30. June 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

Skyonic Corporation

Mark Clayton
Vice President, Corporate Relations
Tel: (512) 436-9276
Fax: (512) 436-9779
mark@skyonic.com

About
Skyonic is a for-profit Intellectual Property corporation dedicated to the proliferation of the internationally patented SkyMine™ process. SkyMine™ was developed with the intent to reduce global CO2 emissions and halt the advancement of global climate change without impacting development. Skyonic is based in Austin, Texas, with laboratory and field operations throughout the state.

THE HISTORY OF SKYONIC:
Like many great ideas, SkyMine™ began as an idea scribbled on a cocktail napkin and experiments conducted in the garage. The inventor of the SkyMine™ process, Joe Jones, founded Skyonic in 2005, incorporating it on January 7 of that year, in order to gain the funding and resources required to refine and proliferate this technology. Skyonic also filed a technology-defining method patent on the SkyMine™ process in 2005 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Skyonic performed research and laboratory-scale testing on the process at Southwest Research Institute in 2005 and 2006, and began field testing the process at a coal-burning power plant in Texas later that year. Currently, Skyonic is performing pilot-scale demonstration plant work at Luminant’s Big Brown Steam Electric Station in Fairfield, Texas, in real-world conditions.

Technology

The Skyonic SkyMine™ process addresses the significant issue of climate change through the mineralization of CO2 as carbonate compounds. SkyMine™ is a post-combustion carbon capture and sequestration technology that works with any large-scale stationary CO2 emitter (e.g.- coal, natural gas or oil fired power plant). The process is effective, ecologically and thermodynamically sound, and can be done profitably. Since the technology can be retrofitted to existing facilities or designed into new ones, it addresses both the current problem of climate change, and the future demand for cleaner energy to support development.

The SkyMine™ process removes heavy metals, acid gasses, and carbon dioxide from conditioned at-temperature flue gas. SkyMine™ stores the carbon emissions as stable sodium bicarbonate (better-than-food-grade baking soda) for long-term storage as land or mine fill and returns the flue gas to the plants stack for release. This means that the SkyMine™ process is a non-emitter.

The feed chemical for the reaction to remove the carbon is sodium hydroxide, which is produced on site as a part of the SkyMine™ process. This reaction to produce sodium hydroxide also produces hydrogen and chlorine as byproducts. These can be sold to market at a profit, not only defraying the cost of CO2 removal, but even generating a profit for the SkyMine™ operators. These chemicals are also “green”; they are produced at low energy and without emitting CO2 (since the heat to drive the process is captured from the heat in the flue gas.

THE BENEFITS OF SKYMINE™:

• The SkyMine™ process turns gaseous CO2 emissions into solid, stable carbonates (primarily sodium bicarbonate).
• The SkyMine™ technology does this with a competitively low energy penalty.
• The SkyMine™ process also removes mercury and heavy metals, as well as acid-rain gasses from the flue stream.
• The SkyMine™ technology produces clean (non-methane-based) hydrogen and low-energy chlorine.

A SkyMine™ plant can be operated at a profit, because the hydrogen produced (as well as the chlorine and bicarbonates) have commercial value.

Posted in Air Capture Techs, Texas, USA | No Comments »

16. May 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

HelioVolt

HelioVolt Corporation
8201 E. Riverside Dr. Suite 600
Austin, Texas 78744-1604

Telephone: 512-767-6000

Overview

Solar power isn’t new. What’s new is commercializing solar products to the point of mass-market adoption. HelioVolt’s innovation is at the very core of this turning point for energy production. A high-speed and exceptionally flexible solution, HelioVolt’s FASST™ technology is the breakthrough to a new generation of customized photovoltaic products – high in quality, low in cost, seamlessly integrated into the buildings we live and work in every day.

Technology - Thin Film CIGS

Sidestepping a dependence on costly silicon, Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) is inherently nature’s best solar-absorbing material. Leading the way for cost- and performance-efficient solar power-generation, CIGS offers a number of key benefits:

• Thinner is better: Calling for a layer 100 times thinner than conventional silicon solar systems, CIGS material efficiencies drive down costs. In fact, a few dollars’ worth of CIGS raw ingredients can deliver the same power as a hundred dollars’ worth of silicon wafers. Manufactured with HelioVolt’s FASST™ technology, our products deliver a comparable performance to multi-crystalline silicon. They also bypass the costly assembly of cells made of silicon, and certain other thin films, into modules.

• Best performance: CIGS is the most durable and efficient thin-film material to replace silicon for solar systems.

• Long life: Weather-resistant and robust, with lifespan and warranties equivalent to silicon.

• Seamless: Our thin-film CIGS can be printed directly onto a variety of construction materials, creating energy-generating building products. Think of it as one-step solar.

Technology - FASST

What sets HelioVolt apart is their award-winning manufacturing process, FASST™. Like its name implies, they’ve developed the fastest and most cost-effective technology for printing thin-film CIGS on the market today. 10 to 100 times faster than current processes, HelioVolt’s FASST™ method manufactures a photovoltaic thin film that is 100 times thinner than traditional silicon. The potential: new landscapes wrapped in solar skin. Customizable to architectural design. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

• Rapid and revolutionary: Their patented solar “printing” process is a high-speed, large-area method for manufacturing silicon-free thin-film photovoltaics for commercial-scale production. Many times faster than other thin-film technologies, the real advantage of FASST™ is its unique ability to nano-engineer solar thin films.

• Flexible and customizable: HelioVolt can print directly onto multiple construction materials – glass, steel, metal, composites and some polymers. Mindful of architectural aesthetics, our method enables customization in a range of shapes and sizes. The market opportunity: a new breed of seamlessly solarized building materials, architectural modules and building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products – what we call PV “power buildings.”

Posted in Texas, Solar Techs, USA | No Comments »

10. May 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

Hydro Green Energy, LLC

Email: info@hgenergy.com
Phone: 877-556-6566
Fax: 713-339-9537

Mailing Address:
5090 Richmond Avenue, #390
Houston , TX 77056

Physical Address:
3013 Fountain View Drive, Ste. 140
Houston , TX 77057

About

Hydro Green Energy, LLC is a for profit renewable energy project developer and integrator that designs, builds, and operates kinetic hydro power projects that generate electricity exclusively from moving water (river currents, tidal currents, and ocean currents) without having to construct dams, impoundments, conduits, or other infrastructure projects.

Hydro Green Energy sells the power generated by the patented hydro power turbine arrays (HTA) via long term power purchase agreements to project equity partners or power marketing firms at wholesale rates. Operating as an Independent Power Producer (IPP), kinetic hydro power offers the lowest cost renewable energy source since water current resources are predictable, available 24 hours a day unlike solar, and have an energy density 850 times greater than wind.

Hydro Green Energy has been awarded a U.S. Patent and has International Patents pending on the Company’s core technology. Additional U.S. Patents are pending. Additional International Patents are pending on technologies surrounding the Company’s core patent. Renewable energy production is extremely attractive due to the fact there are no raw material costs associated with the power generation or deleterious unwanted side effects such as the generation of greenhouse gasses or nuclear waste. Although many different schema have been tried in various renewable energy markets, most suffer the debilitating issue that the produced energy costs more than competitive fossil fuel based power generation methods.

The motivating concept behind the Hydro Green Energy is to reduce the cost of non emitting renewable energy production so that it is less expensive that fossil fuel generated power.

Products

Hydro⁺™

Advantages:
• Use non capacity amendment
• licence mod - $45K and 6 - 8 months
• Qualifies for Section 45 Incremental Production Tax Credit
• Install in tail race
• No effect on net head
• Marine life safe (fish survivability > 97%)
• Existing infrastructure reduces overall project cost
• Transmission line typically less then 350 feet of 480 volts
• Individual unit capacities up to 350 KW
• Assemble multiple units into HTA
• Install while conventional units online
• No opportunity cost
• Suspended from surface - no USALE Section 404
• Increase site output from 2 - 10% + that qualifies for Section 45 Incremental Hydropower Production Tax Credit of 1.0 kwh
• No effect on water chemistry
• No effect on dissolved oxygen
• No effect on turbidity or clarity
• Easily repositionable to find”sweet spot” if flow significantly changes
• Easily decomissionable and removable
• No divers required for installation
• Extractable runner for installation and safety of maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides highest degree of safety maintenance& inspection operations
• Surface platform provides stable operational surface for maintenance & inspection operations
High degree of safety results in lower insurance rates
• No shut down cost associated with installation & startup
• Ultra competitive on cost/kw basis
• Start to finish turn key project in less than 12 months

Current⁺™

Advantages:
• Hydrokinetic pilot license process
• Marine life safe (fish survivability > 97%)
• Transmission line typically less then 350 feet of 480 volts
• Individual unit capacities up to 350 KW
• Assemble multiple units into HTA
• No opportunity cost
• Suspended from surface - no USACE Section 404
• No effect on water chemistry
• No effect on dissolved oxygen
• No effect on turbidity or clarity
• Easily repositionable to find”sweet spot” if flow significantly changes
• Easily decomissionable and removable
• No divers required for installation
• Extractable runner for installation and safety of maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides highest degree of safety maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides stable operational surface for maintenance & inspection operations
• High degree of safety results in lower insurance rates
• No shut down cost associated with installation & startup
• Ultra competitive on cost/kw basis
• Start to finish turn key project in less than 12 months
• Install in remote locations
• Can be used for off grid generation
• Can be used for distributed generation
• Scalable for towns or villages
• Quick and easy to deploy in developing world
• Projects create local jobs
• Projects provide local technical training

Tidal⁺™

Advantages:
• Hydrokinetic pilot license process
• Marine life safe (fish survivability > 97%)
• Transmission line typically less then 350 feet of 480 volts
• Individual unit capacities up to 350 KW
• Assemble multiple units into HTA
• No opportunity cost
• Suspended from surface - no USACE Section 404
• No effect on water chemistry
• No effect on dissolved oxygen
• No effect on turbidity or clarity
• Easily repositionable to find”sweet spot” if flow significantly changes
• Easily decomissionable and removable
• No divers required for installation
• Extractable runner for installation and safety of maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides highest degree of safety maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides stable operational surface for maintenance & inspection operations
• High degree of safety results in lower insurance rates
• No shut down cost associated with installation & startup
• Ultra competitive on cost/kw basis
• Start to finish turn key project in less than 12 months
• Install in remote locations
• Can be used for off grid generation
• Can be used for distributed generation
• Scalable for towns or villages
• Quick and easy to deploy in developing world
• Projects create local jobs
• Projects provide local technical training

Ocean⁺™

Advantages:
• Hydrokinetic pilot license process
• Marine life safe (fish survivability > 97%)
• Assemble multiple units into HTA
• Suspended from surface - no USACE Section 404
• No effect on water chemistry
• No effect on dissolved oxygen
• No effect on turbidity or clarity
• Easily repositionable to find”sweet spot” if flow significantly changes
• Easily decomissionable and removable
• Extractable runner for installation and safety of maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides highest degree of safety maintenance & inspection operations
• Surface platform provides stable operational surface for maintenance & inspection operations
• High degree of safety results in lower insurance rates
• Ultra competitive on cost/kw basis

Posted in Texas, Wave Techs, Tidal Techs, USA | No Comments »

3. May 2008 by Mykel Pereira.

Valcent Products Inc,.

Investor Relations
Suite 1010 - 789 West Pender Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 1H2
Bob Faris or Steve McGuire or Gerry Jardine

Tel: 1-800-877-1626 or 604-606-7979

E-mail: info@valcent.net

About

Valcent Products Inc. is a U.S. public traded company (VCTPF: OTCBB) with offices in Vancouver, B.C. and El Paso, Texas.

Valcent Products Inc. researches and develops life enhancing industrial, commercial and consumer products and processes that have mass consumer appeal and/or widespread commercial/industrial applications. All Valcent products and processes have patents or patents pending on integral technologies.

Vertigro Energy is a joint venture established with Global Green Solutions Inc. to market world wide Valcent’s patent-pending Vertigro bioreactor technology developed to provide a profitable and viable renewable energy resource and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

High Density Vertical Bioreactor

The Holy Grail in the renewable energy sector has been to create a clean, green process which uses only light, water and air to create fuel. Valcent’s HDVB algae-to-biofuel technology mass produces algae, vegetable oil which is suitable for refining into a cost-effective, non-polluting biodiesel. The algae derived fuel will be an energy efficient replacement for fossil fuels and can be used in any diesel powered vehicle or machinery. In addition, 90% by weight of the algae is captured carbon dioxide, which is “sequestered” by this process and so contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gases. Valcent has commissioned the world’s first commercial-scale bioreactor pilot project at its test facility in El Paso, Texas.

Current data projects high yields of algae biomass, which will be harvested and processed into algal oil for biofuel feedstock and ingredients in food, pharmaceutical, and health and beauty products at a significantly lower cost than comparable oil-producing crops such as palm and soyabean (soybean).

The HDVB technology was developed by Valcent in recognition and response to a huge unsatisfied demand for vegetable oil feedstock by Biodiesel refiners and marketers. Biodiesel, in 2000, was the only alternative fuel in the United States to have successfully completed the Environmental Protection Agency required Tier I and Tier II health effects testing under the Clean Air Act. These tests conclusively demonstrated Biodiesel’s significant reduction of virtually all regulated emissions. A U.S. Department of Energy study has shown that the production and use of Biodiesel, compared to petroleum diesel, resulted in a 78.5% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Algae, like all plants, require carbon dioxide, water with nutrients and sunlight for growth. The HDVB bioreactor technology is ideal for location adjacent to heavy producers of carbon dioxide such as coal fired power plants, refineries or manufacturing facilities, as the absorption of CO2 by the algae significantly reduces greenhouse gases. These reductions represent value in the form of Certified Emission Reduction credits, so-called carbon credits, in jurisdictions that are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol. Although the carbon credit market is still small, it is growing fast, valued in 2005 at $6.6 Billion in the European Union and projected to increase to $77 Billion if the United States accepts a similar national cap-and-trade program.

Valcent’s HDVB bioreactor system can be deployed on non-arable land, requires very little water due to its closed circuit process, does not incur significant labor costs and does not employ fossil fuel burning equipment, unlike traditional food/biofuel crops, like soy and palm oil. They require large agricultural acreage, huge volumes of water and chemicals, and traditional farm equipment and labor. They are also much less productive than the HDVB process: soybean, palm oil and conventional pond-grown algae typically yield 48 gallons, 635 gallons and 10,000 gallons per acre per year respectively.

Posted in Texas, Canada, Biofuel Techs, USA | No Comments »