Category: Energy

At CES 2010, RCA was showing a prototype of a handheld energy-harvesting battery designed to convert energy transmitted in a Wi-Fi signal into DC power.  The device, called the Airnergy, uses an antenna and circuitry to harvest the energy and an internal battery to store the electrical charge. Reportedly, the company was able to charge a BlackBerry from 30 percent to full charge in about 90 minutes using the Wi-Fi signal at CES.   The company’s goal is to have a product that’s smaller than a smartphone and has a mini USB port in the market this summer in the range of $40 to $50. Next year, RCA would like to integrate the energy harvesting into a battery that could act as a replacement for cell phone batteries for the same cost as a replacement.  This is definitely one cool product to look out for in 2010.  I’d love to hear how effective this system is once it actually hits market.

via cnet

Ryan McBride wrote:

Qteros, the Marlborough, MA-based developer of cellulosic ethanol technology, has brought on industry veteran John McCarthy as CEO and bid adieu to former chief executive Bill Frey. The company announced McCarthy’s appointment this morning.

McCarthy, who joined the startup last week, was the executive vice president at Cambridge, MA-based cellulosic ethanol developer Verenium (NASDAQ:VRNM). He said he led Verenium’s landmark 2008 deal (worth $90 million) with energy giant BP to collaborate on the development of ethanol made from non-food sources, or cellulosic ethanol. This is the type of deal McCarthy is now working on bringing to Qteros, he said.

Qteros—which is developing microbes to reduce the normally multi-phased process of producing ethanol into a single step—has raised around $30 million in venture capital from deep-pocketed investors such as Battery Ventures, BP Ventures, Valero Energy, and Venrock Associates, to name several. Yet under the leadership of former CEO Frey, who joined Qteros in mid-2008 after serving as an executive for chemical industry juggernaut DuPont (NYSE:DD), a major corporate partnership on par with the Verenium-BP deal has eluded the startup.

“The company is at a stage of development where the board and the investors felt that we really needed to accelerate to the next level of development and felt that I was the right person for the job,” said McCarthy, who was previously the chief business officer at Lexington, MA-based biotech chemical firm Microbia.

Qteros (formerly SunEthanol) is among a number of startups such as Lebanon, NH-based Mascoma that are developing microorganisms that can help turn feedstocks such as corn stalks, switch grass, woodchips, and other cellulose-based materials into ethanol. McCarthy said that the Qteros technology is capable of producing ethanol at a price similar to traditional corn-derived ethanol. And as the price of gasoline rises, he said, the firm’s process could eventually yield ethanol that is priced competitively with petroleum-based fuels.

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Two years ago energy baron T. Boone Pickens had visions of building the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, starting with a $2 billion order of wind turbines from General Electric. That project was put on hold indefinitely last year, but there are new details on it from the Dallas Morning News this […]

Luke Timmerman wrote:

All year long, I listened to venture capitalists talk about the steady decline their industry is facing. Returns in a number of sectors just aren’t there anymore to justify the risk. Big pension funds and endowments that provide the fuel for innovative VC-backed companies are still licking their wounds from the downturn, and looking for more reliable places to park their assets.

Then, a couple months ago, I had an odd conversation with Steve Gullans, a managing director with Boston-based Excel Venture Management. He was talking about how his venture firm was having a good year, and the market dynamics were tilting in its favor. And he had some hard facts, not just fluffy adjectives, to back up what he was saying.

Excel first started talking about what it was doing in July, when I interviewed one of Gullans’ partners, Juan Enriquez, who was the founding Director of the Harvard Business School’s Life Sciences Project. Enriquez talked then about how Excel had closed its first $125 million fund, and provided a detailed glimpse into the firm’s strategy of investing in life sciences companies with platform technologies that could give rise to a number of different products, and which could cross over and disrupt other industries, like IT and energy. There would be no classic biotech investments betting the-farm on a single drug with billion-dollar potential. The odds of success were too low to justify the huge amount of capital investment in that model, Enriquez said. He described a long-term, broad vision that says we’re still in the early days of the era of genomics, and that biotech will give birth to “the next Googles, the next Intels, the next HPs.”

Nothing that successful has emerged yet from the Excel strategy in the early days of the firm, but when I followed up with Gullans a little before Thanksgiving, he certainly had some legitimately positive things to talk about. Just one week after I profiled Excel in July, one of its portfolio companies, San Diego-based Synthetic Genomics, received a $600 million investment from Exxon Mobil to develop algae-based biofuels. It’s the latest venture founded by genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter.

Steve Gullans

“We’re still excited about alternative fuels,” Gullans says. “There have been disappointments in that space, but Synthetic Genomics is a clear winner.”

In November, another portfolio company, Cambridge, MA-based Aileron Therapeutics, published an important paper in Nature with some academic colleagues that validated its technology for hitting previously unreachable drug targets inside cells. That’s not exactly the same as scoring a $600 million investment, but it certainly didn’t hurt to validate a company that raised a $40 million venture round a few months earlier.

The same week as the Nature paper involving Aileron, Excel’s very first portfolio investment—Woburn,MA-based BioTrove—generated some more good news. The company, which makes a “universal test tube” to speed up the efficiency of genetic analysis, was acquired by Carlsbad, CA-based Life Technologies for an undisclosed sum. I pressed Gullans for details on the magnitude of this return, and while he wouldn’t provide specifics, he did say “it’s meaningful.”

“For Excel to have gotten a meaningful exit in this climate is very rewarding,” Gullans says.

And Excel didn’t just take all the money and run. A new company spun out from BioTrove called Biocius, which will handle the RapidFire technology for handling samples that go into mass spectrometer machines, which can provide researchers with data on precise molecular weights. Gullans has retained a board seat with the new company.

Then last month, the firm was confident enough that it made another new investment last month in Cambridge, MA-based Fina Technologies, a spinoff from Gene Network Sciences that uses massively parallel supercomputing that was developed for the world of biotech drug development and apply it to the world of finance.

What’s going on here with all this optimism?  Part of it is the luxury …Next Page »

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Scientists have once again turned towards nature for inspiration to enhance their technologies. Now they are trying to learn the way leaves harness and utilize sun’s energy. Scientists have created an artificial leaf which they said can split the water to generate hydrogen. This is not the first time that such an attempt has been made. However, this experiment differs due the fact that it tries to mimic photosynthesis by copying the elaborate architectures of green leaves instead of modifying or mimicking the molecules directly involved in splitting hydrogen. Scientists assume this method to be more efficient in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions and it will be possible to create a miniature hydrogen factory by using this technology.

(more…)

Nathan Rothman wrote:

If 2009 was the year that energy efficiency was elevated from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have,” then 2010 will be the year that we go from talking about energy efficiency to actually doing something about it.

In 2009, everyone was talking about efficiency and the impact it can have on the green economy. Remember President Obama joking with David Letterman about the efficiency of the sets’ air conditioning this fall? How about U.S. Energy Secretary Chu calling himself “an energy conservation nut?” Every one of the climate bills debated in Congress this year cite energy efficiency as being critical to our nation’s energy security and job growth. And don’t forget climate change, the topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days. Global consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, estimates that energy efficiency improvements could provide 40 percent of the pollution reduction needed to prevent catastrophic global warming.

Like the slew of clean energy initiatives that are under way in the U.S. today, energy efficiency is being held responsible for a lot of lofty goals including job growth, energy security and improving the environment. But the concept of energy efficiency stands alone in a very important way: it’s relatively cheap. If you think about it, the cleanest and cheapest kilowatt of energy is the one never used. So even if there is an upfront cost to put efficiency measures into place, the return is never-ending. That means within a few months or years, you’re putting money back into your pocket.

There are three key factors that get people to take action: incentives, funding, and solutions that are proven to work. Incentives come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from local or federal legislation that mandates better efficiency, to taking advantage of the marketing benefits being LEED and ENERGY STAR certification. Whether or not a climate bill is passed in 2010, there are already 26 states and nearly a thousand U.S. cities that have environmental standards for new construction and retrofitting existing buildings. I believe that as awareness grows about the levels of energy buildings in the U.S. consume, it’s a trend that we’ll continue to see in the coming years.

Funding, whether it comes from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants, creative financial programs such as the one recently enacted in New York, or tax credits and utility rebates, is no longer the barrier it once was. I think that because of the savings efficiency provides, we’ll continue to see new financing options in the years ahead that will accelerate the adoption of efficiency programs.

What’s most exciting to me, however, is how new technologies are elevating the possibilities when it comes to efficiency. This year we saw more examples than ever of information technology being applied to operating the physical environment, such as buildings. This convergence—sometimes called operations technology—is transforming the way buildings are managed, and it’s leading to unprecedented improvements in energy performance. Another important benefit of using technology to manage building systems is the ability to ’see’ what’s happening, and use that information for maintenance and to ensure savings persist over time.

I believe there will be an increase in the rate at which new technologies are introduced, and as these technologies are proven to work, acceptance will grow, spurring faster adoption by the industry—and opening up new business opportunities. We’re already seeing this within the controls contracting industry where they’re building new revenue streams by expanding their energy services offerings to existing clients, helping those clients achieve real returns on their capital investments.

Efficiency achieved by applying new technologies equals job growth, energy security and money savings. That’s a winning combination that I believe will grow exponentially in 2010 and the decade that follows.

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2010Jan12: An average American consumes about 194 pounds worth of goods and services daily, according to the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2010 report (Worldwatch).

Reference: Worldwatch http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6359

Image Description: Natick Collection, a shopping mall in Natick, Massachusetts. Photo by Katsuki, 2007Sept9. Image Location: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Natick_Collection_expansion_1.jpg Image Permission: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

Created by a team from MIT and Harvard, Egg Energy is taking the Netflix style subscription model and applying it to a very unique for-profit business: supplying energy for populations in developing countries.

I’m not sure about the value of a dollar in Tanzania, but the Egg Energy’s service seems like a decent deal. For a $27 first-year subscription, customers will get their home wired for electricity and receive a fully-charged, relatively compact battery that can be swapped out for a fresh one at a cost of 40 cents. As Earth2Tech notes:

The company explains in its executive summary that its target customer spends $5 per month on kerosene and $3 per month on AA batteries, with an average total of $96 per year for lighting and the use of a radio. But with eight swaps per month, the annual cost of the service in total is $65. “Switching to EGG-energy therefore saves a typical household $30.60 a year on its lighting and radio needs,” says the company.

The first Egg Energy distribution center is already up and running on a well-trafficked route in rural Tanzania. They have acquired 60 customers since November and plan a rapid expansion in the coming year. [Egg Energy on Facebook via Eart2Tech via @Timoreilly via @TomRaferty]

Ryan McBride wrote:

Joule Biotechnologies, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of fuels and chemicals in a process that mimics photosynthesis, today confirmed a newspaper report in the Leander Ledger from last month that it is leasing property in Leander, TX, for its pilot ethanol plant. A company spokeswoman said that the lease on the property near Austin became official this week. Xconomy reported last month that Joule had selected a site for the pilot plant, but the firm had declined to reveal the exact location before the lease was finalized.

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Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

It’s been almost a year since San Diego-based SG Biofuels stepped out of the shadows to announce its plans to produce biodiesel and feedstock substitutes from Jatropha, a hardy shrub that produces golf ball-size seeds with high oil content.

Today, the company is announcing it has formed a strategic alliance with Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE), the Carlsbad, CA-based maker of genetic diagnostic equipment, laboratory instruments, and other biotech supplies. In striking the deal, SG Biofuels CEO Kirk Haney tells me, “We have a company with a $9 billion market cap that is recognizing and validating the global opportunities for Jatropha.”

Greg Lucier, Life Technologies’ CEO, is expected to highlight the deal in a presentation this morning at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, according to Haney.

Jatropha, a non-edible crop that can be cultivated in poor climate and soil conditions, has been hailed as a biofuel crop of the future. But Dutch researchers ignited a fiery debate over the suitability of Jatropha as a source for biofuel when they published a study seven months ago that found Jatropha requires five times as much water per unit of energy as sugarcane and corn, and nearly ten times as much as sugar beets. The following month, a Wall Street Journal blog reported that BP had dispensed with a $1 million investment it had made in Jatropha with a British partner, D1 Oils.

SG Biofuels’ Haney, however, emphasized the due diligence that Life Technologies conducted before entering into the partnership being announced today. “They’ve done a deep dive on our company, and they’ve validated our technology,” Haney says. SG Biofuels says the alliance brings together its genetic resource center, which features “the largest and most diverse library of Jatropha genetic material in the world,” with Life Technology’s advanced biotechnology and synthetic biology tools.

Haney says that this combination of resources and expertise will give the partners will have the opportunity to unlock Jatropha’s potential as a profitable and sustainable biofuel feedstock. As an example, Haney says, a Jatropha variety that grows well in Mexico may not grow well in Africa. But using Life Technologies’ tools it would be possible to produce Jatropha cultivars that are better suited for Africa’s growing conditions. “Sequencing the genome will allow us to rapidly develop region-specific cultivars from the promising traits we’ve already identified,” Haney says in a statement to be released this morning.

It is not clear, however, how the alliance is structured, or what resources Life Technologies is providing. Haney declined to provide any information about financial terms of Life Technologies’ partnership with SG Biofuels. He says the startup that was founded three years ago now has 25 employees, but he would not identify SG Biofuels’ investors or say how much capital the startup has raised.

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Could “heroism fatigue” be yet another bump in the road for any U.S. law to curb climate change? And what is “heroism fatigue” anyway?

Poop management in several under developed countries is a major problem these days. With children and even adults who take to the open fields to answer the natures call, it gets hazardous when it comes to health and contamination of foodstuffs. True, that human excreta acts as a good fertilizer, but it is a unknown fact that the decomposition is a lengthy process, without which the contact in the raw form with the plants can be harmful and may lead to outbreaks of several diseases. ‘Poosh’ is a portable toilet with automatic sanitary system. In simpler words, it is basically an easy-to-use toilet seat that can work with a wide range of bucket sizes. A specially designed biodegradable bag (which collect the waste) made from bio-plastic includes some chemicals that speeds the decomposition of the human waste. About two weeks later the one bag gets filled with some good amount of rich fertilizer that can then be used to add nutrients to the crops.

A specially designed biodegradable bag (which collect the waste) made from bio-plastic includes some chemicals that speeds the decomposition of the human waste. About two weeks later the one bag gets filled with some good amount of rich fertilizer that can then be used to add nutrients to the crops.

[YankoDesign]

When we think about greening “print,” we often think about books or marketing communications like direct mail. But what about the world of packaging? Because packaging provides the additional functions of shipment and product protection as well as marketing, it brings a host of unique issues far beyond other types of printed materials.

Plus, it’s on the verge of being regulated.

Multichannel Merchant recently noted that regulations such as PAS 2050 (developed in the U.K.) limit, among other things, the impact of packaging on carbon emissions throughout the product lifecycle. The World Resources Institute is now reviewing how to leverage PAS 2050 for the U.S.

This matters so much because “green” packaging is more than about using recycled or earth-friendly materials in the packaging itself. It’s about the entire packaging lifecycle, including distribution and disposal.

For example, have you thought about what happens when packaging doesn’t properly protect the product?

Read more of this story »

With State of Ohio funding, researchers at Case Western Reserve University will help businesses in Northeast Ohio build and bring to market better lithium ion batteries and solid oxide fuel cell systems.

In late December, Governor Ted Strickland and other officials approved a total of $19.2 million in Ohio Third Frontier grants for 19 projects.

Case Western Reserve scientists, who are members of the Great Lakes Energy Institute based at the university, are involved in two projects.

Daniel A. Scherson, the Charles F. Mabery Professor of Research in chemistry at Case Western Reserve, will work with Novolyte Technologies, Inc., located in Independence, to develop new electrolytes that reduce or eliminate the flammability of lithium-ion batteries and improve the power output, enabling larger batteries that can be used in motor vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries, which are powerful and light compared to traditional batteries, are currently used in cell phones and laptop computers.

The project was granted $1.12 million from the state. Scherson, whose lab will receive about half the funding, and Martin Payne, Novolyte’s global technology manager, are developing tools to rapidly evaluate which combinations of chemicals perform best and safest, test the mixes and get the new technologies to battery-makers.

Professors Arthur Heuer and Mark DeGuire in the Case School of Engineering are working with Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems, located in North Canton, to determine the long-term reliability of a 1 MW solid oxide fuel cell system connected to the grid for distributed power generation applications. The project was awarded $999,770.

Heuer, DeGuire, and Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems’ engineers will analyze the structural, mechanical, and electrochemical characteristics of the complex ceramic system, as well as the manufacturing process for the system. Their work will advance the robustness of solid oxide fuel cells. The researchers will develop a model to predict system reliability, enabling Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems to move the system to market.

For more information contact Kevin Mayhood, 216.368.4442.

via Climate Progress

For the companies behind more than 180 greentech equipment factories around the country, today brings a couple billion reasons to celebrate: The Obama administration has just announced $2.3 billion in tax credits worth up to 30 percent of the costs for 183 manufacturing projects in 43 states. But several hundred other applicants didn’t win credits […]