Archive for the ‘Biogas’ Category

BC Bioenergy Network Invests $1.5 M in Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre “Energy Garden” — an Innovative Organic Waste to Energy Demonstration – MarketWatch

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

The funding will support two components: a $1 M loan towards the commercial demonstration of a High Solids Anaerobic Digestion (HSAD) plant that will convert municipal green waste (food scraps and yard trimmings) to produce electricity under the BC Hydro Community Based Biomass Power Call, and a $500,000 grant towards acquiring a pilot scale mobile HSAD testing unit — a “Mobile Energy Harvester” — that will be used initially in Richmond and later toured throughout North America.

via BC Bioenergy Network Invests $1.5 M in Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre “Energy Garden”

Posted in BC, Biogas, Clean Energy, Electric, Footprint, GHG reduction, waste | No Comments »

Surrey’s Move Toward Sustainable Future

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

“Surrey will have a refuse and recycling fleet by 2014 powered … by a renewable form of natural gas [biomethane] made from the city’s own wastes.”

It is great to see that Surrey’s vision of going green is now being realized also in the waste handling and fuel generation area.  Read more about it here.

Surrey’s Move Toward Sustainable Future

Posted in BC, Biogas, Biomass, Clean Energy, CNG, Footprint, transportation | 1 Comment »

Green super slime a potential solution to greenhouse gases

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Carbon-catching algae have been chosen as one of four “flagship” projects at the council, which has of budget of almost $1 billion and 4,000 staff across Canada.

“The idea behind a flagship,” said McDougall, “is to do something really important that would be substantial in scale and make a real difference to Canada if you could pull it off.”

Here is a solid story about Algae and carbon capture – this is definately one of many solutions humankind needs to work on.  Growing algae in sewage by injecting CO2 and then converting the algae to fuel seems like a suitable way to get started.  

via Green algae a CO2 sink with great potential

Posted in Biogas, Biomass, Clean Energy, CNG, Footprint, GHG reduction, International, LNG, waste | No Comments »

Alberta company pursuing ethylene from methane

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Alberta-based Quantiam Technologies is one of five companies worldwide highlighted in new research by Vancouver-based cleantech research company Kachan & Co.

Kachan has published an abstract of a new private study that found 24 companies worldwide at the forefront of the science of converting methane into the high value chemical ethylene, used in the production of plastics and other important industrial projects. For decades, chemical engineers have been pursuing cost effective ways to make this key industrial compound from other things. Now, a handful of companies think they’re honing in on ways to make ethylene from the methane in natural gas with commercially viable processes… something that’s been tried for decades by the oil majors for decades but has been elusive so far.

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Posted in AB, Biogas, LNG | No Comments »

Global Biofuels Market Value to Double to $185 Billion by 2021

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

From Caelus Green Room: 

http://www.caelusgreenroom.com/2011/10/11/global-biofuels-market-value-to-double-to-185-billion-by-2021/

Motivated by growing concerns related to energy security, climate change, and economic stagnation, at least 38 national governments throughout the world have enacted blending mandates or targets to accelerate the expansion of biofuels production and consumption in the transportation sector.  Biofuels hold significant potential to displace a portion of the demand for fossil fuels, especially in the transportation sector.  According to a new report from Pike Research, the increased production and consumption of biofuels will more than double the industry’s market value in the next decade.  The cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that the global market for biofuels will increase from $82.7 billion in 2011 to $185.3 billion by 2021.

Read More…

Posted in Biogas, Clean Energy | 1 Comment »

Meet the Fuel of the Future

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Via Discovery News - Analysis by Eric Niiler

Discovery News reports on Electro-fuels

Archaean bacterium Credit: Corbis

“…So to break the stranglehold of foreign oil, scientists and engineers are developing something called electro-fuels –- taking strange microorganisms that feed off harmful ammonia or hydrogen sulfides, running a charge of electricity through the solution, and watching as they convert carbon dioxide into the same kind of fuels we need to run our cars.”

READ MORE…

http://news.discovery.com/tech/electro-fuel-microbes-gas-111027.html

 

Reposted by: Big Picture Communication

 

 

Posted in Biogas, Clean Energy, Clean power, storage | No Comments »

Accelerating the Growth of Your Cleantech Company

Friday, October 21st, 2011

GreenTech Exchange (GTE) presents Mr. Eamonn Percy…

Accelerating the Growth of Your Cleantech Company


Ready to take your organization to the next level? 
In this GreenTech Exchange (GTE) event, the focus is to address some of the strategic and business issues for emerging BC Cleantech companies by providing practical advice and observations on how they can accelerate their development and achieve sustainable growth. With a proven track record of success with such companies as Ford, Pirelli, Ballard and Powertech, our Keynote Speaker is a seasoned technology executive and a veteran of the Clean Energy/Cleantech sector.
How is the world changing for BC Cleantech companies?
Competition is heating up; global economic uncertainty is spreading; energy prices are fluctuating, and new regions are vying to be leaders in the Cleantech hubs. With numerous Cleantech companies emerging from British Columbia, it has never been more critical for local Cleantech companies to accelerate growth in order to create a sustainable local Cleantech sector.
What will you learn in this session? 
Learn how to grow your Cleantech company by:
  • Penetrating new global markets
  • Building a strategic plan and achieving organizational alignment
  • Developing top talent
  • Creating a culture of relentless action
About Our Speaker
Eamonn Percy is an accomplished business leader with a track record of success in delivering performance and profitability, in C-level leadership roles, with global companies in the energy, technology and engineering sectors.
From 2008 to 2010 he was President and COO of Powertech Labs. Working in close co-operation with the Executive Chair, he set the company on a high growth plan by developing and implementing a new strategic plan and creating a strong financial position, resulting in a 30% revenue growth, doubling of operating income and the return to cash flow positive. From 2002 to 2008, he built a thriving business advisory firm focused on implementing strategic growth initiatives. From 1997 to 2002, he was Vice-President, Operations, for Ballard Power Systems where he played a key role in building organizational capability and effective working partnerships with key global partners such as Daimler and Ford Motor Company. From 1992 to 1997, he was responsible for the restructuring and dramatic turnaround of Pirelli Cables and Optical Systems, where it was returned to strong profitability and transformed into Canada’s largest supplier of fibre optic cable with sales of over $75 million per annum.
Eamonn has completed Executive Education in Leading and Managing Change at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and earned an MBA (Finance) from University of Toronto, a B. Eng. (Electrical with an Economics Minor) from Lakehead University and a Dip. Tech. (Electrical Power) from British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Currently, he chairs the UBC Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) Advisory Board, and is a member of Mayor Diane Watts’ Clean Energy Advisory Network, and a member of the UBC School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Industry Advisory Committee. He is a past board member of Lakehead University Board of Governors and the Architectural Institute of BC Board.
In 2007, Eamonn received the BCIT Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Leadership and Service to the Community and is also a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 award.
(more…)

Posted in BC, Biogas, Biomass, Clean Energy, Clean power, Clean tech, Connected, Efficiency, Electric, Events, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen, International, smart grid, solar, water, wind | No Comments »

Ferry Fuel Of The Future: LNG ?

Monday, October 17th, 2011

“It will never work because there is no infrastructure!” I wonder how many times these words, or their 19thcentury equivalents, were spoken by sailing ship owners contemplating the move into mechanical propulsion.

So here we go again – its time to shift fuel, we know it needs to be done, yet the industry (or some organization related to the industry still resist the change). The fact that Natural Gas is available and available at a lower cost than Oil, Diesel or Bunker (as they call it) is well know. The fact that LNG is also cleaner and emits far less SOx and Nox than bunker, may not be so well known. The fact that if a ship with LNG would run aground – which happens once in 1,000,000-10,000,000 trips (also called low risk) – it would not pollute (that is require manual clean-up) may not be so well known.

Now we can also add the fact that LNG could be partially or completely renewable if it is made from Biogas (which is made from old food waste).  So all in all LNG as a fuel for ships seems to be a pretty clean and green solution.

Read more in this story and let us know what you think about LNG powered ships.

via Ferry Fuel Of The Future: LNG

Posted in Biogas, Clean Energy, Clean power, CNG, Efficiency, Footprint, International, LNG, transportation | 1 Comment »

Lake Power using Methane Gas – a newish concept by Wartsila in Rwanda

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Now here is a good project.  Naturally occurring methane or (biogas) in Lake Kivu is used to power a 20 cylinder Wartsila engine that will deliver 25Mw of power.  Nature is helping out in creating Natural gas (CH4) and the folks from Finland are there to make it happen. Guess how many Nokia phones you can charge with 25MW of power?  If any one reading this happens to know someone in Rwanda who could snap a picture or short video and post it on isCleaner – that would be much appreciated. In fact there will be a price/reward for that! Let me know Claes@isCleaner.com.

Lake Kivu, located on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, contains high concentrations of naturally occurring methane gas. By tapping this indigenous fuel to generate energy, the need to import energy can be reduced.Furthermore, since the build-up of the gas is ongoing, it has been predicted in studies that a saturation point will eventually be reached that could lead to a catastrophic gas release. Extraction of the gas has thus the potential to both mitigate the risks of dangerous eruptions and provide substantial energy reserves. The actual extraction of gas from the lake, however, is not included within Wartsilas contractual scope.

Read more here Wartsila to supply power plant running on methane gas to Rwanda

Posted in Biogas, Clean Energy, Clean power, CNG, Electric, Footprint, GHG reduction, International | No Comments »

Surrey Wins Clean Energy ‘Community of the Year Award’

Monday, September 26th, 2011

With a multi-pronged strategy for embracing clean energy initiatives, Surrey has thought of cleaner transportation, hydrogen fueling stations, DES, a biofuel production plant, and many other avenues to decrease carbon emissions. For this, they have been awarded the Clean Energy Association of BC’s ‘Community of the Year Award.” See more details here.

Posted in BC, Biogas, buildings, Clean Energy, CNG, DES, Fuel Cells, GHG reduction, Hydrogen, transportation | No Comments »