Alternative Fuel Update
OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
According to the EIA, energy demand is projected to rise by 56% by 2040….making it a highly exciting and profitable sector to be involved in…hint hint. What’s awesome is that you don’t need to be an oil baron to help fuel the planet’s energy needs. All forms of energy will be increase in value and there is no one size fits all solution. It takes our planet 1 million years to naturally produce 1 years worth of crude oil at current demand. We need a variety of energy sources, both large and small scale.
Renewable energy and nuclear power are the world’s fastest-growing energy sources, each increasing 2.5% per year. However, fossil fuels continue to supply nearly 80% of world energy use through 2040. Natural gas is the fastest-growing fossil fuel, as global supplies of tight gas, shale gas, and coalbed methane increase.
Biodiesel
I ran into two people this week, mentioned what I do(help people run on SVO) and they said, “yeah, I used to brew my own Biodiesel for a while.” I thought it was strange to meet 2 folks, one looking to rent a room in my house, and the other the owner of a bike store, having experience brewing Biodiesel. I bet there’re many folks out there that “used to” do Biodiesel when diesel was $5/gallon.
Anyway, a newsworthy note from the EIA is that Biodiesel is that US Production has hit an all time high in May, reaching 111,000,000 gallons for the month, or 3.7 Million per day. That’s from the 116 plants that the government has on record. Biodiesel makes up about 2% of the fuel burned in diesels, with roughly 111 millions gallons of Dino-diesel burned daily.
Also noteworthy, Pleasant Valley Biofuels has opened up a new Waste Vegetable Oil to Biodiesel plant in Southern Utah. They are at 1 Million gallons per year right now, and hope to ramp it up to 4 Million/yr. They say most of the feedstock is from waste oil and the company recognizes the importance of localizing.
Pleasant Valley Biofuels recently located to Southern Utah from Idaho. Company officials say they get their feedstock locally and sell the biodiesel mostly to trucking companies working in the area. They hope to get some local city fleets to convert to the green fuel.
Also, the 2014 Chevy Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel will be B20 approved from the factory(finally an american made passenger diesel available in the US) . The efficiency is awesome as the car is expected to get 46mpg on the highway!
Cruze’s 2.0L turbo-diesel is based on proven architecture already used in European models, where approximately 40 percent of all Cruze models sold feature a diesel engine. Collaborating with Italian and German engineering groups, GM’s diesel experts in the United States adapted the engine to accommodate more stringent diesel emission standards and a wider range of driving conditions – including colder climates and higher altitudes – for the United States and Canada.
Algae
Algae is very promising as an alternative fuel. It’s been mostly in the R & D phase, but is now gathering rather large investments from oil, gas and chemical companies. One interesting development is that the pioneering companies are finding more value for the oil for other uses(cosmetics, vitamins), than burning it as fuel. This also happens with WVO. ( If your wife’s lipstick isn’t too good for WVO, then why shouldn’t you be able to put it in your fuel tank?)
The oil produced by algae is called “green crude” and costs about $10/gallon to produce commercially. It has been said that it will take an investment of 1 Billion in development and scaling to get the cost of fuel produced from green crude down to $3/gallon.
Greentech dominated in the large-size VC deal department in 2012 — five of the ten largest VC deals sent later-stage funds to cleantech startups. Here’s the list:
1. GreatPoint Energy: GreatPoint, a small firm, received a $420 million investment from Wanxiang for a minority stake in the coal-to-natural-gas firm as part of a bigger deal involving construction in China. Wanxiang is China’s largest maker of auto parts and a major supplier to Ford and General Motors. (There was some hesitancy including GreatPoint on this list, as Wanxiang is not exactly a VC investor, but GreatPoint is certainly a VC-funded startup.)
Call it a strategic investment from Wanxiang, the new owner of auctioned battery maker A123. GreatPoint has also received VC investment from KPCB, DFJ, Khosla Ventures, Citi Capital Advisors, Peabody Energy, ATV, SunCor and AES.
2. Fisker Automotive: Fisker raised $380 million from KPCB, NEA, Advanced Equities, et al. for a total of more than $1.2 billion. First quarter saw $129 million raised with $147 million in the second quarter, according to VentureBeat. The firm raised $103 million of a $150 million round from Advanced Equities in the third quarter, according to this SEC filing.
It has been a tumultuous year for the light-green luxury auto maker with recalls, fires, floods, and supplier issues.
3. Sapphire Energy: Sapphire hopes to produce drop-in fuels generated from genetically modified algae in open ponds at an economically attractive price. The firm’s $139 million round from ARCH Venture Partners, Monsanto, and Venrock expands production at the firm’s New Mexico site and brings its VC funding total to near $300 million.
WVO/SVO/WMO –
Running a vehicle on straight Waste Oil still remains viable and is a practical small scale and decentralized solution for some. We need energy solutions like this, and more of them if the energy needs of the future are to be met. Many folks are producing their own homemade fuel with locally sourced feedstock. WVO Design’s has forged a more robust WVO resource than ever, providing insights on how to find oil, how to collect it and how to successfully convert a vehicle to run on Waste Vegetable Oil and now Waste Motor Oil.
Stories of WVO in the news are scarce due to the decentralized nature of the niche. Forums and blogs are the best place to get new information an insights about happenings in the WVO world. One of the more recent spots of WVO publicity is from the Green Building Community’s site Green Building Elements. Guest Blogger Paul Taylor describes the benefits of the Vegawatt, which is a turnkey system for generating electricity from WVO, a perfect option for restaurants to turn their waste into electricity savings.
by Jason Jelonek
