Biofuels Personality of the Year: John Rivera, CEO of US Sustainable Energy, is surprise write-in winner
The Biofuels Personality of the Year website balloting closed yesterday, and in a surprise result, John Rivera, CEO of US Sustainable Energy Corporation was voted Biofuels Personality of the Year by Biofuels Digest readers.
Rivera, inventor of the Rivera process, was named by 22 percent of voters, and bested favorites such as President George Bush, former Vice President Al Gore, and billionaire investors Vinod Khosla and Sir Richard Branson. The award was given in recognition of the most impact on biofuels during 2007, for better or worse.
The top ten vote getters were:
1. John Rivera, CEO, US Sustainable Energy, 22 percent
2. (tied) Al Gore, Nobel Laureate, 12 percent
2. (tied) George W. Bush, President, United States, 12 percent
4. Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist, 8 percent
5. Jeff Broin, CEO, Poet, 7 percent
6. Elliott Mannis, CEO, D1 Oils, 5 percent
7. Donald Endres, CEO, VeraSun Energy, 4 percent
8. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President, Brazil, 4 percent
9. (tied) Gloria Arroyo, President, Philippines, 3 percent
9. (tied) Bob Dineen, President, Renewable Fuels Association, 3 percent
9. (tied) Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur, 3 percent
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Unknown | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
Congratulations to Mr. John “Liar’s Certificate” Rivera, whose penny stock shareholders went to bat and voted for him. Mr. Rivera has left his mark by his ‘process’ which involves basically heating up soybeans or other material until it transforms into char and oils, a process commonly referred to as “pyrolysis.” Going on nine years he still is looking for someone to buy his ‘revolutionary’ product which he refers to as “biofuel.”
Dynahog | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
Congratulations to John Rivera, Chairman and CEO, US Sustainable Energy, who began biofuel developments in early 2006 culminating in going public with US Sustainable Energy Corp (USSE.PK) in October 2006. The “Rivera Process” matured over time beginning in Natchez, MS and culminates in Baytown, Texas with a Production Class model facility capable of producing Biocrude Oil, light bio-oil and fertilizer ash.
Significant in the findings of cellulosic Biocrude Oil is 68 new products including Biogasoline for which USSE and the associated Sustainable Power Corp (SSTP.PK) will fast-track to commercialization, buy-in by the automotive industry, and EPA registration and all appropriate licensing. This “biogasoline” is viewed as an alternative to Gasoline capable of running in old and new vehicles.
GeoBiofuels | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
In regards to Paperprophet remarks against Mr. Rivera and U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp. Please disregard his personal attack against Mr. Rivera, we have found that Paperprophet is a paid “basher” hired by the competition to post lies and deceit against U.S. Sustainable Energy and Sustainable Power Corp. The company’s Attorney at Law (Pintard & Pintard)is currently filing a lawsuit in the State of Minnesota.
For technical and company information please visit:
http://www.sstp.us
http://www.ussec.us
http://www.biocrude.us
http://www.jhrivera.com
http://www.amspecllc.com
raven_dave | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
Congratulations to John Rivera who also introduced a new word to the biofuel vocabulary in 2007
VertroleumTM – Derived from the Latin word for green (viridis) and the Latin word for oil (oleum). As the word petroleum describes crude oil obtained from the ground (lit. oil from rock), VertroleumTM is a word coined to describe the biocrude oil obtained from all green resources, or biomass.
This process yields a biocrude oil that, like petroleum crude, can be refined into a large number of hydrocarbon based products. The term VertroleumTM can be used in all the ways the term petroleum is used to facilitate understanding how the next generation of biofuel technology will result in green, environmentally friendly products.
Just as products made from crude oil (petroleum) are known as ‘petroleum distillates’, products made from biocrude oil (VertroleumTM) can be referred to as ‘Vertroleum distillates.’
Although this is new technology and research continues, it is thought that this next generation of biofuel technology could eventually make current ethanol and biodiesel technologies obsolete.
Perhaps two of the more significant and immediate benefits of this biofuel technology will be 1) reduced dependency on conventional petroleum and its environmental impact, and 2) reduced dependency on corn and soybeans, since the refining of biocrude results in biogasoline and a new type of biodiesel. The price of corn and soybeans has risen dramatically since demand for their use in producing fuel has risen, and some economists contend that converting a primary food source into energy is fundamentally a bad strategy.
By using non-food biomass to produce biocrude oil (VertroleumTM) cuts the costs of production and reduces the strain on the worlds food supply.
Word Mark VERTROLEUM Goods and Services IC 004. US 001 006 015. G & S: Artificial petroleum Standard Characters Claimed Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK Serial Number 77353976 Filing Date December 17, 2007 Current Filing Basis 1B Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner: (APPLICANT) Sustainable Power Corp. (Symbol: SSTP)
CORPORATION NEVADA 7100 Highway 146 Baytown TEXAS 77520 Type of Mark TRADEMARK Register PRINCIPAL Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
SteveM | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
Looks like the poll was hijacked by some bloggers or chat board groups. I ran across this company almost a year ago and discounted it as going nowhere. Indeed, it has been claiming much and producing little since then. It is a penny stock publicly-traded company that trades on what is called the pink sheets meaning that important financial information is usually hidden from public access.
I see absolutely nothing in his contributions that would merit an award unless it relates to the qualifier in the poll “in recognition of the most impact on biofuels during 2007, for better or worse” and his contribution being in the latter category of the two.
My ranking would be:
Jeff Broin, CEO, Poet
Donald Endres, CEO, VeraSun Energy
Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur
Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist
Thanks - and keep it honest
raven_dave | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
Steve, just because your choice didn’t win does not mean anything was dishonest. I looked at the list again and Mr John Rivera being first is correct followed by President George Bush and Al Gore. Two other hard working men in the alternative energy field, that you gave no credit to. Stay turned Horizontal Biocrude Oil Wells are coming and by the end of 2008 I bet Jeff Broin will also agree that Mr Rivera is the man.
veego | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
As a witness of the Rivera Process, I know it works. A number of people do not want it to see the light of day, particularly paid liars like PaperProphet who has spent hundreds of hours on blogs posting lies. John is one of the three most amazing and dedicated people I have met in my 61 years and he will succeed in getting this to market here in the US or elsewhere. He actually won by over 40 percent of the vote due to the fact his name was listed 3 times and BFDigest only counted one listing. BFDigest’s total percentages add up to 83%. John received the other 17% on top of those reported. Sure, John may have gone public a bit earlier than he should have and had a few normal setbacks going to scale, but you all should watch this company, it is going to be the story of the year.
Unknown | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
SteveM, that’s exactly right. One of the shareholders posted the voting link on a stock message board and asked everyone to come here to vote for the CEO of the stock. The clincher is that if the CEO of this pink sheets stock was actually delivering anything, the shareholders wouldn’t have to promote the company far to try to recoup some of the 96% slide the company has taken in the past year and a half.
GeoBiofuels | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
Paperprophet is a known basher of Renewable Energy, he has been attacking the Biofuel Industry for over 1 year.
Ron | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
After some investigation this is what I found out from the boards,
GeoBiofuels has an inside connection with John Rivera and is probably the front man for Rivera on these boards. Rivera is under investigation by SEC in some form.
Vego is trying to line-up a contract with Rivera for last one year for one of the products.
Talk about independent polling here. What a joke
Jim Lane | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
Some background on the voting may be in order.
Since a large number of votes came in on a write-in basis for John Rivera, doubtless there was some sort of organized campaign, but why not? Rivera’s supporters were simply better organized than the supporters of at least two other nominees for whom a similar effort was organized.
The ballot was specifically constructed to reward the most visible personality - “for better or worse” - and the comments on the board would indicate that Mr. Rivera inspires strong feelings on both sides of the equation. That’s very much in keeping with the spirit of the award.
With respect to one comment on the balloting, all votes were counted in the Digest. The totals do not add up to 100 percent because there were 25 nominees in all, and the votes of the bottom 15 nominees accounted for the “missing” 17 percent. Please note that the early ballots were originally submitted on a 3rd party site and only switched over to the Biofuels Digest home page in the last week or so of voting. It is fair to say that Mr. Rivera received 40 percent of the votes on the site, but only 22 percent of the ballots as a whole.
For those who feel that the process was hijacked, I have to say I disagree although I do understand why the commentators felt this way. Part of the magic of online balloting is, in fact, marshaling one’s supporters, and the friends of US Sustainable Energy ought to be commended for taking action, not criticized, IMHO. Rather, I would have liked to see a more spirited effort by supporters of some of the other nominees (several of whom have very strong anti-biofuels opinions).
This year, Biofuels Digest also awarded a Biofuels Digest medal, and those who disagree with the end result of this ballot may find that the winners of those awards line up better for them.
–
One final note, I have edited a few comments by site visitors, to eliminate the use of profanity and personal invective. It would be helpful if other commentators would refrain from strong language.
Regards to all,
Jim Lane
Editor, Biofuels Digest
ksusha_k | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
Mr. John Rivera, I’d like to congratulate you with the victory. I have been following the companies for 8 months and have been doing a lot of DDs. I have read great remarks by James P.Lassoie,PhD Cornell University,Willie Hamphrey,PhD and Emma Jackson,MS Alcorn State University,Doroteo A.Rodrigues Y.,M.Sc Dominican National Energy Commission,Senator Bob M.Dearing as well as others. These are excellent results after AmSpec Services, LL
have tested your fuels. So I am a strong supporter of your technology. I know there is still much work to be done but I am a great believer and know this will be accomplished. Thank you for your dedication to the energy of the future. Best Wishes to you and your family in the new year.
GeoBiofuels | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
Thank you Jim for your support of the renewable fuels industry!
I am sorry you have to deal with the bashers that will spread lies and deceit to hurt green fuels. God Bless America!