Articles about Energy

Meet the ‘technological optimist’ helping set Washington state’s tech, energy, and climate policy

State Sen. Sharon Shewmake is taking over as chair of the Senate’s Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, a wide-ranging clearinghouse… Read More

As AI booms, here’s how Microsoft and Amazon are coming up with energy solutions

Artificial intelligence and the data centers that drive the technology are booming with no end in sight. That’s putting mounting… Read More

LevelTen lands $65M from Microsoft, Google to expand clean energy marketplace services

Seattle-based LevelTen Energy, a startup facilitating the deployment of clean energy projects, raised a $65 million Series D round from… Read More

Projected 30% spike in electricity demand in 10 years supercharges energy summit in Seattle

After decades of relative stability in the Pacific Northwest’s energy demands, dramatic changes are coming fast. Over the next decade,… Read More

Washington state wants a bigger piece of the growing offshore wind sector

Washington leaders on Wednesday launched an initiative to support companies in the state that want to play a role in… Read More

As worries spark over the carbon impacts of NFTs, some unexpected boosters come to their defense

Time will tell whether buying NFTs for Beeple’s digital collage for $69 million or Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet… Read More

Techstars grad WattBuy raises $3.25M to help households shop for electricity providers

WattBuy raised $3.25 million to expand its database tool that collects and shares energy rates in unregulated states where residents… Read More

Amazon defends partnerships with oil industry as Washington governor seeks to rein it in

Amazon’s sustainability chief defended the company’s partnerships with fossil fuel companies Thursday during an Axios virtual event with Washington Gov.… Read More

TerraPower advances plans for next-gen nuclear plants, earning Bill Gates’ praise

BELLEVUE, Wash. — TerraPower, the nuclear energy venture that’s backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has gotten a boost on… Read More

Microsoft makes hydrogen fuel cell breakthrough in quest to power data centers with renewable energy

For the first time, Microsoft has successfully powered a row of data center servers using hydrogen fuel cells for 48… Read More

Podcast

GeekWire Podcast: Apple acquires Xnor.ai; Microsoft’s bold climate plan; Seattle startup trivia

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Apple doubled down on artificial intelligence and boosted its presence in Seattle with the… Read More

General Fusion gets a $65M boost for fusion power plant from investors — including Jeff Bezos

Burnaby, B.C.-based General Fusion says it has closed on a $65 million equity financing round that will spark the launch… Read More

Company backed by Bill Gates claims solar breakthrough, looks to replace fossil fuels in industrial plants

A solar energy tech company founded by serial entrepreneur and inventor Bill Gross — and backed by investors including Microsoft… Read More

Clean tech entrepreneurs head to Burning Man to model a post-fossil fuel future

In many ways, Burning Man is an eco-urbanist paradise. It is a (mostly) car-free city designed around pedestrians and cyclists,… Read More

Inside the lab where Bill Gates’ TerraPower is inventing the future of nuclear energy

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Just a stone’s throw away from Interstate 90’s crush of traffic, a decade-old startup founded by Bill… Read More

Cantwell introduces bill package to invest in clean energy and shore up power grid against hacks

Sen. Maria Cantwell introduced four bills Wednesday intended to modernize the federal government’s energy infrastructure. The Democrat from Washington state… Read More

Bill Gates touts €100 million venture fund for Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is celebrating the official launch of Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, an investment fund that aims to… Read More

Seattle startup EnergySavvy acquired by utility software firm Tendril

Seattle-based EnergySavvy has been acquired by Tendril, a Boulder, Colo. firm that provides software and analytics to electric and gas… Read More

Bill Gates casts an enthusiastic vote for bill to accelerate nuclear energy research

If dollars were votes, newly reintroduced legislation aimed at boosting nuclear energy innovation and advanced reactors would be a winner,… Read More

Beyond cow farts: Bill Gates picks 5 innovations to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture

Bill Gates is “done with cow farts.” So the Microsoft co-founder proclaimed in the opening line of a new blog… Read More

What Bill Gates is thinking about as 2018 concludes

It’s almost hard to remember the Bill Gates of yesteryear — the brash, competitive, hard-charging business leader known to dismiss… Read More

Amazon employees flex shareholder muscle to push for climate change plan

More than a dozen Amazon employees are using their power as shareholders to pressure their employer to be more thoughtful… Read More

Canadian government invests $38M in General Fusion to boost energy research

The Canadian government says it’s investing $37.5 million (49.3 million Canadian dollars) in General Fusion, a British Columbia company that… Read More

Backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures lists seven new investments

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the $1 billion energy innovation fund spearheaded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has revealed seven more companies… Read More

TAE rearranges its leadership and gets ready for next chapter in fusion quest backed by Paul Allen

TAE Technologies, the fusion energy venture backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and other heavy-hitters, is elevating Michl Binderbauer to… Read More

Northwest projects win a share of $20 million in federal grants for nuclear tech

Oregon-based NuScale Power is the big winner in today’s round of grants from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of… Read More

Backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, Breakthrough Energy Ventures places first bets on power storage

Eighteen months after its founding, the $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund’s first investments have been revealed, and they both… Read More

NASA’s Kilopower project demonstrates a nuclear reactor that’s made for space

That’s one small step for nuclear reactors on the moon and Mars, and several giant leaps to go. Eventually, the… Read More

What’s holding back the Internet of Things? Power

[Editor’s Note: This guest post is by Larry Arnstein, a former Impinj business and marketing executive who is now an entrepreneur… Read More

MIT and Commonwealth startup add a new twist to the commercial fusion race

A new entrant in the race to commercialize fusion energy, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, aims to capitalize on superconductor technology from… Read More