Napa, California-based Hall Wines has paid for and installed an ECOTality electric vehicle charging station. “We are pleased to be working with an organization that is as passionate and supportive of the environment, as ECOTality,” said Jonathan Read, CEO of ECOTality, Inc. “In addition to enriching the successful execution and continued maintenance of rich electric vehicle charging infrastructures in California, …
Green Jet Fuel Powers Transatlantic Biofuel Flight
Over the weekend, a transatlantic flight, flying with biofuels, landed at the Paris-Le Bourget Airport. The plane was fueled with Honeywell’s Green Jet Fuel. The Honeywell-operated Gulfstream G450, powered by a Rolls-Royce engine, is the first flight from North America to Europe using the 50/50 biofuel blend derived from camelina grown and harvested by Sustainable Oils. The flight departed at …
New Energy & Commodities Investment Team Formed
Cary Street Partners has formed a new Energy & Commodities Investment banking team focused on energy and its related sectors including traditional and alternative energy as well as agriculture services. Joining the new group is Craig Shealy who was formerly the founder of Osage Bio Energy, currently up for sale. Shealy will serve as managing director and group head. “We …
Modular Ethanol Production System Wins FiRe Award
The Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference was held last week and during the event, 11 companies were honored for their “world-changing” technologies. Scientists from around the world submitted more than 1,000 technologies for review and one of the winners was waste-to-energy company Easy Energy Systems (EES). The company’s technology is the Modular Ethanol Production System (MEPS) that turns any …
Amyris Expands Into Asia, Forms Novvi S.A.
Amyris is on the move the week announcing today that the company is expanding into Asia via a collaboration with Wilmer International Limited. The partnership will focus on the development and worldwide commercialization of a family of surfactants derived from Amyris Biofene for use in a multitude of products including personal care and consumer packaged goods. Biofene will be designed …
Book Review – The H Factor
Reading books about the renewable energy industry shouldn’t be all about education. That’s why this week I took a “mini” vacation and read the novel “The H Factor,” by L.E. Indianer. This fast pace story closely follows the triumph of two college students attending Georgia Tech University who using hydrogen, create the energy silver bullet. But basking in their invention …
Friends of the Earth Launches ‘No Sense’ Campaign
Our ethanol FOE, Friends of the Earth, is back in action with a new TV campaign, “No Sense,” designed to encourage policymakers in DC to dump ethanol subsidies. The campaign was launched just in time for the first Republican presidential debate set to take place in New Hampshire next Monday at St. Anselm College. The campaign is a joint effort …
Ecotech Institute Holds Open House for Solar Day
It’s global renewable energy week. Today is Global Wind Day and Saturday is world SolarDay, at least for those in North America. To celebrate, the Ecotech Institute, the first and only college whose sole focus in preparing Americans to work in green jobs, is hosting an open house on June 18. Since the school installed a solar energy system in …
Biofuels Benchmarking Annual Report Released
Christianson & Associates, a CPA and consulting firm for the ethanol, biodiesel and renewable energy industry, today released its 2nd Annual Biofuels Benchmarking Report. The report found several key findings: profitably increased for the industry on average 8 cents; equity to asset ratio increased more than 10 percent; and working capital improvements enabled plants to decrease long-term debt by an …
More Ethanol Dialogue Needed
The ethanol industry is anxious to continue talks about the future of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and how best to balance the budget while still ensuring the ethanol industry can move forward. Yet while many believe the Senate’s defeat of Sen. Coburn’s ethanol amendment opens the door for dialogue, others believe today’s action does little to move …