Category: Biomass
Thermal Anaerobic Gasification — Hot Business Plan
| August 20, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
Here’s a summary of a business plan that would implement a unique approach to thermal anaerobic gasification, to extract the energy from biomass without creating harmful (carcinogenic) byproducts.
I find it interesting that many of these clean energy technologies are quite ancient. Wind turbines come to mind immediately, of course, but gasification and pyrolysis have been around for at least a century.
Having said that, the technology contemplated here is unique, and, I believe, capable of results that were heretofore unobtainable.
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Biomass-to-Energy Conversation Takes an Abrupt Twist
| August 18, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
I had lunch with some local waste-tire-to-energy people this afternoon, one of whom I knew to be an ex-military guy, and something of an accomplished pilot. On the way back from the restaurant, as we were passing the local general aviation airport he said, “Oh, let me pull in here; I need to leave a door unlocked; a friend of mine needs to get into my hangar, and he doesn’t have a key.”
Seeing that I hadn’t gotten out of the car when he parked he asked, “Would you like to see the plane?”
“Sure,” I replied, more or less out of courtesy, thinking I was going to see some sort of Cessna or Piper Cub. “What kind is it?” I asked. “Oh, it’s a MiG-21.” I’ve linked to what this thing looked like, complete with rocket-launchers.
“This isn’t exactly carbon-neutral, Craig,” my host said with a wry smile. “And it would be wrong to say that it preserves the environment, as well. In fact, it’s designed to change the environment in a heck of a hurry.”
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Biomass-to-Energy Business Plan — Pelletizing Babassu
| August 16, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
Here’s a brief discussion of a biomass-to-energy business plan that involves pelletizing babassu, which is the fruit of a palm tree, not unlike a coconut, grown for its high density of chemical energy. For biomass projects to be attractive, they need rock solid feedstock agreements, technology, and take-off agreements — and this has all three, which is the reason that I hold it in high esteem..
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Clean Energy from Construction and Demolition Waste – Excellent Business Plan
| August 16, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
Here’s a short discussion of a business plan that contemplates the processing of enormous quantities of construction and demolition waste, and the generation of clean energy from the wood and other biomass it contains. I’ve spent some time getting to know the organization’s CEO over the last six months or so — quite an impressive gentleman, with a truly excellent cleantech business plan.
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No Romance in Renewables
| August 1, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
I just spoke with Sean O’Hanlon, leader of the American Biofuels Council, a national institute for biofuel research, analysis, development, and education in the United States. Sean impressed me as a doer rather than a talker; the emphasis of his organization is moving biofuels out of the classroom and laboratory and into the world of day-to-day commerce.
But he made a pithy remark that I immediately jotted down with the smile that comes over me when I encounter something that’s truly well said: “There is no romance in renewables.” There are so many flavors of biofuels that simply do not compete well in the overall market. Sean told me, “Do not expect to enter a market with a low-grade product, or one that’s more expensive than a fossil fuel competitor, on the basis that there is ‘romance” to renewable energy. It doesn’t exist.”
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BioFuels Offer Great Promise, Vicious Complexity
| August 1, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
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I just had a fascinating call with Jim Lane, editor and publisher of Miami, FL-based BioFuelsDigest.com, a group that provides information products and a series of top-flight industry conferences to more than 14,000 organizations worldwide.
When I happened to mention that I run across plenty of crackpots and charlatans in my day-to-day dealings with cleantech entrepreneurs, it was instantly apparent that Jim’s had the same experience. And the more I learn about biofuels, the more I can understand how easily this may be the case. There is so much complexity; there are so many different combinations of feedstocks and technologies, it’s really impossible for anyone to keep track of all of them. One hopes for peer-reviewed analysis, but that’s not always possible; one can understand that certain of these businesses need to protect their IP very carefully.
This is further complicated by the fact that many biomass technologies work to some degree – just not at a commercially viable level. It’s not like somebody who claims to have built a car that runs on seawater.
Take waste-tire-to-biofuels, for instance. I happen to believe that the version of pyrolysis that my associates at Southeastern Biomass bring to the table will work as advertised. But I’m certainly skeptical; I think anyone needs to be. Pyrolysis has been around for a century, and dozens (hundreds?) of people have tried to make the waste-tire dream come true.
At the end of the day, some of these folks are showmen. And, while every business needs a convincing front-man, there is a line between enthusiastic promotion and fraud.
Just ask the U.S. District Judge who, last week, handed down a summary judgment against John Rivera, bombastic leader U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp, affirming charges levied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which had alleged that Rivera used false press releases and other false public statements to drive up interest — and stock price — reaping huge profits in what turned out to be a virtually worthless company. Looks like Rivera’s headed for the slammer, which sounds about right to me.
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[The Vector] News from around the world: Brazil and Energy
| July 30, 2011 | Posted by Kathy-Heshelow under Biomass |
Brazil aims to triple its renewable energy use by 2020, according to the new national plan. Wind energy has a strong place in the plans, along with small hydropower. Brazil has already reached 1 GW from wind energy alone this year – and the goal is to be at 12 GW by 2020.
The country plans to generate 16% of its electricity from renewable Read More
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Can Algae Move the Needle in Biofuels?
| July 18, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
When I was lucky enough to meet the eminent Bulgarian scientist Dr. Boris Monahov at the Energy Storage conference last week, we spoke about the advanced battery solutions he and his team are developing. But Dr. Monahov is also a proponent of algal biofuels, and sent me the article linked here.
I remain skeptical. Algae, while it works fine in the laboratory, has presented one problem after another in the real world. And this article suggests that algae can replace 17% of US purchases of foreign oil. In my estimation, that’s good, but not good enough.
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Bill Gates on Renewable Energy
| July 8, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
2GreenEnergy Business Director George Alger sent me this interview in which Bill Gates speaks on renewable energy.
George: Yes, he makes some good points, and he’s a fan (as am I) of Donald Sadoway’s work at MIT.
But as you can see from the comments, not everyone agrees with a lot of what he says. I, for one, completely disagree with a great deal of this. 
His position that biomass holds huge promise while solar is “cute” and “for rich people” is pretty far out there on the fringe.
It’s as if he said that Dorothy Hamill was his favorite ice hockey team. But when you have a guy of that stature, he can say that 2 and 2 are 5, and it will garner huge amounts of attention.
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2GreenEnergy Video Report: Biomass to Energy — Processing Chicken Manure
| May 2, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
In this episode of the 2GreenEnergy Video Report, I discuss one of the dozens of different kinds of biomass to energy technologies — in this case, processing chicken manure.
