Overall, clean-technology investments in the U.S. surged 73% in the most recent quarter from the third quarter of last year, to $1.1 billion, according to an Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource. The number of deals increased 36% from a year earlier, to 76.
The development of an electric-vehicle market has been hampered by a chicken-and-egg problem. Consumers need places to charge their cars before they commit to buying one, but building a charging infrastructure can only be cost-effective when plug-in vehicles find a big market. To tackle that dilemma, Better Place and Renault Group have crafted an agreement: The French auto maker will produce 100,000 electric vehicles over five years for sale in Israel and Denmark, and Better Place will build networks of charging stations in those countries.
Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures LLC has invested an undisclosed amount in Kenyan wind-turbine firm WindGen Power Products Inc., which makes, installs and maintains small wind turbines for the off-grid energy market in East Africa.
As plug-in electric vehicles begin to roll out, in some cases more slowly than first expected, Better Place Inc., a company that sets up battery charging and replacement stations, has secured $200 million in new financing from investors including new backers General Electric Co. and UBS AG.
Money from Focus on Energy is still available this year, but rebates will be frozen in January as FOE implements new formulas used to evaluate cost effectiveness and rebalances its portfolio of energy savings and renewables.
He hasn’t calculated the payoff, saying the decision was more in line with their ethos to lessen their impact on the earth. Still, it’s cut the family’s utility bills by about a third.