Green Career Trends: GE Offering $200 Million for Smart Grid Ideas, Envision Solar Creating Solar "Trees", Synthetic Genomics Opens Biofuel Test Lab

General Electric along with four venture capital firms announced a competition with prizes totaling $200 million to seek ideas that will make improvements to the Smart Grid.  The evaluation committee, composed of employees from GE and its investors, will decide, along with web votes, which projects will be funded. 

One of the ideas often expressed about solar power is putting panels up in parking lots.  Envision Solar has taken this idea and is making it a reality.  In an effort to make the panels highly efficient, they are working on cost effective ways for the panels to follow the sun during the day and batteries to store the energy for use at night.  There is one other problem needing a solution.  The orientation of the cars in the lot is not always the same as the orientation needed to follow the sun.  (The videos on the Envision site are worth a look.)

Synthetic Genomics a biofuel start up company that uses genetically engineered strains of algae along with the financial help of oil giant Exxon, has opened a test facility in La Jolla, CA.  In May, Synthetic Genomic founder Craig Ventner and his team, created the first synthetic bacterial cell, the first artificial life form.  How quickly can the biofuel be created and the process scaled up to meet the billions of gallons of current demand is still unknown.