Climate News | TechCrunch

Glint Solar grabs $8M to help accelerate solar energy adoption across Europe

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Solar energy is booming, which is good news for Glint Solar. The Norwegian software-as-a-service startup has built a platform that’s helping energy giants and large solar developers such as E.ON, Recurrent Energy, and Statkraft cut the time it takes to plan and pre-design solar installations to accelerate the transition to renewables. Glint’s software pulls in data […]

How Trump’s election could affect the startup-friendly Inflation Reduction Act

Tim De Chant — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:59:18 +0000

While Trump's administration is unlikely to be supportive of certain climate tech startups, it will have a harder time ending the broadly popular law.

Google is opening an AI hub in oil-rich Saudi Arabia

Tim De Chant — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 19:55:03 +0000

The new AI hub will support research into Arab language AI models and “Saudi-specific AI applications.”

Oil giant BP is killing 18 hydrogen projects, chilling the nascent industry

Tim De Chant — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 17:45:34 +0000

The hydrogen industry, which has relied on oil and gas companies both financially and through lobbying efforts, is preparing for a grim outcome.

How a box on a roof helped Transaera land $8.2 million in funding

Tim De Chant — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:00:40 +0000

The company has been toiling for seven years, developing a novel air conditioning technology and searching for a beachhead market.

Regulators deliver successive blows to Amazon and Meta’s nuclear power ambitions

Tim De Chant — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:00:21 +0000

A series of recent rulings from regulators dashed the Big Tech companies' hopes of finding a quick fix for their electricity needs.

How to build a company that can save the world and generate a profit

Tim De Chant — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:53:00 +0000

For startups that hope to save the world, or at least make it a better place, balancing impact with profit can be tricky.

Apple will buy renewable power for its Mac mini users

Tim De Chant — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Apple went to unusual lengths to ensure it accounted for and neutralized all the pollution that the new Mac Mini might produce.

HILOS is making footwear more sustainable without skimping on style

Amanda Silberling — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 17:20:25 +0000

When people imagine what 3D printing is, they might think of plastic knickknacks and miniature figurines that teenagers make in their high school libraries. For HILOS (Human Innovation Lab Operating System), 3D printing means creating footwear that’s chic, low-waste, and runway ready. “Brands are overproducing 20% because they don’t know what size and styles are […]

2024 Startup Battlefield Top 20 Finalists: HILOS

Yashad Kulkarni — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 17:05:00 +0000

Unifies deep tech with sustainable craft to offer a software and manufacturing platform to design and launch 3D-printed footwear made locally, on-demand, without end-of-life waste. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagram TikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktok X: tcrn.ch/x Threads: https://tcrn.ch/threads Facebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebook Bluesky: https://tcrn.ch/bluesky Mastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdn Read more: https://techcrunch.com/

Why Crosscut Ventures is ‘following the founders’ into climate, space, and beyond

Tim De Chant — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:00:00 +0000

The focus of the new $100 million fund, Crosscut’s sixth, will include energy and power, space and underwater exploration, advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, and security and defense.

Emidat is building a tool to clean up construction by automating environmental reporting

Natasha Lomas — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Fixing the climate crisis is a vast, world-sized puzzle. But one particularly large piece of this ginormous conundrum is construction and real estate — which collectively amount for around 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Enter Munich-based data startup Emidat, which has built a software platform for automating the generation of validated Environmental Product Declaration […]

SpiralWave’s pulsing plasma towers transform carbon dioxide into liquid fuel

Tim De Chant — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 18:24:10 +0000

If there’s anything that came from one of the worlds that was promised to us in “Back to the Future” or “The Jetsons” or innumerable other sci-fi franchises, it’s what SpiralWave co-founder and CEO Abed Bukhari showed me on a video call. Purple-tinged waves of white plasma rhythmically rose and vanished within a metal-screened column, […]

ForestGuard is building the ‘Internet of Trees’ to detect fires even earlier

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 18:11:56 +0000

Many startups have taken aim at the problem of early wildfire detection and prevention, but Turkey-based ForestGuard’s space-based system could give it an edge over competitors. ForestGuard, which presented onstage today as part of the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt, was founded by trained architects Muhammed Ali Örnek and Suat Batuhan Esirger, who witnessed the need for early […]

NitroFix wants to use electricity to make ammonia without the pollution

Tim De Chant — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:58:42 +0000

Ammonia may conjure thoughts of off odors, but the world is entirely dependent on the smelly stuff as a fertilizer and for use in myriad other industries. Problem is, nearly all the ammonia produced today is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Making the compound releases more than 450 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every […]

2024 Startup Battlefield Top 20 Finalists: NitroFix

Yashad Kulkarni — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:35:00 +0000

Aims to reduce carbon footprints by optimizing ammonia production with zero emissions, relying solely on renewable electricity, water, and air. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagram TikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktok X: tcrn.ch/x Threads: https://tcrn.ch/threads Facebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebook Bluesky: https://tcrn.ch/bluesky Mastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdn Read more: https://techcrunch.com/

2024 Startup Battlefield Top 20 Finalists: SpiralWave

Yashad Kulkarni — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:35:00 +0000

A novel reactor that produces affordable e-methanol from flue gas or air and water in one step, eliminating captured CO2 and H2 feedstocks, without a catalyst. Subscribe for more on YouTube: https://tcrn.ch/youtube Follow TechCrunch on Instagram: http://tcrn.ch/instagram TikTok: https://tcrn.ch/tiktok X: tcrn.ch/x Threads: https://tcrn.ch/threads Facebook: https://tcrn.ch/facebook Bluesky: https://tcrn.ch/bluesky Mastodon: https://tcrn.ch/mstdn Read more: https://techcrunch.com/

Generative AI could cause 10 billion iPhones’ worth of e-waste per year by 2030

Devin Coldewey — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 16:01:00 +0000

The immense and quickly advancing computing requirements of AI models could lead to the industry discarding the e-waste equivalent of more than 10 billion iPhones per year by 2030, researchers project. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from Cambridge University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences take a shot at predicting just […]

Merlin Solar bets twisty panels will help it land on rooftops everywhere

Tim De Chant — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0000

The startup uses standard silicon solar cells but connects them using bendy materials, giving them better durability and more flexibility.

Cement startup Furno lands $20M grant to build low-carbon micro-kilns in Chicago

Tim De Chant — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:08:19 +0000

Furno’s micro-kilns promise to reduce pollution and eliminate transportation costs.