Biomass

By Ed Hamrick Municipal solid waste in Berlin. Photo by S. Müller via Wikimedia Commons Remember the one about the two guys in the woods who are seen by a hungry bear? They start running from the bear, and one guy says to the other guy “Why are we running? Everyone knows you can’t outrun a bear”. The other guy says “I don’t need to outrun the bear, I only need to outrun you”. Any company can find a market for their ethanol if they can make...

Reclamation Consulting and Applications Inc (RCAA) announced the signing of a Letter of Intent between Topia Energy Production Ltd. and RCAI to create a new company called Topia Global Energy. This Joint Venture company, to be owned 50/50 by Topia Energy Production Ltd. and RCAI, will focus on the production and distribution of BioDiesel worldwide.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) has announced plans to build a 50 million gallon Biodiesel production facility in North Dakota. This will be ADM's first wholly-owned venture into biodiesel in the US. Currently the US consumes about 30 million gallons of Biodiesel a year. This is a significant investment by ADM in the US marketplace. "ADM is a world leader in renewable fuels," stated Mike Livergood, ADM Vice President-Global Oleo Chemicals. "Leveraging the success of ADM's experience in the biodiesel market in Europe and ADM's success in the ethanol market in the U.S., we are pleased to bring biodiesel,...

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) announces the company's flagship Methane anaerobic digester located at the 4000 head Whitesides Dairy near Rupert Idaho has achieved a fully automated operational status. The anaerobic digester, which processes animal and industrial waste products, produces substantial quantities of Methane gas as a by-product. Methane is the primary combustible component in normal household and commercial natural gas. ITR intends initially, to sell the excess gas to a pipeline carrier. However ITR will, in 2005, power an alternate fuel vehicle with this gas making ITR one of the few companies ever to take...

Environmental Power Corp (POWR) announced today that it had signed an agreement with De Snayer Dairy of Lodi, California, for the on-farm location of an animal feed production system based on Microgy's anaerobic digester technology. Microgy expects to own and operate the proposed facility that will utilize manure from De Snayer's dairy operations to generate biogas for the operation of equipment developed to process feed ingredients, utilizing a process that is being pioneered by The Scoular Company.

Reclamation Consulting and Applications Inc (RCAA) announced that it has signed a new Exclusive Distributorship Agreement with Topia Energy, Inc. for the sale and distribution of biodiesel. Ottawa-based Topia Energy, Inc. is Canada's largest commercial producer and supplier of biodiesel fuel oils with production capabilities throughout North America. Biodiesel is the only fuel to be classified as entirely non-toxic; it biodegrades faster than sugar, is ten times less toxic than table salt and produces exhaust that some say smell like popcorn or French fries.

Thermoenergy Corp. (TMEN.OB) announced the start of a $310,000 federally funded project to develop compact zero air emission power plants for medium to heavy industry. Commonly referred to as Combined Heat & Power (CHP) plants, these systems would allow main-stream industries to switch from natural gas to lower priced alternative fuels to supply their energy needs. Switching fuel sources could allow many companies to save hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs, reduce air pollution, keep their US based plants operating, and lessen dependence on imported energy resources.

"Experts generally agree that our current reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable. Already oil is near $50 per barrel, and the great millions of Chinese and Indians destined to take to the road in the next decades have not yet gotten behind the wheel." This week Newsweek has written several special reports about alternative energy in all its forms. All of these reports can be found at the following link.

Renewable energy like wind and solar power and hydrogen fuel cells could blossom into a $100 billion a year global market in less than a decade as technology costs fall, according to a study. The combined market for "green" sources of energy has already grown 68 percent since 2002 to more than $16 billion last year, according to Clean Edge, a research and publishing firm based in California. You can view and download the complete Clean-Energy Trends report at the following link.

Green Energy Resources, Inc. (GRGR) announced plans for expansion. The company plans to sell upwards of 50 million tons of wood biomass to the utility industry for cofiring. Cofiring is an environmentally friendly application of mixing wood biomass with coal to reduce harmful green house gases. Coal powered generation accounts for 51 % of American electric power. The potential market is in excess of 250 million tons annually and valued over $12 billion dollars. The Federal EPA Air rules effective last month,favor cofiring as the most viable and cost effective option for the utility industry. The company plans to...

Nathaniel Energy Corporation (NECX) entered into an amendment to its agreement for the waste- to-energy power plant project in Cologna Veneta, Italy, resolving the contract issues announced on November 2, 2004. Under the amended contract, the Company received $300,000 at the time of signing, and will receive $750,000 upon the completion of final testing of the first Thermal Combustor(TM), and will receive $1,050,000 upon the completion of final testing of the second Thermal Combustor(TM). Nathaniel Energy will also receive $275,000 for reimbursement of shipping and handling costs upon the completion of final testing of the second Thermal Combustor(TM)....

DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp. (DYMTF) announced today that the Company and Mitsubishi Canada Ltd., have entered into a wide-ranging Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") which expresses their mutual intentions to develop definitive agreements for marketing and distribution of DynaMotive's patented technology in Canada and internationally. Clean Break has more to say about this agreement as well. This is the second MOU announcement they have made in the last month and it looks like something is happening here. This stock has been moving strong this last month and it has piqued my interest. I will have to...

Tom Konrad CFA Dumpster diving for high yielding gems. An earlier version of this article was written at the end of July and published on my Forbes blog, before the August market implosion. I've updated it here to reflect the new stock prices and some recent company news. Renewable energy has many advantages over fossil energy.  One of the most important is that it's renewable.  As supplies of Oil and other fossil fuels are used up, they become harder and more expensive to extract, while renewable energy is generally getting cheaper over time,...

Twenty-five proposed renewable energy projects featuring hydroelectric, biomass, wind, solar and biofuel technologies have been selected to receive more than $22 million from the Xcel Energy (XEL) Renewable Development Fund. More than 200 renewable energy project proposals were considered, three times the number submitted in the program's first funding cycle in 2001.

David Appleyard   IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, has published a study on the costs of biomass power generation, concluding that the most competitive projects can generate electricity at a cost as low as US$0.06/kWh. Bio Power Plant With Storage Of Wooden Fuel photo via BigStock Around the world, large quantities of agricultural and forestry wastes go underutilised and the agency argues that using these wastes as a feedstock to provide power and heat can cost less than electricity from the...