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Articles by Diana Rasner
Nuclear's Wiesloch Moment | Cleantech Group
In August 1888, Bertha Benz took her husband’s Patent-Motorwagen on the first long-distance car trip in history, roughly 65 miles from Mannheim to her mother’s house in Pforzheim. Karl had built a machine that worked. He had not built anywhere to fill it up. Partway through the trip, Bertha ran low on fuel and stopped at a pharmacy in the town of Wiesloch, where she bought ligroin, a petroleum solvent sold as a cleaning agent. The company behind that car would later become part of Mercedes-Benz.
Magnets, How Do They Work? (The Business Case, Not the Physics)
Insane Clown Posse’s 2009 track Miracles spends its opening lines marveling at everyday wonders, water, fire, air, and dirt, before landing on its most quoted line: genuine bafflement at how magnets work. The joke landed because magnetism sounds like it should be simple, and it isn’t, even to the people working in it.
The Sustainable Sell: Why Beauty and Personal Care Is Cleantech’s Best Kept Secret with Univar Solutions
I recently sat down with two people who spend their days thinking about skincare, shampoo, and sunscreen. That’s not the usual cleantech vocabulary, but they’re exactly the right people to explain why this category matters more than it gets credit for.
It’s Really Getting Hot in Herre (and the Apparel Industry Hasn’t Caught Up)
As a famous rapper once said, “Ça commence à chauffer ici.” Roughly translated from French to “It’s getting hot in here.” Unfortunately, taking off all our clothes is not always an option. Case in point: Paris Fashion Week Men’s ran June 23–28 this year, smack in the middle of a heatwave that would go on to cause more than 10,000 excess deaths across Europe, over 5,700 of them in France alone.
Paddy Fields and Pipelines: What Aramco’s Investment in Mitti Labs Says About the Future of O&G
Mitti Labs just raised $9.5M in a Series A led by Aramco Ventures, Saudi Aramco’s venture arm, bringing its total funding to $12.5M. The Bengaluru- and New York-based startup helps rice farmers cut water use and methane emissions using a platform that combines satellite radar imagery, AI, and field operations. Rice is normally grown under continuous flooding, which is both extremely water-intensive and a major source of agricultural methane.
Nth time’s the charm? A look at Nth Cycle’s SPAC
Nth Cycle, a three-time Global Cleantech 100 award winner, announced on July 22, 2026 that it will go public through a merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. VI (NYSE: KCAC). Founded in 2017 and based in the Boston area, Nth Cycle operates a refining platform for rare earth elements, copper, and battery materials, sourced from both mined ore and recycled feedstock (end-of-life batteries, electronics, and industrial scrap).
The Other Solar Race: Inside the Fight to Recycle the World’s Panels
Solar energy may be one of the greatest success stories of the clean energy transition. Costs have collapsed, installations have surged, and solar has been the largest source of new electricity globally for three consecutive years. In 2024 alone, the world installed a record 585 GW of solar capacity, accounting for approximately 70% of all new power capacity added globally.
Minerals, Meet Microbes: A Potential Match Made in Metal Heaven
Do you smell what the rock is cooking? Well, if you’ve been paying attention to the critical minerals space, the answer might just be microbes. Yes, those tiny organisms once synonymous with obsessive hand washing and gallons of hand sanitizer are now being leveraged in completely new ways. Actually, “new” might be the wrong word—they’ve been around since the dawn of life itself. And that’s exactly what makes their potential so exciting.
Let’s Get Critical
Chances are, you’re reading or watching this blog from the comfort of your smartphone or laptop—devices powered by rechargeable batteries, connected through a vast and evolving network of grid infrastructure. What do all these technologies have in common? They depend on critical minerals and metals—essential materials at the heart of every link in the energy and power value chain.
One Big Beautiful Bill, 3 Sets of Bold Predictions: Our H2 2025 Outlook
On July 8th, Cleantech Group delivered a webinar, Clarity Through Chaos, revisiting the predictions we made at the beginning of the year regarding what is expected to grow, flow (progress at a general pace with nuance), and slow (face headwinds) in 2025. We took stock of how the barometer has shifted in just six short months, and where we see the needle moving over the next six, and beyond.
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