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Infinia Raises $9.5M

INFINIA Corp, a developer of Stirling engine based products and technologies, has received $9.5 million in new venture funding. Khosla Ventures, Vulcan Capital, EQUUS Total Return, Inc. and Idealab joined existing investor Power Play Energy, LLC in the financing round. The deal also includes the acquisition of Stirling Cycles, a company developing Stirling engine technology, from Idealab for an undisclosed sum. Operating without internal combustion, a Stirling engine uses a temperature differential to drive a piston and produce electricity. Along with other Stirling based products, INFINIA is focused on commercializing a Stirling power system operating on concentrated solar energy for commercial and residential users. The Solar Stirling product is expected to be available in 2008. “Our Stirling engines are unique – they are reliable, can be manufactured inexpensively, operate on many different heat sources and provide a platform for energy products that will change the way the world generates and utilizes energy,” said J.D. Sitton, CEO.” INFINIA and its partners are also commercializing high efficiency combined heat and power products for the global appliance industry and are developing a unique, bio-gas fired Stirling generator to provide electricity and thermal energy for rural areas of developing countries. Stirling Cycles, Inc. was […]

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PowerShares Global Water Portfolio Launches

The PowerShares Global Water Portfolio (AMEX: PIO), an international water ETF, has launched, constructed by the founders of the US-based water index, PowerShares Water Resources (PHO). PIO is a modified equal-dollar weighted index that consists of companies worldwide that are engaged in the water industry. It currently consists of 41 stocks from 14 countries. The new ETF faces competition from recently launched First Trust ISE Water Index Fund (AMEX: FIW) and CLAYMORE ETF TRUST 2 (AMEX: CGW).

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BP Invests in Microbes

BP has invested in the company, Synthetic Genomics, involved in a new field, synthetic biology. Scientists from BP and Synthetic Genomics will sequence the genes of microorganisms that live in fossil fuel deposits and then find ways to exploit properties of these single-celled animals on an industrial scale. They believe microbes may one day help speed up the formation of hydrocarbons, create cleaner fuels or help oil companies extract more oil out of underground deposits. Currently, the industry gets only a fraction of the oil out of deposits. In synthetic biology, scientists identify a potentially useful metabolic process found in nature and try to devise ways to replicate it in a lab. Amyris Biotechnologies, for example, has been able to artificially produce a naturally occurring malaria medicine; it also hopes to make low carbon jet fuel. Cambrios Technologies has identified microbial proteins that can act sort of like a glue in semiconductors. Others hope to devise synthetic proteins to break down plant mass into ethanol.

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Clean Portfolio Standard Amendment Voted Down

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) introduced the watered down National Renewable Energy Portfolio (RPS) amendment yesterday, which included clean coal and nuclear, and it was voted down in the Senate, 56-29. As we reported yesterday, Domenici introduced the amendment as an alternative to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), RPS amendment, which calls for 15% of electricity generated in the U.S. to come from renewables by 2020. Domenici’s amendment raised the RPS to 20%, but allowed states to achieve it through clean coal and nuclear, because southern states claim that it will otherwise be too difficult and costly for them to meet. “The Clean Portfolio Standard I have introduced is a better way to promote clean energy technology. Our CPS would bring more states into the clean energy fold, while not resulting in massive cost increases for consumers like a narrow RPS proposal would. And CPS would actually result in lower emissions, since it sets a 20 percent standard for clean energy technology. The Union of Concerned Scientists, among many other industry experts disagreed with his approach, which would greatly reduce the amount of solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and tidal energy used. They point to the huge subsidies needed for nuclear and the […]

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