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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:March 1, 2006

News and Events DOE Offers $160 Million for Biorefinery Construction Energy Officials Promote Solar, Biofuels, and Hydrogen Initiatives USDA Awards $8.6 Million to Clean Energy Projects IRS Releases Guidance on Energy Efficiency Tax Credits California Builders Include Solar Power on Hundreds of HomesEnergy ConnectionsAlaska and Oil Producers Reach Natural Gas Pipeline Agreement News and EventsDOE Offers $160 Million for Biorefinery ConstructionDOE announced last week its offer of $160 million in funds over the next three years to construct up to three biorefineries in the United States. Biorefineries are a concept similar to today’s refineries, except that instead of using petroleum as their raw material, they draw on woody biomass resources such as agricultural waste, trees, forest residues, and perennial grasses. Like today’s refineries, biorefineries will produce both fuels and chemicals. See the description of biorefineries on the DOE Biomass Program Web site.The goal of the new solicitation is to demonstrate that commercial biorefineries can be profitable once initial construction costs are paid. DOE will provide up to $100 million for any single demonstration project, and industry is required to provide at least 60 percent of the total cost of the project. The solicitation is part of President Bush’s Biofuels Initiative, […]

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Tiny Biodiesel Microreactor Could Aid Farmers

Chemical engineering researchers at Oregon State University have developed a tiny chemical reactor for manufacturing biodiesel that is so efficient, fast and portable it could enable farmers to produce a cleaner-burning diesel substitute on their farms using seed crops they grow on their own land. “This could be as important an invention as the mouse for your PC,” said Goran Jovanovic, the OSU professor who developed the biodiesel microreactor. “If we’re successful with this, nobody will ever make biodiesel any other way.” Current biodiesel production methods involve dissolving a catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide, in alcohol, then agitating the alcohol mixture with vegetable oil in large vats for two hours. The liquid then sits for 12 to 24 hours while a slow chemical reaction occurs, creating biodiesel and glycerin, a byproduct that is separated. This glycerin can be used to make soaps, but first the catalyst in it must be neutralized and removed using hydrochloric acid, a tedious and costly process. The microreactor developed at OSU eliminates the mixing, the standing time for separation and potentially the need for a dissolved catalyst. “But more importantly,” Jovanovic says, “the microreactor, which is about half the size of a thick credit card, […]

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DuPont Looking to Displace Fossil Fuels in Chemicals

By Claudia H. Deutsch Nestled away in a small room on DuPont’s 150-acre research center in Wilmington, Del., robotic arms fill tiny tubes with gelatinous material that was extracted from corn and soybean plants. Other metallic arms will soon dip and measure and deconstruct each sample, spewing forth a list of its attributes and traits. Only a fistful – maybe one of every 50 – will move on to the fermentation lab, a few buildings away. There, researchers will see how the samples react to different mixtures of air, glucose and microbes. Down the hall, other researchers will tinker with the microbes themselves. All of them are chasing the same holy grail: bio-based substances that can replace oil and gas as building blocks for chemicals. “We figure out what works in theory, and then we see what works in practice,” Alexander D. Kopatsis, a research associate, said. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, unlike most chemical companies, has moved the quest for bio-based raw materials off the wish list and onto the to-do agenda. The company has allocated nearly 10 percent of its $1.3 billion research budget to extracting ingredients from carbohydrates – things that grow and can […]

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Evergreen Reports Q4 and FY 2005 Results

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), has announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2005. Fourth-Quarter 2005 Financial Results For the fourth quarter of 2005, product revenues increased 25 percent to $11.6 million from $9.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2004 and rose four percent from $11.1 million for the third quarter of 2005. Evergreen Solar improved product gross margin to 13.0 percent for the fourth quarter of 2005 from 10.4 percent from the third quarter of 2005. Net loss attributable to common stockholders for the fourth quarter of 2005 was $5.0 million, or $0.08 per share. This figure includes approximately $1.4 million in net losses associated with the EverQ start-up. This compares with a net loss of $3.8 million, or $0.08 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2004 and a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.07 per share, for the third quarter of 2005. Approximately 61.5 million and 47.5 million weighted average shares were outstanding for the fourth quarter of 2005 and 2004, respectively, and approximately 61.2 million weighted average shares were outstanding for the third quarter of 2005. “During the fourth quarter, Evergreen Solar continued to execute on plan as […]

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