Economics of Renewable Energy

Daniel Gross presents a thoughtful piece on alternative energy in yesterday's New York Times. The article explores the economics and complex relationship between (sometimes subsidized) renewable energy projects versus traditional energy production. Bush has called for the nation to replace 20% of gasoline with ethanol in 10 years.

The government talk is being backed by action and policy. The federal government offers a 51-cent-a-gallon tax credit to ethanol producers and maintains a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on ethanol imported from Brazil. More than 20 states have so-called renewable portfolio standards, which mandate that utilities derive a fixed percentage of their power from renewable sources.

The Renewable Fuels Association says that the 85 ethanol projects now under construction would more than double the existing capacity of six billion gallons a year by the end of 2008.

The American Petroleum Institute feels it would be preferable to leave it all to market forces. Gross detail how government investment in new technologies has worked in the past, and can in the future.

MIT Energy Competition - Ignite Clean Energy!

RSI Silicon, a materials company that has developed a low-cost process for making solar-grade silicon, walked away the big winner at last night's Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition. RSI Silicon won the grand prize -- $25,000 in cash plus other goodies (rent, legal services) for a total prize value of $111,000. The company also won The Peoples' Choice award, which attendees at yesterday's event could vote on.

Other winners included:

• Second place, student -- Bagazo, which aims to develop self-sustaining cooking fuel generation, using agricultural waste, for developing countries
• Second place, professional -- Fox2 Technologies, which is developing new sensor technology for airplane and trucking operators that improves fuel efficiency by more than 5 percent, while also reducing carbon emissions.
• Third place, student -- C3 BioEnergy, which is working on manufacturing renewable propane and a hydrogen byproduct from biomass feedstocks
• Third place, professional -- GreenRay, which is developing a plug-and-play, solar-electric system for the simple installation of solar power to common residences.

(Thanks to Mass High Tech for the descriptions of these companies; many of them don't yet have websites.)