Ethanol

Biofuel maker ZeaChem lines up $232M loan award from USDA

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.

LanzaTech raises $56M, targets Asia with biofuel tech

Asia, with its rapidly growing number of car owners and large pollution problems, could very well be the biggest market for biofuels and green chemicals one day. LanzaTech, which announced Monday it has raised $55.8 million, is certainly finding more willing customers and partners Asia.

Quarterly Wrap-up

Green IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out — and Bracing for Hard Times

Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year, or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions. The erratic nature of the first quarter’s data is reflected in a big rise in venture capital investment — and a big drop-off in global energy financing.

A New Path For Waste Management: Trash-to-Chemicals

We already know of companies that want to turn garbage into transportation fuels. Now comes Genomatica, which announced Wednesday a technology development agreement with Waste Management to turn trash into chemical additives for markets beyond fuel.

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.

4Loko Recycled Into Ethanol, Seriously

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.

Seaweed-Powered Cars Coming Your Way?

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.

Propel to Build 75 Biofuel Stations in Cali

Propel Fuels, a startup trying to create a brand around alternative fuels, held a grand opening at a biofuel station in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday and announced a plan to add 75 new stations in California by the end of 2011.

What Shell’s Brazilian Biofuel Megadeal Means for Codexis

Dutch oil giant Shell and Brazilian ethanol giant Cosan sealed the deal Wednesday on a $12 billion joint venture to turn sugarcane into pump-ready fuel. How will the massive partnership affect Codexis, Shell’s biocatalyst partner and recent entrant to the public markets?

Video Interview: Why Hardware Support for WebM Matters

MIPS is one of more than a dozen hardware companies that was mentioned during Google’s announcement of its open source WebM video project. MIPS Director of Strategic Marketing Kevin Kitagawa told us why his company is supporting WebM and its open source video codec VP8.

Daily Sprout

Constant Feedback for Better Driving: If you had a gadget in your car that was monitoring your behavior, would it change the…

Daily Sprout

Quest for Corn-Free Gas: Some SUV and boat owners in Florida are more than willing to drive out of their way to…

Daily Sprout

Footing the Climate Bill: How much will an average household’s electricity bills go up if the government enacts the proposed climate and…

Lost Remote Ends Life As We Knew It

Lost Remote, the prolific future-of-television group blog which originated the space that NewTeeVee lives in, has effectively shut down, with founder Cory…

Daily Sprout

Tesla Model S Test Drive: The first person outside of the company to drive Tesla’s Model S concept car says the vehicle…

Daily Sprout

Why Little Guys Threaten the Big Three: Technology levels the playing field for a latecomer to the auto industry, China’s BYD, to…

Daily Sprout

Gas on the Cheap: Retailers in Missouri have slashed fuel prices by selling gas without ethanol, the grain-based alcohol that many states…

Ethanol Inc. Isn't Going to Take it Anymore!

Growth Energy, a new trade organization for corn ethanol companies, is lashing out against critics of corn ethanol by buying ad space in the New York Times and issuing “policy briefs” (bulky pdf files peppered with Excel graphs).

Ethanol vs. Indiana Jones?

We’re knee-deep in the summer movie season, but your blockbusters could cost you a bit more this year. Nikki Finke over at…

NAB Roundup Day 1

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is holding its big trade show in Vegas this week, and I’m not sure there’s enough…

Five Fixes for Apple’s iTunes Video Woes

[qi:_newteevee] While Apple (AAPL) makes competitors tremble in music, its video offerings and achievements get less imposing by the day. People want…

Google Says Free 411 Seeds Video Search

Now this is thought-provoking. Google’s Marissa Mayer said explicitly Wednesday at the Searchnomics conference that Google’s voice-activated mobile search tool, 1-800-GOOG-411, is…

Reader Tip: Easily Relaunch Quicksilver

Regular reader/commenter/fellow Quicksilver guru Jono emailed this great tip for Quicksilver. If you’re a regular user of Quicksilver – especially with the…

Lala's Big Gamble

Lala, an enabler of CD swapping and provider of Internet radio, is announcing tonight it will soon be offering a large catalog…

This is What I’ve Been Afraid of

While the iPhone will undoubtedly change my life in untold ways (note sarcasm), I already have a smart phone and the NEED…

Craig Out, Paul In

Paul Otellini is going to replace Craig Barrett as Intel’s CEO and Barrett in turn would replace Andy Grove as the chairman…

Nick Denton’s UK Clone?

Nick Denton is aspiring a few others. This trend is called fast-following! Anyway I think Azeem is off to a good start…

Carnival of Capitalists

Adam Smith would be proud. The latest edition of CoC is up, and they have included my “New Road to Riches” in…

IPod Economy Again!

Last issue of Business 2.0 had a nice long story on the IPod economy. Now BusinessWeek, which is a different magazine has…

Deloitte’s VoIP Survey

Deloitte has conducted a survey of 131 businesses from the Global 2000 companies and got their views on VoIP. The key findings…

Powerline Broadband comes to NYC

Crain’s New York Business is reporting that EarthLink will soon start selling its service over Con Ed’s power lines in Manhattan in…

A new chip star in the making

MercuryNews.com has a longish piece on Infinera, an optical chip start-up that has developed a break through product that will lower the…

Sprint may try Flarion

First is said no way, today it says maybe. Sprint is going to test and experiment with Flarion’s 4g wireless technology, according…