energy.agwired.com

Science is giving the desert regions of the world the chance to get in on the biodiesel boom. Oil-producing algae could hold more promise than conventional Midwestern crops now primarily used to make the green fuel.

This story in the El Paso (TX) Times says a company called Valcent Products has unveiled to the media its system of 10-foot-long water-filled plastic bags set up like a greenhouse in the West Texas desert that grows the oil-producing algae:

“We expect to produce 100,000 gallons (of vegetable oil) per acre per year,” which is a much higher yield than soybeans and other plants being used for biofuel, (president and CEO of Valcent Products Glenn) Kertz said Wednesday. He was showing off his patented Vertigro algae-growing system to news media, El Paso city officials and others at his company’s 6.2-acre research facility in the Upper Valley.

The article goes on to say the closed-loop system is the key to its success, keeping out foreign particles and maximizing the algae’s growth. Construction of a test algae biodiesel plant will begin later this year.

As naysayers try to bash the promise of biofuels, a man in Washington state is doing his part to spread the word through his brotherhood of biodiesel.

This story in the Othello (WA) Outlook says Bill Riley, the director of Big Bend Economic Development Council, has been making his own biodiesel for several years. He’s taking the approach that every little bit helps:

“It isn’t rocket science,” he said, referring to making biodiesel fuel at home. “It’s easily done.”

“You can make a processor for a couple hundred bucks — all the guys I’ve met who make their own processors have all used different methods,” he said. “And some guys are making biodiesel fuel for less than a buck a gallon.

Riley admits that making biodiesel is a bit addictive. But he adds the real addictive part is spreading the Gospel of biodiesel to more members of the biodiesel brotherhood.

Midwest farmers and truckers, as well as environmental enthusiasts, have long admired the green benefits of biodiesel… green because of how clean it is and green because of the money it saves its users. Biodiesel gets 30 percent better mileage than gasoline (although, I realize the engines are different, and you can’t make a direct comparison between the two).

This story on CNNMoney.com says now biodiesel could be making some green for those suits at the New York trading firms:

These days biodiesel isn’t just good for the environment – it’s good for the bottom line. The U.S. market for the combustible stuff has more than doubled every year since 2004 and will hit $1 billion this year. The number of retail pumps nationwide has grown from 350 in 2005 to more than 1,000 today. A couple of biodiesel IPOs are in the offing – and opportunities abound. “Biodiesel is the rock star of fuels,” says Will Thurmond, author of Biodiesel 2020: A Global Market Survey. “It has moved from Woodstock to Wall Street.”

The article goes on to say how the biggest player is Renewable Energy Group, a biodiesel plant builder and producer from this author’s home area. Accounting for more than a quarter of the total American biodiesel production, REG is poised to increase its total capacity to 340 million gallons a year by the end of next year… thankls in part to its relationship with soybean growers. And it’s also ready to make a hit on Wall Street:

REG should be the first biodiesel company to hit Wall Street, having filed for an IPO in July. But REG won’t be the last: Also mulling a stock offering is Seattle-based Imperium Renewables, founded three years ago by former commercial-jet pilot John Plaza. Imperium operates the largest U.S. biodiesel plant and plans to cut a production deal with Washington’s canola farmers.