Follow the chatter. A few weeks ago, we reported here that Miox, a company that's devised a system to purify water with salt, was in the midst of raising a new round. And today, the company said it pulled in $19 million to expand. In Miox’s system, electricity converts salt into sodium hypochlorite and/or mixed oxidants, which then get injected into water. Salt electrolysis has been around for decades–bleach giant Clorox started this way. Miox, however, claims that its onsite equipment is more electrically efficient than conventional products and has been optimized to squeeze the benefits of putting mixed oxidants in water. Using solids to disinfect has numerous...

Xcel Energy and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have reached an agreement requiring the utility to disclose climate change-related risks to shareholders. The compromise comes after nearly a year of negotiations between Cuomo and Xcel, one of the country's largest utilities and producers of greenhouse gas emissions, following the launch of an investigation into the disclosure of climate change-related financial risks in September 2007. Peabody Energy, Dominion, Dynegy, and AES Corp. were also targeted in the investigation, though none have yet agreed to the risk disclosure Cuomo has asked for. Xcel is now required to discuss the financial risks associated with state- and...

In their quest to create the next First Solar, VC investors are making enormous bets on new solar technologies, including the difficult Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) materials system. I've just learned from a very reliable investor source that AVA Solar, a CdTe photovoltaics manufacturer in Colorado, has received a term sheet for a $100 million round at a $750 million pre-money valuation, with $50 million of that round coming from DCM. A contact at AVA Solar declined to comment. Valuations in these stratospheric ranges are becoming the norm for solar startups with very high expectations and very low revenues such as Solyndra, Nanosolar and Miasolé. My source's investment firm chose...

The cash consuming machine that is CIGS never fails to astound. Nanosolar, which makes copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar panels, confirmed with Dow Jones that it has raised $300 million in another round of financing. Sources have said for the past few weeks that Nanosolar was raising another round. Nanosolar already raised about $150 million, bringing their total now close to $450 million. The company, however, has garnered almost no revenues and only started shipping products, to a limited customer base, in December. But the company isn't the only one in this sort of situation. Solyndra, which we reported is trying to raise an additional $350 million, is burning...