It is becoming increasingly evident that, in the near-term, acute demand for aviation biofuel is going, one way or another, to result in heavy demand for jatropha and jatropha oil-based fuels. New deals for SGB in Brazil are confirming the trend. There, at the head of the pack, well down the track from everyone else […]
“Biofuels stands out as the best option, considering the overall environmental, safety and security impacts.” Volatile costs for fossil fuels and rising concerns over emissions. “A doubling of present CO2 emissions by 2050 if we do nothing.” A share of “for at least 10% of global emissions in 2050, as compared to 3% today, if […]
In Qatar last month, we reported that Norwegian company Yara had teamed with the Qatari government on the Sahara Forest project that will use solar power and sea water to produce food crops such as tomatoes, cucumber, melon, fodder crops, freshwater, clean energy, salt, algae and for biofuel. Let’s look at this project in more […]
“Electric power is cheap”, and “cellulosic biofuel costs less than $1.00 per gallon”. So why isn’t everyone buying a Chevy Volt? And why can you get lower interest rates on your Visa Card than next-gen biofuel developers face? It’s the old capex-opex fallacy. Earlier this week, a new study from researchers at UC Santa Barbara […]
Does energy production always require a choice between what’s good for nature and what’s good for the pocketbook? New ways of organizing feedstocks may offer opportunities to go green and make green. In Maryland, The Wildlife Society released a Technical Review, “Effects of Bioenergy Production on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat,” to provide answers to questions […]
One of biofuels’ most-celebrated technologies makes a change at the top; the struggle to raise capital dogs a high-profile biofuels star. A new chapter is underway at LS9 with the appointment of Tjerk de Ruiter — the former CEO of Genencor — as president and CEO. It’s not wholly unexpected. Four weeks ago in Top 10 […]
In Washington, US President Barack Obama embarked on his second term in office yesterday with an Inaugural Address that placed climate change and renewable energy squarely on the Administration’s agenda. Excerpts from the Inaugural Address. “We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology […]
Brazilian development arm takes 15% stake in cellulosic ethanol venture, and sweetens with low-cost loan for the first commercial project. In Brazil, BNDESPAR, the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) venture group, announced a $294 million equity investment in GraalBio — aimed at the developing technology and projects in cellulosic ethanol and renewable […]
In Denmark, Novozymes appointed Peder Holk Nielsen as President and CEO, effective April 1, 2013, succedding Steen Riisgaard, who steps down in a planned succession after 12 years as CEO and 33 years with the company and Novo Industri/Novo Nordisk. Digest readers will be familiar with Nielsen, who has been serving most recently as Novozymes’ […]
Though building capacity globally, Solazyme’s operations in Brazil are getting traction fast – and raised $235M last week. How much oil could be produced in Brazil via sugar-munching microalgae? Today, the Digest looks at Solazyme’s progress and the bigger picture. In California, two monster announcements came out of Solazyme headquarters last week. One related to project finance […]
