5. The “Death of Ethanol” - and Birth of Algae
This year saw the collapse of the US corn based ethanol industry. The approximately $32 Billion industry was battered by studies that questioned their “green credentials.” US subsidies will ensure that corn based ethanol doesn’t disappear but clearly the industry faces significant challenges.
In contrast this year saw increasing progress with algae biofuels. Companies such as: GreenFuel Technologies; Solazyme; Blue Marble Energy; Inventure Chemical; Solena; Live Fuels; Solix Biofuels; Aurora Biofuels; Aquaflow; Petro Sun; Bodega Algae; and Seambiotic were all making progress in advancing their technologies.
6. Solar as Baseload: Once Again, California Takes the Lead
California signed a solar thermal contract with Southern California Edison for the purchase of power from the 105-megawatt Gaskell Sun Tower project in Kern County, located in the southern part of the Central Valley.
The Gaskell project will be the second-largest solar thermal plant, after Florida Power & Light’s 310-megawatt Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert. Scheduled to come on line in 2012, the plant has the option of expanding to 245 megawatts.
The plant is being developed by eSolar Inc., Idealab, and Google.org. Southern California Edison is the closest to meeting California’s 2010 target of 20% renewables with contracts signed through 2012 for about 17%.
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December 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Thank you for this post. Renewable energy is a term used to describe energy that is derived from resources, like the sun and the wind resources that are continually available to some degree or other all over the world. We never run out of them. And their use or capture does not inflict any material damage on the environment, but it seems it is affecting on the environment either direct or indirectly. We are the group working on Global Warming and Green World and spreading the benefits of this to many of them with the help of Internet and many sites… Recently i liked JustMeans.com, nice platform to share and debate on Green and Corporate Social Responsibility. Justmeans is where individuals can talk to organizations about their social and environmental initiatives and stay updated on CSR news and jobs. Please do spread the word and save the world.