A policymaker walks into a lab and sees a carbon-slimming technology. He’s excited. Less carbon in the sky! “Marvelous,” he says. “If I invest €300 million in this, how much will I lose?” The technologist pauses. “€300 million.” It’s an old joke, slightly updated for the energy transition. But like most good jokes, it lingers […]
Raymond James’s Pavel Molchanov offers a cautious outlook on aviation decarbonization, noting that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) remains a “tiny” 1% of the biofuel market. Despite IATA’s goal for SAF to drive over half of 2050 emissions reductions, production chronically underperforms expectations. While U.S. SAF prices carry a 33% premium over conventional fuel, electric aircraft […]
Growth in renewable fuels is offering refineries and new entrant producers opportunities with significant potential. Incentivization, mandates and regulations, from the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulations to the US Renewable Fuel Standard developments, are creating an expanding market – and early movers can take full advantage. But the clock is already ticking when it comes to […]
The fire dancer spun a double arc into the night, and for a moment the flame seemed to hang there—bright, suspended, almost permanent. At Mālama ʻĀina, a small luau operation a few miles from the container stacks at Honolulu Harbor, the evening moved with practiced ease. Kalua pork came out of the imu in long, […]
ICF reports that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production is currently outpacing renewable diesel, despite the lack of a domestic mandate. U.S. airlines are securing future supply through long-term offtakes and investments. Significant regulatory shifts include the extension of 45Z tax credits to 2029 and new California LCFS sustainability requirements. However, achieving proposed RVOs remains challenging […]
Dawnlight. After days crossing a wide, heat-blown valley, they reached the range—layered, irregular, faintly steaming in the morning air. The Trash Mountains. That’s what they called them at a distance. Up close, it was something else. Layered, irregular—yes—but not random. Structured. Sorted by time, pressure, chemistry. One of them knelt and sifted a handful through […]
Aemetis provided an update on its rapidly expanding dairy Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) operations. The most newsworthy milestone is the completion of 12 digesters across 15 dairies, connected by 36 miles of pipeline, with a total of 50 dairies signed to supply biogas. This negative carbon intensity RNG is transported via utility pipelines or sold […]
Rob Leachman from UC Berkeley and R2DIO presented a novel approach to optimizing synthetic biology. Drawing on a comprehensive 12-year benchmarking study of semiconductor manufacturing, the most newsworthy takeaway is the application of semiconductor best practices to biomanufacturing process control. Leachman advocates for the rigorous automation of information handling and Statistical Process Control (SPC). By […]
The binoculars don’t show speed. They show distance. LTJG H. H. “Tex” Riley stands on the bridge of the fleet oiler USS Decatur and watches the Strait of Hormuz resolve into lines — parallel tracks of steel and intent, moving close enough now that distance is no longer abstract. This native of Plano, Texas is […]
This presentation from Digest editor Jim Lane introduced the FOAK Fragility Index (FFI), a structural stress meter for First-Of-A-Kind (FOAK) biorefineries. Newsworthy highlights include the application of the “GTESI” and “Twist” frameworks to measure a project’s “Persistence”—its ability to survive shocks and export entropy to capital markets. The analysis sharply critiques centralized “Redwood” facility architectures […]
