[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJGct5H-PHw[/youtube]
The renewable energy investment company Rosebud Energy Deutschland is ready to invest $500 million in research in Israel for the production of algae-based bio jet fuel, the Israeli business newspaper Globes reported yesterday.
John Antoniadis, the CEO of the German company, met last week in Israel with Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan and Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau, as well as with potential strategic partners. Antoniadis revealed that Rosebud Energy Deutschland has a signed commitment from a large European airline to buy algae-based bio jet fuel from the company.
The third phase of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), scheduled to enter effect in 2013, is expected to greatly boost the market for green jet fuel. Under the new ETS regulations, airlines landing in EU member states will be required to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 15% a year, or else pay a fine for air pollution.
According to Dr. Isaac Berzin, founding director of the Institute for Renewable Energy Policy at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, the fines will make algae-based biofuel a more viable alternative to conventional jet fuel. “A market for bio jet fuel has been created, which is competitive in price to regular fuel when the emissions fine is added,” he explains. Israel can play a leading role in this field, Berzin told Globes, but it must act quickly to exploit this window of opportunity.
Environment Minister Erdan concurs: “If there is a body willing to finance this, and the entrepreneur says that he already has a contract with a European airline for the sale of the product, all that’s left for us is to allocate land and find a way to get the carbon dioxide, which the algae consume, to the area. We only have to find the right way to do it.”
::Globes
Author: Ira Moskowitz
When his kids were small, Ira would point to litter on the ground and tell them: “That makes me angry!” He still gets angry about pollution, waste and abusive treatment of our world, but is encouraged by the growing awareness of environmental issues and has been following the latest developments in cleantech with great interest. Ira grew up in the green hills of western Massachusetts and moved to Israel in the early 1980s after completing an MA in Middle Eastern Studies. He has worked as a software developer and journalist, and translates works of Hebrew fiction and non-fiction to English. Ira is trying to age gracefully, but refuses to surrender his youthful belief in the potential for change, including a collaborative future for the peoples of the Middle East. To contact Ira, email ira (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I am a Native American (MA-CHIS)the creek people we have a PROBLEM on the Indian resevation obesity diebiets no jobs, just to name a few.
As a native women I see the Algae production A SOLUTION to the PROBLEM on Indian LAND.
As Native American most of us have LAND.