—Green Car Company (Bellevue, WA). This company markets all sorts of environmentally-friendly modes of transport, from electric-assist bikes to Toyota Prius plug-in hybrids.
—Greenwood Technologies (Bellevue, WA). This firm makes alternative-fuel technologies for clean, renewable heating. (Editor’s Note: This entry was added March 8)
—HydroVolts (Seattle). This company says it aims to develop renewable energy from canals, waterways, streams, and ocean currents.
—Imperium Renewables (Seattle). This once high-flying maker of biodiesel, which built a 100 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel refinery in Grays Harbor, WA, has fallen on financial hard times and has tried to cut a lower profile lately.
—Infinia (Kennewick, WA). This company makes electricity generators that run on solar power and biomass. Noted Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is an investor.
—Inland Empire Oilseeds (Odessa, WA). The company crushes oilseeds to produce biodiesel.
—InnovaTek (Richland, WA). This company is a developer of hydrogen fuel cell technology.
—Integrated Fuel Technologies (Kirkland, WA). This company, backed by Vancouver, BC-based Yaletown Venture Partners, is developing new technology to reduce the emissions and boost fuel efficiency of diesel engines without sacrificing performance. The company has a contract with the Argonne National Laboratory.
—Intellectual Ventures (Bellevue). This investment and invention firm has designed a new kind of nuclear reactor that requires much less enriched fuel than conventional reactors. (Editor’s Note: This entry was added March 6)
—Inventure (Seattle). This company operates a prototype algae fuel processing plant that it says is currently making biodiesel and ethanol.
—Itron (Liberty Lake, WA). This global smart-grid company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ITRI]]) makes tools to gather information on energy usage, and software to manage it.
—JX Crystals (Issaquah, WA). This spinoff from Boeing is aiming to improve the efficiency of solar cells.
—MagnaDrive (Bellevue, WA). This company develops technology to make industrial pumps, fans, and manufacturing equipment more energy-efficient.
—Microplanet (Seattle). This company, led by Bruce Lisanti, has technology that allows residential and business customers to manage their incoming power voltage, reducing their energy consumption by 5-12 percent.
—Microsoft (Redmond). The software giant is thinking hard about how to reduce the environmental impact of information technology, and how IT can help the environment. Greg recently interviewed Mark Aggar, director of environmental technology strategy, about what the company specifically has in mind.
