Ceres, Inc.: a 5-Minute Guide
Jim Lane Address: 1535 Rancho Conejo Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 Founded: 1996 Annual Revenues: $6.6 million (Fiscal Year ended Aug. 31, 2011) Type of technology: Plant biotechnology, gene marker-assisted breeding and other genomics Fuel Type: Biomass is the common denominator to advanced biofuels, biopower and bioproducts and is independent of the end-fuel molecule. Major investors: Ceres is a public company. Its common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol CERE. Pre-IPO investors include Warburg Pincus, Soros Private Equity Partners, GIMV and Oppenheimer. Past milestones: Completed IPO...
Newsweek Special Report
"Experts generally agree that our current reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable. Already oil is near $50 per barrel, and the great millions of Chinese and Indians destined to take to the road in the next decades have not yet gotten behind the wheel." This week Newsweek has written several special reports about alternative energy in all its forms. All of these reports can be found at the following link.
Shock Rise In Corn Production A Boon To Biofuel Producers
Jim Lane In grains, the big news has been the USDA prospective plantings report, which has corn up to 93 million acres in 2016, up 5 million over last year, and it was an unexpected gain given that stock levels of grain are high now. Big stocks plus a big planting equals even bigger ending stocks and prices have declined substantially for corn as a result, down 15 cents per bushel on the report. The USDA report? Officially, here’s what USDA had to say: Corn planted area for all purposes in 2016 is estimated at 93.6 million...
Investing In Wood Pellets, Part I
Last week, I mentioned that I had attended a conference focused on opportunities in the biomass and bioenergy sectors. One of the article ideas I got from this conference was on the emerging market for wood pellets (tightly packed sawdust and other wood shavings) for heat and electricity. How interesting that, over the weekend, the magazine Science published an article suggesting that the US should ramp up its use of wood for small-scale heat and electricity production (the article is not available free of charge but you can find a summary here). The Wood (Pellet) Advantage It...
Vagrants on the Earth: Implications of Topsoil Loss
“When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” -Genesis 4:12*
In 1970, an agronomist named Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He advocated hybridization of grains for higher crop yields, ushering in a new era of industrialized agriculture. The Nobel Committee recognized Borlaug’s work as instrumental in saving a billion people from starvation. Unfortunately, intensive farming that is part and parcel of the industry may be fostering an acceleration of another big problem. Unsolved it could leave humanity wandering like vagrants on the earth…with very empty bellies.
Topsoil...
‘Hydrogen economy’ is a ruse—all hype, no hope
An editorial article from South Carolina's TheState.com expresses concern for funding for Fuel Cell research. The guess columnist expresses his concerns and feels that they would be better served looking at Biomass alternatives. An abstract of this opinion article is show below, with a link to the full story. A growing group of distinguished scientists sees the “hydrogen economy� as a ruse ��? a distraction from the much more viable alternative of biofuels. Nor has the hydrogen illusion escaped the notice of astute investors, as the major fuel-cell companies have seen their share prices drop by half...
Intrepid’s Gas Production Plant Achieves Fully Automated Status
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...
Intrepid to Build Gas Pipeline for New Biogas Plant
Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) has determined that due to recent positive developments related to new financing options and better than predicted gas production rates being experienced at the Company's operating Whitesides facility, expansion of the previously announced WestPoint Dairy Project now will include a commercial pipeline. The WestPoint Dairy, on which ground breaking will begin this spring, is ITR's second commercial biogas production facility and is the "anchor" dairy for the much larger Westside Project planned for the Wendell, Idaho area.
NanoLogix Announces Completion of Welch’s Hydrogen Bioreactor Facility and Commencement of Hydrogen Production
NanoLogix Inc. (NNLX.PK) announced today that the Company has completed the construction of its first commercial hydrogen bioreactor facility at a Welch's Food plant in North East, Pennsylvania. The company also announced that the facility will begin hydrogen generation from Welch's waste organic matter on or about the first of April 2006. The technology behind the hydrogen bioreactor, developed and patented by NanoLogix in coordination with the Gannon University Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, allows for the limitless production of hydrogen from organic containing waste waters and any waste organic materials, such as sewer water, ground up...
Darling Ingredients: At the Margin
by Debra Fiakas CFA This week Darling Ingredients (DAR: NYSE) reported earnings of $100,000 on net sales of $874.7 million in the first quarter ending March 2015. Darling is a recycler of sorts, collecting by-products of the food production industry and recycling the left-overs and waste into proteins, fats and leathers. Nothing goes to waste. Every last chicken feather, hide, gallon of used cooking grease and cake crumb gets up-cycled to a usable material for feed, food, fuel or clothing. Its customers include pet food producers, personal care manufacturers and textile users, among others. Darling used...
Green Energy Resources Announces New Supply Contracts
Green Energy Resources, Inc. (NYIL) announced today that it has signed a new supply contract with Texas Energy Resource Management. Texas Energy has three locations in Eastern Texas including a chip mill facility in Crockett, a recycling facility in Buna and a recycling facility in Houston. This contract will supply approximately 500,000 tons annually of whole tree wood chips. The chips are exclusively for export to other NYIL customers throughout the EU.
ADM Enters the Biodiesel Market
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) has announced plans to build a 50 million gallon Biodiesel production facility in North Dakota. This will be ADM's first wholly-owned venture into biodiesel in the US. Currently the US consumes about 30 million gallons of Biodiesel a year. This is a significant investment by ADM in the US marketplace. "ADM is a world leader in renewable fuels," stated Mike Livergood, ADM Vice President-Global Oleo Chemicals. "Leveraging the success of ADM's experience in the biodiesel market in Europe and ADM's success in the ethanol market in the U.S., we are pleased to bring biodiesel,...
Intrepid Evaluates Offers on Gold Property to Accelerate Development of Alternate Fuel Plants
Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) announced today that they have received multiple offers from recognized buyers on their Montana gold property located near the ghost town of Garnet in southwestern Montana. This sale will allow ITR to appreciably escalate their build out of anaerobic digester plants in southern Idaho and will result in accelerating the expansion of the nearly completed Whiteside refinery and allow construction to begin on the second methane refinery as early as the end of 2004. The sale of the Garnet mine will have a substantial and materially significant effect on ITR's ability to...
The Great Algae Flour Fight: Solazyme Wins Again
Jim Lane
After the bizarre attempted heist detailed in The Great Algae Robbery, Roquette tries the US courts but comes up short, in its quest to get a hold of Solazyme’s (SZYM) algae tech.
On a slow news day just before Christmas, those of us on the industrial biotechnology beat have no need to stop by the firehouse to ask if there is a breaking story to report, because we always have the lively docket of Judge Sue Robinson, Federal District Judge for the District of Delaware.
This Christmas she did not fail us, for in our Christmas news stocking is a...
Intrepid Technology Announces 30 Million Cubic Feet a Day in Natural Gas Production
The announcement of a natural gas pipeline, built by Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV), in the heart of southern Idaho's dairy industry has one rural mayor pretty energized. Mayor Paul D. Isaacson in Wendell believes that the renewable energy company will not only bring to his community as many as 125 jobs, but it will measurably reduce the affects of the 350,000 head of milk cows and cattle that surround the area.
Tekron Inc. and Vydexa Industrials Corporation Engaged by Barbados Sugar Industries Ltd. to Restructure...
Tekron Inc. (TKRN) is pleased to announce that Tekron Inc. and Vydexa Industrials Corporation of London, Ontario have received a contract to prepare a feasibility study for Barbados Sugar Industries Ltd. (BSIL) and restructure the fledgling sugar cane industry in Barbados. The objective of the assignment is to develop an industrial base for production of fuel alcohol and other higher value products from sugar cane biomass. The project undertaking will encompass all aspects necessary for decision-making, relating to technologically sound and profitable utilization of sugar cane biomass residues that are left after conventional sugar extraction, presently practiced in...
