The long-promised but perpetually fledging biofuel industry still remains a big focus of government support. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that it has made a conditional commitment for a $232.5 million loan guarantee to biofuel maker ZeaChem. Read More »
Cleantech
Do recent struggles dominating the news represent the beginning of the end for green technology? Nah, it looks like business as usual for Silicon Valley. Only one in ten start-ups ever make it, VCs like to say, and failure makes you stronger. Read More »
Despite a series of successful biofuel IPOs recently, and a number of biofuel IPOs in the pipeline, the production of next-gen biofuels, in any kind of volumes that would make a dent in the transportation sector, seems to be creeping, very slowly forward. Read More »
The CEO of biocatalyst company Codexis — Alan Shaw — has a message for the U.S. government and more specifically the Department of Energy: Don’t act like a venture capitalist. Shaw thinks the best endorsement is if a real company has endorsed a technology. Read More »
Over three years ago I put together this table on 10 of Khosla Venture’s biofuel bets. Given a couple of these companies have gone public, been sold off, or stalled, I decided to look back at these firms with this updated cheat sheet. Read More »
Trash-to-fuel technology could be the quiet front-runner in the next-generation of biofuels. Fulcrum BioEnergy said Tuesday it has lined up $75 million and plans to start building its first commercial refinery using municipal trash this summer. Read More »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
As Synthetic Genomics founder and geneticist guru Craig Venter said recently, if biofuel companies don’t generate billions of gallons of fuel then they’re just playing and wasting investors money (he said that specifically about algae fuel). And so the race continues for next-gen biofuel players … Read More »
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