By Brent Erickson, executive vice-president, the Biotechnology Industry Organization; head, Industrial & Environmental Section The World Resources Institute (WRI) recently issued a new working paper, authored by Tim Searchinger and Ralph Heimlich, resurrecting a previously discredited attack on the carbon neutrality of biomass feedstocks. Ironically the working paper makes plain the fallacies behind this attack […]
We now can grow algae, dewater it, harvest it, and process it on an industrial scale into dozens of useful everyday fuels, chemicals, food ingredients and materials. But can we keep it alive? What have we learned about keeping algae safe from predators, competitors, parasites and disease? Poor algae. It’s been programmed by Nature, likes some sports teams […]
Feeling bullish or bearish on renewables? Before deciding, why not check out the current short interest in sector equities? In investing there are the longs and the shorts — while most investors take “long” positions, simply owning stocks and bonds, many traders “go short” when they think the stock is overvalued and ready to drop. […]
Project of the Year, Deal of the Year, Partnership of the Year, Chemical of the Year, and Cap Raise of the Year — who are the big winners? Each year, the Digest recognizes projects, feedstocks, processing technology breakthroughs, novel or improved molecules, and bioeconomy pioneers in the Biofuels Digest Awards — selected by the Digest’s […]
By Vonnie Estes, special to the Digest Having spent more than twenty years commercializing technology in the agricultural sector, I’m excited by the growing interest and investment in Agricultural Technology. AgTech did not receive much attention from venture capital prior to 2012. Investment in 2012 was around $150M – and then it exploded to $1.8 […]
The Digest’s Dashboard is a convenient “news you can use” 5-Minute summary of current markets including key commodity prices, relevant futures, bioenergy-related stocks, and historical equities data. Latest prices – key commodities. Most recent commodity closing prices, and price changes, for NYMEX’s crude oil, Brent Crude, Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel, Natural Gas, RBOB gasoline, and Ethylene; ethanol […]
As spring 2015 approaches, what are the Top 10 issues of the year, what’s the progress for renewable fuels? From time to time, the Digest gives updates on renewable fuels to investors and traders in the financial community, looking at trends and datasets, aimed at providing background and guidance for those who do not follow […]
Obama unveils Clean Energy Investment Initiative; California lawmakers introduce a trio of bills aimed at 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In Washington, the Obama Administration launched its Clean Energy Investment Initiative, with a goal to catalyze $2 billion of expanded private sector investment in solutions to climate change, including innovative technologies […]
Mexico’s BioFields pours in $65 million to commercialize next-gen algae-to-fuels venture In Florida, Algenol, a pioneer in turning CO2 emissions into fuels, announced that it has closed on a new $25 million investment from BioFields, a Mexican business group devoted to the development of renewable and clean energy projects. This new investment follows a previous […]
Have low gas prices changed the equation for drivers looking to reduce pain at the pump? Who’s the best on cost? And, is there surprising news on emissions? We wrote in November 2013 that “times are hard and nobody ought to be spending any dollars at the pump that can be saved by buying smart,” and at […]
