The United States government is doing its part to incite venture capital investments in clean and renewable energy by offering cash awards to energy production companies in place of earned tax credits. In a recent announcement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu awarded $502 million in the first round of…

Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, recently proposed the Alaska Clean Energy Development Act – or H.R. 5352. The legislation would identify statewide hydropower as renewable for the purposes of the renewable tax credits, federal programs, and standards, if it is less than 50 megawatts or is generated through the use of a lake tap or siphon, pumped storage, or a run of the river…

“Deep Green”, an innovative advancement in hydropower developed by Swedish start-up Minesto, has recently acquired €2 million ($2.5 million) from investors for research and development beginning early next year. Described as an “underwater kite”, the technology consists of a turbine attached to a wing and rudder that is secured to the ocean floor by 100 meters of cable. According to Minesto, anchoring “Deep Green” and steering the fastened “kite” allows the turbine…

Facebook, the social networking giant, has turned to a coal-firing power plant to maintain their data center in Prineville, Oregon despite previous claims that the center would utilize renewable energy resources. Hydro power, a much cleaner and renewable source of energy, is made available through the local Bonneville Power Administration (BPA); however, as costs continue on the up-and-up due to demand, it has evidently made more business sense…

In spite of the dubious Copenhagen climate change talks, cleantech investing is set to have a successful year in 2010 – according to a recent survey performed by Jefferies investment banking group. The analysis report confirms that investments will remain strong, particularly overseas in Europe. To add, market analyst firm New Energy Finance expects…