Stars are aligning for a vibrant cleantech economy in the Emerald Isle.

Funding Roundup: Will Green Investments Bring Ireland More Luck? - Greentech Media

As Ireland's largest utility promises to invest $16.5 billion in renewable-energy projects and technology, smart-grid company GridPoint grabs $15 million, solar installer AES Solar raises up to $1 billion and CMEA Ventures closes its largest venture fund at $400 million.

PG&E puts out calls to secure more power - East Bay Business Times

PG&E is seeking to acquire what it called "dispatchable and operationally flexible resources" by 2015, from all sources. Its request is open to offers from repowering and new conventional power generation, renewable resources and new generation facilities constructed for utility ownership, the company said in a statement. The new power is needed to meet Northern California's long-term energy needs.

Algae Spotlight: Inventure Chemical - Earth2Tech

Tegen said Inventure has previously raised around $1.6 million from a group of angel investors, which were reported to include Seattle-based biodiesel producer Imperium Renewables. Unlike many companies working on harvesting and growing algae in ponds and bioreactors, Tegan says Inventure is working on the process that turns the algae into different types of fuels.

ConocoPhillips offers $300,000 prize for clean energy break throughs - BusinessGreen

US energy giant ConocoPhillips yesterday announced the launch of a new awards initiative offering up to $300,000 in cash prizes to researchers developing ideas and technologies capable of curb US greenhouse gas emissions.

The Energy Prize Awards, which are being run in conjunction with Penn State University's Energy Institute, will be offered to "new ideas and original, actionable solutions " capable of delivering alternative energy sources, improving energy efficiency, or otherwise reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Will lithium ion get replaced? Longer lasting, recyclable batteries due in laptops this summer - VentureBeat

ZPower makes use of decades-old silver zinc technology, which offers greater power density (essentially, how much electricity a battery can hold) than lithium ion, but allows far fewer recharges before becoming useless. ZPower’s breakthrough is raising the number of times a silver zinc battery can be recharged to be comparable to lithium ion, research which took the company over a decade.