How does $60 oil impact payback for natgas or hybrid electric vehicles, and cellulosic biofuels? The going assumption is that low oil prices are bad for alternative fuels — but it’s not always the case. Consider the competition. Quite a bit of ink has been spilled regarding hybrid electrics and natgas vehicles — as alternatives […]
Lost your biobased mojo? Mesmerized by tumbling energy prices? Tired of the “calls to inaction”? Why not REnew, REthink, REfocus on renewable energy’s solvable challenges – starting with The Digest’s REFocus 2015 survey. (Skip to the 2015 REfocus Survey, right here) The global worryfest over oil prices intensified this weekend when OPEC head Abdullah al-Badri […]
The Digest’s Dashboard is a convenient “news you can use” 5-Minute summary of current markets including key commodity prices, relevant futures, bioenergy-related stocks, and historical equities data. Latest prices – key commodities. Most recent commodity closing prices, and price changes, for NYMEX’s crude oil, Brent Crude, Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel, Natural Gas, RBOB gasoline, and Ethylene; ethanol […]
Boom times for two-product strategies? Can feed markets offer relief for the challenges on the fuel side? The Digest investigates. The energy industry continues to feel the impact of falling energy prices. In Wednesday’s Top Story, we noted that the industry conversation has shifted from long-term fundamentals to a form of “oil price watching” — […]
Contract manufacturing agreement with DTI speeds Rivertop’s time to market for its novel performance chemicals In Montana, Rivertop Renewables announced that it has begun construction of its first commercial plant, located at DanChem Technologies’ facility in Danville, Virginia. DTI, a custom manufacturer of fine and specialty chemical products, is expected to begin production of Rivertop’s sustainable, […]
US biodiesel leader heads for the EU – what’s up with used cooking oil, and what is REG’s path forward with the German-based biodiesel producer? In Iowa, Renewable Energy Group and IC Green Energy announced that REG will acquire ICG’s majority equity ownership position in German biodiesel producer Petrotec AG (XETRA: PT8). Closing of the […]
Oil prices in the 60s — what does that mean for the global economy, energy markets, and alternative fuels in the short-term and long-term? As if tough financing conditions and policy instability weren’t worrying enough for many observers, along comes a crash in global oil prices. One of the US-based Digesterati writes: “Most of the […]
Butamax, KRL, Vivergo, sugarcane ethanol business not impacted by cuts; consolidation to Brazil; San Diego research center, Highland feedstock operation also up for sale. In the UK, news broke from BP headquarters that the company has determined to divest the cellulosic biofuels business amidst an overall corporate retrenchment, in the face of falling energy prices, […]
By Brent Erickson, Executive VP, BIO; Head, Industrial & Environmental Section The underlying legal constructs of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) remain in working order, despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) failure to issue a final 2014 rule and its other regulatory missteps. Over the past five years, the program spurred billions of dollars of […]
Takes Series D (last pre-commercial) venture round to $120 million. Financial path to commercial-scale and beyond now set — all eyes now on scale-up of the technology, and expansion from carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide as a feedstock, as well. In New Zealand, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund has made a US$60 million equity investment […]
