Announcing GigaOM’s 10 Big Ideas Startups for Green:Net 2011

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We’re excited to announce that GigaOm has unveiled their 10 Big Ideas winners that will present their innovations at the third annual Green:Net 2011 event on April 21 in San Francisco. The 10 Big Ideas companies are some of the world’s most innovative businesses that are using information technology — from software to the web to computing to mobile networks — to fight climate change. Each of the selected companies sparks the imagination, has the potential to be a game-changer, and is using IT in a novel way that will lead to energy efficiency, the proliferation of clean power, or greener transportation. The ideas range from developing low-power computers to creating ultra-affordable battery power for the developing world, to using cell phone data to make driving greener. Read on for a look at each of the 10 Big Ideas innovators, and if you’d like to see them speak live, Inhabitat readers receive a $100-off discount ticket — check out details and registration here!

SeaMicro: Offers a redesigned server optimized for today’s data centers and Internet usage, resulting in a system that uses one-quarter the power and space of traditional servers. Learn more about SeaMicro here.

Power Tagging: A smart grid company that digitally “tags” the power grid to produce energy enabling applications, helping utilities and consumers save money.

Viridity Energy: Provides innovative distributed demand management software systems and services, which transforms large energy consumers into 24/7 virtual power plants.

Virtual Vehicle Company: Enables greener transportation by combining cell phones, cloud computing, and smart algorithms to deliver rich data about when, where, how, and why people move.

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Transphorm: Provides cost-competitive and easy-to-embed power conversion modules that reduce energy loss by up to 90 % and redefine electric power conversion.

Fenix International: Produces ultra-affordable power generation and smart energy storage solutions that empower more than 1.5B people living off-grid.

BuildingIQ: Delivers predictive energy optimization software to reduce energy consumption, automate demand response events, and simplify operations for commercial buildings.

Calxeda: Has developed ARM-based Server-on-a-Chip technology that dramatically lowers the cost and power usage of internet-scale server solutions.

Earth Networks : Beyond owning the WeatherBug brand, Earth Networks is building the world’s first privately funded global greenhouse gas observation and sensor network.

Phononic Devices: Produces high-efficiency thermoelectric devices that use electricity to remove heat for cooling and refrigeration, and conversely, harvest waste heat for power generation.

Beyond these 10 Big Ideas companies, speakers at Green:Net 2011 include: NRG Energy CEO David Crane, Google’s Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl, DOE Loan Chief Jonathan Silver, Autodesk CEO Carl Bass, cleantech investing pioneer Sunil Paul, SilverLake Kraftwerk Partners Adam Grosser & Cathy Zoi, Microsoft’s Environmental Strategist Rob Bernard, OPower CEO Daniel Yates, Control4 CEO Will West, Silver Spring Networks founder and CMO Eric Dresselhuys and many more. To see the complete schedule see here.

Get your $100-off Inhabitat ticket here — and hurry, because previous years have sold out!

Images courtesy of Tom Raferty, GigaOM Events, ThinkGeoEnergy, Transphorm, saturnism, mrbill