The idea isn't new (see Cow-powered ethanol heyday and Cows to power ethanol plant in California.)

But cow-powered ethanol seems like one of those really good ideas, concerns of odor aside: reduce the need for fossil fuels, while chipping away at the [literally] mountains of dung that blight pockets of the world that most people don't see, while also reducing methane—one of the most noxious of greenhouse gases.

Panda Ethanol of Dallas, Texas is now raising big money to prove the vision at scale.

In this week's cleantech dealflow:

• Panda Ethanol of Dallas, Texas announced plans to raise $140 million in convertible notes due 2014. The company intends to use proceeds to provide equity funding for the development and construction of its Yuma ethanol facility. Any remaining net proceeds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. Panda is constructing ethanol plants that gasify cattle manure for fuel, rather than using non-renewable fuels like gas or coal.
• @Ventures made a $3.0 million investment in Powerit Holdings, a leader in intelligent energy-demand management. @Ventures led the company’s $7.1 million Series A financing round, joined by new co-investor Expansion Capital Partners, and existing investors including Stellar Holdings and company management. Powerit provides energy demand response and demand control solutions for industrial and commercial companies and claims hundreds of installations to date.
• NanoH2O, a desalination company that grew out of research at UCLA, raised $5 million in April, though the funding was only disclosed this week. The company is trying to commercialize a new reverse osmosis membrane using nanotechnology. Investors included Khosla Ventures.
• Southwest Windpower, the world’s largest producer of small residential scale wind generators, raised $6.5 million to market and distribute its technology. The investment round was led by Washington, D.C.-based NGP Energy Technology Partners and included current investors Rockport Capital Partners, Altaria, and CTTV Investments, the venture capital arm of Chevron. The 15-year old company expects to double its revenue this year.
• Tioga Energy, a Sunnyvale, California–based provider of solar power purchasing services, raised more than $10 million in first-round funding. Participants include NGEN Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Rockport Capital, DFJ Frontier and Kirlan Ventures. Tioga is a restart of CerOx Corp., which closed earlier this year after having raised around $15 million over two rounds. Tioga is a solar financing effort like SunEdison, but aimed at small commercial and residential customers.
• Envision Solar, a partnership with Kyocera Solar, raised $600k of a targeted $2mm Series A round. The company is building "Solar Groves", PV-covered parking lots, based on Kyocera solar panels. The initial $600k has been in convertible notes, and current investors were undisclosed.
• Waste-to-electricity technology developer Ze-Gen is in the process of securing $4.5 million in financing from venture capital firm Flagship Ventures. The company, which presented at Cleantech 2007 in Santa Clara in May, is pursuing turning construction and demolition waste into synthetic gas.
• Data center systems developer Verari raised over $20 million of a targeted $25 round. Carlyle Venture Partners is leading the round, which also includes investments by Voyager Capital, Sierra Ventures and a strategic investor. The company is pursuing energy efficiency technology for data centers.
• INI Power, which is developing direct methanol fuel cells for portable power, announced a $4 million Series B led by MHI Energy Partners, who also led the company's $3 million Series A in 2004. Other unnamed investors also participated.

Tips on deals? Contact us.

Looking for previous dealflow roundups? Look here.