By the time the end of 2011 rolls around, Greentech Media will have published close to 2,000 articles for the year. Here's a list of articles with the highest numbers of unique page views. You can click on the image to read the original article. We'll start with number 10 and work our way up to the top-trafficked article of the year.
10.) Here's VC investor Vinod Khosla's take on energy storage market dynamics as a speaker at the Electrical Storage Association's annual meeting. He really had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand until he informed them that lithium-ion battery maker A123 (attending the event in force) would not be around in 10 years, as well as dismissing many of the technologies that those at the industry gathering were working on as "toys" because of their inability to scale to truly solve grid-level problems. A must-read for those interested in energy storage.
9.) This looked like a tame article that covered the emerging number of residential solar leasing companies. It would seem that the more companies like SolarCity or SunRun, the better, in terms of offering the consumer a greater choice in installers and financiers. Instead, it turned out to be a bit of a contentious topic -- check out the comment thread.
8.) Long-stealthy solar startup Alta Devices has slowly revealed the details of its GaAs material and very-high-efficiency, low-cost aspirations. The thin-film PV company is founded by solar experts Harry Atwater of Cal Tech and Eli Yablonovitch of UCB and funded by Kleiner Perkins, Technology Partners, August Capital, NEA, Crosslink Capital, and others. The firm is still very early stage and much remains to be proven technologically and commercially.
7.) While GTM spends a lot of time covering innovative startups and venture capital deal flow, most of the real progress in moving greentech to market will come from the big guys in this big-iron, capital-intensive business. Former editor-in-chief Michael Kanellos lists the 10 big players that smaller firms will need as acquirers or strategic partners.
6.) EEStor is a mythical supercapacitor company that scored some early-stage funding from Kleiner Perkins for a ceramic chemistry and technology that would alter the energy storage landscape the way the Segway transformed the way we get around in urban areas. We've never been able to get an interview with the CEO, Dick Weir, but here we offer a brief timeline and feedback from the Air Force Research Lab on the firm.
5.) Solyndra was the DOE loan guarantee recipient and bankruptcy that finally brought solar power into the public consciousness -- in precisely the opposite way from that which the solar industry would have preferred. Everyone including Fox News had an opinion. On a positive note, the echoes of this story are starting to fade, although they might re-emerge as the U.S. presidential race heats up.
4.) This article on the air-hybrid Scuderi engine has a record number of reader comments. The invention is a novel gas engine that increases overall efficiency by 10 percent to 50 percent and cuts down on NOx gases at the same time by changing the way air gets channeled through the engine.
3.) If you attend enough cleantech events or are pitched by enough startups, you start to see the same few PowerPoint slides over and over again. Here is a collection of the best -- or at least the most notorious and historically significant -- slides in our industry.
2.) For less than $100, Radio Thermostat is offering its Wi-Fi thermostat directly to the masses. It’s just the beginning.
1.) Our resident smart grid reporter, Katie Tweed, provides instructions on hacking into your smart meter. We fully intend to rehire her upon her release from prison.