http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php en lryckman@cobizmag.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-14T19:19:41+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/water-on-california-farms-converting-crisis-to-opportunity/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/water-on-california-farms-converting-crisis-to-opportunity/#When:18:39:04Z By Richard Worzel, the California Farm Bureau Federation Global water shortages may be inevitable, but they offer opportunities to farmers who can successfully manage water supplies. The looming shortage of fresh water is not unique to California—it's rapidly going global. This will be seen by many as a major problem, but California farmers have the opportunity to turn it into a significant advantage if they play it properly. There are seven major factors contributing to coming water shortages, and they will have differing levels of effects on California farmers: Population growth will produce modest… 2012-05-14T18:39:04+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/in-climate-of-cheap-gas-forecast-for-renewable-energy-finance-is-cloudy/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/in-climate-of-cheap-gas-forecast-for-renewable-energy-finance-is-cloudy/#When:19:19:41Z Cascadia Capital CEO Michael Butler knows renewable energy finance. His investment banking firm has been a key player in some of the clean technology sector's most significant transactions. His forecast for renewable energy is "near term cloudy." The rush of investments into natural gas is siphoning capital that would have gone into the renewable energy sector. Renewable energy is a viable industry long term, it's just going to take longer than we all hoped. Cost parity with fossil fuels has long been the holy grail of the renewable energy industry. When shale exploration in the United States began… 2012-05-14T19:19:41+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/texas-am-algae-biofuel-tests-show-promise/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/texas-am-algae-biofuel-tests-show-promise/#When:18:56:46Z By AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com Over the past two years, Texas AgriLife Research has been operating as a component of a $44 million, multi-institution, multi-state consortium funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct algae research and development for commercial, domestic biofuel production. Additional funding was awarded in part as a result of research advancements at AgriLife’s Pecos facility and expands the scope of study to include algal coproducts, such as feedstock for the livestock and mariculture industries. Current research includes improving algae biofuels using a method to create a hydrocarbon fuel similar to gasoline or diesel that is… 2012-05-14T18:56:46+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/clean-energy-surge-fueled-by-wind-solar-and-biofuels/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/clean-energy-surge-fueled-by-wind-solar-and-biofuels/#When:18:50:05Z Revenues directed to the cleantech industry worldwide surged by 31 percent in one year — from $188 billion in 2010 to $246 billion in 2011, fueled by double-digit growth rates in wind and solar deployment and an increase in pricing for biofuels. So says a report,  Clean Energy Trends 2012, compiled by Clean Edge, a cleantech research and advisory firm founded in 2000 with offices in San Francisco and Portland. Authors project worldwide revenue directed to wind, solar and biofuels at $385 billion in 2021. Perhaps the most striking numbers in the report come when… 2012-05-14T18:50:05+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/solar-challenges-in-californias-mojave-desert/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/solar-challenges-in-californias-mojave-desert/#When:18:01:20Z By Anne Fischer, Solar Novus Today The Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, Calif., motto is “Imagination flies here.” Many firsts have launched from its runways: the first non-governmental rocket ship, the first plane to circle the globe without refuelling, the first rocket-based plane. Today it’s home to Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, Paul Allen’s StratoLaunch, the National Test Pilot School and many other businesses. Officials at the Space Port are taking steps to make it an attractive place for businesses to locate and part of that plan is renewable energy. Not only are huge wind… 2012-05-08T18:01:20+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/benefiting-from-unconventional-oil/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/benefiting-from-unconventional-oil/#When:17:56:11Z By Headwaters Economics As oil production from the Bakken formation continues to set records in North Dakota, the sheer pace and scale of the boom is still unfolding. The intensity of industrial activity in western North Dakota translates into mounting concerns about the ability of local and state government to respond to growing infrastructure needs and service demands. After a recent tour of the region, North Dakota state officials announced plans for direct assistance to local governments, along with a promise to revisit how oil tax revenues are shared between the state and local governments.1 Meanwhile, citizens and… 2012-05-08T17:56:11+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/western-water-studies-bring-together-fed-experts-and-state-managers/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/western-water-studies-bring-together-fed-experts-and-state-managers/#When:17:16:18Z The Los Angeles River basin could experience a water supply shortage of 800,000 acre-feet per year by 2025 if recent estimates are correct. But there is hope: a water basin study will help plan for securing adequate water into the future, taking into account climate change and population growth. The LA basin study is part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program, which is tackling the issues of water availability and climate change through studies that provide a forum for partnerships between federal experts and local and state water managers.  The studies, which began in… 2012-05-08T17:16:18+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/five-ways-to-resolve-todays-economic-environmental-challenges/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/five-ways-to-resolve-todays-economic-environmental-challenges/#When:16:33:27Z Everywhere we look today, destructive floods, windstorms, heat waves and other extreme weather events seem to be on the rise. Joblessness continues to haunt us, and economic inequity remains excessive. Will new policies solve these problems? Are new technologies the ticket? Does the answer lie in conclusive victories for conservative or liberal political ideologies? Actually, none of the above will do the trick. More of the same type of technologies and policies, no matter what their ideological bent, will only make things worse. To resolve a problem you must first understand its cause. The roots… 2012-05-08T16:33:27+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/opposition-slows-utah-developers-wyoming-wind-farm/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/opposition-slows-utah-developers-wyoming-wind-farm/#When:20:37:35Z By Wyoming Energy News A Utah wind developer is delaying half of a planned $180 million-plus wind farm in Wyoming because of ongoing appeals by an opposition landowners group. Wasatch Wind of Park City, Utah, is planning to construct two separate but nearby 31-turbine sites south of Glenrock. When completed, they’re expected to generate a combined 100 megawatts of power. But Wasatch said in a media release that it will postpone completion of one of the turbine sites, Pioneer Wind Park I, until next year. Construction on the wind turbines had been planned to start this… 2012-04-30T20:37:35+00:00 http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/montana-researchers-squeeze-more-oil-from-crops/ http://www.planetprofitreport.com/index.php/articles/montana-researchers-squeeze-more-oil-from-crops/#When:20:15:40Z By MSU News Researchers at Montana State University have developed a protein that can be expressed in oilseed crops to increase the oil yield by as much as 40 percent, a development that could have an impact on the biodiesel industry. Patents on this technology have been issued and research is ongoing. Biodiesel is produced from a wide variety of oilseed crops: In Europe, canola is the major biodiesel crop, while in the U.S. soybeans dominate. The MSU technology has been demonstrated in corn and soybeans and is expected to work for a broad range of… 2012-04-30T20:15:40+00:00