http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7 Biofuels Digest editor and columnist Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:00:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en By Biofuels Digest columnist Dr. Rosalie Lober Yes, the economy is in a recession by all standard definitions. Most businesses are having difficulties. Those with money are cautious too. Lack and scarcity become self-fulfilling prophecies that become the ‘feedstock’ for portending doom and gloom. Your current strategy may not be appropriate ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2009/09/04/biofuels-profits-principles-test-and-revise/ "To Carthage then I came Burning burning burning burning" T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land Recently, among the list of countries in which Biofuels Digest readers reside, appeared a new addition: the Vatican City. I cannot shake the improbable hope that the Pope has taken an interest in bioenergy. He certainly has taken a ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2009/03/23/garbage-to-gold-waste-to-energy-systems-are-ready-for-prime-time/ The first time I remember making a connection between food and fuel was watching Anik Szapiro sniffing butane at the Redfern Legal Centre, south of the Sydney CBD in Australia, when I was a young law student working as a volunteer legal assistant. Reputedly a veteran of the WWII Polish ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2009/02/03/remembering-virginia-bell-defender-of-underdogs-joins-australias-high-court/   Everyone's for sustainability, it seems. Who could be against it? But what does it mean, exactly? In my travels, I have found that no two people define it in the same way. Some companies, such as Hawaiian Electric, have specific guidelines that go far beyond other published standards.  Trade groups, such ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2009/01/19/sustainability-a-four-principle-approach/ Here are some notes on the selections for the Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy. The qualifying criteria was making at least one appearance in the Digest over the past 12 months, or a nomination from the readership. About 500 companies qualified via the first route, from the 3,000 stories published this ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2008/12/24/behind-the-50-hottest-companies-in-bioenergy-rankings/ There has been a lot of discussion of the viability of cellulosic ethanol production models in the scientific literature, but just a few in popular media. Herewith are some notes on how cellulosic yields work out in real-world situations. The Coskata model presupposes a yield of around 100 gallons per ton ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2008/12/24/notes-on-coskata-and-other-gasification-and-cellulosic-yields/ There are vast, right wing conspiracies and vast, left wing conspiracies, but what is facing the biofuels industry is a vast, chicken wing conspiracy. The conspirators are drawn from groups that Daniel Gross, writing in Slate, described as "poverty activists, inflation hawks, efficiency freaks and environmentalists", and are led by a ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2008/11/21/a-vast-chicken-wing-conspiracy/ In South Dakota, POET Energy said that it was accelerating the schedule for its $4 Million pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in Scotland, and would open the facility by December. “Our expanded research effort has led to several significant strides in the development of cellulosic ethanol technology at the lab scale ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2008/08/14/poet-accelerates-on-cellulosic-ethanol/ Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov, in a note to investors in BioFuel Energy regarding its liquidity crisis, wrote that "there is a realistic prospect of obtaining additional working capital, and we believe management's roadmap toward resolving this liquidity crisis by year-end is credible. Therefore, at this point, we do not ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2008/08/14/biofuel-energy-not-facing-bankruptcy-or-other-dramatic-outcome-analyst-says/ In Hawaii, Imperium Renewables closed the door on a once-bright Hawaiian future when it closed its Honolulu office and laid off additional personnel, including Chief Operating Officer David Leonard. The company had planned to construct a $90 million biodiesel plant and supply Hawaiian Electric's newest power plant with up to ... http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog7/2008/08/14/imperium-shuts-doors-in-hawaii-closes-chapter-will-supply-heco-from-washington-state/