Tag Archives: planet
Cool Planet Raises Additional $19.4 Million In Funding
By Cool Planet Energy Systems | September 18, 2013 Cool Planet Energy Systems, a developer of small-scale bio-refineries for the conversion of non-food biomass into fuels and soil enhancing biochar, has announced the second close of a “D round” equity raise. After closing on more than $29.9 million in June of 2013, Cool Planet has added another $19.4 million in this closing. This brings the total amount raised and committed to over $60 million, including the remaining commitments from existing investors. “While equity markets remain closed to most biofuel businesses, investors are seeing a differentiated opportunity in Cool Planet. Our drop-in cellulosic gasoline and biochar technology has global potential,” said Cool Planet CEO Howard Janzen. “A strong proof point for this potential is the impressive group of international investors who have participated in our equity raise, positioning the company for long-term growth globally.” Cool Planet will use a portion of the equity raise to finalize engineering design for the company’s first commercial facility. This work will be supported by leading international engineering firm, URS Corp., as the company recently announced. The funding will also provide capital to construct Cool Planet’s first commercial plant, which will be located at the Port of Alexandria, La. The company expects the facility to be in operation before the end of 2014, producing high-octane cellulosic gasoline and soil enhancing biochar from wood biomass. “We are very pleased to have attracted investors from around the world, which will accelerate the development of our business internationally,” said Cool Planet Chief Financial Officer Barry Rowan. “This funding, combined with the strong ongoing commitments from our current investors, keeps us squarely on our path to commercialization.” The round added investors from Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Mexico to a marquee existing investor base, including North Bridge Venture Partners, Shea Ventures, BP, Google Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures (GE, ConocoPhillips, NRG Energy), and the Constellation division of Exelon. The new investors are committing to help bring Cool Planet’s drop-in fuel technology to countries around the world, and Cool Planet is actively developing partnerships to commercialize its technology internationally. Continue reading
Google-Backed Cool Planet Raises $29.9m In Debt
7 Jun 2013 Google-backed biofuels developer Cool Planet has raised just shy $29.88m of debt as it moved forward with plans to build its first production facility. The company, which also counts BP, General Electric and NRG Energy as investors, disclosed the financing in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Although the disclosure states that Cool Planet is not looking to increase this level of debt investment currently, CFO Barry Rowan told Bloomberg the effort is part of a $100m it expects to raise this year that will be converted into equity at completion. Its company is planning for its first production facility to be complete by the end of 2014 but a site has not yet been decided. Rowan joined the business in December 2012, bringing with him over 30-years’ experience in building and turning around large-scale technology companies in a variety of industries. He previously served as EVP, CFO and chief administration officer for Vonage, a $900m internet communications company. Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Cool Planet has previously said it expects the price tag of its first plant to be $50m with additional funds needed for production and other corporate expenses. According to a report in GigaOm, the high-tech business said it is estimating the production of biofuel to cost $1.50 per gallon at a plant that would have a capacity of ten million gallons per year. At the beginning of 2012 it received permission from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to begin fleet-testing its negative carbon gasoline product. Copyright © 2013 NewNet Continue reading
Hotter Planet Will Make Corn Ethanol Unviable
June 5, 2013 If climate change continues at its current pace, in 40 years a hotter planet will lower corn production by 7 percent while requiring a 9 percent increase in irrigation water, putting US biofuel goals out of reach, says a study by University of California, Davis and Rice University researchers. The study, published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Environmental Science and Technology , says climate change will hinder US goals of producing 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022 to blend with fossil fuel, as per the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. Pedro Alvarez, the head of Rice’s civil and environmental engineering department and lead author of the study, says the cost of water will spiral and outweigh concerns about emissions from fossil fuels, creating a trade-off. For the study, Alvarez’s team built computer simulations based on crop data from the nation’s top 10 corn-producing states: Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas. They used estimates of carbon dioxide and other elements from a number of models, including the government’s Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model. The simulations predict crop outcomes over the next 40 years in relation to expectations of climate change. The study found that the Corn Belt states and the Great Lakes region rely primarily on rainfall that would change its patterns, necessitating a 5 percent to 25 percent increase in irrigation, which would in turn require water catchment infrastructure. In the Great Plains region including South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, which rely heavily on irrigation, drought has already begun affecting farmland. This will lead to a decline in crop yields, even with continued irrigation. The Rice study calculates that the production of 1 liter of gasoline requires 3 liters of water, whereas the production of 1 liter of corn ethanol requires between 350 and 1,400 liters of water from irrigation, depending on the location. This is not the first time Alvarez has raised the red flag — he has been questioning US support of biofuel as a means to cut vehicle emissions since 2010, when he raised the issue in a white paper published by Rice’s Baker Institute of Public Policy . In 2009, Alvarez estimated that it would take 50 gallons of water to grow enough corn in Nebraska to produce the ethanol needed to drive one mile, in an Environmental Science and Technology report. Although the plains and the western US are still in the worst drought in more than 50 years, in April Reuters reported that this year’s corn, soybean and wheat harvest will be better than the summer of 2012. Continue reading
