There was a big stink this week when a published study, led by University of Virginia civil engineering professor Andres Clarens, concluded that producing biofuels from algae isn’t as climate-friendly as many people believe, at least when compared to getting biofuels from switchgrass, canola, and – Huh? — even corn. The results, according to an abstract of the study, “indicate that these conventional crops have a lower environmental impact than algae in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and water regardless of cultivation location.” Why? Because of the need to supply more nutrients — i.e. fertilizer — to algae to stimulate growth, and fertilizer is energy-intensive to produce.

The problem with this conclusion? Clarens based the life-cycle analysis on data that was mostly 10 years old. For example, some current algae cultivation practices, particularly those based on wastewater or sea water, tackle the fertilizer issue head on. So the age of the data is an important bit of information that should have been made very clear in the study — even the abstract. Ten years in the world of technology, particular cleantech, is a long time. I mean, the big R&D push around algae-based fuels only began three or four years ago, and 10 years ago the “cleantech” sector didn’t exist in name. Ten years ago the world was still wrapping its head around Y2K, George W. Bush was just getting into office, Google was still a start-up years from going public, and the TV show CSI (the original one) had its world premiere. In other words, you can expect data about algae cultivation to be, well, rather useless as a reflection of current practices.

This isn’t to blame Clarens. As he told the New York Times’ Green Inc., the most current data out there is simply unavailable to academia. It’s proprietary. (more…)

Hopefully this will set the standard for grocery stores across Ontario and the rest of Canada. StormFisher Biogas has signed a deal with grocery chain Loblaws, which will send organic trimmings from 47 of its stores across southwestern Ontario to a StormFisher facility. StormFisher will then use its anaerobic digestion systems to convert the waste into biogas, and then burn the biogas to generate electricity that will be sold onto the provincial grid under the feed-in tariff program. That program pays between 10.4 and 16 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the size of the facility. StormFisher expects operation will begin in 2010.

Calgary-based Alter NRG Corp., which has plasma gasification technology that can turn biomass and coal into syngas, is also going after the energy-from-waste market. The company announced today that it has signed an MOU with Dufferin County in Ontario, which includes Orangeville, to build a 2-megawatt power facility that will convert 75 tonnes of municipal solid waste each day into electricity. Construction on the $32 million facility is expected to start in late 2010 and full operation will commence in late 2012, if all goes as planned. Alter NRG said Ontario is an ideal market because incentives exist for the power that comes from clean-energy facilities and regulations have been streamlined to speed up development and construction of projects.

It will be interesting to see how Alter NRG’s technology and approach compares with that of Plasco Energy, which is operating a pilot waste-to-energy facility in Ottawa and has had more than its share of problems over the past couple of years. Alter NRG, I should point out, is the company that purchased geoexchange development company Clean Energy Developments two weeks ago.

Plasma gasification company Alter NRG Corp. of Calgary has acquired Mississauga-based Clean Energy Developments Corp. (CED) for $18.4 million. It’s an odd deal, when you consider Alter NRG’s main business is to build systems that gasify coal and biomass to produce a number of outputs, including ethanol, syngas and electricity. Clean Energy, on the other hand, is a geoexchange project developer that got its start working with residential and commercial builders.

But Alter NRG decided it was a nice opportunity to diversify its business, considering the plasma gasification market still requires some time to mature. Company president and CEO Mark Montemurro said Alter NRG has the balance sheet and executive team that will help CED or “CleanEnergy” grow its business, which today sits at $6 million in revenues. “From a cash position, the acquisition provides for more stable and near-term revenue and cashflow from geoexchange installations which will be enhanced by the larger but less predictable plasma gasification equipment sales,” the company said.

I wrote about CleanEnergy a few years ago, when the company was just getting started. Back then, its primary focus was to work with homebuilders that wanted to include geoexchange systems as an option for new homebuyers. One of its first projects was in 2006 with Ontario-based Marshall Homes, which offered geothermal and solar thermal as an option in one of its subdivisions. These days, CleanEnergy is busy installing geoexchange systems for hotels, schools, commercial office buildings, and high-end homes. It still works with builders, but will also work directly with large customers.

Alter NRG knew it had to come up with some way of generating cash flow. Selling gasification systems is a risky business and has long sales cycles, while selling geoexchange systems can take place in a rapidly maturing market that is currently supported with generous government subsidies. Sales cycles are shorter, allowing for cash flow. So while it might seem like an odd fit for NRG, it could turn out to be a wise acquisition.

It’s that time again. Sustainable Development Technology Canada has awarded grants to another round of companies eager to demonstrate their respective clean technologies. This time around 18 projects are being funded to the tune of $54 million. To date SDTC has invested $425 million in 171 clean technology projects. Of the 18, here are a few that caught my attention:

* Duropar Technologies Inc. of Brampton, Ontario, has partnered with Canadian Pacific Railway on a project that seeks to replace the use of creosote-covered railway ties with ones that are made of 100 per cent waste-based composite material. By waste, I mean plastic that is difficult to recycle through municipal programs and old asphalt, which is a pain in the butt to dispose of. Now, no secret that the old creosote ties have toxic chemicals in them that leech into the soil and ground-water along train tracks. Here’s a fact I didn’t know: the railway industry goes through more than 20 million ties a year in North America alone. “Each tie leaches up to 15 kilograms of creosote over its lifetime,” according to SDTC. Duropar has no apparent Web site, but I did find this link to one of their patents. Its composite ties don’t leech, so are considered a much “greener” alternative.

* Saltworks Technologies Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., has developed a desalination system “that reduces electrical energy requirements by up to 80 per cent, thereby improving the affordability and accessibility of clean water,” according to SDTC. The key to this is an inexpensive, low-temperature thermal energy conversion system that uses solar energy or industrial waste heat (process heat) to reduce electricity consumption. For the SDTC project, Saltworks will build a commercial-scale 5,000-litre/day “transportable” pilot plant that can be used for ocean water. The process doesn’t rely on chemicals. The company, as you can see by its Web site, is still pretty much in stealth mode. If its process and technology are as efficient as promised, this could be huge for the Middle East, Australia, and shoreline areas of the U.S. southwest that have scarce fresh-water resources. The Middle East alone, certainly an area with terrific solar exposure, wants to build several massive oil-fired generating stations that will be used to power desalination plants. The potential market is massive.

* And then there’s StormFisher Biogas of Toronto, a company I’ve written about several times before. Seems StormFisher is moving ahead with plans to produce biogas in anaerobic digesters that can be injected into Ontario’s natural gas pipeline — specifically, the pipeline owned and operated by Union Gas. It will be a Canadian-first if they can do it, though “Canadian first” means little when we know it’s being done all the time in Europe. Still, nice to see us getting into the game. StormFisher’s system will take methane produced from manure and food processing by-products (i.e grape skins from wine-making, waste from cheese and milk production, etc.) and will convert it into pipeline-grade natural gas. At the same time, StormFisher’s own process by-product — i.e. the digestate — will be turned into a quality organic fertilizer that can be sold back to farmers to displace the use of chemical fertilizers. “The project aims to validate next generation biogas technologies which, although commercially available in Europe, are not in use in North America,” according to SDTC.