LiquidPiston, a company that got its start as a father-son team in a business plan competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, aims to build a smaller, quieter and more fuel-efficient internal combustion engine than the ones currently being used in cars. By remixing elements of established engine cycles, LiquidPiston claims it can deliver 20-50 percent greater efficiency compared to a typical diesel engine. LiquidPiston is one company among a raft of VC-backed startups working to make the internal combustion engine more efficient, often with a business plan that involves licensing technology rather than manufacturing engines, and it’s the subject of a profile I’ve written for Earth2Tech.
Tag Archives: Startup Profile
Light Is the Bright IDEA for Transport
Bright Automotive, which recently scored the first investment from General Motors’ new venture capital arm, aims to help steer commercial fleets toward more efficient options by decoupling size from efficiency. In other words, it lets customers have their cake (sip less fuel) and eat it too (carry more stuff). To accomplish this, Bright is developing a plug-in hybrid van called the IDEA with advanced materials that could shave thousands of pounds off the weight of conventional counterparts. I’ve written a profile of Bright for National Geographic News, covering the company’s accomplishments so far and challenges ahead as it pursues government funds on the road to commercialization.
The Two-Stroke Engine, Reconsidered
EcoMotors International, a startup backed by Bill Gates and Khosla Ventures, has a new approach to an old idea–the two-stroke engine–which it says is up to 50 percent more efficient than most vehicle engines and pollutes far less than a conventional two-stroke engine. Over on the Technology Review Energy blog, I’ve explained this Troy, Mich.-based company’s technology and how it fits into larger automotive trends.
Posted in Auto
Tagged Bill Gates, EcoMotors, Khosla Ventures, Startup Profile, Technology Review
Tapping into the Electric Power of Heat
What if every gallon of gas in our cars and lump of coal in our power plants did extra duty? What if we could get more work out of our fuel? That’s the basic idea of waste heat recovery systems — a topic I’ve explored (and explained) over on National Geographic in this article about a high-tech startup that aims to give a boost to decades-old cogeneration technology.
By providing a thermoelectric chip that can be inserted into any exhaust flue or engine to convert heat into electrical power, San Francisco, Calif.-based Alphabet Energy hopes to become the “Intel of waste heat.” The company’s efforts fit into a larger drive by researchers, entrepreneurs, and trade groups to make use of heat energy that’s currently thrown away by factories, power plants, cars and even laptop computers. This article is part of a special National Geographic series that explores energy issues.
Beyond Salt: Desalination Startup NanOasis Eyes Wider World of Clean Water
If you can efficiently separate tiny molecules of salt from seawater, you probably have the technology to filter out larger bacteria, protozoan cysts and other contaminants floating in much of the world’s freshwater. That’s part of what NanOasis hopes will allow the company to not only provide tech for desalination projects in California, but also eventually sell into the market for water filtration systems in developing countries, the startup’s executives told me for an article on Earth2Tech. The piece also appeared (through syndication) on BusinessWeek.com
Posted in Greentech
Tagged BusinessWeek, Earth2Tech, NanOasis, Startup Profile, Water
Why Solar Power Needs a Manufacturing Revolution, Not Just New Materials
“Inventing disruptive manufacturing innovations is every bit as hard as inventing new materials,” says Frank van Mierlo, President and co-founder of 1366 Technologies. Solar power, if it’s going to compete on cost with coal and other fossil fuels, needs both. It’s on that premise that 1366, a developer of new machines and processes that can be easily integrated into solar companies’ existing manufacturing lines, has based its business model. Read more over on Earth2Tech. This post also appeared (through syndication) on BusinessWeek.com.
Tagged 1366 Tecnologies, BusinessWeek, Earth2Tech, Solar, Startup Profile
