[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Nigel Hunt
LONDON
Wed Mar 3, 2010 11:19am EST
Vireol to build third major UK bioethanol refinery
LONDON (Reuters) - Biofuels company Vireol is set to break ground in July on Britain's third major refinery making bioethanol from feed wheat and further expansion could be on the cards, the company's chief executive Dave Knibbs said.
"I think you could see some more plants here...We are the most efficient place to produce feed wheat in Europe, our yields are better than anyone else's and there is room for more growth (in yields)," he told Reuters in an interview.
Vireol's refinery, at Grimsby in eastern England, will use 530,000 tonnes of grain, most likely feed wheat, to produce about 200 million liters (44 million Imp. gallons) of bioethanol as well as protein rich by-product DDGS (dried distillers grains with solubles), which is used for animal feed.
"I do believe it is something the UK can excel at. We should be leading the charge in Europe, not bringing up the rear," Knibbs said.
Britain's bioethanol industry got off to a slow start and was limited until recently to a British Sugar refinery with a capacity to produce about 70 million liters using sugar beet as its feedstock. It began operating in 2007.
Ensus is currently bringing into commercial production Britain's first wheat-based bioethanol refinery in Teesside in northeast England with capacity to produce about 400 to 450 million liters from about 1.1 million tonnes of wheat.
Vivergo Fuels is building a second major bioethanol refinery in Hull, eastern England, with a similar capacity to the Ensus plant. It is due to come on line either late this year or early in 2011.
Ensus is owned by two U.S. private equity funds, the Carlyle Group and Riverstone while Vivergo Fuels is a joint venture of British Sugar, BP and Du Pont Co.
OFFTAKE AGREEMENT
Future Capital Partners is in the final stages of completing the financing of the Vireol plant, which already has a 10-year agreement to sell all its bioethanol to a major investment bank.
Knibbs said confidentiality clauses meant he could not name the investment bank.
Vireol also has an agreement with UK merchant Gleadell to supply wheat to the refinery. Gleadell is a joint venture of ADM controlled Toepfer and French co-op Union Invivo.
Knibbs said the refinery should come on line in 2013, coinciding with Britain's target date for obtaining five percent of its motor fuels from renewable sources.
The European Union has also mandated that 10 percent of motor fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020, which Knibbs said would equate to about six billion liters for the UK market.
He noted the combined capacity of the Ensus, Vivergo and Vireol refineries would, however, amount to only about one billion liters.
"My personal sense is the rest of the world will only be able to supply a limited amount," he said, adding most of the production of top exporter Brazil was likely to be used up supplying the United States and meeting domestic demand.
Wheat production in Britain may, however, need to rise if it is to support a further expansion in the bioethanol industry.
Britain's exportable wheat surplus currently ranges from about 2.0 million tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes and the three refineries could consume more than 2.5 million.
All three are, however, located at ports providing the option of imports if domestic supplies are tight.
Knibbs said there was plenty of scope for UK wheat production to rise, adding there had been little emphasis on expanding EU wheat yields in the last few years.
"Europe is probably working at 50 to 60 percent of capacity when it comes to the amount of crops it could produce," he said.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Anthony Barker)
[Green Business]
Alexander Haislip
Wed Mar 3, 2010 1:12pm EST
Startup GreenRoad gets funding from Gore, Branson
SAN FRANCISCO (Private Equity Week) - Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore share a passion for environmentalism and are now co-investors in startup GreenRoad Technologies.
Branson invested in Redwood City, California-based GreenRoad www.greenroad.com/ in early 2008 via his Virgin Green Fund and has been active in the company's operations, despite not personally taking a board seat, said a GreenRoad spokesman.
Last week, an investment firm, co-founded by Gore, put an additional $10 million behind the startup, which develops technology that uses computers and online reporting tools to help ensure drivers stay safe. Its product identifies risky driving behaviors and offers feedback to improve safety and decrease excessive acceleration and braking, which can decrease fuel economy.
Gore's $683-million Generation Investment Management Climate Solutions Fund backs companies in the alternative-energy and efficiency spaces. A spokesman for GreenRoad said he did not know if Gore would become personally involved with the company's decision-making. Neither did the spokesman know if Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2007, would join the board.
The company has now raised $42.5 million from venture capitalists since launching in 2002. In addition to Gore's and Branson's investment vehicles, GreenRoad's other investors include Amadeus Capital, Balderton Capital, Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures.
GreenRoad's information-gathering devices are used by corporate car and truck fleets to track employee driver behavior. It gives drivers immediate feedback, using a three-inch LCD monitor and sends information about their driving habits to a website monitored by company managers.
GreenRoad claims installing its device can save corporations between $1,000 and $4,000 per vehicle per year by reducing fuel consumption as much as 10 percent and decreasing the likelihood of accidents. The GreenRoad monitoring service costs $420 annually per vehicle, a spokesman said.
There are more than 3 million cars and trucks in corporate, government and rental fleets nationwide, according to a recent report by industry trade publication Automotive Fleet. GreenRoad reported it had secured AAA and T-Mobile as customers for its corporate fleet system, along with some 80 other corporate customers.
"By deploying GreenRoad through their fleets, companies can play an important role in reducing fuel consumption, lowering harmful emissions and fostering safe driving habits," Branson said of the company when he first financed it. "This in turn benefits a company's bottom line and also benefits the community."
Beyond the ecological benefits, GreenRoad's devices may help encourage safer driving. The company reports its customers have reduced accidents by an average of 54 percent and lowered the cost of accidents by an average of 65 percent.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 42,642 people died in automobile accidents during 2006 and another 2.57 million people sustained injuries. That's more than 10 times the number of U.S. soldiers that have died during the Iraq War.
GreenRoad has no immediate plans for a consumer version of its product, but a spokesman said it was looking to partner with a mobile phone company on a new product in the coming months.
[Green Business]
Nigel Hunt
LONDON
Wed Mar 3, 2010 11:19am EST
Vireol to build third major UK bioethanol refinery
LONDON (Reuters) - Biofuels company Vireol is set to break ground in July on Britain's third major refinery making bioethanol from feed wheat and further expansion could be on the cards, the company's chief executive Dave Knibbs said.
"I think you could see some more plants here...We are the most efficient place to produce feed wheat in Europe, our yields are better than anyone else's and there is room for more growth (in yields)," he told Reuters in an interview.
Vireol's refinery, at Grimsby in eastern England, will use 530,000 tonnes of grain, most likely feed wheat, to produce about 200 million liters (44 million Imp. gallons) of bioethanol as well as protein rich by-product DDGS (dried distillers grains with solubles), which is used for animal feed.
"I do believe it is something the UK can excel at. We should be leading the charge in Europe, not bringing up the rear," Knibbs said.
Britain's bioethanol industry got off to a slow start and was limited until recently to a British Sugar refinery with a capacity to produce about 70 million liters using sugar beet as its feedstock. It began operating in 2007.
Ensus is currently bringing into commercial production Britain's first wheat-based bioethanol refinery in Teesside in northeast England with capacity to produce about 400 to 450 million liters from about 1.1 million tonnes of wheat.
Vivergo Fuels is building a second major bioethanol refinery in Hull, eastern England, with a similar capacity to the Ensus plant. It is due to come on line either late this year or early in 2011.
Ensus is owned by two U.S. private equity funds, the Carlyle Group and Riverstone while Vivergo Fuels is a joint venture of British Sugar, BP and Du Pont Co.
OFFTAKE AGREEMENT
Future Capital Partners is in the final stages of completing the financing of the Vireol plant, which already has a 10-year agreement to sell all its bioethanol to a major investment bank.
Knibbs said confidentiality clauses meant he could not name the investment bank.
Vireol also has an agreement with UK merchant Gleadell to supply wheat to the refinery. Gleadell is a joint venture of ADM controlled Toepfer and French co-op Union Invivo.
Knibbs said the refinery should come on line in 2013, coinciding with Britain's target date for obtaining five percent of its motor fuels from renewable sources.
The European Union has also mandated that 10 percent of motor fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020, which Knibbs said would equate to about six billion liters for the UK market.
He noted the combined capacity of the Ensus, Vivergo and Vireol refineries would, however, amount to only about one billion liters.
"My personal sense is the rest of the world will only be able to supply a limited amount," he said, adding most of the production of top exporter Brazil was likely to be used up supplying the United States and meeting domestic demand.
Wheat production in Britain may, however, need to rise if it is to support a further expansion in the bioethanol industry.
Britain's exportable wheat surplus currently ranges from about 2.0 million tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes and the three refineries could consume more than 2.5 million.
All three are, however, located at ports providing the option of imports if domestic supplies are tight.
Knibbs said there was plenty of scope for UK wheat production to rise, adding there had been little emphasis on expanding EU wheat yields in the last few years.
"Europe is probably working at 50 to 60 percent of capacity when it comes to the amount of crops it could produce," he said.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Anthony Barker)
[Green Business]
Alexander Haislip
Wed Mar 3, 2010 1:12pm EST
Startup GreenRoad gets funding from Gore, Branson
SAN FRANCISCO (Private Equity Week) - Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore share a passion for environmentalism and are now co-investors in startup GreenRoad Technologies.
Branson invested in Redwood City, California-based GreenRoad www.greenroad.com/ in early 2008 via his Virgin Green Fund and has been active in the company's operations, despite not personally taking a board seat, said a GreenRoad spokesman.
Last week, an investment firm, co-founded by Gore, put an additional $10 million behind the startup, which develops technology that uses computers and online reporting tools to help ensure drivers stay safe. Its product identifies risky driving behaviors and offers feedback to improve safety and decrease excessive acceleration and braking, which can decrease fuel economy.
Gore's $683-million Generation Investment Management Climate Solutions Fund backs companies in the alternative-energy and efficiency spaces. A spokesman for GreenRoad said he did not know if Gore would become personally involved with the company's decision-making. Neither did the spokesman know if Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2007, would join the board.
The company has now raised $42.5 million from venture capitalists since launching in 2002. In addition to Gore's and Branson's investment vehicles, GreenRoad's other investors include Amadeus Capital, Balderton Capital, Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures.
GreenRoad's information-gathering devices are used by corporate car and truck fleets to track employee driver behavior. It gives drivers immediate feedback, using a three-inch LCD monitor and sends information about their driving habits to a website monitored by company managers.
GreenRoad claims installing its device can save corporations between $1,000 and $4,000 per vehicle per year by reducing fuel consumption as much as 10 percent and decreasing the likelihood of accidents. The GreenRoad monitoring service costs $420 annually per vehicle, a spokesman said.
There are more than 3 million cars and trucks in corporate, government and rental fleets nationwide, according to a recent report by industry trade publication Automotive Fleet. GreenRoad reported it had secured AAA and T-Mobile as customers for its corporate fleet system, along with some 80 other corporate customers.
"By deploying GreenRoad through their fleets, companies can play an important role in reducing fuel consumption, lowering harmful emissions and fostering safe driving habits," Branson said of the company when he first financed it. "This in turn benefits a company's bottom line and also benefits the community."
Beyond the ecological benefits, GreenRoad's devices may help encourage safer driving. The company reports its customers have reduced accidents by an average of 54 percent and lowered the cost of accidents by an average of 65 percent.
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 42,642 people died in automobile accidents during 2006 and another 2.57 million people sustained injuries. That's more than 10 times the number of U.S. soldiers that have died during the Iraq War.
GreenRoad has no immediate plans for a consumer version of its product, but a spokesman said it was looking to partner with a mobile phone company on a new product in the coming months.
※コメント投稿者のブログIDはブログ作成者のみに通知されます