The Case For Biofuel From Giant Miscanthus Grass

December 3, 2009

The Deep South isn’t exactly the renewables capital of the nation.  Only 1,000 homes in South Florida have solar panels, for instance, despite an abundance of sunshine.

One company hopes to turn this desert of energy awareness into a paradigm of bio-energy – and it believes Giant Miscanthus Grass holds the key.

Giant Miscanthus Grass produces 2.5 times more Ethanol per acre than corn.

SunBelt Biofuels calculates that if Georgia were to dedicate 2.4 million acres of cropland to the grass it could become energy self-sufficient. The state has a total of 10 million acres of farmland.

There are reasons to believe SunBelt, which announced Thursday it has begun converting the grass into commercial fuel, has a good case.

Most people think of Giant Miscanthus as an ornamental grass, growing in bright green clumps that can stand 15 feet tall and displaying flat leaves that can measure 1.5 inches across.

What they don’t realize is that it requires less than half the acreage of corn and switchgrass and produces 2.5 times the ethanol. A mature field re-grows in a year, and the grass is tolerant of poor soils and salty, coastal environments.

The grass could be a boon for rural economies, argues SunBelt, bringing Georgia farmers an extra $2 billion in income. No subsidies would be needed.

SunBelt said Thursday it has struck an exclusive licensing deal with Mississippi State University, which has studied the grass for 15 years. Now all it has to do is to convince the global warming disbelievers who continue to nonchalantly drive their SUVs across the Georgia pinelands.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Billions In Federal Loan Guarantees Are Coming, But Then What

December 3, 2009

The Energy Department has been pouring billions of dollars this year into alternative energy companies and technologies designed to bring greater efficiency to buildings, homes and the electrical grid.

What will happen when the funding spigot is turned off?

"There is a serious risk of falling off a serious funding cliff when these dollars dry up," says Google's Dan Reicher

That question is increasingly a source of concern for clean-tech executives and industry leaders as they look toward a time when U.S. stimulus funding and loan guarantees are gone.

“There is a serious risk of falling off a serious funding cliff when these dollars dry up,” notes Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.

The novel use of the stimulus money under the Obama Administration is clearly giving a boost to the clean-energy economy and to technologies under development in labs and companies across the country.

More money is on the way. More than $50 billion of Energy Department loan guarantees is poised to begin supporting ventures and corporate expansion. Already companies such as Solyndra, Fisker and Tesla Motors have qualified.

The challenge ahead is finding sources of funding that will last for a decade or more, long after these monies are gone. “That is what it will take” to remake the nation’s energy system, says Ernie Moniz, director of MIT’s energy initiative.

Reicher estimates the financial support might need to be $15 billion a year. But with federal budget deficits, a slow economy and a war in Afghanistan, such a sum will be hard to get.

The result is “it’s going to be tough sledding over the next couple years,” he says. And rapid pressure for technologies to stand on their own without government support will take hold – putting some of the youngest, most ambitious projects at risk.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

New Push Behind East Coast Wind Energy Highlights Considerable Potential In The US

December 2, 2009

It is not like the United States has ignored its considerable capacity for harvesting energy from the wind.

Sure, countries such as Denmark, Germany, China, India and Spain have taken great strides, installing turbines at a rapid clip. But so too has the U.S.

New York State has unveiled efforts to build large wind farms in Lake Erie

America now has 31,000 MW of wind power generation, enough to light up 9 million homes. This year it has added 5,800 MW despite the recession, with states like Oregon, Illinois and Colorado showing big gains. (Texas, Iowa and California are still the big three.)

Now a new push behind East Coast wind could considerably expand its role in the country’s energy mix and for the first time bringing the right edge of the country to the party.

On Tuesday, the New York Power Authority began seeking proposals for a massive offshore wind farm(s) in the Great Lakes of Erie and Ontario. The wind farm(s) could be the first in a body of freshwater and produce from 120 MW to 500 MW of electricity. Proposals are due by June 2010 and commercial operation is targeted for 2015.

Only several weeks earlier, the governors of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware unveiled a tri-state partnership to develop wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean. They agreed to find a common way to bring that energy to shore.

The efforts show that the East Coast is not sitting idly or resigning itself to the belief that wind only makes sense where it blows strongest and steadiest – in the West Texas and New Mexico.

There is substantial offshore wind along the East Coast from Maine to South Carolina, says Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.  Developers can build far enough offshore so that their turbines aren’t seen and still plant their towers in relatively shallow water, he said.

The Great Lakes also have steady breezes ripe for turning generators.

“There are great wind resources” to be harnessed in the U.S., says Reicher.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Intergovernmental Panel To Recommend Higher Renewable Energy Use

December 2, 2009

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is ready to raise its target for renewable energy use.

At the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next week, the panel will recommend states and municipalities shoot for what it calls a “zero carbon” energy mix. The goal will require renewables to account for 85 percent of energy use by 2050 and fossil fuels the remainder.

There is not question the new targets can be met, says Berkeley professor Daniel Kammen

The new formula is an acceleration of the targets progressive states and cities have in place today, where decade-long initiatives will bring renewables to 15 percent, 20 percent or perhaps 33 percent levels. Many laggard states haven’t yet put plans in place.

Daniel Kammen, a Berkeley professor and a coordinating lead author for the panel, says climate scientists haven’t sent strong enough signals of the gathering dangers of climate change. But he describes himself as a optimist as to the new target.

“There is no question in my view it can be accomplished,” he said this week at a Google sponsored green-tech event in San Francisco.

The 85 percent renewables and zero carbon target can be met with solar providing up to 25 percent of a state’s energy; wind, 20 percent; nuclear, 20 percent; hydroelectric, 10 percent; and carbon capture and sequestration, 20 percent.

Energy efficiency measures could make up for any shortfalls in the mix.

Ready, set, the new renewables race is on.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Clean Tech University Research In The US Shows Strong Emphasis On Solar

December 1, 2009

Clean-tech research at American universities appears to have a heavy focus on solar technologies as the nation looks for 21st Century ways to battle climate change.

Several of the country’s top educational institutions list solar as their top green research area, including novels approaches such as using nano-materials, organic semiconductors and solar thermal systems to get more energy from the sun.

MIT's Ernie Moniz says he is optimistic about the development of clean tech technology. But business models won't change until public policy is in place

This emphasis appears to earmarked more resources for solar breakthroughs than for other green-tech efforts, such as advanced batteries development and the evolution of smart energy grids.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for instance, solar is at the top of the university’s clean-tech agenda, along with energy storage, says Ernie Moniz, director of MIT’s energy initiative.

The research focus includes efforts with solar thermal – or mirror technologies – and organic semiconductors, Moniz said Monday evening at Google-sponsored green tech event in San Francisco.

Stanford University also describes solar as among its biggest research areas. The institution’s Global Climate and Energy Project awards about $20 million a year for projects, and among the initiatives is an effort to use nano-structured materials to better capture energy, says Lynn Orr, director of the Precourt Institute for Energy.

The University of California, Berkeley has a similar emphasis on solar and nano solar research, even as it works on advanced energy storage and wind turbines, says Daniel Kammen, director of the renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab.

MIT is optimistic about the development of technologies to solve global warming, says Moniz. The challenge is putting public policy in place so that energy industry business models can change to keep pace.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Google, Microsoft Update Search Engines

December 1, 2009

Google invites media for a search engine update next week

Update: Here’s Microsoft’s post on Bing’s new features.

The Web search race between Google and Microsoft is kicking up a notch this week, as both companies expect to update their search engine.

First, Microsoft which is having a press event in San Francisco, Calif., tomorrow to unveil new features to its service.

And next Monday, Google is hosting its own media event in Mountain View – but not at its usual tiny packed room at the Googleplex – but at another ex-SGI building: the Computer History Museum.

“It’s an event you won’t want to miss,” reads the invitation.

This is Google’s second major event in 3 weeks, following the ChromeOS briefing and just a week before its traditional Holiday party for the media!

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Posted by TechPulse 360

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