Bionavitas wants to give algae more light. The Redmond, Wash.-based startup has unveiled what it calls Light Immersion Technology — essentially, acrylic tubes that can direct sunlight deeper into a pond of algae. That could allow algae to grow up to 1.5 meters deep, rather than the about 10 centimeters depth now possible before "self-shading" prevents deeper growth, Bionavitas CEO Michael Weaver said Wednesday. And that density of growth per square meter could allow algae-based biofuel to compete with petroleum-based diesel and gasoline on price, he claimed. "For you to be able to grow any kind of density that’s cost effective, you must be able to break through the self-shading barrier," he said. Algae-based biofuel production has gotten a lot of interest for its promise of providing a naturally oily feedstock. But growing and harvesting large quantities of algae at an affordable cost have remained challenges (see Algae Biodiesel: It's $33 a Gallon). Weaver, who made his fortune by co-founding legal software company Applied Discovery and then selling it to LexisNexis, founded Bionavitas in 2006. He and other founders have funded it themselves and with angel investments so far. Now he wants to raise some money to prove the technology works. How much exactly will "depend on the market itself," he said. "It's not the same kind of venture capital market it was a year ago," when algae-based biofuel startups raked in a record amount of investment (see Algae Biofuel Investments Explode). Still, Weaver hopes to have one or two 1-hectare pilot plants, using canal-shaped covered ponds with Bionavitas's light-immersing acrylic tubes floating freely in them, up and running soon. The algae grown there would be aimed at biofuel production, which could include both biodiesel or other fuels made from algal oil or ethanol made from algal sugars, or both, depending on the partners Bionavitas brings in. Bionavitas is also developing a closed, computer-controlled bioreactor using LEDs for light to grow algae for nutraceutical uses, which can offer higher prices than fuels, he said. Growing algae for bioremediation, or cleaning toxins from contaminated water, is another potential line of business, he said. "We have a significant amount of interest from the mining industry," he said, "specifically, companies that have legal obligations to extract harmful elements from the water that’s coming from their mines."

Prism Solar Technologies, which uses holographic films to convert sunlight into electricity, plans to start assembling the films into panels for market launch later this year.

The Lake Katrine, N.Y.-based startup, founded in 2005, is negotiating for a factory space near its headquarters to accommodate equipment that can produce 60 megawatts of panels per year, said Stephen Filler, director of business development at Prism Solar, Wednesday at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco. The holographic films will be made at its technology development center in Tucson, Ariz. The company also plans to build a 1-gigawatt factory in New York state to build the films.

The company recently won a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for starting its panel manufacturing operation. Prism Solar also plans to announce a new round of funding soon, Filler said. The company raised $8.5 million in 2007.

The selling point of the startup’s technology is that it uses holographic films to reduce the need for expensive silicon (see company diagrams). The holographic film, sandwiched between glass, can capture the desired portions of the light spectrum to boost energy production. The film then reflects the light in various directions, so the light can hit the front and back of the silicon-based solar cells to improve energy output as well, the company said.

Filler said Prism Solar’s technology could reduce the use of silicon by up to 70 percent. He declined to provide the initial pricing for a Prism Solar’s panel, but said the company expects the price to reach $1.04 per watt by 2012 and $0.75 per watt by 2015.

The global shipping and warehousing industry can cut its carbon emissions — estimated at about 5 percent of the global total — in half if it undertakes a series of changes to the way it does business.

That’s the news from the World Economic Forum and consulting firm Accenture, which released their “Supply Chain Decarbonization� report on Wednesday.

Given that a corresponding Accenture survey found only one in ten supply chain executives were actively managing the carbon footprint of their companies’ operations, this new report could be seen as a to-do list for the industry.

The report said global transport and warehousing has 13 “commercially feasible� ways to cut in half its estimated annual carbon emissions of about 2,800 megatons — which is about 5 percent of an estimated 50,000 megatons of CO2 released from manmade sources into the atmosphere each year.

Among the key recommendations the report outlines are switching to electric or biofuel-powered trucks (a 175-megaton reduction); making warehouses and other buildings more energy efficient (a 93-megaton reduction), switching freight from planes and trucks to railroads and ships (a 115-megaton reduction), and allowing all those modes of transport to move more slowly so they use fuel more efficiently (a 171-megaton reduction).

Optimizing transportation networks — in other words, doing things like making sure trucks aren’t moving half-empty — could yield another 124-megaton reduction in carbon emissions, the report found.

Packagers of products can do their part by using less material or switching to greener packaging, for a 132-megaton reduction, the report noted.  

But not all of the 13 steps the report outlines for carbon reduction are within a company's control. Some — like the recommendations to source agriculture and manufactured goods closer to destination markets and in nations or regions that have lower carbon emissions, for a total 335-megaton reduction — will fly in the face of the decades-long trend towards more globalized world trade.

Do you know what chemicals are used to make the toys and furniture in your home, or the plastic lunch box and bottles that hold your food and drinks?

In California, work is underway to create a database of chemicals and their toxicity levels for public access, thanks to a law that took effect in January this year. State officials hope to use the online database to nudge manufacturers into ditching more harmful ingredients and designing better products.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), part of Cal EPA, is developing the database, which will enable consumers to evaluate and decide whether they want to buy certain products. The state also enacted another law last month that empowers the department to identify and rank chemicals that pose health threats and figure out alternative that manufacturers could use.

“There is a lack of information to choose non-toxic products,� said Maureen Gorsen, director of the DTSC, at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco Wednesday. “What are alternatives to plastics? That’s where the opportunities are for green materials.�

In the past, the state’s efforts to regulate chemicals mainly focused on cleaning up chemical spills and limiting toxic exposures in the workplace. News about high lead content in toys highlighted the public's ignorance on what they touch and use daily.  Autism, cancers and other health problems also have been linked to excessive exposures to toxic chemicals.

The DTSC has created a wiki to allow consumers to pitch in to help to create the rules for collecting the chemical data and assessing the toxicity levels of the consumer products. The two laws came out of the Green Chemistry Initiative launched by the Cal EPA in 2007.

Here are some interesting numbers from Gorsen and the DTSC website:

• The U.S. chemistry market is worth $635 billion. California accounts for $7.2 billion of that pie.

• The worldwide chemical market grows 3 percent each year, doubling every 25 years.

• About 100,000 different chemicals are used to make consumer products today.

• Two million plastic beverage bottles are tossed away every five seconds in the United States.

• 426,000 cell phones are discarded each day in the country.