biofuels — GigaOM

biofuels

Feds Promise $571 Million in Biofuel Loan Guarantees

Biofuel production nationwide has been woefully behind schedule as would-be producers struggle to just get their first commercial plants rolling. The U.S. government wants to help and on Thursday announced loan guarantee commitments totaling $571 million for Coskata, Enerkem, and a JV from Valero. Read More »

Gevo Lowers IPO Target to $100M

Biofuel startup Gevo has lowered its upcoming IPO to $13 to $15 per share. That’s about $100 million, or $89 million after fees, less than the $150 million it targeted in August, but close to what analysts have predicted. Read More »

 
 

Grab your biofuel startups fast, Lux Research says — the field of contenders with game-changing technologies for turning non-food feedstocks into useful hydrocarbons is getting sparser by the minute. The report sees Big Oil and consumer products conglomerates quickly winnowing the field of the best technologies. Read More »

Report: Range Fuels to Shut Down Plant

More bad news about cellulosic biofuel maker Range Fuels. The financially-strapped company reportedly plans to shut down its plant in Georgia after making just one batch of ethanol. It needs to more raise more money and tackle technical problems at its first commercial plant. Read More »

Investors loved the wind energy sector, and they showed it by blowing the most investment dollars that way in 2010. They also were most busy with energy efficiency deals, the number of which surpassed other cleantech categories last year, according to a U.S. market report by … Read More »

Oil to the Rescue: Valero Backs Mascoma

For next-generation biofuels to make any type of dent in the fossil fuel industry, oil companies will have to get on board, and here comes one to the rescue for the struggling cellulosic ethanol sector. Oil giant Valero is backing cellulosic ethanol startup Mascoma. Read More »

Here’s the bad news from next-gen biofuel producer Range Fuels: The company has let some workers go. But the good news the company wants you to know is that Range Fuels is still planning to produce enough cellulosic ethanol to meet a government estimate for 2011. Read More »

A Requirement for Greentech: The Big Get Bigger

The bigger the better for the greentech sector. Is 2011 the year of the Godzilla greentech company? On this news-laden Monday, there’s some particularly interesting evidence of the market advantages of being a massive company today selling into the energy, fuel and chemical markets. Read More »

It’s a good place for the banned caffeinated malt liquor to die. 4Loko is being recycled into ethanol by recycling company MXI Environmental Services and others. While the next-generation of biofuels won’t come from 4Loko, they will partly come from waste. Read More »

Yep, those USDA loan guarantees are still out there. INEOS Bio and its joint venture partner, New Planet Energy, announced this morning that they have received a $75 million conditional loan guarantee commitment from the USDA program. Read More »

Biofuels took a step away from the limelight in 2010, replaced by the buzz surrounding electric vehicles. But there were still a variety of policy decisions, and economic milestones that made the sector interesting in 2010. Here’s the year in review for biofuels. Read More »

Why Are Biofuel Stations Still A Hippie Niche?

Biofuel station owners tell us their businesses are going well, but clearly they’re still a niche market. Why are biofuel stations still a hippie niche? Read More »

More Must Reads

Biofuel and biochemical startup LS9, which is using a genetically modified version of e.coli bacteria to make diesel, has closed a round of $30 million led by the investors at BlackRock, and also including the company’s existing investors Khosla Ventures, Flagship Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures. Read More »

Cello Energy, the beleaguered infamous biofuel company that’s been hit with fraud allegations, has finally dropped off of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of potential cellulosic ethanol suppliers for 2011. I seriously can’t believe the company was on the list for so long. Read More »

Ethanol is pretty easy to make from pure sugar. It’s getting the sugar — either from corn and sugarcane, or hard-to-digest cellulosic materials — that’s the challenging part. That’s where Proterro, a startup that has engineered a microbe that can turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into … Read More »

Next-gen biofuel firm Amyris reported its first earnings results as a public company late Thursday, and the results were as expected: given the company isn’t yet in commercial production its revenues are flat and it’s still losing money. Read More »

It’ll be a long road for algae biofuel producers to make any significant dent in the world’s overall fuel supply. How long? Consider this: By 2020, the algae biofuel industry is likely to produce only 61 million gallons per year globally, Pike Research said Wednesday. Read More »

The government has always played a big role by subsidizing our transportation fuels it make them cheap. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday said it’ll continue the tradition by helping out farmers and landowners to grow and ship energy crops. Read More »

Two and a half years ago we put together this cheat sheet on 15 algae fuel startups you need to know. But boy have things changed since then. Here’s our updated 2010 version of our original 15 algae fuel startups bringing pond scum to fuel tanks. Read More »

Algae fuel is likely decades from powering our vehicles, which is one of the reasons that federal lawmakers already are focusing on tax breaks for companies in the field. Yesterday the House passed a bill that gives $1.01 per gallon tax credit to algae fuel producers. Read More »

Amyris, which started trading on the NASDAQ today, has racked up millions of dollars from investors since its founding in 2003, including Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, and French oil giant Total. For some of those backers who took a chance early on, it’s a decent exit. Read More »

How’s next-gen biofuel maker Amyris faring on its first day of trading? Not bad. Not rocking, but pretty steady. The company started trading at $16.50, traded as high as $17.40 by mid-morning, but dropped back down around $16.50 by the late afternoon. Read More »

Amyris has priced shares for its IPO at $16, below its previously anticipated range or $18 to $20. At least 5.3 million of Amyris’ shares will start trading later today under the symbol AMRS. The IPO has raised $84.8 million. Read More »

Next-gen biofuel producer Amyris plans to officially price its shares for its IPO before the end of the day and hopes to start trading tomorrow on the NASDAQ. Read More »

Seaweed: great for sushi, skin care and … powering cars? Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) thinks so, and it announced Wednesday that it has lined up a Norwegian oil heavy weight, Statoil, to help it bring its technology to market. Read More »

Joule Unlimited, a startup that promises to genetically engineer an organism that eats CO2 and produces a drop-in diesel fuel, has landed a patent on its “recombinant biosynthesis” technology. Read More »

One of the possible greentech IPOs on the horizon is looking a bit bullish. This week next-gen biofuel producer Amyris amended its S-1 saying it plans to raise up to $122 million in an IPO, up slightly from its previously planned max offering of $100 million. Read More »

The “Kochtopus,” the network of Koch’s shadowy investments, has a new, unusually green tentacle. On Tuesday morning SG Biofuels, a firm that genetically optimizes jatropha seeds for the production of biofuels, says it’s become Koch Industries first biofuel invesment, through Koch’s subsidiary Flint Hill Resources. Read More »

Aurora Biofuels announced Monday that it has changed its name to Aurora Algae, in hopes of finding commercial markets today in turning algae into nutrients and protein products. It’s not exactly a vote of confidence for the idea of turning algae into biofuel. Read More »

Global agriculture and food gorilla Cargill made $2.6 billion in profit in 2010 — the century-old company doesn’t need biofuels for its bottom line. However, Cargill is one of the larger producers of ethanol and biodiesel in the U.S. and has been investing into next-gen biofuel … Read More »

The well-funded Range Fuels said it has begun producing cellulosic methanol from its first commercial factory and plans to begin making cellulosic ethanol sometime this quarter. Read More »

Next-gen biofuel developer Gevo inspired chatter in the greentech world last week when it filed its S-1, planning to raise up to $150 million in an IPO. But a Lux research analyst thinks Gevo will likely raise closer to between $80 million and $100 million. Read More »

Biofuel startup Gevo, which is backed by Khosla Ventures and Virgin Green Fund, filed to raise up to $150 million in an IPO late yesterday. Here’s what you need to know about Gevo’s financials, its commercialization plan, its partnerships and its backers. Read More »

Yet another biofuel startup has filed for an IPO this week, and this time its backers are Silicon Valley heavyweights. On the heels of PetroAlgae filing its S-1, Gevo, which is backed by Khosla and Virgin Fund, plans to raise up to $150 million in an … Read More »

Greentech has become a big subject in corporate conference rooms over the past year. Large companies have been among the top investors so far this year, and the latest example came from Samsung Electronics. Read More »

If a very weak IPO attempt from algae company PetroAlgae doesn’t muddy the waters for greentech IPOs, I don’t know what will. PetroAlgae, a company that makes technology for the production of algae, filed an S-1 to raise up to $200 million in an IPO. Read More »

Investors are still pumping money into algae fuel, despite the lack of commercial availability of the green gas. This morning seven-year-old Solazyme announced that it has raised $52 million in a Series D financing from investors including Chevron Technology Ventures. Read More »

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