green tech

Green tech: Floating city nears maiden voyage

Royal Caribbean Cruises hopes enviro-friendly Oasis of the Seas can burnish its green image.

The world's largest cruise ship -- featuring 16 decks and an interior Central Park that's longer than a football field with more than 12,000 species of flora -- is drawing ever closer to its home port of Port Everglades, Florida, where it will dock next week and conduct a few test runs before departing on its maiden MORE

GE brings good things to startups

Conglomerate invests money - and its considerable resources - in young energy firms.

By Marc Gunther, contributing editor

When A123 Systems (AONE), a startup company that makes advanced lithium-ion batteries, had a successful initial public offering last month, one of the big winners was General Electric (GE).

That's because A123 Systems is by far the biggest holding of a venture capital fund run by GE that invests in energy startups. Over six rounds MORE

San Francisco gets smart with green technology

San Francisco is using advanced technology - and the strong arm of government - to turn the city into one of America's greenest.

By David Ewing Duncan

On Pier 96 on San Francisco Bay, a dirty, smelly leviathan of a machine roars and vibrates as it organizes 750 tons of refuse each day into neat cubes of plastic, paper, and metal.

It may look crude, but this three-story-high knot of conveyors, MORE

Solar industry sees ray of hope

By Scott Moritz

Solar tech stocks got a small jolt Wednesday after the U.S. Senate included an extension of renewable energy tax credits in its $700 billion financial bailout package.

A vote by the Senate on the financial rescue plan is expected Wednesday. If passed it will head to the House of Representatives, which could vote as early as Thursday. In a surprise move, the Senate version of the proposed package salvages MORE

CES: A paler shade of green

By Michael V. Copeland

LAS VEGAS -- The quiet here in a booth sponsored by Dell is at odds with the pandemonium all around at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Four plywood lounge chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames sit on a dark floor made of some obviously recycled material. In one chair , a guy with headphones covering most of his head quietly taps on a laptop. Squares of MORE