Developing biofuels continues to be a bright spot in the cleantech world. Two startups, plant genetic engineering company Chromatin and biofuel producer ZeaChem, announced separately on Tuesday that they have raised new rounds of funding. Read More »
Cleantech
Despite the lack of results, next-gen biofuel companies continue to receive a significant amount of both government and VC support. At what point will the funding transform into advanced biofuels being produced at scale? Read More »
A startup that’s using a microbe found in termite guts and soil to breakdown trees and plants into next-generation ethanol, has broken ground on its first demonstration plant. The company is eight-year-old Menlo Park, Calif.-based ZeaChem, and on Wednesday afternoon the team held the official ground-breaking… Read More »
Selling the Smart Grid to Average Joe: Smart grid analyst Jesse Berst examines how the Electrification Roadmap released this week by a coalition of heavyweight CEOs could be an inflection point for the smart grid. “Electric transportation is something the public wants; it will take a… Read More »
While there is funding available for U.S. cellulosic ethanol companies in the form of grants or loan guarantees from the departments of both Energy and Agriculture, these days, it doesn’t come close to matching demand. And without help from the federal government, some projects may never… Read More »
With many of the next-generation ethanol makers being forced to drag their heels on plant construction during the downturn, it’s becoming rare to hear about progress on cellulosic ethanol plants. But here’s a small step for a small demo plant: Next-gen ethanol maker ZeaChem… Read More »
In an inauspicious building on a strip of offices in Menlo Park, Calif., I recently met with the team behind ZeaChem, a 25-person startup that’s using a common microbe found in termite guts and regular soil to breakdown trees and plants into the next-generation of… Read More »
A massive cauldron of bubbling construction debris doesn’t seem that valuable, but a group of investors that are backing waste-to-power startup Ze-gen certainly think it could be. This morning, Ze-gen said it has raised $20 million in a Series B financing from Middle Eastern… Read More »
Cellulosic ethanol startup ZeaChem is one of the firms that has been racing to build a next-generation biofuel plant in the United States. On Wednesday, the company announced that it has raised a sizable round of funding — $34 million — to help implement… Read More »
There are almost a dozen companies racing to build the first next-generation cellulosic ethanol plants in the United States over the next few years. The plants will be built all over the U.S. and will churn out biofuels made from waste, plant byproducts and woody energy… Read More »
