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1. Bionavitas to Grow High-Density Algae — Secret Weapon? Light Rods
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2. Lawmakers Look to Tech Execs, Wal-Mart for Smart Grid Scoop
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3. Intel Says Cheap Computing Is the Answer to Cutting Energy
Bionavitas to Grow High-Density Algae — Secret Weapon? Light Rods
Josie Garthwaite - Startups
At this point, Bionavitas needs capital for a large-scale demonstration of its technology. Backed by angel investors so far, the company is now negotiating a Series A round to finance an algae-to-biofuel pilot plant within 16 months. Of course, financing for this kind of facility is scarce these days, so that timeline may be ambitious. But Bionavitas has other pots brewing: In addition to building its own biorefineries (likely with partners who specialize in extraction) Bionavitas plans to sell its equipment for biofuels and food-grade algae production, water remediation and carbon capture at power plants or heavy industrial sites.
Interest in the carbon capture side of Bionavitas’s business has shot up recently, largely due to looming carbon pricing legislation and programs in the stimulus package. “If you’re making algae this dense,” Weaver said, “you have to have a CO2 source.” It might as well come from a power plant willing to pay to get rid of it.
Photo credit Bionavitas
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
Lawmakers Look to Tech Execs, Wal-Mart for Smart Grid Scoop
Josie Garthwaite - Energy
Not too long ago, executives from IBM, Wal-Mart and General Electric might have seemed a motley crew of experts for a Congressional hearing about the electric grid and clean power. But yesterday the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming heard testimony from that very crew, plus the CEOs of gas turbine maker Florida Turbine Technologies and smart grid software developer Current Group, to learn about technology that can bring the national energy grid up to date and incorporate renewable energy.
At this point, the grid and energy game is more open than it has been for years. As Current Group CEO Tom Casey noted in his testimony, the legacy players hardly have a lock on the smart grid:
[I]t is highly likely neither the "Google" nor the "iPod" of home energy management has been invented yet and it is just as likely that it will not be invented by a traditional vendor of utility equipment.
Wal-Mart, which joined the nonprofit Demand Response Coordinating Committee three years ago, has been in high demand this week in Washington as a representative of big energy consumers. The mega-retailer weighed in with political all-stars at a forum on electricity transmission and energy policy through Lee Scott, chairman of Wal-Mart’s executive board (he retired from the CEO post earlier this month). “We know where we want to go,” Scott said, urging legislators at the forum to tackle the challenges of a smart grid buildout quickly. “We cannot wait until we have every absolute turn figured out [to] start the journey.”
Wal-Mart-sized power users aside, Current Group CEO Tom Casey testified yesterday that demand-side management can only go so far in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel imports. Swift and significant change will require more than smart meters for commercial and residential customers (which allow real-time energy pricing and better load management — read more in our Smart Grid FAQ) and in-home devices like programmable thermostats, Casey said. He suggested that lawmakers should think twice before being swept up in enthusiasm for residential metering technology. From Casey’s prepared testimony:
We believe that the case for using advanced meters, pricing and control systems for commercial and industrial customers who consume approximately 65% of overall electric power in the United States is strong, the approximate $40 billion required for residential metering may be better spent and produce significantly higher benefits by implementing a Smart Grid on the grid itself along with a more selective installation of advanced meters.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
Intel Says Cheap Computing Is the Answer to Cutting Energy
Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy
Maloney explained to a group of reporters before the speech that he realized the power of using software and computing to design goods through Intel’s largely virtualized design processes of its chips. He went on to say that more architects need to use widely available simulation software on regular PCs to design buildings with less physical models (which take energy to produce), as well as being able to include energy-efficient aspects of the building within the design from the beginning.
To be sure, the chip maker doesn’t produce building design or product design software — but such a move on the part of architects would help proliferate Intel’s chief business: chips. Basically the more computing power used, the more chips Intel sells. The indirect strategy is not unlike Google’s investments in broadband technology, whereby the more Internet users there are in the world, the more people will search using Google.
So why is Intel pushing the manufacturing, transportation and construction industries to use more computing now? Maloney says that with the passage of the stimulus bill, and similar measures in other countries, the world’s governments will be injecting trillions into those three industries, creating jobs and projects. Intel is lobbying governments around the world to help them allocate the funds effectively by promoting efficient computing-based design processes, according to Maloney. Will the infrastructure boom from the stimulus deliver a boost to the semiconductor biz? Intel hopes so.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
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