Biomass

Clean Break has found another company to add to the watchlist. DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp. (DYMTF), uses a patended "pyrolysis" process to convert forest and agricultural waste everything from sawdust to tree bark into a clean-burning renewable fuel it calls BioOil. This fuel can be used for power generation in gas turbines, diesel engines and boilers. Tyler has a nice writeup about the company at his CleanBreak website. DynaMotive joins Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) and Green Energy Resources (GRGR) in the biomass space on my watchlist. They are also trying to compete...

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding that includes purchasing ITR's planned methane produced natural gas using anaerobic digester technology at participating diaries in southern Idaho. The agreement runs for 15 years and provides for Intermountain to purchase all of the pipeline quality methane gas produced by the digesters and delivered to the Intermountain distribution system by ITR over the life of the contract. Furthermore, Intermountain will provide assistance for the installation, operation and maintenance of the gas gathering system that will collect and transport the gas produced by the participating...

Intelligent Energy Inc., a leading energy solutions business, today announces that it has successfully completed trials of its ethanol based fuel cell technology system. These trials show that sufficient electricity can be generated for a rural home from equipment little larger than a shoebox, using fuel derived from sugar cane.

Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. (CDTI) announced today that it has completed extensive independent testing of its Platinum Plus® fuel-borne catalyst (FBC) in a wide range of fuels on four different engines at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Results from these tests confirm that the FBC, when added to various commercial diesel fuels, can provide up to 35 percent reduction in diesel particulate emissions (PM) and up to 11 percent NOx reduction. Both particulates and NOx are a major focus of worldwide efforts to reduce diesel emissions, and the U.S. EPA has challenged the industry to clean up the...

Environmental Power Corp (POWR) announced today that it had signed an agreement with De Snayer Dairy of Lodi, California, for the on-farm location of an animal feed production system based on Microgy's anaerobic digester technology. Microgy expects to own and operate the proposed facility that will utilize manure from De Snayer's dairy operations to generate biogas for the operation of equipment developed to process feed ingredients, utilizing a process that is being pioneered by The Scoular Company.

DaimlerChrysler AG (DCX) announced plans to use B5, a 5% blend of biodiesel, in each new Jeep Liberty Common Rail Diesel (CRD) sport-utility vehicle coming off the assembly line. The news is a landmark choice by US auto manufacturers in advancing the use of cleaner burning biodiesel. Chrysler Group President and CEO Dieter Zetsche called the decision an important first step in encouraging wider use of clean, renewable fuels.

Renewable energy like wind and solar power and hydrogen fuel cells could blossom into a $100 billion a year global market in less than a decade as technology costs fall, according to a study. The combined market for "green" sources of energy has already grown 68 percent since 2002 to more than $16 billion last year, according to Clean Edge, a research and publishing firm based in California. You can view and download the complete Clean-Energy Trends report at the following link.

Last week, Tom brought you a piece on the Algonquin Power Income Fund (AGQNF.PK), in which he opined that shift in investor attention away from capital gains toward yield might eventually provide a catalyst for the prices of yield-focused securities such as income trusts to rise. So-called utility trusts, or income trusts where the underlying corporation is engaged in utility activities such as power generation, are a common feature of the Canadian income trust sector (the mother of all income trust sectors). A sub-set of utility trusts is the clean power utility trust, where the power generation...

Green Energy Resources, Inc. (NYIL) announces it has agreed in principle to merge with Italiana Commissionaria Legnami (ICL) of Monza , Italy. ICL has offices in New York and Brazil. The terms of the merger have not been disclosed. ICL is the largest importer of woodfiber fuel in Italy. In 2003 ICL supplied approximately 80,000 tons of woodchips per month to the Italian market. The proposed merger will seek to capture the vertical market from procurement, to transportation, to power generation plants and would create one of the largest international biomass/ renewable energy companies in the world today....

Jim Lane Newly-public Ceres (CERE) makes major breakthrough on miscanthus; is the gigantic energy grass ready for prime-time? Why is miscanthus driving so much attention, yet deserving more? In California, followers of NASDAQ prices noted yesterday that shares in the newly-public Ceres (CERE) rocketed up 15 percent to close at $17.52. What happened? It was revealed yesterday, in the peer-reviewed, online journal PLoS One that Ceres and the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University in Wales have completed the first high-resolution, comprehensive genetic map of miscanthus. The full article is here. In other...

by Debra Fiakas CFA Last month a shareholder group led by two of Rentech’s largest shareholders sent a letter to the biofuel developer’s board of directors.   Rentech, Inc. (RTK:  Nasdaq)) is adrift, the group claims.  The alternative energy business has failed.  The fertilizer plant is a bust and the wood pellet project is never going to deliver adequate return on invested capital.  What is more management is paid too much for the size of Rentech’s operations.  The group wants its own slate of nominees in the proxy for director positions. Rentech leadership responded to the letter with...

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) announces that its biogas facility at the Whitesides dairy has processed over 500,000 gallons of manure in its initial month of operation. The manure has been rendered into irrigation water and fed back into the dairy's lagoons for use during the upcoming irrigation season. The process has proven reliable with improvements already made to the feed and control system. The hydrogen sulfide removal system, which was designed to meet pipeline gas specifications for the contaminant, has performed flawlessly.

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...

Biochar and Activated Carbon Markets by Hugh McLaughlin, PhD., PE Biochar is an emerging market; growing rapidly, still in its infancy, but with gigaton market potential when we, as in humanity, start addressing the climate crisis. Activated carbons are a mature market of about one million tons annual production, which is growing slowly. They are basically like fraternal twins; they have a lot in common, they share the same world, and they are different. First, let’s explain the basic difference between THREE materials: activated carbon, charcoal and biochar. Activated carbon, also known as activated charcoal and several...

Colorado voters have approved an amendment requiring utilities to get part of their electricity from the sun, wind or plant and animal waste. The amendment requires the state's seven largest utilities to get a portion of their retail electricity sales from renewables, beginning with 3 percent in 2007 and climbing to 10 percent by 2015. Four percent of the renewables should be solar sources.

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...