GeekWire
  • Home
  • News
    • Amazon
    • Microsoft
    • Startups presented by CIBC
    • Space
    • Geek Life
    • Podcasts
    • Civic presented by Microsoft
    • Sustainability
    • Impact Series
    • Health/Life Sciences
    • Health Tech Podcast
    • Geek of the Week
    • Tech Moves presented by TalentReach
    • Bot or Not presented by Google Cloud
    • Money Hacks presented by BECU
    • Guide to re:Invent sponsored by AWS
    • GeekWire Elevator Pitch presented by WestRiver Group
    • AWS Marketplace Seller Conference 2023 Spotlights sponsored by AWS
  • Jobs
  • Events
    • GeekWire Events
    • Community Calendar
  • Lists
    • Amazon Office Buildings
    • GeekWire 200
    • GeekWire Startup List
    • GeekWire Startup Resources
    • GeekWire Startup Spaces
    • Layoff Tracker
    • Northwest Women VC & Angel Investor List
    • Recent Fundings
    • M&As and IPOs
    • Seattle Engineering Outposts
    • Venture Capital Directory
  • Membership
    • Memberships
    • Health Benefits
  • About
    • About GeekWire
    • Email Newsletters
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Sponsors
    • Reprints & Permissions

Energy

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

by Lisa Stiffler on October 10, 2023October 10, 2023 at 3:32 pm

Washington leaders on Wednesday launched an initiative to support companies in the state that want to play a role in the offshore wind energy sector. The nonprofit Washington Maritime Blue… Read More

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

by Lisa Stiffler on March 30, 2021March 30, 2021 at 10:50 am

Time will tell whether buying NFTs for Beeple’s digital collage for $69 million or Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.9 million were smart investments, or simply falling prey… Read More

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

by Taylor Soper on November 18, 2020November 18, 2020 at 8:29 am

WattBuy raised $3.25 million to expand its database tool that collects and shares energy rates in unregulated states where residents and businesses can shop around for their electricity providers. WattBuy… Read More

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

by Monica Nickelsburg on September 17, 2020September 17, 2020 at 1:15 pm

Amazon’s sustainability chief defended the company’s partnerships with fossil fuel companies Thursday during an Axios virtual event with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Both Inslee and Amazon’s head of worldwide sustainability,… Read More

Versatile Test Reactor
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on August 28, 2020August 28, 2020 at 2:26 pm

BELLEVUE, Wash. — TerraPower, the nuclear energy venture that’s backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has gotten a boost on two fronts in its campaign to pioneer a new generation… Read More

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

by Monica Nickelsburg on July 27, 2020July 27, 2020 at 8:48 am

For the first time, Microsoft has successfully powered a row of data center servers using hydrogen fuel cells for 48 hours, a milestone the company is marking because of its… Read More

Podcast

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

by Todd Bishop on January 18, 2020January 18, 2020 at 10:22 am

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Apple doubled down on artificial intelligence and boosted its presence in Seattle with the acquisition of Xnor.ai, an Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence spinout… Read More

PI3 plasma injector
News Brief

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

by Alan Boyle on December 16, 2019December 16, 2019 at 11:57 am

Burnaby, B.C.-based General Fusion says it has closed on a $65 million equity financing round that will spark the launch of a program to design, construct and operate a demonstration… Read More

Video

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

by Todd Bishop & Alan Boyle on November 19, 2019May 29, 2021 at 6:25 pm

A solar energy tech company founded by serial entrepreneur and inventor Bill Gross — and backed by investors including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates — says it has developed a way… Read More

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

by Monica Nickelsburg on August 15, 2019August 15, 2019 at 9:18 am

In many ways, Burning Man is an eco-urbanist paradise. It is a (mostly) car-free city designed around pedestrians and cyclists, where respect for the land and reducing waste are deeply… Read More

TerraPower test assembly
Photos

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

by Alan Boyle on August 11, 2019August 10, 2019 at 10:01 pm

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Just a stone’s throw away from Interstate 90’s crush of traffic, a decade-old startup founded by Bill Gates is running tests aimed at building the next generation… Read More

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

by Monica Nickelsburg on July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 at 3:36 pm

Sen. Maria Cantwell introduced four bills Wednesday intended to modernize the federal government’s energy infrastructure. The Democrat from Washington state is a senior member of the Senate Energy Committee and… Read More

Video

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

by Alan Boyle on May 28, 2019May 28, 2019 at 3:24 pm

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is celebrating the official launch of Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, an investment fund that aims to boost clean-energy innovation in Europe to the tune of 100… Read More

Seattle startup EnergySavvy acquired by utility software firm Tendril

by Monica Nickelsburg on May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 at 10:55 am

Seattle-based EnergySavvy has been acquired by Tendril, a Boulder, Colo. firm that provides software and analytics to electric and gas utilities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. EnergySavvy’s team… Read More

TerraPower tests
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on March 28, 2019March 29, 2019 at 10:37 am

If dollars were votes, newly reintroduced legislation aimed at boosting nuclear energy innovation and advanced reactors would be a winner, thanks to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ strong endorsement today. The… Read More

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

by Monica Nickelsburg on March 26, 2019March 27, 2019 at 9:27 am

Bill Gates is “done with cow farts.” So the Microsoft co-founder proclaimed in the opening line of a new blog post entitled, “We should discuss soil as much as we… Read More

What Bill Gates is thinking about as 2018 concludes

by John Cook & Monica Nickelsburg on December 29, 2018December 31, 2018 at 10:44 am

It’s almost hard to remember the Bill Gates of yesteryear — the brash, competitive, hard-charging business leader known to dismiss Microsoft managers by telling them they’d just presented the “stupidest”… Read More

Amazon employees flex shareholder muscle to push for climate change plan

by Monica Nickelsburg on December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 at 9:36 am

More than a dozen Amazon employees are using their power as shareholders to pressure their employer to be more thoughtful and transparent about climate change. The group filed a shareholder… Read More

PI3 plasma injector
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 at 6:58 pm

The Canadian government says it’s investing $37.5 million (49.3 million Canadian dollars) in General Fusion, a British Columbia company that aims to build a prototype plant powered by nuclear fusion.… Read More

Video

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

by Alan Boyle on September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 at 9:09 pm

Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the $1 billion energy innovation fund spearheaded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has revealed seven more companies in which it’s investing, including startups that aim to build… Read More

Michl Binderbauer
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 at 12:20 pm

TAE Technologies, the fusion energy venture backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and other heavy-hitters, is elevating Michl Binderbauer to CEO and bringing former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt onto… Read More

NuScale nuclear plant
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on July 10, 2018July 10, 2018 at 7:01 pm

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

Abandoned well
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on June 12, 2018June 12, 2018 at 3:29 pm

Eighteen months after its founding, the $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund’s first investments have been revealed, and they both have to do with energy storage systems. Quartz reports today… Read More

Kilopower installation
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on May 2, 2018May 4, 2018 at 6:53 pm

That’s one small step for nuclear reactors on the moon and Mars, and several giant leaps to go. Eventually, the technology pioneered by NASA’s Kilopower project could provide the electricity… Read More

What’s holding back the Internet of Things? Power

by Larry Arnstein on March 10, 2018March 10, 2018 at 7:03 am

[Editor’s Note: This guest post is by Larry Arnstein, a former Impinj business and marketing executive who is now an entrepreneur in residence at the Intellectual Ventures Invention Science Fund.] A… Read More

SPARC fusion experiment
Video

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

by Alan Boyle on March 9, 2018March 9, 2018 at 11:18 am

A new entrant in the race to commercialize fusion energy, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, aims to capitalize on superconductor technology from MIT and $50 million from the Italian energy company Eni.… Read More

Trudeau and Nye
Video

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Bill Nye talk science (and pipelines) with students

by Alan Boyle on March 6, 2018March 6, 2018 at 7:54 pm

Canada’s highest-ranking science geek, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shared a stage with Bill Nye the Science Guy at the University of Ottawa today — and shared a teachable moment on the… Read More

Norman plasma machine
Video

TAE Technologies pushes plasma machine to a new high on the nuclear fusion frontier

by Alan Boyle on February 10, 2018February 13, 2018 at 10:08 am

TAE Technologies, the California-based fusion company backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said its latest and greatest plasma generator has exceeded the headline-grabbing performance of its previous machine. “This announcement… Read More

Underwater vehicle

LaserMotive makes a switch to PowerLight and focuses on beaming power over fiber

by Alan Boyle on December 8, 2017December 15, 2017 at 7:33 am

The company formerly known as LaserMotive is coming out of stealth mode with a new name — PowerLight Technologies — and a sharper focus on beaming power over fiber-optic cables. “The company… Read More

ITER construction site
Video

$20 billion ITER fusion facility reaches halfway point for construction in France

by Alan Boyle on December 6, 2017March 27, 2023 at 5:12 pm

The world’s biggest and most expensive nuclear fusion research project, known as ITER, says it’s halfway done with the construction effort leading to the startup of its seven-story-high reactor in… Read More

  • Older

A Word From Our Sponsors

About

  • About GeekWire
  • Contact Us
  • Ask About Advertising
  • Send Us a Tip
  • Become a GeekWire Member
  • Join Our Startup List
  • Reprints and Permissions

Follow

GeekWire Newsletters

Catch every headline in your inbox

Read GeekWire

  • Apple News
  • Google News

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Sponsored Content Policy
Return to Top of Page
© 2011-2023 GeekWire, LLC