By Nick Hodge

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the earth was covered with shallow oceans filled with algae and other simple critters.

As landmasses shifted and grew, water was displaced, leaving thick masses of algal residue that were eventually buried and compressed.

Skip forward a few eons, throw in some heat and pressure and ta da . . . oil.

Then, in 1859, Colonel Drake drilled the first oil well in Titusville, PA, unleashing not only oil, but an economic juggernaut that would dictate our way of life for years to come.

The world began to use oil for everything from fuel to waterproofing, and since then has consumed over a trillion barrels. With such furious consumption - and no way to make more - world oil reserves are set to dwindle.

In September 2005, Rival Technologies Inc. purchased a technology with the potential to provide an upgrading process for heavy crude and oil sands bitumen.

TRU Oiltech Inc. was created, laboratory scale research and development rejuvenated, resulting in a next generation primary upgrading technology, the TRU™ process. The process cost effectively produces a premium, pipeline grade, synthetic crude oil branded TRULITE™ and is now ready for continuous feed pilot testing by heavy oil producers and refiners worldwide.

In September 2005, Rival Technologies Inc. purchased a technology with the potential to provide an upgrading process for heavy crude and oil sands bitumen. TRU Oiltech Inc. was created, laboratory scale research and development rejuvenated, resulting in a next generation primary upgrading technology, the TRU™ process. The process cost effectively produces a premium, pipeline grade, synthetic crude oil branded TRULITE™ and is now ready for continuous feed pilot testing by heavy oil producers and refiners worldwide.

To view the Business World News video featuring Rival Technologies, please click here.

Earth Hour is an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of March 29th at 8PM local time to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions.

It is promoted by World Wide Fund for Nature Australia (WWF), an environmental lobby group, and the Sydney Morning Herald. The first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on 31 March 2007. The 2007 Earth Hour is estimated to have cut Sydney's mains electricity consumption by between 2.1% and 10.2% for that hour, with as many as 2.2 million people taking part. A second Earth Hour, in 2008, is planned to be an international event held in Sydney, many partner cities, and individuals around the world participating.

Rival Technologies Inc. (Other OTC:RVTI.PK - News) is pleased to provide shareholders with an update of recent activities as we move towards commercial development of the TRU(TM) process.

On March 12, 2008 we presented our first technical paper at the World Heavy Oil Congress in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to an industry audience made up of senior executives from leading oil companies worldwide. "Our presentation was well attended and has created additional interest from the oil sands and heavy oil industry. This was an important step in our business development plan for the TRU(TM) process," said Doug Thomas, President of Rival.

By Nick Hodge

Are Oil Prices Still the Main Energy Indicator?

In the early days of what is now called the "cleantech industry," it was assumed that the price of oil would be the main indicator of the value of new technologies. In other words, as the price of oil fluctuated up and down, so would the perceived value of clean energy companies.

And so it went for the next few years. Whenever oil prices spiked, the stock prices of cleantech companies followed soon after.

It makes sense--at least initially. Oil was one of the cheapest energy resources on the planet, dwarfed by the cost of renewable energy technologies at the time.

So when oil prices went up, newer energy sources became all the more competitive. Simple.

An algae photobioreactor on the roof of MIT university.

The clear polycarbonate tubes are approx 3 meters high, and 10-20 centimeters in diameter.

It removes upto 86% of the NOx and 40% of the CO2 of the smokestack emissions that are bubbled through it. The algae are feeding on exhaust with 13% CO2 content. This size algae photobioreactor can't handle the entire exhaust emissions, it would need to be much larger for that.

This photobioreactor you see here on the roof of MIT, has since been dismantled and reassembled in Naboomspruit (now called Mookgopong) South Africa at a biodiesel plant.

http://www.infinitibiodiesel.com

By Nick Hodge

The debate has once again been renewed about the extension of federal tax credits for energy produced from wind, solar, geothermal, cellulosic ethanol, biofuels and other renewable sources.

If you remember, the last time this discussion surfaced was in December, when the proposed tax credits were rolled into the Energy Bill. But, after a filibuster from the Republicans won by one vote, the credits were cut out and the bill went on to be signed with lackluster provisions--including a despicable rise in CAFÉ standards.

At the heart of the debate is where the money is coming from to fund the tax credits. As you probably know, the money would be shifted away from Big Oil--to the tune of $18 billion.

The 3 Hard Truths Facing the World... and Where the Money Will Be in Energy

By Nick Hodge

I seem to remember an e-mail going around not too long ago about different politicians and oil CEOs "going into the confessional," so to speak.

First up was ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) CEO Jim Mulva, who said he did not believe the global oil supply would ever surpass 100 million barrels per day because of production constraints and new laws limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

I love how Peak Oil can be cloaked in such nebulous terms as "production constraints."

According to ConocoPhillips, the International Energy Agency has forecast that supply will expand to 100 million barrels of oil per day by 2020.

Petroleum is the general term for solid, liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are a class of organic compounds consisting only of carbon and hydrogen and which are the basis of oil, natural gas and coal.

Crude oil is naturally occurring petroleum.

Technically, crude oil consists of pentanes (hydrocarbon chains consisting of five carbon atoms and 12 hydrogen atoms) and heavier hydrocarbons (hydrocarbon chains longer than five carbon atoms in the formula). It may also contain other materials such as water, natural gas, sulphur and other minerals.

To view the entire document, click here.

How Efficient Energy Sources Produce More, Using Less

By Nick Hodge

I've written several times about investing in energy efficiency, and how doing more with the same amount of energy is cleaner, greener and cheaper than generating more power--no matter the source.

We've seen some good investment opportunities coming out of this space lately, and I'll get to those in a moment. First, I'd like to illustrate why energy efficiency makes so much sense, as well as describe some of the technologies being developed to use energy more wisely.

Energetic resources in the oil sands of Alberta.

Alberta, Canada, has a combined oil reserve of over 176 billion barrels.

This is more that all of the oil reserves of the United States combined.

Albertans enjoy many benefits as a result of oil sands exploration, investments, & production though the stewardship of the government of Alberta.

Investing in BIPV Companies

By Nick Hodge

There's been growing clamor lately about BIPV companies and BIPV Stocks. Which technology is the best? Which company should be invested in? And, for some, what is BIPV?

Let's try to clear this mess up.

A Veritable Shift in Energy Use

If you follow green headlines at all, it was difficult to miss the recent articles about Intel’s dominance of the EPA Green Power Partners program.

According to the EPA’s website, "The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations--from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities."

The program is essentially a brilliant public relations scheme. Companies, schools and governments that purchase renewable energy can sign up to become a green power partner, and in turn they receive national recognition--all while helping the environment and their bottom line.

By Nick Hodge

Well, it’s official. It’s now kosher to discuss how partisanship will affect different sectors of the market in the face of an election year.

It all started on January 4, when Reuters ran a story entitled, “Energy Crisis? Not on U.S. Campaign Trail.”

That article called the energy crisis an “800-pound gorilla,” despite the scant attention it’s received thus far on the road to the White House. Going further, it claimed energy could “be one of the most pressing issues facing the next winner of the Oval Office.”

By Nick Hodge

Everyone Pays, You Profit

It’s been some time--over two months--since we discussed the water industry, and I figured it was time we dove back into it.

Right now, there’s a story erupting in California that brings increased validity to what I’ve been telling you would happen to the world’s supply of freshwater. It’s disappearing.

In California, just inland from the San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento Delta is facing increased pressure to remain the state’s natural purifier of water. It’s where the freshwater from California’s rivers meets the salinity of the Pacific Ocean, and where more than 55% of Californians get at least some of their drinking water.

Emerging Stocks in the Geothermal Arena

By Nick Hodge

Severe storms swept the Western part of the country this weekend, causing heavy flooding and dumping up to 11 feet of snow in the region plagued by wildfires just a few short months ago.

The storms, for all their severity, were little talked about in the face tomorrow’s New Hampshire primary election, the beginning of the NFL playoffs and the continued buzz about Roger Clemens’s alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

But the storms, in my opinion, deserved much more attention than they received. They did, after all, claim the lives of at least four people, with many others missing and injured.

By Charles Clover, Environment Editor

High grain prices and new carbon-saving crop varieties will force Europe to rethink its opposition to genetically modified crops, the Oxford farming conference has been told.

Neil Parish, Conservative MEP for the South West and chairman of the European Parliament's agriculture committee, said that the likelihood of high grain prices for the foreseeable future would create a gap between domestic livestock and imports fed on cheaper GM grain.

At the same time, the latest GM wheat and oil seed rape crops now predicted to hit the market within three years by Monsanto, the genetic engineering company, were capable of reducing the need for nitrogen fertiliser by 30 per cent.

The Year in Charts: Cleantech Stocks Clean House

By Nick Hodge

In the anticipatory week since Christmas, it seems every news, financial and other media outlet has gone to great lengths to issue their annual lists of superlatives, both best and worst.

And in an effort not to break the mold, I figured I'd do the same. But, of course, I want to talk about water and renewable and alternative energy superlatives--of which there are many.

Click here to view the entire article.

Source: Metaefficient

North America’s largest solar photovoltaic system is now running and generating power — about 30 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. The 14 megawatt power plant is at the Nellis Air Force Base in the sunny desert of southern Nevada. It’s expected to save about $1 million in power costs annually, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 24,000 tons each year.