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 »
One of the difficulties with investing in cleantech startups is that investors sometimes need to take very long term views of the companies they back, despite that companies can be risky. Next-gen biofuel company KiOR is a prime example of this long term, high risk phenomenon. The reality is that the liquidity of KiOR’s IPO could be locked up for a long time, potentially many years down the road, until — and if — the company scales up and meets expectations. This research note examines KiOR’s place in the market and what it means for other early-stage companies when it comes to investment. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Amyris, BIOeCON and Range Fuels and Solazyme. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
Apple’s $1 billion data center in North Carolina made headlines when the project was revealed in May 2009. New reports indicate that the facility is set to open “any day now,” according to local officials, and could possibly double its current 500,000 square foot size. 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 struggling […] Read more »
When Energy Secretary Steven Chu fast-tracked the long-stalled $25 billion dollars in loans and loan guarantees, created as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and appropriated by Congress in 2006, it was a breath of fresh air for the clean power and green transportation […] Read more »
Despite the crumbling of the first generation of biofuel projects (corn-based ethanol), the U.S. government is in full support of the next generation of biofuels, particularly cellulosic ethanol and algae fuel. This morning Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced more […] Read more »
Friday is here, time to take a step back from the hurried happenings in Mobile Tech Manor and look back at the week. Some gear went back where it came from and other gear arrived for play evaluation. I experimented with alternative e-book readers to get […] Read more »
Waiting for the cellulosic ethanol industry to move into commercial production is like watching grass grow. This morning cellulosic ethanol developer Coskata unveiled that it’s demonstration plant in Madison, Penn., is now up and running and ready to produce 50,000 gallons of the biofuel per year. […] Read more »
The Urban Dictionary, the user-generated slang web site, recently had a word of the day which I thought was particularly fitting for cleantech companies and entrepreneurs: the chronoptimist, someone who constantly underestimates the time it takes to complete a task (chronologically optimistic.) While entrepreneurs everywhere are […] Read more »
Imagine you’re watching a movie via Internet-based VOD, one of those flicks you choose purely for the action scenes. Problem is, the dialogue is horrendous. What do you do? Skip ahead, of course. Such skipping can be a major technical challenge, however, especially if your VOD […] Read more »
