Thin film PV maintains its rapid development pace
Whereas silicon wafer based PV technology keeps improving and production costs of PV electricity keeps falling, thin film PV is on its way to develop as a mass product as well. Most experts judge that thin film solar cells will dominate the solar electricity market in due time. This is because of their inherent advantages:
Algae: continued high expectations
Biofuel, fodder, chemical platform chemicals, and high-value specialties production. From algae which grow up to ten times faster than plants in the soil. It has the appearance of the biobased economy itself: major projects, a lot of research, test sites and pilot plants, but the large scale substitution of fossil products by their green counterparts
Stressed LED algae produce more oil
Arnoud van Diem, an entrepreneur, and CEO of AF&F (Algae Food & Fuel) and of Biosoil, grows algae at the ACRRES site in Lelystad, the Netherlands. He uses both sunlight and LED lamps emitting light of precisely the correct wavelength for photosynthesis. As a result of that, his algae grow faster than others. ‘They grow
Call Roel
Sorry, this column on the seventh Dutch biobased economy network meeting in Breda, is only available in Dutch.
Shale gas both slows down and accelerates the biobased economy
The very moment Kenneth Epstein, an American venture capitalist, proved by solid data that the biobased economy in the United States is waning, a Reuters message arrived in our e-mail, unfolding a much more optimistic view. In both stories shale gas is the main protagonist. And shale gas and the biobased economy are intertwined in
NGOs challenge Chinese mega investment in Canadian tar sands
Canada and China are about to sign a trade agreement which would allow China to develop tar sands in Alberta in exchange for enhanced protection of Canadian companies in China. The draft agreement is the subject of a heated debate, not just because of the growth in greenhouse gas emissions, but also because the agreement
First European GM algae project
Although the official European Commission policy still rejects GMO products for food (green biotech), there seems to be a policy change in the approach to industrial biotechnology (white biotech). In particular concerning use of genetically modified ‘work horses’, i.e. genetically modified fungi, yeasts and bacteria, which we use to produce existing or new chemical products.
The biobased society, a better world?
Will the advent of the biobased society lead to a better world? One the face of it, one would affirm this idea: back to nature, or something like that. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Physiocrats, but at a higher technological level; larger and at the same time smaller in scale, and characterized by a better distribution
on: 30 December 2012