Climate

Rocket Lab backer Outset raises $25M to fund New Zealand’s deep tech moonshots

Climate /

New Zealand’s deep tech ambitions just got a $25 million boost.  Outset Ventures, the Auckland-based venture firm and incubator that spun out unicorns like Rocket Lab and LanzaTech, has closed its second fund at an oversubscribed $41.5 million NZD.  The fund’s mission is to back startups working on hard science and engineering breakthroughs – technologies […]

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Gridcare thinks more than 100 MW of data center capacity is hiding in the grid

Climate /

Hyperscalers and data center developers are in a pickle: They all want to add computing power tomorrow, but utilities frequently play hard to get, citing years-long waits for grid connections. “All the AI data centers are struggling to get connected,” Amit Narayan, founder and CEO of Gridcare, told TechCrunch. “They’re so desperate. They are looking

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California prepares to sue feds after Senate revokes the state’s EV rule

Climate /

California is preparing to sue the federal government in recover its right to set vehicle emissions standards, Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general, told TechCrunch in a statement. Senate Republicans voted on Thursday 51 to 44 to overturn a waiver that allowed California to set stricter air pollution standards for vehicles. The state has received

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Alt Carbon scores $12M seed to scale carbon removal in India

Climate /

From a struggling family tea estate to an innovative climate venture, Alt Carbon has raised $12 million in a seed round as it plans to scale its carbon dioxide removal work in the South Asian nation. The climate-tech startup, which locks away carbon for thousands of years through enhanced rock weathering on farmlands, attracted investment

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Trump administration may sell deep-sea mining leases at startup’s urging

Climate /

The U.S. Department of the Interior said Tuesday it’s beginning the process of selling deep sea mining leases after a request from startup Impossible Metals. The agency said the process would “evaluate a potential mineral lease sale in the waters offshore American Samoa.” The administrative procedure requires a publication in the federal register and the

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The Nuclear Company raises $51M to develop massive reactor sites

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The Nuclear Company is taking an old approach to building new nuclear reactors. Rather than gin up a new design or try to mass manufacture smaller reactors, it wants to develop a series of reactors using existing designs. The two-year-old startup announced a Series A last month that included investments from CIV, Goldcrest Capital, MCJ

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House GOP wants to cut parts of the Inflation Reduction Act while sparing others

Climate /

Republican leadership in the Ways and Means committee of the U.S. House of Representatives released Monday night a draft of a reconciliation bill that seeks to undo much of the Inflation Reduction Act. The landmark 2022 law implemented a range of incentives that spurred the production of clean energy, electric vehicles, carbon capture, and battery

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GM’s new ‘manganese rich’ battery promises cheaper EVs in 2028

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General Motors revealed Tuesday a new battery chemistry called lithium-manganese-rich (LMR), which it says should slash costs while delivering driving range that’s just shy of the most advanced batteries on the market.  “With LMR, we can deliver over 400-mile range in our in our trucks while significantly reducing our battery costs,” Kurt Kelty, GM’s vice

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InventWood is about to mass produce wood that’s stronger than steel

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It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it actually comes from a lab in Maryland. In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the University of Maryland, had devised a way to turn ordinary wood into a material stronger than steel. It seemed like yet another headline grabbing discovery that wouldn’t make it

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