The Top Five Cleantech Stories of 2011, Part II

By Zach Hiatt

Continuing with our countdown of the Top Five Cleantech Stories from 2011, here are entries number 3 and 2:

Number 3: The Resurgence of Bio Fuels in the Pacific Northwest

Several years ago, the city of Portland, Oregon mandated that all diesel fuel sold within the city limits contain at least 5% biodiesel (also known as B5). Portland was the first city in the nation to impose such a mandate. Portland officials have since hailed the mandate as a “raging success,” and claim it has created new jobs and businesses in Oregon. Following Portland’s lead, Oregon imposed a state-wide 2% biodiesel (B2) mandate in 2010. Although Washington does not require that all diesel sold be at least B2, it has required for several years that biodiesel sales amount at least 2% of all diesel sold in the state. See RCW 19.112.110.

These government mandates, and others like them in British Columbia, have provided a needed shot in the arm to the Pacific Northwest’s biofuels industry, which experienced a resurgence in 2011. This resurgence may be best exemplified by Imperium Renewables, a Seattle-based company recently profiled in the Seattle Times. Back in 2007, Imperium became one of the nation’s largest biodiesel producers when it opened a plant in Grays Harbor, Washington capable of producing more than 100 million gallons of biodiesel per year. But by 2009, the Grays Harbor plant had fallen on tough economic times and laid off most of its workers. Another two years later, Imperium has turned things around, thanks in part to increased demand for biodiesel right here in the Northwest. The company posted record profits in 2011, and its founder and CEO, John Plaza, expects 2012 to be even better. The biodiesel mandates in Oregon and Washington, along with a similar federal mandate in 2012 and beyond, appear to be securing the future of the Northwest’s biofuels industry.

Number 2: What Climate Change?!

If climate change is one of the most important global issues in a generation, you might not have guessed it in 2011. As a result, entry #2 on our Top 5 list is not so much a story as it is a non-story. That’s not to say there weren’t any developments on the climate change front in 2011, because there certainly were. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continued to take steps in 2011 to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. And on the international front, delegates of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Durban, South Africa in November/December to continue negotiating an international climate agreement. Unfortunately, the UNFCCC talks failed once again to yield an international agreement, and the biggest news out of Durban was Canada’s decision to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol. In perhaps an unwitting commentary on the difficulties on this front in 2011, the UFCCC nonetheless hailed the Durban conference a “breakthough” by virtue of the fact that the delegates at least agreed to enter into an agreement at a later time.

Here in the U.S., cap-and-trade climate change legislation was pronounced officially d-e-a-d in 2011 (just kidding, but not really) thanks in large part to a weak economy and a divided, dysfunctional Congress. And just when cap-and-trade proponents thought things couldn’t get any worse, major presidential candidates started making news by reverting back to questing the science behind anthropogenic global warming. Indeed, 2011 was a far cry from the “old days” of 2009 when the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive climate change bill, and President Obama himself was showing up at UNFCCC meetings to hammer out international agreements. With an election cycle coming up in November, we can probably expect more non-stories on climate change in 2012…

Please stay tuned next week for our #1 Cleantech Story of 2011!