Dana Childs's blog

Frankly, we hadn't heard anything ourselves, but GiraSolar (PINKSHEETS: GRSR) just issued a statement denying it's involved in any merger talks.

Now, if there's word on the street of any pending merger or acquisition, we didn't find any reference to it. Not unless you count a Florida company's interest in the co. back in 2003.

NASCAR, the latest racing outfit to be approached to adopt alternative fuel (missed the IndyCar news and hydrogen racers? see Gentlemen, start your (hydrogen) engines!), isn't very keen on ethanol.

General Motors has apparently recommended that the U.S. stock car race sanctioning body NASCAR switch from gasoline to ethanol as the fuel for its race series.

General Motors Chevrolet brand is a key competitor in the NASCAR’s Nextel Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

While other racing categories around the world have adopted alternative fuels or at least agreed to investigate them, only in 2007 did NASCAR finally sanction unleaded fuel for its races.

Just in time for summer...

Enter the solar barbeque.

The Solar-Grill lets diehard renewable energy types cook their food using the power of the sun, for about €180 from its Swiss maker/importer.

Food is placed in the narrow tube at the mirrors' focal point (it opens lengthwise for easy access) and it cooks "evenly and without burning," according to the device's makers.

No smoky coals? Where's the fun in that, we ask?

An electric utility lowering its rates by 10%? That's news.

Today, Houston-based Reliant Energy started offering its residential subscribers 10% lower prices. Yup, lower—heading into the summer air conditioning season.

The average annual price for Reliant's Residential Service Plan will decrease by 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour, the company said, from 16.3 cents to 14.6 cents for customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month. The new price will be reflected in customer invoices starting May 21 for power consumed the prior 30 days.

Gotta give 'em credit.

We usually wince at PR tricks, but this one's pretty good.

Seattle biodiesel bad boy Imperium Renewables convinced MTV's “Pimp My Ride” to turn an American classic into a green biodiesel machine in an Earth Day special to be aired later this month... and were helped in the episode by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who "lends a hand" in the final stages of the work. Between obligatory eco-soundbites, that is.

In the episoide, The Pimp My Ride crew gives an ecological conversion to a 1965 Chevy Impala so the car can run on pure biodiesel.

Major league baseball team the San Francisco Giants and west coast utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced a joint partnership to install a solar system at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

A different kind of solar park than we normally write about.

PG&E is to install up to 590 Sharp solar panels in three areas of AT&T Park, no doubt to maximize solar—and PR—exposure.

How'd you like to tool around town and get 225 miles per gallon in one of these?

Robert Q. Riley Enterprises will soon introduce its XR-3 plug-in hybrid, a sleek two-passenger, three-wheel sports car.

Designed to be assembled by someone "with average mechanical abilities and no prior experience," [ed. uh huh] the all-wheel drive vehicle will be available as a kit or plans for complete do-it-yourself construction.

Riley says this new vehicle is a new category of personal mobility devices that are neither automobiles nor motorcycles.

In classic Silicon Valley one-upmanship, Applied Materials, which itself recently got into making solar manufacturing equipment, plans to install over 1.9 megawatts of solar generation capability at its campus in Sunnyvale, California over the next year.

When completed, it's to be the largest solar power installation on an existing corporate facility in the United States, larger than the 1.6 MW system down the street at Google (see Google to install biggest corporate solar power system in the world.)

“As we pursue our strategy to significantly drive down the overall solar cost-per-watt, we feel it is important to lead through example,” said Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials

Green Mountain Energy and Sustainable Waves, a provider of mobile solar powered sound and staging solutions in the U.S., today announced a new program for carbon neutral music tours and events.

The initiative introduces a special "Be Green Ticket" for affiliated events, a first green ticket program to be certified by Green-e, the independent certification and verification program for renewable energy in the U.S.

Publicly traded high-performance lighting and power distribution system company Astronics (NASDAQ: ATRO) today announced it's delaying the release of its 2006 fourth quarter financial results that had been scheduled for today.

Why? 

Perhaps executives have finally sought counseling to help them recover from years of ridicule over their corporation's name?

Really: Astronics? Doesn't that make them the butt of jokes? 

The company likely won't be changing it any time soon, congratulating itself for its "strong brand recognition" in a latest statement.