BP Solar yesterday said it would cut 620 jobs and outsource manufacturing, a shift in fortunes for the large manufacturer and a sign of the times. But there was one more thing to mention. The company said in a phone call that it had dropped development of CIGS (cadmium indium gallium selenide) solar cells. "We looked at it at one point in the lab, but are doing nothing with it now," wrote a BP spokesman. CIGS or CIS solar cells represent the future of thin film, according to advocates. These solar cells cost less than crystalline cells but are more efficient than amorphous silicon solar cells. Still, they aren't easy to make. A few companies -- Solyndra, Nanosolar -- are manufacturing CIGS cells but in relatively limited quantities. One of the big fears for the startups has been the impact of large manufacturers on the market. Honda and Shell are the two largest players with eyes on CIGS. BP had been mentioned in the past as well-heeled company that could make an impact. But apparently not anymore.

Telecommunications giant Verizon and leading smart meter maker Itron want utilities to know they've linked up on getting energy data from smart meters to utilities. The partnership announced Wednesday links Itron's radio mesh communications, which connect meter to meter and meters to concentrator points, to Verizon's wireless networks, which carry the data back to utility central offices. It isn't a new way to bridge that gap. Verizon is working with Duke Energy on a similar project, and other utilities are looking at cellular networks — along with other options like fiber-optic and broadband over powerline — to carry those "backhaul" comminications, noted Ben Schuman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. Nor does this mean that Itron plans to use Verizon's networks to connect individual homes' smart meters, Schuman noted. That's something that AT&T announced it would do with smart meter networking provider SmartSynch earlier this month, and something KORE Telematics is already doing using AT&T's wireless network to connect an eventual 800,000 smart meters being installed by utility Arizona Public Service (see Your Electrical Meter Becomes a Cell Phone). However, Schuman did see Wednesday's announcement as another sign that telecommunications giants are jumping on the smart grid bandwagon, similar to signs that Verizon and AT&T are looking at providing home energy monitoring and control devices directly to customers (see Verizon to Add Energy Management to FiOS and Are Telcos Eyeing Home Energy Management?)  With $4.5 billion in stimulus grants set to be doled out to smart grid projects, there's good reason to get involved, he noted.  

Google has always kept its server technology under wraps. In 2006, I begged to interview the company on its server designs, especially how the company tied down the hard drive with Velcro. The Velcro makes for an easy swap. I also wanted to interview the guy who ran the crash cart, the trolley with spare parts the technicians rolled around. They said no. The search giant, however, showed off its server design to reporters today. And one big surprise: The servers each come with their own 12-volt battery to ensure power stays on, says News.com's Stephen Shankland. Shankland writes more:

The company also revealed for the first time that since 2005, its data centers have been composed of standard shipping containers -- each with 1,160 servers and a power consumption that can reach 250 kilowatts.

It may sound geeky, but a number of attendees -- the kind of folks who run data centers packed with thousands of servers for a living -- were surprised not only by Google's built-in battery approach, but by the fact that the company has kept it secret for years. Ben Jai [Google's server architect] said in an interview that Google has been using the design since 2005 and now is in its sixth or seventh generation of design.

"'It was our Manhattan Project," Jai said of the design.

They work. In the first carbon auctions conducted last September by RGGI Inc., the administrative body for the East Coast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the auction yielded 12.6 million allowances for $3.07 per allowance, according to World Energy, which provides the underlying software and services for the auction. A second auction in December yielded 31.5 million allowances at $3.38 per allowance. At another auction on March 23, 31.5 million allowances were auctioned at $3.51 per allowance. The March auction also saw the sale of 2.2 million 2012 vintage allowances for $3.05 per allowance. In all, the the March auction raised $117 million for energy efficiency and other projects. (The money goes to the ten participating states.) These kind of results are helping bolster the argument for cap-and-trade programs over carbon taxes, said Phil Adams, World's president. RGGI is an example of cap and trade. Representatives from several governments have already contacted World about auctions. People who helped implement RGGI now work in the Obama administration. Cap and trade has an advantage over taxes in that the price is less arbitrary, he argued. (Canada, Al Gore and others, though, say a tax is the way to go.) World also conducts energy auctions. Manufacturers and other large organizations state what they want to buy and independent power producers bid on the deals. Buyers can see the identity of the sellers, but the sellers don't know who else is bidding. They just see the latest quotes. Despite the fact that the contracts can total well into the millions, you see a lot of the same psychology you do on eBay. The bidding will proceed on a moderate basis until the last minutes of the auction, which last an hour. Then it plummets as sellers try to undercut each other. Some sellers have multiple log-ins to better react to incoming bids from competitors. Buyers are not obligated to buy any of the offers "but we close almost every deal," said Adams.

First there was Oprah. Then the rest. The media siege at Sacramento tent city has now been running for three weeks. Network vans, international press and national newsteams. They are all visiting the wasteland under the power lines next to the Blue Diamond Almond Factory. They have come to get the recession story. They go home with the story of pretty much every "tent city" in the country. A story of the people that have been living the outdoor life, cooking food at campfires for years. I visited the camp site recently with Stefan Schultz, a German reporter from Der Spiegel, to see it firsthand. I am a visiting journalist from Sweden studying innovation and clean technology. But policy is a huge part of it. Since cleantech is going to, in part, depend on California subsidies, I thought I'd get a firsthand look at some of the social issues facing the state. Why has the Sacramento tent city become an example of recession victims? Well, unemployment is high and the financial crisis has hit the people hard. Being the capital of California, the tent city makes the symbolic value of it even higher. The tent city actually been there for years, and though the number of homeless people has increased from the recent recession, it's not a new Hooverville (the 1930s great depression shanty towns built by the homeless). "I've been homeless for twenty-four years and I've been here for seventeen," said one bare-chested man as he took a sip of water from a bottle he'd received from charity workers. Homeless people living in tents isn't a new problem. But it fits reporting on the recession like a glove. People like you and me forced to leave our houses, finding shelter in cold and tattered tent cities outside of regular society. That's a scary thought for most of us. In reality, the situation is diverse. There are the drug addicts who don't want to stay clean when living in shelters. There are the independent souls that want to take care of themselves without the interference of laws and regulations from the society. It's Rainbow Singer, the disabled woman who keeps a walker in her tent and is active in an organization for the homeless. "I'd rather stay here than get sick from living in the shelters," she said. Rainbow is a Native American who used to work as a security guard but is thinking of going into jewelry manufacturing. "I like to work with my hands," she said. Because of problems with her knees she could not work as a guard any longer, and it's hard to get a new job in these times. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sacramento's Mayor Kevin Johnson want to move the homeless people in tent city to the state's fairground where they can be provided with shelter and warm meals. According to Carolyn, who is homeless for the second time in her life, no one needs to go hungry in tent city. "You're stupid if you're hungry. We get food here everyday," she said. During our six-hour visit, the camping site received visits from two different organizations. The first one arrived around 10:30 a.m. They brought hamburgers. The second one came from a local church. About 40 people gathered around a white pick-up truck for prayers and pizza. "I think two slices each will be enough so that everyone gets one," shouted a man on the truck. Everyone we talk to says the same thing. The tents have been here for years. One man living in one of the nearby homes tells me that he's been living there for five years and the situation under the power lines hasn't changed But the media image has. There are, of course, many people suffering from the recession with layoffs all over the country, and some of them have begun to arrive at Sacramento's tent city. We just didn't see that many. We found one man, Boyd, who actually told us he lost his job eight months ago. And he's found a new one just recently. So he could be the recession victim for our story... Do the homeless represent an increasing problem in the country? Yes. Is it all connected to the recession? No. How about everyone else? Do we still care when the recession swings back and the media network vans no longer aim their spotlight at this, until now, forgotten place outside Sacramento? Probably not. And maybe that's the story that should be told.

You don't hear that word, "optimism," much lately so I'd like to put it out there. Reputations to the contrary, VCs have to be resolute optimists -- making audacious bets on emerging technologies, in emerging markets, with no current customers. One needs high levels of knowledge, hope and testicular fortitude. We just released the most recent quarterly data showing that venture capital investment in green technologies totaled more than $836.1 million in 59 deals in the first quarter of 2009. The numbers are approximately back to 2007 levels.  I use the term "more than" because there are a number of undisclosed deals that take the number closer to a billion dollars for the quarter. Here's what a few high-profile greentech VCs had to say about the quarterly totals: Ira Ehrenpreis, General Partner at greentech investment firm, Technology Partners, remarked: “It’s important to put these numbers in perspective. The $800 million of investment this quarter is more capital than has been invested annually for most of the years that we’ve been investing in the cleantech sector. We still see a lot of money flowing into the sector, but investors are getting more discerning and are concentrating investments into the best companies.� “Greentech VC investing declined year-over-year, not surprising given the economy,� said John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins. “Still, greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century. This level of green VC investment is not enough.� Erik Straser, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures adds: “Cleantech enjoys favorable tailwinds even in this challenging time. In the first quarter, quality companies continue to raise capital albeit with longer fundraising processes and through the Stimulus Plan we see a potent program of incentives and loan guarantees to accelerate adoption of these critical 21st century technologies.� Solar continues to be the leading sector in terms of dollars and deals at $356.6 million in 14 deals, followed by energy storage with $121.5 million, and biofuels with $94.15 million. Surprisingly -- smart grid and energy-efficiency investments have not jumped we predicted, but as the billions of dollars of stimulus funding for the smart grid percolates into the market, we expect an uptick in this sector. At least 14 of the 59 deals in the first quarter of 2009 were early stage, either seed or Round A. Round A and seed investments dominated the automotive and transportation sectors, with seven of the nine rounds being early stage. 2009 will be a year of consolidation and development while 2010 and 2011 will be the year greentech breaks. Expect to see IPOs and acquisitions of VC-funded firms in solar, smart grid and biofuels. All in all, a good start to the year. Details on these figures can be found in the Greentech Innovations Report.