not. Or at least not yet, claims a young startup. Oxylus Energy thinks it has