
English: Blue-green algae cultured in specific media. Blue-green algae can be helpful in agriculture as they have the capability to fix atmospheric nitrogen to soil. This nitrogen is helpful to the crops. Blue-green algae is used as a bio-fertilizer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“The problem with a lot of clean-tech deals is that they have been about the way you make things in high volume or in production, which means you can’t prove out the ideas unless you build factories and actually make things in volume,”
STARTING when they became friends in freshman year at Emory University in Atlanta, Jonathan S. Wolfson and Harrison F. Dillon would take off into the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado for weeks at time. They spent their days hiking in the wilderness and their nights drinking bourbon by the campfire, talking big about how one day they would build a company that would help preserve the environment they both loved.
They graduated, and the backpacking trips grew shorter and further between. Mr. Dillon went on to earn a Ph.D. in genetics and a law degree, and ended up working as a biotech patent lawyer in Silicon Valley. Mr. Wolfson received law and business degrees from New York University and eventually started a software business. But the two still got together every year. And they kept talking about the company that, they imagined as time went on, would use biotechnology to create renewable energy.
“These were delusional rantings of kids,” said Mr. Wolfson, who, like Mr. Dillon, is now 42.
Then Mr. Dillon found microalgae, and delusional became real. Microalgae, a large and diverse group of single-celled plants, produce a variety of substances, including oils, and are thought to be responsible for most of the fossilized oil deposits in the earth. These, it seemed, were micro-organisms with potential. With prodding, they could be re-engineered to make fuel.
So in 2003, Mr. Wolfson packed up and moved from New York to Palo Alto, Calif., where Mr. Dillon lived. They started a company called Solazyme. In mythical Valley tradition, they worked in Mr. Dillon’s garage, growing algae in test tubes. And they found a small knot of investors attracted by the prospect of compressing a multimillion-year process into a matter of days.
Now, a decade later, they have released into the marketplace their very first algae-derived oil produced at a commercial scale. Yet the destination for this oil — pale, odorless and dispensed from a small matte-gold bottle with an eyedropper — is not gas tanks, but the faces of women worried about their aging skin.
Sold under the brand name Algenist, the product, costing $79 for a one-ounce bottle, would seem to have nothing in common with oil refineries and transportation fuel. But along with other niche products that the company can sell at a premium, it may be just the thing that lets Solazyme coast past the point where so many other clean-tech companies have run out of gas: the so-called Valley of Death, where young businesses stall trying to shift to commercial-scale production.
For years, policy makers, environmentalists and entrepreneurs have trumpeted the promise of harnessing the power of the sun, wind, waves, municipal solid waste or, now, algae. There has been some success. Since 2007, United States energy consumption from renewable sources has grown nearly 35 percent, and now accounts for about 9 percent of the total, according to the Energy Information Administration.
But the gains have been punctuated with prominent failures. Once-promising clean-tech ventures that attracted hundreds of millions in federal support — like the solar panel maker Solyndra, the cellulosic ethanol maker Range Fuels and the battery supplier A123 Systems — have failed. While ethanol, derived from crops like corn and sugar cane, has become a multibillion-dollar industry, it threatens to drive up the price of those plants for food and cannot yet replace conventional fuel. The next generation of biofuels, based on nonfood plants, is still struggling to take off.
Venture capital, which once gushed to renewable-energy start-ups like crude from an oil well, has slowed. In contrast to software-based companies like Instagram or Facebook, these new energy businesses burn through staggering amounts of capital over many years for research and early-stage equipment before even demonstrating their promise, much less turning a profit. Worldwide in 2012, venture capital investing in clean technologies fell by almost one-fourth, to $7.4 billion, from $9.61 billion in 2011, according to the Cleantech Group’s i3 Platform, a proprietary database.
“These are very high-innovation, capital-intensive, long-term businesses, and new-energy technology is a very new field,” said David Danielson, a former venture capitalist who is assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy at the Energy Department. “We need a new model for how these projects are going to get financed and commercialized.”
In other words, clean-energy companies can’t rely only on the classic venture-capital approach in which investors demand a fat, fast return. Mr. Danielson said that to succeed, companies need a combination of government research-and-development grants, industrial partnerships and a willingness to pursue higher-value product lines en route to entering larger, but lower-margin markets.
The Latest Bing News on:
Renewable energy projects
- East Point Energy Developed Project Becomes Virginia's Largest Operational Energy Storage Facilityon December 8, 2023 at 8:17 am
“Dry Bridge, our first utility-scale, stand-alone energy storage facility, represents a significant milestone in our commitment to meeting our VCEA targets. Dispatchable resources such as this are ...
- Eskom to now give permission on renewable energy projects in SAon December 8, 2023 at 3:00 am
Eskom will now decide the fate of renewable energy projects in the country, according to Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy, who recently published a notice on the amendment ...
- Kalaoa renewable energy project aims to be community-basedon December 8, 2023 at 2:05 am
A community meeting was held Wednesday to provide updates about the Kalaoa Solar Project, a proposed 40-acre renewable energy facility on state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property in Kalaoa.
- Renewable energy project in the workson December 8, 2023 at 2:05 am
A community meeting was held Wednesday to provide updates about the Kalaoa Solar Project, a proposed 40-acre renewable energy facility on state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property in Kalaoa.
- India Is Building World's Largest Renewable Energy Project; All You Need To Knowon December 7, 2023 at 8:12 am
India is taking a big step toward clean energy by building the world's biggest renewable energy project in the Rann of Kutch This massive initiative will advance India's efforts to transition to ...
- “SOLA Group Starts Construction On Groundbreaking Renewable Energy Project”on December 7, 2023 at 1:46 am
The SOLA Group has started construction on a groundbreaking and innovative new renewable energy initiative.
- Akuo Eyes Funding for Renewable Projects After Ending Sale Talkson December 6, 2023 at 7:03 am
French renewables developer Akuo Energy SAS is working to secure financing to revive its solar and wind projects and is re-evaluating where it builds them, after ditching efforts to find a buyer ...
- In the salt deserts bordering Pakistan, India builds its largest renewable energy projecton December 6, 2023 at 4:50 am
Shifting to renewable energy is a key issue at the ongoing COP28 climate summit. Some leaders have voiced support for a target of tripling renewable energy worldwide in any final agreement while ...
- Ottawa gives Newfoundland and Labrador more control over offshore wind power projectson December 6, 2023 at 3:16 am
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador signed an agreement today giving the eastern province full regulatory control over renewable energy projects in its inland ...
- COP28: Billions pledged for renewable energy projects in developing nationson December 6, 2023 at 3:11 am
Two sets of funding at COP28 for renewable energy projects in developing countries have exceeded the $15 billion mark.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Renewable energy projects
[google_news title=”” keyword=”renewable energy projects” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Solazyme
- Making greenon December 8, 2023 at 2:16 pm
Biofuels top the list of products for many biotech companies using advanced biological engineering. Cormac Sheridan examines the diverse commercial paths being taken to reach this goal. The $600 ...
- Solazyme Trims Staff And Operating Costson October 29, 2023 at 5:00 pm
Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only your ACS ID. Please note: If you switch to a different device, you may be asked to login again with only ...
- 50 Fotos und hochauflösende Bilder zu Solazyme Incon June 14, 2023 at 4:42 pm
Durchstöbern Sie 50 solazyme inc Fotos und Bilder. Oder starten Sie eine neue Suche, um noch mehr Fotos und Bilder zu entdecken. David Crane, president and chief executive officer of NRG Energy Inc., ...
- Sponsored Video: See How Solazyme Is Using Algae and Biotechnology to Produce a New Source of Renewable Oilson September 15, 2021 at 8:53 pm
When Solazyme discovered how to produce renewable oils, at large scale and in a matter of days, they turned to Goldman Sachs for financing and expertise to help fund their research and growth.
- Global Oleochemicals Market - Genomatica, Myriant, Amyris, Solazyme, Goldschmidt, Wilmar international, Kao chemicalson November 20, 2016 at 10:35 pm
Some of the key players in the global oleochemicals market include Genomatica, Myriant, Amyris, Solazyme, Goldschmidt, Wilmar international, Kao chemicals, Oleon, BASF, Emery oleochemicals and SABIC.
- Jonathan Wolfsonon March 14, 2014 at 9:04 am
Cleaner, greener fuels are no longer a fantasy. Jonathan Wolfson’s Solazyme is arguably the leader in turning algae to diesel on an industrial scale, even though it lost $85 million on sales of ...
- Biofuel company stumbles onto cosmetics discoveryon January 9, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Algae is turning out to be a very versatile product. Solazyme can turn it into jet fuel. And now, algae can help aging baby boomers restore their youthful appearance. "We didn't ever intend to ...
- Solazyme IPO: 5 Burning Questionson May 25, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Solazyme is the latest biofuel IPO coming to market with buzz, but the long-term profits are less certain than a short-term IPO bump. Solazyme is the latest biofuel IPO coming to market with buzz ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Solazyme
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Solazyme” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]