Global Reach with local presence

Repost: First algae-derived fuel hits the pumps

admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:13:49 +0000

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

Propel Fuels

Using algae to produce biofuel is something being pursued by a number of major companies, but no one has made algal fuel or additives available for consumers — until now.

Alternative gas station chain Propel is working with algal fuel creator Solazyme on a month-long experiment, selling algal-additive “Soladiesel” alongside Propel’s normal diesel. The special stuff is 20 percent algae oil, while the “original flavor” will have the usual additives.

Normally the algal version would cost more, but seeing how customers react and watching for supply chain problems is a critical part of bringing it to market. To that end, Propel, with stations mainly in California and Washington, will offer the two types of diesel side by side for a month.

Algae has been proposed for years as an alternative to corn as a way to produce biofuels. Special algae are grown in bulk; when fed certain sugars, they produce combustible oils that can be used as fuel additives. The resulting fuel, biodiesel in this case, produces significantly less pollutants and, Solazyme claims, may in some ways actually perform better.

There are serious questions regarding the ability to scale algae production to millions-of-barrels capacity, but companies like Shell and Exxon are investing billions in biofuels to find solutions to problems like these. One potential benefit: The oil-producing algae can be grown in salt and brackish water where other crops fail, and are more efficient than corn in their production per acre.

Solazyme itself has more than $100 million in funding and is building a biofuel plant in Brazil. The company’s plan is to commercialize the fuel next year, but limited-market pilots like this one with Propel will make that possible.

More information can be found at the websites of Solazyme and Propel.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

REPOST – EAC states await new standards on biofuel

admin — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:54:56 +0000

BY THE GUARDIAN REPORTER

6th November 2012

The new international standard for bioenergy is to become operational come 2014 and will be in effect across East Africa, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has confirmed.

Speaking yesterday in Dar es Salaam soon after opening a three-day workshop for EAC standardization, TBS acting Director General Dominic Mwakangale, revealed that, at the moment the bureau is in the very final stages of compiling the proposed standards.

The workshop, supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) through Swedish Standards Institute (SIS) has attracted over 40 participants from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

“We have reached a good stage, after today’s workshop, we will convene another plenary meeting next year in Australia…” explained the director who went on to clarify that in the meeting to be held in the infamous Outback Australia, there will be in attendance officials on bio-standards from across the world and they will offer their own recommendations on the proposed East African bioenergy standards.

Already, similar workshops have been held in Rwanda, Germany, Kenya and United States of America.

Mwakangale, said the Australia workshop will come up with the final bioenergy ISO 13065 draft that will then be sent back to stakeholders for their last recommendations before actual implementation.

“We hope that all the processes are completed within the next two years so that we may move on to implementation by 2014…,” he stressed and insisted that the new standards will help Tanzania and the rest of East Africa to improve their livelihood.

“We expect that the price of fuel would go down and there would be a variety of alternative energy …” he expounded on the benefits adding that biofuels have emerged as a form of alternative fuel with the potential to replace finite fossil fuel resources.

In Tanzania liquid biofuel (biodiesel and bioethanol) developments are at an infancy stage and there is so far no commercial liquid production. He alerted that biofuels are likely to have negative impact on food security, biodiversity and land issues if there are no policies in place to regulate the industry.

To ensure sustainability of a biofuel industry, efforts are being done by the government to have a national policy for biofuels development but at the moment all there is, are but a draft in the hands of stakeholder to collect their comments.

He further said participation of the EAC region on development of ISO standard on sustainability criteria for bioenergy contributed to pushing some of issues in the standards.

“The availability of a national policy without a standard will not suffice the industry to operate and grow, hence the international standard, when finalized together with national policy and regulatory framework will facilitate sustainable biofuel production…,” the TBS acting Director General emphasized.

Speaking earlier, the EAC principal standard officer, Willy Msinguzi, announced plans to conduct awareness programs before the new standards become operational. The Swedish government through its agency SIDA has agreed to support the project which would cost some USD 3.6m.

Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy.

Biomass is derived from different types of organic matter: energy plants (oilseeds, plants containing sugar) and forestry, agricultural or urban waste including wood and household waste.

Biomass can be used for heating, for producing electricity and for transport biofuels. Biomass can be solid (plants, wood, straw and other plants), gaseous (from organic waste, landfill waste) or liquid (derived from crops such as wheat, rapeseed, soy, or from lignocellulosic material).

The use of biomass can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions which are responsible for the devastating global warming effects that are causing havoc on weather patterns as the globe grapples with the extensive climate change.

One of the advantages of biomass fuel is that it is often a by-product, residue or waste-product of other processes, such as farming, animal husbandry and forestry. In theory this means there is no competition between fuel and food production, although this is not always the case.

Biomass is material derived from recently living organisms, which includes plants, animals and their byproducts. Manure, garden waste and crop residues are all sources of biomass. It is a renewable energy source based on the carbon cycle, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, and nuclear fuels.

Another source includes Animal waste, which is a persistent and unavoidable pollutant produced primarily by the animals housed in industrial-sized farms. There are also agricultural products specifically being grown for biofuel production.

These include corn and soybeans and to some extent wheat, sugarcane palm oil sorghum and cassava, in fact, even Hemp has also been proven to work as a biofuel.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Protecting Users from Firesheep and Other Sidejacking Attacks with SSL

admin — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:14:18 +0000

By: Symantec
The recent release of the Firesheep Wi-Fi attack tool has increased awareness among both users and attackers of the inherent insecurity of unprotected HTTP connections. Users on unprotected networks who connect to websites through plain HTTP connections expose their connections to those sites to open surveillance and full compromise. As experts proclaimed in reaction to Firesheep, the best solution to the problem is to use TLS/SSL for all connections to websites, including the home page. Perhaps owing to the increased need for processing power it would entail, many large sites have been sparing in their use of TLS/SSL, but such frugality is increasingly indefensible in the face of the level of threats and true costs.

Google+ Hangouts on Air

admin — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:52:36 +0000

In response to comments I received on my post about “Google Plus Hangouts“, I thought I decided to re-post an instructional learning from Natalie Villalobos, the Community Manager for Google+. Head over to the actual post for “How to Schedule a Hangout On Air Using Google+ Events” to comment on the information below. For more information on Google Hangout on Air, or look for public events, to see the many uses.

Natalie Villalobos

Sep 27, 2012 - Public

How to Schedule a Hangout On Air Using Google+ Events
making it easier to build your audienceAre you regularly hosting Hangouts On Air? Here’s a useful tip on how to use Google+ Events to invite people to your Hangout On Air ahead of time. This way nobody will miss your Hangout, and you will have one place where all the social commentary can live.1. Create a public Event well in advance of your Hangout On Air.
2. Be sure NOT to select ‘Google+ Hangout’ in the Event Options.
3. When you’re ready to broadcast, create a Hangout On Air like you would today and invite your participants.
4. Copy the YouTube URL of the Hangout On Air
5. Then, edit the Event, click on ‘Event Options’ and select ‘Advanced Options’ so you see ‘Show Additional Fields’
6. Paste the Hangout On Air URL in the “YouTube URL” field
7. Now your Hangout On Air will broadcast directly to your Event page!

Repost – EcoFactor closes $8M for energy data, analytics

admin — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:48:06 +0000

Oct 11, 2012 – 10:51AM PT

BY Katie Fehrenbacher

Startups using smart algorithms and big data continue to attract venture capital funding.

EcoFactor, a startup that uses smart algorithms and connected thermostats to reduce customers’ energy consumption, has raised another round of $8 million. That brings the company’s total funding raised to date to $13.5 million.

EcoFactor, founded in 2006 and launched in late 2009, has developed software that plugs in a lot of data about things like weather and demographics, and combines that data with information about the home owners’ behavior. EcoFactor uses these big data sets to tweak a home’s connected thermostat settings ever so slightly to shave off energy consumption, but also to maintain a comfortable temperature in the home.

Think of EcoFactor’s software a bit like Nest’s learning thermostat, but without the slick hardware. Customers can manually override the EcoFactor settings at any time.

Utilities are partnering with EcoFactor to run demand response programs, which is when utilities collectively reduce customers’ heating and cooling consumption at times of peak demand. Say it’s 4pm and the height of Summer and utilities can use EcoFactor’s software to cool customer’s homes (that have agreed to be in the program) at a slower rate. EcoFactor has sold its services to Reliant Energy. Other companies that sell similar energy analytics products, like Nest, and EnergyHub, are also working with Reliant and other utilities.

Broadband service providers, like cable companies, are also interested in these types of energy management services, and EcoFactor has partnered with Comcast and its Xfinity Home service. Selling energy management is a way that broadband service providers can use their networks to sell more services and attract new customers.

EcoFactor’s new funding comes from Aster Capital, and includes additional funding from existing investors Claremont Creek Ventures and RockPort Capital Partners.

Google powers a data center directly with wind for the first time

admin — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:52:16 +0000

REPOST From GigaOM

BY Katie Fehrenbacher

For the first time Google has purchased wind power to directly power a data center in Oklahoma. Previously Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into clean power projects, but had yet to power its data centers directly with clean power.

While Google has been an investor in, and advocate for, clean energy for years, on Wednesday the company announced that for the first time it will buy clean energy from a utility to directly power one of its data centers in Oklahoma. Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into solar and wind projects throughout the U.S., but before this had yet to purchase clean power to directly run one of its data centers.

This move, to have clean energy directly power a data center, has always been in the plans. Google’s former green energy czar Bill Weihl (now at Facebook) told me years ago that the ultimate end game was for Google to procure clean energy to use for its data centers. But the search engine giant needed to find the right area, the right utility partner and a new(ish) data center project.

That sweet spot was a data center built in Mayes County, Oklahoma in 2011. Earlier this year Google started working with utility Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) to buy 48 MW of wind energy from the Canadian Hills Wind Project in Oklahoma. Google says it paid a premium (higher than the basic cheap power it could get elsewhere) to purchase the wind power from the project. As Greenpeace points out, half of Oklahoma’s power grid is run on coal.

Google says the GRDA approached it about buying power from the wind project in early 2012 to sell to Google. The wind project is GRDA’s first clean power project. We need more utilities like this that are willing to work with big customers that want to buy clean power. Most power customers, other than some of the leading Internet companies, aren’t aggressively looking for clean power and willing to pay a premium for it.

Most of the massive Internet companies are building their data centers in locations where power is cheap and reliable. And usually that means fossil fuel power — coal or natural gas — and sometimes means hydro power. The exception is areas like Iceland, which have geothermal and hydro in spades, so can provide cheap, reliable clean power. The Chief Technology Officer of Verne Global, Tate Cantrell, will be speaking at our Structure Europe event next month.

This is one of the first times I’ve heard of a data center operator buying a substantial amount of clean power from a utility project for a premium. So kudos to Google for that.

Greenpeace released a statement about Google’s clean power data center news:

Google’s announcement today shows what the most forward-‐thinking, successful companies can accomplish when they are serious about powering their operations with clean energy.

Hopefully this is just the first of such announcements from Google.

Google fundamentally believes that it should work with utilities to buy clean power. In contrast other Internet companies like Apple are opting to build their own clean power. Apple is building a massive solar panel farm (through developer SunPower), and a large biogas-powered fuel cell farm (from Bloom Energy), next to its data center in Maiden, North Carolina. Auction site eBay is also building a huge fuel cell farm at one of its data centers.

The leading Internet companies are just starting to dabble in experimenting with clean power. The vast majority are still opting for low cost, reliable power, which usually means going where the grid is powered by fossil fuels. Power and data centers is still controversial — check out the New York Times recent story on that, as well as my opinion on that story. Also read my feature story on the controversial world of clean power and data centers.

Gov. Perry Touts Public-Private Aerospace Collaboration to save Texas Talent

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:23:47 +0000

Friday, February 17, 2012

• Austin, Texas • Press Release

Gov. Rick Perry today praised the creation of a public-private partnership that will harness the Texas based talent, creativity and resources at Houston’s NASA Johnson Space Center into innovative technologies with groundbreaking implications for our daily lives. This partnership will play an integral role in keeping some of our nation’s brightest minds in Texas, and preserving jobs that might otherwise be lost as a result of the ending of the constellation program. Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade announced the initiative at the Texas Governor’s Small Business Forum: Aerospace Collaboration Opportunities event held at the JSC.

“Over the years, JSC and its private partners have developed a coveted pool of some of the most creative minds in engineering and space exploration in the world,” Gov. Perry said. “These men and women, and the groundbreaking technology they have developed, are important resources for the Houston area and our state. We want to keep them here, and the opportunities created by this partnership will help link these men and women with innovative companies that can bring more technologies to market.”

The state is awarding $500,000 to BayTech, a nonprofit advanced technology business consortium, to fund the Texas Innovation Program, which will help link highly trained aerospace workers with private sector partners to create new companies, expand existing companies, add jobs and keep working talent in Texas.

“The Texas Innovation Program will work to capitalize on Texas’ talented workers to meet research and development demands, and will help some of the 3,000 workers transition their skills into creating new companies and products,” Secretary Andrade said. “Entrepreneurs will be able to capitalize on JSC facilities and equipment to develop and commercialize new technologies.”

Additionally, the state is awarding $250,000 from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) to the Houston Technology Center to create a Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization (RCIC) at JSC to provide resources to the scientific entrepreneurial community in the Bay Area. Like others in the state, this RCIC will review and recommend projects to the TETF Advisory Committee for consideration for funding, and will offer entrepreneurs educational forums, coaching, mentoring, and introduction to capital investments and valuable network resources.

“This is a great opportunity for both the region and the state to generate new revenue streams using the skills and knowledge developed through this nation’s human spaceflight program. Other industry clusters and academia will have the opportunity to work with the NASA Johnson Space Center, building partnerships founded on the innovation and technology of our space program,” Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership President Bob Mitchell said. “We are thankful Gov. Perry recognizes the important role these kinds of strategic partnerships play in the economic future of Bay Area Houston and the State of Texas.”

“The Gulf Coast RCIC and the Houston Technology Center recognize the integral role that the JSC community has in the technology and economic development future of the Gulf Coast region and Texas,” Houston Technology Center President and CEO Walter Ulrich said. “The Houston Technology Center is pleased to see its role in the TETF program expanded to include this vital new emphasis and the opportunity to expand our mission of accelerating the growth of emerging technology and creating jobs in the Johnson Space Center area.”

Governor’s Small Business Forums are held across the Lone Star State, in collaboration with the Texas Workforce Commission, to help the Texas entrepreneur and Texas small business communities with the challenges in starting, operating and growing a business while illuminating the opportunities, tools and resources available. Forums provide access to valuable information on workforce development, training grants, expanding markets and other business growth opportunities. Through regional collaboration with hundreds of community, business and educational organizations throughout Texas, these forums are one more reason Texas is the top job creating state in the nation.

Louisiana PSC Proceeds with Energy Efficiency Rulemaking

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:38:48 +0000

Third Round of Comments due Tomorrow

The Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) has released its first proposal (deadline extension) on developing a statewide energy efficiency (EE) program. The proposal broadly recommends a two-phase approach for the statewide program, which would determine EE targets and eligible measures for electric and gas utility companies. The deadline to file comments on PSC staff’s Phase 1 recommendations is this Friday, Jan. 9. Four copies of comments must be filed in hard copy format.

Phase 1 involves a series of trial “Quick Start” programs broadly intended to encourage utilities and their customers to become more energy-efficient in the short term. Each utility has 60 days to determine which self-selected EE measures are the most cost-effective before including them in its Quick Start EE portfolio. CHP may be considered among such measures. Once set, utilities’ Phase 1 programs will be implemented over a 36-month period with evaluations conducted every 12 months. Results from Phase 1 will inform the development of the more comprehensive Phase 2. Rulemaking for Phase 2 will not begin until after Quick Start programs have been implemented over the next 365 days. Development of Phase 2 programs will require input by stakeholders on several key issues, including CHP’s eligibility. Gas-fired CHP was excluded from the state’s new pilot Renewable Portfolio Standard, which allows for all forms of waste heat recovery and biomass-only CHP.

Waste Not, Want Not: Europe’s Unexploited Biomass

admin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:20:14 +0000

Waste Not, Want Not: Europe’s Unexploited Biomass

By Jørgen Hinge, Danish Technological Institute; Eija Alikangas, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland; Leonardo Nibbi, University of Florence; Edita Vagonyte, European Affairs Manager, AEBIOM
August 5, 2011

New EU targets for carbon reduction mean that many countries are launching ambitious plans to increase energy production from biomass. Jørgen Hinge et al. scanned the European market for unexploited and ‘alternative’ biomass resources.

The use of biomass for energy production is widespread throughout the world and has been so for ages. In recent years, however, demand has increased significantly because biomass is used for new applications (large scale energy production, liquid biofuels etc). In order to meet new targets on CO₂ reduction and to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, many countries are now launching ambitious plans to increase energy production from biomass.

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Google Plus Hangouts

admin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:38:05 +0000

Ever Jones for a free video conferencing tool that gives you the ability to integrate all of your desktop application in one spot.

How about the desire to start a personal chat session to discuss whatever is on your mind. Risky for some people I know, but stay with me.

I belong to a number of social, environmental, and epicurean groups that occasionally have a burning topic, which may only require 10 – 15 minutes of your time to collect the data for future use.

If you are a Google+ user you can use the “Hangouts” option and connect with your circle of friends, or you can create or subscriber to a Google+ Public list forum and schedule periodic check ins for face to face video chats that allow you the ability to conduct an online conference.

If you want to broaden your subscriber base for personal topic of interest, like the ones I belong to, then you may want to look into Gphangouts. Gphangouts offers a directory of public Hangouts anyone can just step in and join. The site shows when the Hangouts are starting and topics to be discussed (if any); click through to the Google+ user profile and then the “Join this hangout” button at the specified time. You can also add your own public hangout to the listing.