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ENEL Enters U.S. Geothermal Market

Enel’s subsidiary Enel North America, Inc., announced the acquisition of geothermal developer AMP Resources, LLC (AMP) from AMP Capital Partners and a minority investor. The acquisition includes one operating and four advanced stage geothermal development projects expected to add approximately 150 MW of capacity over the next four years to Enel’s North American operations, as well as access to a number of future opportunities. Located in Nevada, California, and Utah, the projects, once fully developed, are expected to generate enough renewable power for over 100,000 average U.S. households annually. “I am pleased to announce Enel’s entry into the U.S. geothermal market. These development projects will benefit from Enel’s expertise in geothermal power and will consolidate and extend Enel’s leadership in using the earth’s natural heat to produce zero-emissions electricity. This acquisition further confirms our commitment toward environmentally-friendly technologies worldwide. By 2011 Enel plans to invest globally over 4 billion euros in combating climate change. A plan having few rivals in quality and presence” commented Fulvio Conti, Enel’s CEO. The agreement calls for an initial payment of approximately $90 million and milestone-based contingent payments. Enel pioneered geothermal electricity generation with projects developed over 100 years ago in Tuscany, Italy in Larderello […]

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Duraflame Discontinues Petroleum Wax in its Firelogs

By the end of April 2007, Duraflame, Inc. will no longer use petroleum wax in the production of its duraflame brand firelogs. After over 30 years in business, the company is going all-natural by making the switch to non-petroleum waxes. As North America’s firelog brand leader, using bio wax represents a significant change in the more than $250 million industry. This decision was spurred by the rising costs and declining quality of petroleum wax available to the company. Duraflame decided to take action before volatile conditions in the petroleum markets negatively impacted the company’s reputation for industry-leading quality. In recent years, the company’s R&D team had been testing new blends of “bio-wax” materials made from renewable resources. Tests showed the environmentally responsible waxes burned more vigorously and yet produced fewer emissions. The switch to bio waxes also provides the added benefit of reducing the company’s carbon footprint. As a result of the product formulation change, Duraflame will dramatically reduce its use of non-renewable fossil fuels. New studies from Omni Environmental Laboratories of Beaverton, OR also show that the company’s firelogs emit 70 percent less CO2 than burning an equivalent wood fire, and over 80 percent fewer green house gas emissions […]

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BASF, Monsanto to Commercialize GMOs

BASF (NYSE: BF) and Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) have formed a long-term joint research and development (R&D) and commercialization collaboration on GMOs. They will dedicate a joint budget of about $1.5 billion to fund a dedicated pipeline of yield and stress tolerance traits for corn, soybeans, cotton and canola. The first product developed as part of this collaboration is expected to be commercialized in the first half of the next decade. Each company will nominate specific candidate genes and the most promising candidates will be advanced for accelerated joint development and for commercialization in the Monsanto pipeline. The two companies expect to generate a greater number of viable research projects than they could have done on their own, accelerate the development of new products, and bring a greater number of GMOs to the market faster. The companies will share profits associated with commercialized products on 60/40 basis, with Monsanto receiving 60 percent.

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Cereplast Raises $3.4 Million in New Equity Capital

Cereplast, Inc. (OTCBB:CERP), manufacturer of proprietary bio-based renewable plastics, has received $3.4 million in new capital through the sale of common stock. The infusion of new funding will not only support Cereplast’s growth but also allow the Company to continue to successfully introduce additional bio-based resins to the market. This new capital also expands the breadth of Cereplast’s shareholders to include two large European institutional fund managers. One of the lead investors, Swisscanto, is one of Europe’s largest fund managers with over CHF 61.8 billion ($51.0 billion) under management. As part of its investment, Swisscanto has added Cereplast to its Equity Fund Climate Invest, which invests in public companies with environmentally and economically sound platforms in renewable energy and water. About Cereplast Cereplast, Inc. designs and manufactures proprietary bio-based, renewable plastics which are used as substitutes for petroleum-based plastics in all major converting processes – such as injection molding, thermoforming, blow molding and extrusions – at a pricing structure that is competitive with petroleum based plastics. Cereplast’s uniquely formulated resins are certified biodegradable and compostable by BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute). Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

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