Mar 2, 2012

Google Invests in Biomass Fuel Firm CoolPlanetBiofuels | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World


by Diane Pham, 03/18/11

If you think Google is going to take over the world, you can at least rest assured they’re going to do it in a green way. The internet giant has invested in yet another green initiative, pouring some serious cash into biomass fuel firm CoolPlanetBiofuels. The eco start-up is currently developing technology to produce fuel from inedible biomass such as grass and wood chips. So will Google bio- fueling stations be the next big thing?

The venture capital arm of Google hopes to capitalize on CoolPlanetBiofuels’ process that produces a byproduct that can capture carbon and also be added to soil to improve crop yields, leading to what Google Ventures described as a “negative carbon fuel.”

Mike Cheiky, chief executive of CoolPlanet, said in a statement on Thursday, ”While we have made significant progress over the past couple of years, this new infusion of capital, coupled with the expertise of the Google Ventures team, enables our team to scale even faster.”

Google’s undisclosed amount of Series B funding follows a $42 million investment last month in a weather insurance start-up, and another investment in the power-saving energy conversion technology firm Transphorm.

Via Reuters

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