Officials in St. Paul, Minnesota believe a pilot project to grow algae at the city’s wastewater plant will clean the water before it’s pumped back into the Mississippi River and provide biomass for biofuels.
Biomass Magazine reports the process will also take nitrogen and phosphorus out of the water that can be used to make fertilizer:
A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota partnered with the Metropolitan Council for the project, using centrate—liquid waste separated from the solids—to grow several species of algae that can thrive in wastewater. The project started in 2006 on a much smaller scale, using wastewater in labs, and recently moved to Met Council’s treatment plant.
“It’s an opportunity to grow algae on a larger scale in colder climates,” said Todd Reubold, director of communications for the Institute on the Environment. “Rather than flushing all these nutrients, we’re recycling them.”
Heavy research and experimenting went into choosing the strains, and the discovery that centrate is the optimal element. “After screening all kinds of algae, we found types that can grow in concentrated wastewater without any additional nutrients,” said Roger Ruan, professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering at the university, and director of the Center for Biorefining.
Using a wastewater plant to grow the algae saves a significant amount in capital and energy, said Rod Larkins, associate director of IREE. “You have to fertilize algae, but in our case, the fertilizer is already there,” he said. “You save significant money by not having to add nutrients to the algae.” The necessary high volume of water and heat are available, also.
The project will use an enclosed photobioreactor that allows the algae to grow in a smaller area. Officials believe they could produce daily 1,000 to 4,000 gallons of oil to turn into biodiesel.
Lincoln said she introduced legislation to do the following:
Pacific Ethanol, Inc
Valero
In addition to the Valero investment, the company recently received $2 million in U.S. government appropriations towards a pilot plant it plans to open this summer in Springfield, Mass. This is one of several grants they have received from the U.S. Department of Energy. The company has also received funding from Venrock, Battery Ventures, BP, and Soros Fund Management.
Looking to take an eco-friendly vacation? Well, your resort options just got bigger with the announcement that 
The original public comment period was to end on May 21 and will now end on July 20. 
The Renewable Fuel Standard Improvement Act (H.R. 2409) was introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) along with a bipartisan group of 42 other members of Congress.
Lucas says the most important provision in the bill is the expansion of the acreage eligible to produce biomass feedstock. “This will ease pressure on the current corn production system and it will open the way for more rapid development of next generation ethanol,” he added.
California utility PG&E and BrightSource Energy have signed a deal that will expand the two companies’ solar power agreement.
Those are impressive numbers, but not an electron of electricity has been produced yet. BrightSource now faces the challenge of licensing, financing billions of dollars in construction costs and then building nearly a dozen large-scale solar power plants to meet a 2016 deadline for the Southern California Edison (EIX) contract and a 2017 completion date for PG&E (PCG). (The big wild card is whether transmission lines will be available to connect the power plants to the grid.) The first PG&E project is set to go online in 2012 with the first SoCal Edison solar farm to begin generating electricity the next year. Those first two power plants are part of a 400-megawatt complex BrightSource is planning for the Ivanpah Valley on the California-Nevada border.