Biomass

Biochar is still mostly a research and cottage industry, yet it has the potential to impact returns for a broad range of investors. Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA Biochar, or amending soil with biomass-derived carbon, shows great potential to improve the productivity of soils, as well as to increase the utilization of fertilizers by plants, while sequestering carbon to reduce the drivers of climate change.  On August 10, I went to the 2009 North American Biochar Conference to look at the potential for investors.  Before I went, I took a look at the publicly traded companies...

Capstone Turbine Corp (CPST) has been selected to provide a biogas-to-energy demonstration project in West Bengal, India. The project is expected to be online mid-2005. It will be the first installation of Capstone MicroTurbine(TM) energy systems in India. The project will encompass two new anaerobic digesters (which create biogas from manure), gas pre-treatment equipment, two Capstone C30 systems and a microgrid to export power.

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) has completed all required testing on their bioreactor located at the Whitesides dairy near Rupert, Idaho and have began the process of loading animal waste from the dairy into the twin 35,000 gallon tanks. This is a significant development for this company. The stock is trading up over 10% today on this news. The next milestone is a confirmation of the methane gas output for this plant and if it will meet or exceed projections.

A busload of Indiana farmers rolled into town Tuesday to refuel their tour bus with bio-diesel from a tank previously used exclusively by Franklin trolleys. “Part of this trip is to promote soy-based diesel,� said Alan Kemper, chairman of the Indiana Soybean Growers Association. “Franklin is one of the few places with soy diesel.�

Reclamation Consulting and Applications Inc (RCAA) announced that it has signed a new Exclusive Distributorship Agreement with Topia Energy, Inc. for the sale and distribution of biodiesel. Ottawa-based Topia Energy, Inc. is Canada's largest commercial producer and supplier of biodiesel fuel oils with production capabilities throughout North America. Biodiesel is the only fuel to be classified as entirely non-toxic; it biodegrades faster than sugar, is ten times less toxic than table salt and produces exhaust that some say smell like popcorn or French fries.

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) announces the company's flagship Methane anaerobic digester located at the 4000 head Whitesides Dairy near Rupert Idaho has achieved a fully automated operational status. The anaerobic digester, which processes animal and industrial waste products, produces substantial quantities of Methane gas as a by-product. Methane is the primary combustible component in normal household and commercial natural gas. ITR intends initially, to sell the excess gas to a pipeline carrier. However ITR will, in 2005, power an alternate fuel vehicle with this gas making ITR one of the few companies ever to take...

Probably the safest way to invest in cellulosic biofuels is by investing in cellulosic feedstocks.  Two Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) make this easy and inexpensive, although three individual stocks give better exposure to just biomass. Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA It's the Biomass, Stupid! Although they have considerable political momentum, cellulosic ethanol and advanced biofuels are not the best way to use biomass in order to reduce carbon emissions.  Greater carbon reductions can be had at lower cost by cofiring the same biomass in existing coal plants.  If the goal is more ethanol to displace gasoline, wouldn't it make more...

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) has begun the final stages of construction on ITR's methane gas refinery located near Rupert, Idaho with the arrival today of the twin 35,000 gallon steel digester tanks. ITR notes that the system, a first of its kind, has generated considerable interest within the dairy and livestock industry nationwide. This reinforces the belief that demand for the proprietary anaerobic digester systems will remain robust; especially as abundant and reliable new energy sources are needed globally.

Environmental Power Corp (POWR) announced today that it has signed an agreement with Seifert Dairy Farms of Acampo, CA for the on-farm location of an animal feed production system based on Microgy's anaerobic digester ("AD") technology. The Seifert Dairy project is the second such facility proposed for development under Microgy's Feed System Project Development Agreement with The Scoular Company ("Scoular"), a $2.3 billion in sales merchandiser of agricultural commodities. As previously announced, this Development Agreement anticipates Microgy constructing up to 50 systems designed to use an efficient, environmentally sound process to produce animal feed.

Toyota Motor Corp (TM) are developing a hybrid drivetrain system that can be used for gasoline, diesel, natural gas and fuel-cells.

Green Energy Resources, Inc. (GRGR) announced plans for expansion. The company plans to sell upwards of 50 million tons of wood biomass to the utility industry for cofiring. Cofiring is an environmentally friendly application of mixing wood biomass with coal to reduce harmful green house gases. Coal powered generation accounts for 51 % of American electric power. The potential market is in excess of 250 million tons annually and valued over $12 billion dollars. The Federal EPA Air rules effective last month,favor cofiring as the most viable and cost effective option for the utility industry. The company plans to...

Nathaniel Energy Corporation (NECX) announces the successful gasification of refuse derived fuel (RDF) in Italy, proving that its patented technology is successful and viable on a commercial level. The Company successfully gasified and combusted RDF and produced over one megawatt of electricity with one of its Thermal Combustors(TM) in Cologna, Veneta, Italy.

The CS Monitor has a good article about the investment potential of Alternative Energy stocks. "You can't ride off into the sunset with a hydrogen-powered SUV - or to a middle-class solar home. But as the decades-long transition away from oil begins to take shape, some ethical investors sense a bonanza. "

Twenty-five proposed renewable energy projects featuring hydroelectric, biomass, wind, solar and biofuel technologies have been selected to receive more than $22 million from the Xcel Energy (XEL) Renewable Development Fund. More than 200 renewable energy project proposals were considered, three times the number submitted in the program's first funding cycle in 2001.

Aarhus United USA Inc. has awarded Northern Power Systems, Inc. a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC), a contract for a $1.7 million turnkey on-site power system that will use the oil distillate and waste byproduct of the company's vegetable oil processing operations as fuel. Northern's system will be designed to deliver 65% of the Port Newark, New Jersey facility's electrical needs and 12% of its thermal consumption. The NJ Clean Energy Program has deemed the fuel a renewable source that is CO2 emissions-free and has therefore committed funds to pay 30% of the project cost.

After its official groundbreaking, the Northern Wood Power Project, New Hampshire's first non-hydro, commercial-scale renewable energy project, is now underway at the Schiller Station in Portsmouth. The US$75 million project, developed by Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH), will replace a 50 MW coal-fired boiler with a new boiler of equal size that will burn wood chips and other clean wood products. In addition to creating a market for woodchips from the state's many logging operations, the facility will become a major regional contributor of renewable energy.