News

Official Press Releases

Cool Earth Solar in the News

businessweek May 13, 2008
Rethinking the Energy Solution
...Cool Earth Solar hopes by 2010 to cut the cost of the electricity it produces to 29 cents per watt making solar farming a highly attractive option....

venturebeat April 23, 2008
Small municipal plants could be the future for solar power
...Another example is Cool Earth Solar, a startup based in Livermore, Calif. that hews to the “cheaper is better” model, using inexpensive reflective balloons to concentrate light on cells. It plans to suspend its balloons on cable-bound arrays 12-14 feet above active farmland, letting sunlight strike both the solar cells and crops beneath...

c|net April 22, 2008
Green companies to watch: Renewable energy
... Apart from the great name, this company is taking a potentially disruptive approach to solar electricity. Never mind expensive plants out in the desert. Why not just float reflective balloons in open fields?...

dowjones April 12, 2008
Tech Notebook: Clean Tech entry balloons into a business
...But it was Eric Cummings and his solar balloon that wowed the crowd. Cummings, founder of Cool Earth Solar in Livermore, told about the late nights and a shoestring budget that led to his second-place finish in the first Clean Tech Open, in 2006...

dowjones February 19, 2008
Following Series A, Cool Earth Solar To Go For Debt
...The Series A capital, provided by an undisclosed private equity investor, will be used for hiring staff, purchasing equipment and getting the first two projects online...

venturebeat February 15, 2008
Cool Earth Solar funded for oddball concentrated solar design
...If solar power is expensive in part because the materials come dearly, then use cheaper materials. That’s the design principle behind thin film solar cells, and now also behind a form of concentrated solar using plastic balloons, designed by a firm called Cool Earth Solar....

c|net February 14, 2008
Cool Earth Solar generates power with 'solar balloons'
...Cool Earth Solar has taken a radical approach to building a solar-power plant using a technique called concentrated solar photovoltaics, in which light is magnified onto solar cells to maximize electricity output...

February 14 - February 21, 2008

Many articles came out when we announced Series A funding:

Business Green - Cool Earth Solar secures $21m backing for solar "balloons" technology
CleanTech - Funds flow to light and solar
Earth2Tech - Cool Earth Gets $21M for Inflatable Solar
East Bay Business Times - Livermore's Cool Earth Solar raises $21 million
EcoGeek - Solar Bubbles Get $21M of Funding
GreenBang - Cool Earth Solar gets a cool $21 million
Green Tech Media - Concentrating Solar Gets a Cool $21M
Groovy Green - Cool Earth Inflatable Solar Balloons Get $21M Funding
Gunther Portfolio - Cool Earth Solar emerges from Stealth Mode
Smart Planet - Cool Earth Solar makes power with 'balloons'
Thoughts on Global Warming - Solar 'Balloons' 25x Cheaper Than Regular Solar Panels

ecogeek November 1, 2007
Inflatable Solar Arrays Cost Up To 25X Less
...We've seen plenty of mirror concentrators before, but this one is unique because it uses inflatable mirrors that are 400 times cheaper than polished aluminum mirrors...

mongabay July 8, 2007
Inflatable concentrators may cut cost of solar below conventional power plants
...The closely-held firm has developed a technology that uses a string of balloons to concentrate and capture the sun's energy without occupying valuable real estate or using large amounts of silicon...

gunther portfolio June 17, 2007
Cool Earth Solar emerges from Stealth Mode
...The first utility scale power plants using CES technology are expected to begin construction in early 2008 with renewable solar electricity production slated for year end...

c|net May 23, 2007
Solar farms on the cheap
...Cool Earth Solar says its solar collectors, which are about two meters in diameter, will be cheaper than other concentrators because of the inexpensive plastic it will use to magnify light. Typically, concentrators use sophisticated lenses or polished aluminum...

venturebeat May 9, 2007
Cool Earth Solar raises $750,000 for solar power concentration technology
...Cool Earth Solar, a Livermore, Calif. company that says it has developed a new solar concentration technology, has raised $750,000 in a seed round of financing...

c|net April 12, 2007
Green is gold at Cool Product Expo
...Cool Earth Solar said its inflatable mirrors are 400 times cheaper than traditional polished aluminum mirrors. Cummings said the technology will make solar power the energy future of small farms, and rural-industrialized areas...

mongabay February 21, 2007
Balloon technology could cut cost of solar energy 90% by 2010
...CoolEarth Solar, based in Livermore, California, believes its technology could make solar farming economically competitive within three years by making solar cheaper than coal and allowing farmers to become net suppliers of electricity...