It’s been a big week for biofuel breakthroughs and new partnerships. While photographing the algae biodiesel cars outside Fields of Fuel yesterday, insiders I spoke with alluded to big news: I just learned that Chevron will be backing Solazyme to produce algae biodiesel (East Bay Business Times):
Chevron Corp. is accelerating its research into biofuel derived from algae. On Tuesday, Solazyme Inc. of South San Francisco announced an agreement with the Chevron subsidiary Chevron Technology Ventures to develop and test biodiesel feedstock made from algae.
The partnership will almost certainly rev up Solazyme’s production and research process, as will GM’s backing of Coskata ethanol. But I still have no information on how the algae will be grown. I’m getting the sense that this is almost cellulosic + algae = biodiesel, since these guys are talking about getting sugar from corn stover, switchgrass, wood chips, and sugarcane, then feeding it to algae to boost production. Take a look at this video from the film:
Last week at the Auto Show, I had the opportunity to be interviewed for a few short online video segments by coBRANDiT. My interview made it into a few different clips, including the Coskata biofuel announcement. Take a look at the following videos:
Matt Kelly of NextGear was kind enough to pass along video of our breakfast with Rick Wagoner, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, which took place last week at the NAIAS.
User-created video contests are alltherage lately, and Juntoventure, a non-profit organization dedicated to “sustainability education through digital media,” has joined the fun with its “Think Green Live Green Challenge.” Starting tomorrow (Friday, January 18th), the Challenge invites participants to do a little bit more than just make a video about green living practices they’ve adopted: Juntoventure and the contest’s sponsors ask entrants to create videos that contribute to “a community of dialogue about the challenges of eco-friendly living.”
“A community of dialogue” is one of those phrases that comes out of my former academic life, but the concept is simple: make a video that contributes to and advances the conversation about sustainable lifestyles. In this spirit, Juntoventure starts the discussion with a video collection of its own that provides some great examples, and also frames the conversation. Your task: join the dialogue by contributing a video with your perspective. The contest provides some questions to get those creative juices percolating:
What are the biggest challenges you face in becoming more eco-friendly?
What questions do you have about eco-friendly living?
Are you taking any specific actions right now to be more eco-friendly, and if so, do you have a way to do it easily and conveniently?
What changes would you like to see happen from companies and the marketplace?
All that green pond scum I used to avoid could well produce enough fuel to satisfy all the energy needs in the United States. That’s a pretty far out statement, but Glen Kertz, CEO of Valcent Products made it very clear that a process of growing algae vertically is capable of producing huge amounts of alternative fuels. It’s being proven today in Texas.
This is one fascinating story, with a link below showing the process and an explanation by Mr. Kertz.
Valcent has partnered with Global Green Solutions to develop a production test project in El Paso, TX. After 90 days of continual production, algae was being harvested at an average of one gram per liter from the Vertigro Bio-Reactor System. Based on those results, the joint venture partners believe their system would deliver about 33,000 gallons of algae oil per acre per year. By comparison, soybean oil produces about 49 gallons of oil per acre each year, and palm oil would yield about 630 acres of oil a year.
Actor Neil Flynn — who plays your favorite comic villain on a certain sitcom — lets us know that everyone in the world relies on nature for survival. And when he’s not practicing taxidermy, this bully shows us how climate change is affecting nature and people and… janitors!
The Piaggio Group USA, a US subsidiary of the famed Italian maker of Vespa scooters, is giving Vespa riders and enthusiasts a chance to express their passions with the launch of its "Go Green Vespa Video Challenge."
Launched on August 20th, potential entrants have until October 15th to make a video (15 seconds - 2 minutes in length) that highlights "Vespanomics," or the facts about scooters’ contributions to reducing gas consumption, carbon emissions
Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson are an example of the new media- independent, grassroots reporters and news. The couple runs Ryan is Hungry, a videoblog that interviews and features green gurus, tips, and information. They look for “stories that don’t get covered in the mainstream media worlds of television and newspapers,” and they bring that news to us.
Last week I covered the SmartPower and YouTube Clean Energy Ad Challenge. SmartPower is a nonprofit marketing agency that promotes renewable energy, and their challenge to the YouTube community was to create a compelling public service announcement for the agency with the idea that “clean energy is real. It’s here. And it’s working.”
The winner was announced on June 18th. Dan Sheppard, age 19 and a student at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, was awarded the
Jumpcut , an internet video platform, asked their users "If you had just two minutes to show someone what to see, feel and imagine about the future of our world and its resources, what would you do? " The contest is closed and the winner of the $1,000 Grand Prize is … oops!
It’s been a big week for biofuel breakthroughs and new partnerships. While photographing the algae biodiesel cars outside Fields of Fuel yesterday, insiders I spoke with alluded to big news: I just learned that Chevron will be backing Solazyme to produce algae biodiesel (East Bay Business Times):
User-created video contests are 
The Piaggio Group USA, a US subsidiary of the famed Italian maker of Vespa scooters, is giving Vespa riders and enthusiasts a chance to express their passions with the launch of its 
Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson are an example of the new media- independent, grassroots reporters and news. The couple runs 
