Green Options » bio-energy

Algae Biofuels World Summit Wraps Up in San Francisco

Tom Schueneman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:30:16 +0000

The Algae Biofuels World Summit concluded yesterday in San Francisco. The event was geared to active participants in the industry, and I had the opportunity to attend Monday’s all day pre-conference briefing highlighting key players in government, research, and business all pursuing the goal of scaling algal biofuels to a commercial enterprise level.

It is clear that algae is “hot” - but as is often the case with hot, there is no shortage of hype. A recurring theme throughout the day was the common mis-percepton of algae biofuel as “cheap and easy” and a one-size-fits-all solution to the world’s fuel energy needs.

Not so fast.

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Advanced Biofuels Will Create Thousands of Jobs and Add Billions to U.S. Economy

Tom Schueneman — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:26:35 +0000

Thousands of new jobs will be created throughout the economy as advanced biofuel production capacity continues to expand.

This according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization as they presented key findings from a Bio Economic Research Associates (bio-era™) research report entitled U.S. Economic Impact of Advanced Biofuels Production: Perspectives to 2030.

The research analyzed how the growth of the advanced biofuels industry will impact four areas critical for recovery of the U.S. economy: job creation, economic output, energy security, and investment opportunity. The report forecasts that 190,000 new direct industry jobs will be created, with $37 billion dollars in direct economic growth, by 2022.

The impact throughout the economy could be as much as $148.7 billion, creating 807,000 jobs within the same 2010-2022 period.

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Emerson Process Management’s Alan Novak Sets Optimistic Tone for Advanced Biofuels Industry

Tom Schueneman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:46:49 +0000

Cellulosic ethanol is, for some, the holy grail of alternative fuel, while others remain resolutely unconvinced, claiming such confidence in the potential of biofuel as a fool’s errand (or worse).

Beyond these entrenched extremes, ranging from wild optimism to abject skepticism, comes the real heavy lifting - understanding there are significant hurdles inherent in getting second generation biofuel from the lab into full-scale sustainable commercial production, but seeing those hurdles as challenges to be overcome, not as roadblocks from which to retreat, and working to bridge the gap from current reality to potential promise.

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Emerson Process Management Hosts BioRefinery/BioEnergy Summit

Tom Schueneman — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:49:57 +0000

A first-of-its-kind summit in Madison, Wisconsin later this week will bring together researchers, innovators, policy makers, entrepreneurs and other industry leaders to discuss best practices for large-scale commercialization of second generation biofuels.

The BioRefinery/BioEnergy Summit, taking place on December 11th, is hosted by Emerson Process Management, a company that specializes in analysis, measurement, and automation of industrial processes and plant operation for oil & gas and other heavy industry. Emerson’s goal is to bring to bear their experience in plant operation, process automation, and analysis for the emerging biofuel industry. By establishing best practices for the biofuel industry, large-scale commercial production becomes viable.

I had an opportunity to speak with Alan Novak, Emerson’s Director of Alternative Fuels, about the upcoming summit and the outlook for biofuel and bioenergy.

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Anheuser-Busch Unveils Massive Green Beer Plan

Ariel Schwartz — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:03:19 +0000

But is it greenwashing?

Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewer in the US, announced today that its breweries will rely on renewable energies for 15 percent of their needs by 2010. The Houston brewery plans to use biogas from a nearby landfill combined with an on-site bio-energy recovery system (BERS) that will make use of brewing wastewater, and the Fairfield, California facility will use solar panels in addition to a BERS. The other US breweries will use only BERS.

When the facilities are completed, 10 out of the 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries in the US will use alternative fuels.

It’s tempting to shake our heads and exclaim that this is just another example of meaningless corporate greenwashing. But that might not be entirely true.

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