biofuels
The world’s major stock markets and clean energy indices were mostly down this week as Americans headed into the Memorial Day long weekend. The only exception was the EnergyBoom Biofuel Subindex (E•B Biofuel) which increased 1% for the week.
Solazyme, Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM), a biofuels company which also makes dietary supplements and skin care products, opened for trading today at $18 per share and jumped to more than $21 by mid-day. The company completed its initial public offering of 10,975,000 shares Thursday.
Agricultural biotechnology company Ceres, Inc., based in Thousand Oaks, California, filed an Initial Public Offering prospectus with the U.S. regulators Monday planning to raise up to $100 million and to list on NASDAQ under the symbol CERE.
The broad stock market indices all had lacklustre weeks, apparently bothered by ongoing worries about the Greek economy and a meeting of Euro-zone finance ministers scheduled for Monday. Nevertheless, the broader markets managed to outperform the clean energy and energy efficiency indices this week, with the biggest exception being the EnergyBoom Biofuel Subindex (E•B Biofuel) which ended the week up 2.48%.
Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has announced approval for an agricultural project that will develop biofuel from rotting dates.
The oil industry has backed off alternative energy investments in recent months. BP, for instance, made news in April when it cut 620 jobs of an original 4,400 in its solar business. Last October it killed a $67 million expansion of its solar manufacturing operation in Maryland.
Once thought to be the answer to fossil fuels' dwindling supply and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, biofuels have now become somewhat of a pariah.
FedEx hopes to get a third of its jet fuel from biofuels by 2030, according to CEO and chairman Fred Smith who announced the goal in a recent speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit.
