brightness

Someone has to say it.

These days, people are getting far more lasting satisfaction from food than from sex.

While the latter's public face is becoming ever more seamy rather than steamy, the former expresses its glories at every public level--from the sensual to the visual to the televisual.

There will never be a reality show called Top Pimp.

Top Chef, on the other hand, is the cause of more reheated emotions than Sex And the City and Deep Throat combined.

Perhaps this explains a new venture called GeoSpot.com.

GeoSpot is not just a directory that tells you … Read more

BrightSource Energy has raised $115 million, a hefty vote of confidence for its solar power tower technology that converts heat to electricity.

Investors included Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, as well as VantagePoint Venture Partners, BP Alternative Energy, Statoil Hydro Venture, and Cargill subsidiary Black River. Existing investors DBL Investors, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Chevron Technology Ventures also participated in the Series C round.

BrightSource designs and operates solar power plants aimed at utilities that need to invest in renewable energy. Pacific Gas & Electric said in March it will purchase up to 900 megawatts from BrightSource solar … Read more

That ancient, inefficient heating/air conditioning system in your building might be worth something someday.

Pacific Gas & Electric CEO Pete Darbee said in a briefing with reporters Tuesday that the utility is working with government officials to see if there is a way to create a fund that gives building owners financial incentives to replace old compressors, pumps, and other building equipment with new, energy-efficient versions.

Building owners want to get rid of this old equipment, he explained, but the capital requirements are a big hurdle. The program could be structured in a way so that it could be … Read more

BrightKite is a service that's not showing off its stuff at the Web 2.0 Expo but getting a lot of buzz from some other bloggers here. It's a microblogging tool the likes of Twitter, Pownce, et al with some handy location-based features. What's the point you ask? It's got a whole lot more social networking built-in from the start. It also shares one of the things that made Meetro and Twinkle so cool, by letting you see what people around you are doing.

Like Fireball you can attach your current position to small 140 character … Read more

BrightSource Energy will build 500 megawatts' worth of solar thermal power plants for Pacific Gas & Electric in California, and the contract contains an option for PG&E to order another 400 megawatts on top of that.

The deal is the largest yet in the solar thermal world when the option is added. PG&E earlier inked a deal with Israel's Solel under which Solel will build 533 megawatts' worth of solar power for the utility. Ausra, an Australian start-up that has moved to the U.S., will build a 177-megawatt plant for PG&E. Ausra … Read more

Move over Rudolph. Santa will likely get more help guiding his sleigh tonight from Mars than from your red nose.

The red planet will be about as close and as bright to Earth as it ever gets, which means it will be brighter than the brightest star in the sky.

Read the full story at ABC News. "Red planet outshines red nose"

Twelve percent of Americans are willing to pay more for greener electronics, according to a Forrester Research survey of 5,000 people. The study forecast that electronics companies will learn to target this segment of the population, equivalent to 25 million consumers.

The report broke down shoppers into three categories: "bright" green, green, and un-green. Another 41 percent may care about environmental woes, but not enough to pay more for greener gadgets, while green issues were of little or no concern to another 47 percent of people surveyed.

"Bright" green consumers are otherwise known by the … Read more

Google announced on Tuesday plans to put hundreds of millions of dollars into alternative energy. The question now is whether the company is advancing the state of the art or just imitating everyone else who is dumping loads of money into the field.

The answer is some of both.

One of the first companies to get funding from Google will be eSolar, which will make solar thermal plants based on the heliostat design. In this concept, an array of flat mirrors gathers and directs sunlight onto a water tower. The water boils into steam, which turns a turbine to make … Read more

Remember the Fake Sun Roof? Now there's a pretend window you can put up on a blank wall too.

Designed by Mongoose, it's a potential solution for overworked, underpaid underlings who complain that they're stuck in a window-less room all day. To create that clever illusion of sunlight, Makoto Hirahara's Bright Blind uses electroluminescent sheets. If the fake sunlight gets a bit too bright, simply adjust the blind down just like the real thing.

According to gnr8, these are custom-made and available, though other gadget blogs state that it's still a concept. Whatever the case, … Read more