Toyota’s ongoing recall and the safety concerns embroiling an automaker that climbed to the top of the global car market through a reputation for reliability, may offer an opportunity for competitors to seize market share, at least in the near term. But Toyota’s troubles, which most recently have spread to the automaker’s 2010 Prius hybrid model, could also offer something more lasting to companies ranging from General Motors to startups Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors as they race to crank out plug-in vehicles: lessons in what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to cultivation of rapid growth and a green halo.

In an automaker’s lineup, a “halo” car  is meant to cast a positive glow over a company or brand — showcasing technology, styling and smarts while also helping to define what the brand stands for and luring customers into showrooms to buy other models. The Prius did this to such remarkable effect for Toyota that the industry took notice. As GM-Volt tells it, the status Toyota acquired as “a media and environmental sweetheart” through the halo effect of the Prius helped inspire GM’s push for the plug-in Volt. But hanging so much of your reputation on one model also carries risk — and that can get lost in the green glow.

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The times they are a-changin’ for Fisker Automotive. The Irvine, Calif.-based startup working on a plug-in hybrid luxury sports car and mid-range plug-in sedan called Project Nina tells VentureWire it expects to close its $528.7 million loan with the Department of Energy by the middle of next month.

By the time that funding — awarded to help the company set up manufacturing in the U.S. and launch the luxury Fisker Karma model — comes through, Fisker expects to have its entire design, engineering, sales, marketing and administrative team located in its Irvine headquarters. According to a release from the company last week, Fisker plans to shutter a Pontiac, Mich., development facility opened in late 2008, bringing the 30 or so full-time Michigan positions out to California by March 1 as the startup gears up to “dramatically” expand hiring to accelerate development of the Nina model.

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Cash Money, Oil Money: The founders of Cash Money Records — Birdman and Ronald “Slim” Williams — have started an oil exploration company called Bronald Oil & Gas. — Business Insider

Siemens Targets Fifth of Smart Grid Biz: “Germany’s Siemens sees the world market for intelligent electricity networks roughly doubling to more than 30 billion euros ($40.98 billion) by 2014 and aims to take a fifth of that market.” — Reuters India

Rear-Wheel Drive Hybrid Cars in the Works at GM: General Motors’ two-mode hybrid powertrain, currently used only in trucks, “will migrate to rear-drive cars in the next generation, according to Tom Stephens, GM’s vice chairman of global product operations. — Automotive News via Edmunds Green Car Advisor

NOAA Hones in on Climate Change: “The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched a new climate service today, a reorganization effort aimed at improving long-range assessments of climate change, sea-level rise and severe weather. — Greenwire via NYT

Greentech IPO Scorecard: There are now more deals in the IPO pipeline than there have been for more than two years — and a number of those (Tesla, Codexis, Solyndra, Jinko Solar Holdings) happen to be high-profile public offerings in the greentech sector. — Greentech Media

Former hedge-funder-turned-greentech investor and philanthropist David Gelbaum has taken on a new role, as CEO of Entech Solar. A developer of concentrating solar modules and a daylighting system that’s scheduled to launch early this year, Entech Solar got its official start in 2008. That’s when solar installer WorldWater & Solar Technology acquired a 25-year-old development-focused firm called Entech, Inc. — in a deal that Gelbaum’s secretive Quercus Trust helped finance with a $35 million investment.

This move into the executive role for Gelbaum, who was already Chairman and a major shareholder for Entech Solar, comes on the heels of a rough year for the investor. In December 2009, he revealed that “a shift in my financial circumstances” had forced him to rein in philanthropic donations to organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Sierra Club and Iraq-Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund of the California Community Foundation.

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Whoa — big news on the solar thermal front today, as French power giant Areva says it’s agreed to buy solar thermal startup Ausra. Back in November there were several media reports that said Ausra was in talks to be acquired by one of three companies, and it looks like Areva won the deal. Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed.

Areva, which has a large nuclear portfolio, says it will use the Ausra acquisition to become “the world leader in concentrated solar power,” and will sell solar thermal tech to utilities and independent power producers. Solar thermal technology uses mirrors and lenses to concentrate the sun rays to power turbines, and utilities have been turning to it in droves as of late.

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Update: Petra Solar, which develops pole-mounted solar systems for electric utilities, announced Monday that it has raised $40 million in funding led by Craton Equity Partners and Espírito Santo Ventures with participation from existing investors including OnPoint Technologies, a venture fund for the U.S. Army. 

Petra Solar said it will use the new funding to expand its customer base and hire more staff. The South Plainfield, N.J.-based company also said it plans to expand its product line to address new applications and market segments. We’re still waiting for comment from Petra Solar, but we’re thinking that those new applications and markets might have to do with commercial and residential customers. The company’s website has dedicated sections for commercial and residential products and services.

Update: Petra Solar CEO Shihab Kuran has confirmed for us that the company will use the funding to expand into commercial and residential markets, but always with “utilities in mind as partners,” such as those with initiatives to add PV to their customers’ roofs. Also, the startup will use the funding to expand its applications for utilities, such as around smart grid, mounting systems and grid reliability.

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The end goal of AMEE is for everyone and every organization to know their complete energy use, or their “energy identity,” explained Gavin Starks, CEO of the web services platform that helps track and measure carbon consumption, at our Green:Net 2009 conference last year. To help reach that vision and expand the amount of enterprise carbon accounting firms that use its engine, AMEE has been raising funding and this morning announced that it has raised $5.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Amadeus Capital Partners and including O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Union Square Ventures.

AMEE, which originally stood for Avoiding Mass Extinctions Engine, was launched by Starks back in 2007 and has now amassed a customer list including the UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), SAS, Morgan Stanley, Google, Radiohead and Sun. AMEE’s platform is an open API that aggregates the information needed to monitor carbon emissions and perform carbon calculations for the user. By using a standard methodology and set of data to measure carbon footprints, AMEE can make this nascent practice more reliable, trusted and transparent and perhaps one day lead to the integration of validated carbon information into profiles of everything from goods to actions to people.

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If you can’t recall the collective anxiety that is attached to the emergence of digital and networked technologies just take a peek back at the news headlines of yesteryear. The fear over computerized voting systems started soon after the 2000 U.S. presidential election debacle, while worry about online banking began when the first bank put its customer accounts on the web. But as the latest systems, including vehicles and the power grid, crossover to the digital and computing world, and get connected to communication networks, expect the same, if not more, fear.

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Electric vehicle infrastructure company Better Place has a lot of work to do before it commercially launches its first networks of battery swap and charging stations in Israel and Denmark next year. But this weekend the company took a couple steps forward in Israel. First, Better Place announced the opening of a slick demonstration center in Israel built on top of a gasoline storage and distribution center, inside a refurbished oil tank (see photos). The company also announced partnerships with gas station operator Dor Alon and additional corporate customers that have pledged to swap portions of their fleets with Renault electric vehicles next year.

As you can see from the photos the demo center is pretty swanky. It’s meant to be used as outreach for both potential Israeli customers, as well as international visitors, and features a multi-media center, a driving track, and will eventually have demos of the Renault Fluence.

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