Green
As Seattle Development Churns, a Battle to Save the City’s Trees is Underway
The city is losing its green, leafy canopy.
When University of Washington social scientist Kathleen Wolf, Ph.D., needs a break, she rides her bike through the gardens of Ballards Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, often ending up at the Washington Park Arboretum. Its a trip she takes to experience forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku, the name Japanese researchers have given to the experience of spending…
Amazon Spheres Get Their First Resident
Triple orbs, scheduled to open next year, will house plant 400 species.
Dignitaries, workers and schoolchildren donned hard hats and safety goggles Thursday to welcome the first plant an Australian tree fern to the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle. King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle City Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw and Amazon VP John Schoettler joined about 150 workers and media people at the pormotional event. Scheduled to…
2016 Community Impact Awards: Green Products & Services
Winner: Optimum Energy, Itek Energy, Rice Fergus Miller
Gold Award:Optimum EnergyLocation: Seattle | Employees: 60 | Top Exec: Bert Valdman, president/CEO | optimumenergyco.com Being green is not a trend at Optimum Energy. The company, which enables campuses, health care facilities, pharmaceutical plants, data centers and other commercial buildings to cut energy costs by up to 50 percent, believes society must reverse the pace…
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Commits $10B to Battle Climate Change
The billionaire entrepreneur says it will take worldwide collective action to save the Earth
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is intent on ensuring the planet remains a viable platform for life and business in the future. To that end, Bezos announced on Monday, Feb. 17, the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund, indicating that he will commit $10 billion initially to support the work of groups fighting the devastating impact…
Seattle-Area Energy-Storage Company Group14 Technologies Gets A Capital Boost
The company is developing advanced battery technology to help fuel the nations electric future
Group14 Technologies Inc., based in Woodinville, located just east of Bothell, has successfully raised $14.4 million as part of an $18.1 million equity offering to advance its efforts to develop a better battery to help power the expanding electric-vehicle and energy-storage market. The company, spun out in 2016 from Seattle materials manufacturing company EnerG2, is…
Seattle Solar-Services Startup Omnidian raises $15M to Fuel Growth
The company plans to use the funding to expand its reach in the multibillion-dollar U.S. solar energy market
Seattle-based Omnidian has raised $15 million through a venture capital funding round that will allow it to expand its solar-energy system performance guarantee program, which offers homeowners and business owners assurance that their expensive solar investments will perform as promised. The funding round was led by New York venture capital firm IA Capital with additional…
Tableau Tool Tackles Seattles Terrible Traffic
Software companys new dashboard will help companies visualize employee travel patterns
The nonprofit Commute Seattle has teamed with software company Tableau and the Seattle and Washington departments of transportation to unveil an interactive online tool that allows employers to assess their employees commuting patterns to aid them in reducing traffic congestion in Seattles downtown. The partnership between the Seattle producer of data-visualization software, Commute Seattle and…
Amazon Web Services Takes Another Step Toward Total Clean-Energy Reliance
Cloud-computing unit of e-commerce giant Amazon invests in three new wind farm projects
Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary Seattle-based Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing services, announced plans to purchase energy from three new wind farms slated for development in Ireland, Sweden and the United States as part of its goal to power AWSs global infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy. As of the end of 2018,…
Denny Substation Does More Than Just Send Power to Homes and Businesses
The substation provides a new model for community engagement.
This article appears in print in the December 2018 issue. Click here for a free subscription. Substations, the electrical distribution centers that transform voltage from high to low so it can be used in homes and businesses, are typically so utilitarian in design they barely merit a second glance. The South Lake Union 13kV Distribution…