It’s shameless self promotion, I know, but this is how you create awareness of books, and the point of writing Mad Like Tesla was to create awareness of the innovation going on around clean energy and the immense barriers inventors and entrepreneurs face. I also wanted to celebrate those much-needed risk takers in society, without whom we will never have the kind of breakthroughs necessary to tackle our energy demons. It’s part of the reason I write and have maintained this Clean Break blog for the past six years, without financial gain. It’s a labour of love, as time consuming as it often can be.

Mad Like Tesla: Underdog Inventors and Their Relentless Pursuit of Clean Energy was launched this month and has been well-received. The reviews so far have been positive, and awareness of the book is slowly building. But not fast enough. I want to take this moment to ask my readers, many of whom have already purchased the book (thank you!), to help spread the word. Share this link or the Mad Like Tesla website (www.madliketesla.com) on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Refer to it when commenting on the various blogs you might follow. And for my media friends out there — whether in the mainstream press or the blogosphere — please consider a review, or alternatively, I’m happy to chat about the many odd and inspiring stories in this book. Please see press release here.

Thank you all for your ongoing interest and support. BTW: Many have asked, so I’m happy to report that the e-book version of Mad Like Tesla is now available at Amazon.com.

I already posted on L.A.-based Rentech’s plans to build a $500-million jet fuel biorefinery four hours north of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, using residual crown timber. My latest Clean Break column looks at that project in more detail and against the backdrop of a coming European Union aviation “carbon” tax that will hit all airlines flying into the EU on Jan. 1, 2012.

Also, I had a chance to attend a panel at the BIO World Congress conference in Toronto this week on the challenges of producing renewable jet fuel. The panellists all agreed that producing low-carbon jet fuel from algae, jatropha, camelina and wood was not only technically doable but could be done economically. The potential problem, as one panellist pointed out, is that producers may opt first to make higher value products, such as green chemicals and nutriceuticals, which can fetch a much higher price per litre and, by association, a higher profit. In other words, we can make the green jet fuel, but will we use it as jet fuel?

So far, that’s Rentech’s intention — but will it change its mind? Either way, from a climate perspective, the end product will still presumably displace petroleum-based feedstocks, so it would seem all good in the end.

My Clean Break column today takes a look at the power of Web 2.0, or social networking, or whatever you want to call it as a way to problem-solve or influence consumer and social behaviour as it relates to energy consumption, management and production. I take a look at a new initiative in Toronto called ClimateSpark.ca that is using the Web as a way to access a community of good ideas that might otherwise be lost in the noise or overlooked by a finicky venture-capital crowd. I also look at a new Toronto-based Web venture called Lowfoot.com that is trying to created a Facebook-like community of energy users who can participate in a cash-for-conservation program that rewards good behaviour. Who knows if it will work, but clearly there appears an emerging role for Web 2.0 in the energy game.

Apologies for the low frequency of posts over the past few days. It’s been extremely busy. My grandmother, a dear lady who had the good fortune of living to 96, also passed away Thursday morning so I’ve been assisting on that front.

I do want to point out a few upcoming events, however. Read below for details on the Greening Greater Toronto Marketplace on May 12, an alternative energy panel I’m moderating at the Empire Club of Canada on May 21, and the Net-Zero Energy Home Awards on June 8. (more…)