Blatant Reality

Obama’s popularity may still be pretty high but his issue support is quickly dropping. In fact, after just a few short months, the American public is beginning to trust Republicans more on some key issues like the economy and soon on healthcare if the polling trends continue.

So what does it mean if the president enjoys personal popularity but declining support on particular issues?  Well, if things continue on these trends, Democrats will at the very least lose seats in the 2010 midterm election.

In an article that looks at these polling trends, the author argues that Obama will face a tough election in 2012 and makes an interesting contrast to the Clinton presidency.

Interestingly, Obama’s polling is now the exact opposite of President Clinton’s in the days after Monica Lewinsky. Back then, the president’s approval for handling specific issues was his forte, while his job approval remained high but his personal favorability lagged 20 points behind. Ultimately, it is a politician’s performance on specific issues that determines his electability. Personal favorability withers in the face of issue differences. Obama is about to find out that you cannot rely on image to bolster your presidency when the underlying issues are crumbling.

 

All this data suggests that Obama might run out of steam just as he gets to his healthcare agenda. As unemployment mounts, month after month, and Obama’s claims of job creation (or savings) ring hollow, it is possible that he will not have the heft to pass his radical restructuring of the healthcare system. The automaton Democratic majority may pass it anyway, but it will be a one-way ticket to oblivion if they do.

Read the rest of the article.

In other news, only 26% of Americans feel the economy is improving.

In today’s Rasmussen Consumer Index, only 26% of Americans believe the economy is getting better while 52% Americans feel it is continuing to get worse. This issue even crosses political lines with more Democrats and Republicans viewing the economy getting worse than better.

Nationally, 26% of adults believe the economy is getting better, while 52% disagree and say it is getting worse. Democrats are much more optimistic than Republicans. Thirty-five percent (35%) of Democrats think the economy is getting better, while only 16% of Republicans feel the same way. Meanwhile, 45% of Democrats say the economy is getting worse and 62% of Republicans say the same thing.

 

(…)

 

Among investors, 30% think the economy is getting better, while 48% say it is getting worse.

Since I think this consumer index changes each day, here is a screen shot of the article:

Actually I can’t guarantee any marching, but there will most likely be some walking involved. Several algae biofuel representatives will be at Capitol hill today to discuss the benefits of supporting the algae biofuel sector.

Leaders of the algae biofuel industry will meet on Capitol Hill today to brief congressional legislators on sector-wide technology and production advancements allowing for commercially-viable fuels, and advocate for continued federal support to help see the technology to maturity.

 

Algae-based biofuel has captured widespread interest for its ability to deliver significantly higher yields than plant-based technologies, recycle CO2 directly from industrial sources and not compete with agricultural land or water supply. To better inform legislators in setting a Renewable Fuel Standard, Tax Code and Recovery Act funding inclusive of such promising technologies, executives from leading algae biofuel companies Aurora Biofuels, LiveFuels, and Solix Biofuels – together with representation from the Biotechnology Industry Organization – will gather in Washington D.C. to provide government representatives with contextual information relevant to this rising interest in algae fuel generation.

 

“We applaud the leadership of the United States in forwarding carbon sequestration initiatives like the Carbon Capture and Storage Program,” said

 

Bob Walsh, CEO of Aurora Biofuels. “Algae biofuels provide superior benefits in trapping and eliminating industrial carbon waste, and present a great opportunity to attain these program goals.” 

 

“Nurturing an algae biofuel industry in the United States will create jobs that cannot be outsourced,” said

 

David Jones, COO of LiveFuels. “By supporting this industry, we can ensure new high-quality, well-paid jobs – not only in science and technology, but operations as well.” 

 

Doug Henton, CEO of Solix Biofuels, commented that “at the end of the day, no one single solution will address our domestic energy demands, but a continued focus on energy independence and technology neutrality will allow algae biofuels and other promising technologies to rise up and meet these 21st century energy demands.”

Once again, this shows that algae biofuels are getting attention at the highest levels of the US government, a very good sign.

Riggs Eckelberry, the CEO of OriginOil, will be addressing the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO) Renewable Energy Conference this Thursday, June 11th. The Conference will cover biofuels and their feasibility.

During the 3:45 session entitled, “Future of Renewable Energy,” Eckelberry will discuss the viability of biofuels and progress that his company, OriginOil, has made within that field. Moderated by Dr. Carl Liggio, formerly of US Power Generating Company, the event will also feature key speakers that include Dr. Arthur Nozik of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Ron Smith of Verdant Power, HRH Prince Malik ado Ibrahim of Nigeria, and Dr. Daniel Nocera of MIT, among many others.

 

“We are honored to welcome OriginOil to our inaugural ‘meeting of the minds,’” said IREO Secretary-General Robson Mello. “Riggs Eckelberry and his team have been instrumental to the development of this conference, and having their full support behind our event has been a large part of its success.”

 

“The focus of today’s world economies is on job creation, and the biofuels category offers the greatest new jobs potential of any energy source today,” said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. “We will demonstrate how sustainable biofuels production can roll out quickly to offer massive job creation and provide an answer to the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.”

 

As the foremost international voice on Renewable Energy worldwide, IREO has established this annual conference to bring together leaders from political, private and academic sectors to discuss the state of renewable energy needs and plausible solutions in response to the growth of developing nations around the world. The conference will precede the 2nd Annual IREO Renewable Energy Awards Gala, beginning that evening at 6pm.

If you want to attend, you still can sign up here.

Solazyme has raised over $76 million, with the latest “Series C financing round” closing with $57 million.

Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil production company and leader in algal synthetic biology, announced that it has surpassed $76 million in funding, which includes a $57 million Series C financing round that just closed. Solazyme uses microalgae biotechnology to produce clean and scalable fuels, “green” chemicals, edible oils and health and wellness products.

 

Braemar Energy Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the financing round and were joined by other new investors including VantagePoint Venture Partners. All major existing investors participated in the round, including The Roda Group, Harris and Harris Group, and Solazyme Chairman Jerry Fiddler. The round also included new strategic investors in key target markets. All funding has been dispersed to Solazyme and will be used to move the company to commercialization.

 

“This most recent funding validates the unique value of our oil production platform and adds to our already strong financial position. Solazyme’s mission is to answer the increasing global demand for clean and renewable sources of oil. We offer sustainable and scalable technology that provides unique solutions for addressing four of the largest challenges facing our country and our planet: increasing energy demand, heightened energy security needs, energy related environmental degradation and hunger,” said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme.

This is good news. One thing that would quickly kill the whole algae biofuel industry is a lack of funding. This is best illustrated by GreenFuel Technology closing its doors due to credit crunch. The good news is that while GreenFuel failed, many other companies, like Solazyme, are succeeding.

Yesterday, E-Fuel Corporation unveiled their final product model of their E-Fuel MicroFueler, a device that will be able to produce “organic” fuels like ethanol.

 The E-Fuel distribution system produces organic fuel by using carbohydrate waste products found in brewery waste, algae and cellulose. Using semiconductor technology, the appliance-sized units are pump-stations and ethanol distillers that can be installed at residences by the GreenHouse distribution team.

 

Each MicroFueler requires three kilowatts of electricity to produce a gallon of Efuel100, in turn one gallon of Efuel100 will generate up to 23 kilowatts of power. The system’s proponents claim the ethanol generated will play an integral part in reducing California greenhouse gas emissions.

The article goes on the state that the state of California will be looking into the feasability of using the ethanol produced by this in flex-fuel vehicles. The great news is that it looks like these units will produce more energy than it will consume creating the ethanol.

However, from a cursory glance over their “Fact Sheet“, the premise of this whole device is access to cheap alcohol and sugars. For the sugars and alcohol to be cheap, the American taxpayer looks to be footing the bill through subsidy programs.

Anyways, this is interesting technology that has a lot of applications in the future. Now if they could only make it feasible without relying on subsidies…

I read an article yesterday that said Synthetic Genomics may be producing biofuel from genetically engineered algae fairly soon.

As a result, the first commercialization project that Synthetic Genomics undertakes with a major corporate partner may well involve algae that have been genetically engineered to produce biofuels. Synthetic Genomics’ team already has genetically optimized an algae species so that almost half of the organism’s mass consists of lipids, a broad group of naturally occurring molecules that include fats, waxes, sterols and other energy storage compounds. Now the team is enhancing the organism further to make even more lipids. Such algae would serve as a biofuel feedstock.

 

Venter has described “the new algae” as a kind of biochemical factory. In his Joint Genome Institute keynote speech in March, Venter said “the new algae” is something that “secretes whatever lipid size we want to engineer. This changes algae from what everybody’s been looking at as a farming problem into a manufacturing problem. So we are trying to get algae to go into a continuous production mode, pumping up these lipids, that come out in a pure form.”

 

Two years ago, Synthetic Genomics struck a long-term research and development deal with BP, the global energy conglomerate previously known as British Petroleum to develop cleaner energy production. BP has also been a strategic investor in Synthetic Genomics—even though Venter has stated that he wants the company to replace the petrochemical industry in ten years.

 

Many aspects of Venter’s algae project seem fanciful. He has described a future where people produce their own biofuel in their backyards, a self-sufficiency scenario he sees as a major source of future fuel production. He envisions possibly millions of “algae micro refineries,” in neighborhoods throughout the United States and beyond. Genetically engineered algae needs sunlight and carbon dioxide, and then secretes a liquid that “can basically be used right away as biodiesel,” according to Venter. The only hardware needed would be stuff like sinks, filters, barrels and pipes.

There is a lot of information in those few paragraphs. Other than the genetically engineering algae part, notice that Synthetic Genomics is also partnering with British Petroleum, a heavy hitter with deep pockets to help finance the still important research and development phase.

Additionally, the goal of Synthetic Genomics is to ultimately have millions of “algae micro refineries” around the country to process the algae that individual families actually grow. This, at its very essence, would be the ultimate form of energy independence where families will have the ability to grow their own fuel. Pretty cool idea.

After having to scrap their goal of 10% fuel from biofuels by 2010 last summer, Europe is looking towards algae to to help reach their long term goals. However, they are cautious about how soon algae can come into play, stating that industrial scale production is still 10-15 years away.

Research into algae-made biofuels has been active in the last 3 to 5 years, but it would take another 10 to 15 years to turn laboratory experiments into industrial-scale production, said Raffaello Garofalo, executive director of the European Algae Biomass Association.

 

“It will happen in the longer term, 10 to 15 years … There are still challenges and problems to resolve,” Garofalo told Reuters in a telephone interview from Florence, Italy, where the EABA was officially launched on Wednesday.

 

The new association unites 54 members representing science and industry and aims to be the platform for creating a full algae-based production chain, from biofuels to animal feed and nutrients, Garofalo said.

 

Making biodiesel from algae costs at least 10 to 30 times more than making traditional biofuels at present, he said.

 

But extracting value from by-products, which can be used in animal feed or pharmaceutical industries, would help bring down overall price and make algae fuel competitive with traditional fuels faster, he said, adding that he saw a competitive price level at about $500 to $550 per tonne of biodiesel.

Even though algae may be 10 years away, as I have said before, it will be worth the wait. The good news for the immediate future is that algae is continuing to get more and more positive press.

I had no idea but it looks like South Carolina has an algae biofuel company of its own. This company, Renewed World Energies, is building a new facility right in Georgetown County that will be fully operational by mid to late 2010.

A recent press release hints that Renewed World Energies is ahead of the crowd of other algae biofuel companies in successfully commercializing its technology.

That’s where a company like Renewed World Energies (RWE) comes in. RWE has not only tapped algae, it has gone further to create a practical method of channeling carbon pollution to grow algae. While other companies are solely focusing on energy alternatives, RWE is looking at how algae can shape multiple industries at multiple levels. Richard Armstrong and Tim Tompkins founded the company just over a year ago but began designing a system six years prior. Today, RWE has the first commercially viable, closed system and automated microalgae production facility known to date. The South Carolina-based company’s target is a new era of mass adoption of biofuel. In addition to capturing nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide from flue gas (bulk compressed CO2 can also be used) emitted from the power generation industry and any CO2 emitting industrial plants, the system asserts to be able to grow and harvest the microalgae. The harvested algae can be used as is or it can be further processed into other products. Should the system deliver as projected, its use by industrial companies could assist in reducing their carbon footprints and provide a useable alternative energy source.

 

The diversity contained in algae’s properties makes it one of the most distinctive and soon to be coveted plants for its extensive range of applications. RWE’s system yields two usable forms of algae: oil and cake. The oil and the cake produced from the numerous strains currently utilized by the company will be used in everything from pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmetics, organic feed, organic fertilizer, and used as a feed for the aquaculture industry. RWE also hopes to provide oil on a commercial level for JP-8 jet propellant diesel fuel. In this sense, RWE will serve as a source and not the actual processor. The result is cleaner air, high quality, commercially valuable algae biomass, a highly nutritious feedstock source and clean energy alternatives.

 

Algae companies are popping up all over, so who will be the first to the finish? Better-known competitors have forecasted that they are still three to five years out, while RWE is on the forefront of research and development, and the fast track to capturing the market. RWE’s system technology edges out competitors as it is the only fully automated and modular photo-bioreactor currently available.

 

Arguably, algae is the most sustainable energy alternative with life-sustaining and viable applications that enhance a variety of aspects of our well-being. Renewed World Energies’ ability to create a tangible mass producer of algae oil stands at the gateway to a functional form of algae-based fuel and virtually endless uses of biomass.

I will be sure to follow RWE closely and keep you updated as things progress.