If you’ve found yourself on the ocean anywhere between Germany and Venezuela recently, you might have spotted something out of the ordinary on the horizon–a giant cargo ship towing a 1,700-square-foot kite propulsion system. It was the maiden voyage of the Beluga SkySails, a multi-purpose cargo ship outfitted with new technology by Hamburg, Germany-based SkySails. After 2 months and 11,952 nautical miles, the Beluga SkySails has now completed the first phase of a 12-month testing voyage.

As we’ve reported, SkySails has developed enormous kite-like sails that can cut fuel usage and reduce the carbon emissions of cargo ships up to 30 percent by switching to wind power when conditions are right. According to the company’s managing director, Stephan Wrange, the Beluga ship used 20 percent less energy over the course of the journey than it would have without the sails. The technology has also caught the attention of the European Union, which kicked in 1.2 million euros to outfit the ship as part of its LIFE program to combat climate change.

So far, the auxiliary power system appears to be a win-win. Bremen-based Beluga Shipping CEO Niels Stolberg praised SkySails’ ability to save both carbon emissions and fuel costs–up to $1,000 per day if the wind conditions are just right! The man who captained the ship on its nearly 12,000-nautical-mile journey declared that the voyage signified the opening of “a new chapter in the history of commercial shipping.” Looks like all those sailors of old really were on to something.

Can squeaky-clean (and squeaky-green) Barack Obama turn the dreaded “earmark” into a good thing? The Washington Post recently chided the Clinton camp for attacking Obama as a man of words instead of action by comparing his voting record this Congressional session to that of Hilary Clinton’s. During that time, Obama approved just $3 million of those famously corruptible tack-ons known as earmarks compared to Senator Clinton’s $110 million. But perhaps more significantly, Obama’s earmarks directly benefited cleantech.

Senator Obama disclosed his earmarks for fiscal 2008 on his web site last year, and this (decidedly porkier) package of earmarks continues to demonstrate his commitment to technology that can reduce carbon emissions and help curb global warming. Hat tip to this post on Griper Blade, which alerted us to his record.

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France’s Guy Negre has been waxing poetic about an air-powered car for years, but many have dismissed the idea as — dare we say it? — so much hot air. But yesterday Negre’s small design firm, MDI, announced a partnership with India’s Tata Motors to put an air-powered car into production within a year. According to the BBC, the car, a five-seater dubbed the OneCAT, would cost around 2,500 pounds (around $5,000) and weigh half as much as a Fiat Panda, according to The Register.

The vehicle will store the air in carbon-fiber tanks and will be able to fill up from an air compressor in as little as three minutes (or using regular electricity and an on-board compressor in four hours). According to the designers, the car will get about 120mpg on longer journeys, and even better in towns.

But before we proclaim that the alternative fuel answer has been blowin’ in the wind, a closer look at the OneCAT’s technology is in order. The car does claim zero emissions while “in town,” but in order for the car to be truly useful (especially in the U.S.), it needs a significant range.

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Reva, the Indian electric car company, says its namesake vehicle was the best-selling on-road electric vehicle in the world last year. Never heard of it? The company’s numbers so far may be modest — 2,500 vehicles on the road — but there are indications that it’s about to explode.

The carmaker just announced that it will launch another model by the end of 2008, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg; it plans to launch one new vehicle every calendar year. And a company spokesman says Reva will ramp up its annual production from 6,000 to around 30,000 vehicles in the next six months.

The company can thank its first mover advantage, a low price tag and a keen sense of targeting emerging markets for its early success. If you haven’t heard of Reva, you’re about to. The Bangalore-based company’s cars are getting popular in congested urban areas (like Delhi and London), and are gaining traction in island destinations (like Cyprus), where vehicles with shorter ranges and low environmental impact are particularly attractive.

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Between the Superbowl yesterday and Super Tuesday tomorrow, you will be forgiven for overlooking Maxwell Technologies’ announcement today that the company’s San Diego plant has just been ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certified to produce ultracapacitors. But if you’re interested in the future of the auto industry, you might want to sit up and take notice.

This week’s Economist brands new so-called “ultracapacitors” a potentially “disruptive technology” for the 21st century, one that could actually supplant rather than just supplement traditional car batteries. Did someone say time-travelling Delorean?

The news is that while capacitors have traditionally been used for quick bursts of speed, rather than endurance, ultracapacitors differ from traditional ones in that they can potentially match a battery in both areas. That’s thanks to new technology that uses interactions of positively and negatively charged ions coupled with an electrolyte instead of static charges. This development gives capacitors 5 percent of a battery’s storage capacity, but in order for ultracapacitors to seriously challenge batteries, that number needs to be much higher.

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By now we’ve all heard that the methane in sheep and cow, er, emissions is a significant contributor to global climate change, but researchers at the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala recently received a $590,000 grant to study things at the other end of the spectrum. According to project leader Jan Bertilsson, 95 percent of the methane cows release escapes through their mouths — via belching.

Bertilsson and other researchers believe that the levels of methane vary depending on what the animals eat, so 20 lucky Swedish cows will be fitted with collars that measure the methane in the air around them and fed a variety of diets. And lest you think this is a purely Scandinadivan theory, check out what the Japanese are doing.

A research team at Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary medicine in Hokkaido recently found that feeding cattle an amino acid called cysteine significantly cut the rate of methane emitted in their belches. The Japanese team claims that feeding cows this chemical does nothing to harm milk quality; they’ve even applied for patents in the U.S. and elsewhere for their findings. Yet another sign that environmental researchers are leaving no stone unturned in the fight against climate change.

How many times have you printed something and thrown away the last page because it’s just a URL, legal disclaimer, or banner ad? Or waited for ages for a document to print because it’s cluttered up with images you don’t really want or need anyway? Well, GreenPrint Technologies thinks that its new software, called GreenPrint World, can save 100 million trees by identifying just such wasteful behavior. Oh and here’s another nice little incentive: it’s FREE.

Portland, Ore.-based GreenPrint said today it’s making the paper- and ink-saving software available free for download for home users worldwide. “Our goal is nothing short of ending wasteful printing worldwide,” 30-year-old CEO Hayden Hamilton said in a press release (Hamilton was featured in the latest version of Inc. magazine‘s annual “30 Under 30″ hot list).

The software analyzes every page you print, and eliminates wasteful extra pages and unwanted images. It also features a print preview called GreenView, and keeps a running report on how many pages, how much money, even how many pounds of greenhouse gases you’ve saved every time you print. It could add up: The company estimates that using this software will save the average person $90 and 1,200 pages a year.

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You may be reading this blog in between pointing-and-clicking your way through your holiday shopping list; perhaps you’re even patting yourself on the back about all the fuel you’re saving by not driving around buying the gifts in person. But depending on where you live and where on the Internet you shop, buying things online could actually be worse for the environment than hitting your local mall.

All those shipping materials add up — last year, New York City’s Department of Sanitation reported a 21 percent jump in the amount of cardboard and mixed paper left on the curbs. And in big cities like New York, where many people do their shopping by mass transit anyway, the fuel savings of not hitting the stores can be pretty negligible. That isn’t to say that people who go to stores don’t then go on to ship their goods, it’s merely an illustration of how going online doesn’t automatically equal going greener.

Where there’s a collective will (and money to be made), there’s a way: lately, an increasing number of choices for the eco-conscious online shopper have been popping up. Sites that sell environmentally friendly goods, like Ecomall and Gaiam, have been around for years, but not everyone wants to make a statement with their gifts, nor do they want to hear little Johnny complain when he gets a Nalgene bottle instead of an iPod.

An interesting new option is EarthMoment, which was launched in October, and bills itself as a “carbon offset comparison shopping site.” The brainchild of Ogden publishers (Utne Reader, Mother Earth News), it’s teamed up with over 1,000 companies to offer 15 million different goods from major retailers including Apple and Borders. If you end up buying something through the EarthMoment site, the retailer pays them a commission, half of which they invest in carbon offsetting (managed by CarbonFund.org). Now you can feel a little bit better about adding that extra gift and having it shipped to yourself.

Apparently we’re not the only ones who see the potential of the emerging eco-pest control market. AgraQuest, a maker of environmentally-friendly pesticides (or biopesticides, as the company calls them) based in Davis, Calif., said it’s raised $20 million in a mezzanine round. The funds come from UK-based Loudwater Trust Ltd. and AgraQuest’s existing investors, among them TPG Ventures and Halcyon Capital.

AgraQuest plans to use the infusion to bring five new products to the U.S. market over the next two years — including an insecticide, a fumigant, and a biofungicide — as well as to stake a bigger claim overseas. As CEO Mike Miille said in a press release, “Global demand for biopesticides in general, and AgraQuest’s products specifically, is accelerating. As a result, the investment community is enthusiastic about our prospects.”

And for those of you who question whether killing bugs in an eco-sensitive manner is really worthy of such fanfare, the company points you to a recent report from BCC research that estimates the global biopesticide market will be worth $1 billion by 2010 — which, frighteningly enough, is a mere two years away. Just another sign that big agriculture is getting a global overhaul, and smart greentechers are seizing the moment.

The World Economic Forum announced the winners of its Annual Technology Pioneer awards this week, and ten cleantech companies made the cut. (Hat tip to GreentechMedia). The WEF believes that “the work undertaken by these companies holds the promise of significantly affecting the way business and society operate.”

Five of the ten are based right here in California. And quite a few we’ve covered in the past. What’’s in it for the winners? Well, aside from being invited to participate in the WEF for two years, including the high-profile annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, past winners have also seen a boon financially. And the winners are:

• GridPoint- Washington, DC:
  Presidential hopefuls have been talking a lot lately about “smart grid” systems that help utilities store and discharge energy according to demand. GridPoint sells software and hardware to create an intelligent power-grid — think what Cisco (CSCO) did for networking — enabling intelligent distribution and optimization. We interviewed CEO Peter Corsell back when the company raised a $48.5 million Series D round, led by Goldman Sachs Group (GS) and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments.
• Nanostellar – Redwood City, CA:
  We noted Nanostellar back in August when news came out that the company was raising a $3 million bridge round. The startup uses nanotechnology in the automotive industry, making materials for diesel catalysts that cut emissions, and boosting the performance of catalytic converters which reduces pollution.

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