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Cow Dung Is Used to Make Electricity

By Claudia H. Deutsch, July 4, 2006 In a sense, it is the ultimate renewable source of fuel. Weather anomalies can kill off corn crops, calm the winds, obscure the sun ? but through rain or shine, gusts or stillness, cows and hogs and turkeys spew forth a steady stream of manure, one of nature’s richest sources of methane, a principal component of natural gas. And now, farmers and entrepreneurs are recognizing that this immutable fact can yield a steady stream of revenue and profit, too. Slowly, but steadily, they are replacing the malodorous lagoons used to treat the waste with machines that can wrest energy from excrement. According to AgStar, a federal program that promotes the conversion of manure to energy, there are more than 100 anaerobic digesters – devices that create an oxygen-free atmosphere in which bacteria digest manure and release gas – operating in the United States today, with another 80 on the drawing boards. “These are the only kinds of waste management systems that can actually put money in farmers’ pockets,” said Kurt Roos, program manager of AgStar. There are a number of reasons for the new spotlight on what is called brown energy. Oil and […]

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A Dutch Refinery Clears the Air to Grow Roses

By Jad Mouawad, June 30, 2006 MAASLAND, the Netherlands – A few miles north of Rotterdam, in a region the Dutch call “glass city” for its thousands of greenhouses, gardeners like Frank van Os are part of an unconventional experiment by Royal Dutch Shell to curb carbon emissions. Mr. van Os produces four million roses each year, flooding the atmosphere inside his vast glass canopy with pure carbon dioxide to bolster his crop. What is unusual is that he now gets the carbon dioxide piped in directly from Pernis, a Shell refinery that is Europe’s largest and typically discharges tons of the gas into the atmosphere every year. “You can just hear it,” said Mr. van Os, as carbon dioxide hissed through small plastic pipes, feeding the long-stemmed red roses all around. “It goes pshh.” Shell’s modest effort in this corner of Europe – aiming to cut the refinery’s emissions by 8 percent by diverting it to about 500 greenhouses ? is not going to solve the global warming challenge, of course. But the experiment to limit emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for climate change, illustrates a fundamental shift in the oil industry that offers glimmers […]

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Joint Venture to Develop Wind Super Parks in India

Canadian renewable energy developer Skypower Corp. and Pekon Electronics have entered into a joint venture to develop large wind farms in India. The joint venture intends to develop more than 1000 megawatts (MW) of Wind Super Parks over the next two years across India and is proposing suitable sites to several State Governments. Skypower is Canada’s leading independent wind power company and is focused on being the largest owner & operator of wind parks across Canada. It recently launched and manages the Skypower Wind Energy Fund LP, the largest public renewable energy fund in Canada, raising over $77 million in late 2005 for the 201 MW Terrawinds Project in the Riviere Du Loup, Quebec region. Construction on this project will commence late this summer and will be Canada’s largest wind park. Skypower currently has interests in 24 wind power projects and 3 Solar Super Parks, representing upwards of 7,000 MW of capacity. Pekon is a diversified corporate entity with interests in Infrastructure Development, Manufacturing and Exports across India. Dhiraj Bhagchandka, Director of Pekon said, “We are very excited about this partnership as Skypower brings with them the extensive expertise to develop, finance, construct, and operate large scale wind parks, a […]

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SolarWorld Expands Into Asia, Africa

SolarWorld AG has entered into an agreement with the Shell Group to supply solar power equipment to rural Asia and Africa. The agreement, which lasts until 2008, is in the double digit million dollar range. This is SolarWorld’s first entry into off-grid solar. It means providing smaller solar plants that provide electricity for lighting or for the operation of electrical equipment, for installations such as schools and hospitals. Grid-independent solar modules also supply electricity to remote telecommunications facilities and cross-country pipelines. SolarWorld also announced it will complete the acquisition of Shell assets on July 1, at which time it will be among the world’s three largest providers of solar power. “After the closing the deal SolarWorld AG will be represented with its own production and sales activities in the world’s most important solar regions”, says CEO Frank H. Asbeck. “In the USA, which is heading for a solar boom in view of the many new funding programs like those in California, we have now become the largest producer of solar power technology.” The new SolarWorld Industries America has two production sites in the USA: a silicon crystals growing production site in Vancouver and the integrated production of solar silicon wafers, […]

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Hy9 Corp Secures $2.3M in Funding

Hy9 Corporation, a manufacturer of metal membrane hydrogen purifiers and reformer products for industrial, specialty gas and energy markets, has secured a $2.3 million round of funding. The funding will enable Hy9 to expand its line of hydrogen purifiers into the ultra-high purity (UHP), high purity and fuel cell markets, and reformers for the portable fuel cell market. Hy9 Corporation manufactures globally-deployed, high-productivity, low-cost membranes and products with leak-tight seals that extract pure hydrogen from gas mixtures much like a filter. Hy9’s membrane-based hydrogen reformers successfully integrate catalysts in a process intensification to create an economic, durable, one-step process for fuel reforming. As a result, Hy9’s products provide enabling solutions for hydrogen purification, generation and recycling. Over the last five years, Hy9 Corporation has manufactured and sold over 600 high-purity hydrogen purifiers with over 3 million cumulative hours of global field use. The recent funding will enable Hy9’s seasoned business and technical teams to broaden its line of hydrogen purifiers into the ultra-high purity (UHP), high purity and fuel cell markets. “With our recent round of financing, Hy9 is well-positioned to leverage our proprietary technologies and global commercial success to provide compelling economic hydrogen purification and reforming solutions for the […]

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