The U.S. Air Force is testing 40 of Pvilions integrated-solar military tent designs in a wide variety of geographies, including Alaska and New Mexico. Photo courtesy of Pvilion One of my favorite summer-time gadgets is the bouquet of solar lights and lanterns scattered in my backyard, where I often retreat with my laptop to write on a summer’s evening. But one of my least favorite activities is replacing the rechargeable batteries they require. It’s not that I’m lazy, I cringe at the waste and carbon footprint of all those designed-to-be-disposable energy storage devices. Multiply that by all the millions of sensors and thermostats and remote controls and electronic labels and other internet-of-things things, and the waste scenarios are mind-boggling. That’s why I find the $31 million Series A funding disclosure earlier this month for Ambient Photonics, which is developing low-light solar cells that can harvest energy from both natural and artificial sources, so intriguing. The company’s technology aims to eliminate disposable batteries and cut down the size of the power sources required for many connected devices that consumers and businesses have come to rely on. The funding was led by the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund and the Ecosystem Integrity Fund, and it included both I Squared Capital and Future Shape, the investment firm founded by iPod creator Tony Fadell. The money will go toward building a production facility that is capable of producing "tens of millions" of the cells annually at an as-yet-disclosed location. Ambient co-founder and CEO Bates Marshall said the company is also being considered for a $162 million loan guarantee under the U.S. Department’s Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, which is intended to encourage energy innovations. If that money comes through, it will go toward a second factory, he told me. "Our supply chain is very short," he said, pointing to the company's local manufacturing footprint. The... |