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1. Fisker Squirrels Away $3M Amid Economic Winter
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2. Rethink Your Household Sponge - Green Sponge Choices
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3. Spain's Fotowatio Expands its Solar Reach in the U.S.
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4. Mitsubishi and Peugeot Work Together on i MiEV
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5. The Green Rich List: Wealthy Doesn't Mean Savvy
Fisker Squirrels Away $3M Amid Economic Winter
Josie Garthwaite - Startups
The government isn’t the only one throwing bones to startups these days: private investors have just put a few more chips on luxury plug-in sportscar startup Fisker Automotivea, adding $3 million to the $65 million round that the company raised back in September, VentureWire reports (subscription required). While this new investment represents a small portion of the luxury plug-in hybrid maker’s overall capital — the company has raised some $100 million since its founding in 2007 — it is all the more notable for coming in a time when credit markets have all but slammed shut, leaving many startups and automakers turning to government funds.
Fisker, too, has applied for low-interest federal loans through the Department of Energy, saying they would allow the company to jumpstart work on a lower-cost model.
That’s not what the Series C money is for. Fisker said in September that the round would be used to finish development of the startup's first vehicle, the $87,900 plug-in hybrid Fisker Karma. A new investor, an affiliate of Qatar Investment Authority, led the round, joining return investor Kleiner Perkins. This time around, VentureWire reports that investors listed in the company’s filing with the SEC include Kleiner, Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies (a Fisker affiliate), Al Gharaffa Investment Co., Palo Alto Investors, and Thomas Lloyd Capital. Fisker did not return VentureWire’s requests for comment. We have contacted Fisker and will update this post if and when we hear from the company.
Since raising that $65 million last fall, the Irvine, Calif.-based startup has progressed toward its goal of delivering Karmas to customers by the end of this year. Fisker has unveiled plans to use a four-cylinder engine from General Motors for the Karma and started building up a dealer network. In November, Fisker finalized plans for Valmet Automotive of Finland to assemble the Karma when it reaches full-scale production — about 1,200 vehicles a month, as AutoblogGreen reports — by mid-2010.
When Earth2Tech editor Katie Fehrenbacher spoke with Fisker founder and CEO Henrik Fisker a year ago, she asked him if he had taken any lessons from Tesla Motors’ mistakes or successes. He replied:
We do not compare ourselves to other startup companies. We believe we are a different type of startup, as all of our people come from the automotive industry and have extensive experience with the automotive industry. We are therefore taking a different approach, knowing how complicated it is to bring a vehicle to the market.
Photo credit Fisker Automotive
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
Rethink Your Household Sponge - Green Sponge Choices
jchait - Home & Garden
Sponges, while useful for cleaning, are not an altogether green product. Some issues of conventional sponges…
- Most contain polyurethane which as the name might give away is derived from petroleum - which is one, a resource that’s draining, and two, a toxic material.
- Natural sponges; an alternative to petroleum sponges, are maybe better in a non-polluting way, but do diminish a major natural resource.
- Many sponges come wrapped in a layer of plastic, plus a label, which frankly, is way too much packaging for this sort of item.
What to do…
The best sponges are made from wood pulp cellulose. From an eco-standpoint, wood pulp sponges are biodegradable, last along time, and don’t diminish natural resources.
You can also skip the sponge altogether. For tub or sink scrubbing, you can use a natural bristle brush, or a cloth and baking soda, which allows for the same scrubby effect.
Many people use sponges for dishes, but if you rinse right away it virtually eliminates the need for sponges. At my house all we use are old cloths for cleaning, and it works fine.
Lastly, try to buy sponges with the least packaging.
Eco-sponge & cleaning choices:
- Twist Cleaning Kit
- Old cloths, rags, etc.
- Eco-sponge and sponge with walnut scrubber
What are you using to clean with?
Spain's Fotowatio Expands its Solar Reach in the U.S.
David Ehrlich - Big Green
Spanish solar power developer Fotowatio said today that it’s buying most of the assets of San Francisco’s MMA Renewable Ventures in a $19.7 million deal, a move that could make Fotowatio one of the largest solar power developers in the U.S.
MMA Renewables, part of Baltimore’s Municipal Mortgage & Equity, or MuniMae, owns and operates one of the largest solar photovoltaic projects operating in the U.S., a 14 MW solar array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada that started generating power in December 2007. MuniMae, which provides financing for real estate developers, took a big hit in the U.S. mortgage downturn, and has been working to sell off some of its assets for months.
The deal could be one of many for the solar industry in 2009, which analysts say will be a dark year for solar, with a looming oversupply of solar cells and modules and a global economic crisis spurring consolidation in the market. Earlier this month, solar installer groSolar acquired the residential business of Borrego Solar Systems.
MuniMae said it’s selling substantially all of MMA Renewables, which includes a total of 24.8 MW of solar projects that are up and running, as well as some energy efficiency, wind, and bioenergy operations. The only things MuniMae plans to hold onto are its stakes in MMA Renewable’s Solar Funds I and II, although MuniMae didn’t list which projects those funds invested in.
Fotowatio, backed by Qualitas Venture Capital, GE Energy Financial Services and the Landon Group, said it’s U.S. division will own a total of 35 MW of solar plants and have more than 400 MW in development once the acquisition is closed. Last year, Fotowatio raised $350 million from GE and Landon and, at the time, said it had 960 MW of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal projects installed or in development in Spain, Italy and the U.S.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
Mitsubishi and Peugeot Work Together on i MiEV
khallgeisler - Bikes & Cars
In a shower of rose petals and confetti, Mitsubishi and Peugeot Citroen signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will allow the two companies to work together to bring EVs to Europe sooner than expected. (More likely, it took place in an austere office sans confetti, but maybe there was sake and pate for everyone.)
The two companies had both started studies last summer on the feasability of bringing small electric cars to Europe. Rather than work against each other, the Mitsu and Peugeot Citroen agreed to work together on the i MiEV platform. The car will be sold under the Mitsubishi and Peugeot badges in Europe as early as fall 2010.
The press release announcing the Memorandum of Understanding (caps theirs) mentioned that real-world tests of the i MiEV are ongoing in Japan, New Zealand, and the U.S. Japan will see the little EV in dealerships this summer, while “several” U.S. markets could see a version of the car at the same time as the European rollout.
The Green Rich List: Wealthy Doesn't Mean Savvy
Katie Fehrenbacher - Big Green
Just because you’re among the world’s wealthiest doesn’t mean you’re good at investing in clean technologies. The London Times has released a “Green Rich List,” which looks at the world’s top wealthiest people that have some sort of investment in clean technology — from alternative vehicles to solar power. The list ranks the investors by net worth, not by how much they’ve invested in cleantech. Perusing the list, you can see that despite some smart green moves, these investors, particularly in the top 10, have made more than a few missteps.
Take No. 2 Bill Gates, worth £26 billion ($36.42 billion). He is lauded for his investment in corn ethanol maker Pacific Ethanol through the private investment and holding company he controls, Cascade Investments. Well, Pacific Ethanol, like most of the corn ethanol industry, has been crippled by the downturn and high corn prices last year, and just last week announced yet another round of plant suspensions. In late 2007, Gates’ Cascade Investments announced a plan to sell its 20 percent stake in Pacific Ethanol after the stake lost a good deal of its value. In mid-2008 Cascade started to chip away at that stake, selling it off trade by trade. We’re not sure if it’s all gone by now, but it wasn’t pretty.
Then there’s No. 8, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, worth £11.5 billion ($16.10 billion). Allen’s Vulcan Capital invested $250,000 in Seattle biodiesel-maker Imperium Renewables. Remember Imperium? That was the company that ended up withdrawing its IPO last year and since has lost a valuable contract to supply Royal Caribbean with 18 million gallons of biodiesel annually. The company shot for the moon too fast, but it’s just not a good time in general to be a large biofuel maker that needs a lot more capital to keep scaling up.
And last but not least there are the Google co-founders — Sergey Brin and Larry Page — who share the spot at No. 10, both worth £7.5 billion ($10.50 billion). Beyond their impressive work getting Google to invest in clean energy and energy efficiency they were also early investors in electric vehicle maker Tesla. As many of us know by now, Tesla hit a capital snag last year, and was unable to raise the cash it wanted at the valuation it wanted. Now it’s betting everything on a DOE loan, and has even stooped to jacking up prices on already delayed Roadsters.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
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