Monday, October 26, 2009

Canadian Biofuel Production Expected to Increase

Government subsidies for renewable fuel requirements and production plants will boost biofuel production to an anticipated 76% in two years as reported by Biofuels International.

Currently produces 1.3 billion liters of ethanol and 120 million liters of biodiesel annually. Biofuel production will reach 2.5 billion liters yearly by2011. This includes 2 billion liters of ethanol and 500 million liters of biodiesel according to Gordon Quaittina, President of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association.

Canada will mandate 5% renewable-fuel blend in petroleum by 2010 and 2% blend in diesel and heating oil by 2011.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Use More Biodiesel, Its good for you.

According to recently published research from the University of Idaho and the USDA, the use of more biodiesel will have a positive impact on reducing carbon pollution.

The study demonstrated that for every unit of fossil energy needed to produce biodiesel, there will be a return of 4.5 units of energy. Research also showed that the “energy in” to “energy out” ratio is energy balance. Because the main energy source to grow soybeans is the sun, soybean oil has a naturally occurring high energy balance.

Not only is biodiesel good for the environment, valuable by-products like glycerin are produced.

"This gives Americans even more reason to put their faith in the environmental and societal benefits of biodiesel," said Joe Jobe, CEO of the US National Biodiesel Board. "The Environmental Protection Agency should take this into account when considering biodiesel's greenhouse gas reductions."

Jobe says EPA should recognize that biodiesel production is growing more efficient, while oil exploration and drilling becomes more intensive each day.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Promising Outlook for Venture Capital Investments in Greentech

In comparison with the previous two quarters of this year, the third quarter is looking healthier for venture capital investments in the greentech sector as reported by greentech Media Research.

In Q1 there was $836 million invested in 59 deals. In Q2, 1.2 billion was invested in 85 deals. Q3 closed with 1.9 billion invested in 112 deals.

Solar was the most popular sector with $576 million invested in 29 deals. This was closely followed by the biofuels sector having $513 million in investments on 17 deals. Third runner up was smart grid with $160 million invested in 14 deals.

With $3.9 billion to date and one more quarter to go, this is already the second best year for Greentech Venture Capital investing behind 2008 which was $7.6 billion and 2007 was $3.5 billion.

Largely responsible for raising the third quarter greentech venture capital investments are the funds made available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which are reaching more than $1 billion so far this quarter.