| Monday April 20, 2008 11:03 Interview with Syntroleum VP Ron Stinebaugh comment. Laws of thermodynamics apply to biofuels too. http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/altreport/newmexicopr/newmexicopr.htm#bye |
 Biofuel plant may move in · Bye Energy will use space to produce algae-derived fuel for jets Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal The founder of a company that once eyed Albuquerque to build a two-seat business jet is exploring the territory again - this time heading a new business that wants to produce plant-based aviation fuel at the Albuquerque International Sunport. George Bye, founder of Denver-based Bye Energy, visited town recently to talk up a proposal to build a pilot plant there to produce an algae-derived fuel, specifically for business jets. The company is exploring similar projects in Phoenix and· Denver. "We're on a threshold of the science moving from laboratory to hardware, to pilot plant," Bye told the Journal in an interview. "Jet aviation, general aviation, use petroleum fossil fuels just like ground transportation does. So, to the extent we can have an impact finding resources that are renewable fuels, domestically produced, - we want to be part of the solution ..." "The key to what we're doing is to bring a relatively sophisticated. but inexpensive, process of scale and cost point to aviation that works, that is commercially viable," Bye said. The proposed plant would have a small "footprint" -an approximate $1 million investment, an initial building requirement of 2,000 square feet, and two to five acres available for expansion, he said, adding a location near or at the airport is critical to focus on business and general aviation. Bye Energy president John W. Brown said an airport location also helps with transportation issues, or rather no need for it. "If production is on site, we don't have to ship it," he said. Ultimately, the plant could produce "hundreds of thousands of gallons" of fuel a year, he said, although initial production will be smaller. The plant itself would not create a lot of new jobs.
The city is interested in the project, with facilities leased by the now defunct Eclipse Aviation in the mix of potential sites, according to Jim Hinde, business development planning manager for the Aviation Department. There are other options if Eclipse manages to make a comeback, said Hinde. "We know the technology works," Hinde said. "The challenge is, can it be done of a commercial basis? We're pretty excited they're going to attempt a commercial setup." · Bye is no stranger to the aviation world, nor to Albuquerque. He was CEO and founder of the Aviation Technology Group, which was developing the $2.5 million, two-seat business jet, the Javelin. Five years ago, the company announced it would build the plane in Albuquerque and employ 200 people, but eventually settled instead in Colorado. ATG was in the process of moving into production when the market collapsed. Bye said the company has been in bankruptcy court since May. "A downturn in the market can be a real difficult thing to overcome," he said. A spinoff of Bye Aerospace, formed in 2007 to focus on business jet design, Bye Energy was founded last year to concentrate on aviation biofuels. While biofuels can be made from a variety of plants, Bye Energy's choice is algae. "Converting algae into biofuel is a very green process," Bye said. Brown explained: "Once you have the algae, you dry it and separate the lipids (the plant's oils) from the algae cake. Our first phase ... is to produce algae lipids out of which jet fuel would be produced. We have other strategic partners who have the capability of converting that to jet fuel, then we'll take that to another partner and get it certified. Once that's done, we'll marry up the processes." Nationally, the annual business jet demand for fuel pales compared with the commercial aviation demand of 200 billion gallons, but it is still a 1.2 billion-gallon, $5 billion-a-year market. But biz jet owners pay a, premium, Brown said. Initially, the fuel made at the plant would be mixed with petroleum jet fuel, making up 20 percent of the blend. "It will get us speed to market and it should make it easier to get it certified," Brown said. A recent Wall Street Journal story on biofuels estimates the cost of a gallon can be as high as $20. The company, though, believes it can come up with a product that would be competitive with petroleum-based aviation fuels, which typically run about $2 more a gallon than unleaded car gas. Among those working with Bye Energy are American BioResoures, with which Bye signed a memo of understanding to evaluate ABR's bio-reactor system, and jet-engine maker Williams International. "They're working with us to get the fuel certified," Brown said. Brown said Bye Energy will explore what incentives might be available from the city or state to locate in Albuquerque, but said it is not incentive shopping, given that it wants to build pilot projects in the Phoenix and Denver areas as well. "At the end of the day, our business model is to have facilities at our market airports," he said. Brown said Bye's next step with Albuquerque officials will be to furnish specific criteria and schematics concerning its space, water and electrical requirements. "Then we'll sit down with the folks involved to see how they
can support us," he said. |
| Thursday April 16, 2009 11:44 http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/altreport/newmexicopr/newmexicopr.htm#stolencars |
Of the 20 U.S. metropolitan regions with the highest theft rates, according to the crime bureau, seven are near the Mexico border: Laredo; San Diego; Albuquerque, N.M.; Tucson, Ariz.; El Centro, Calif.; El Paso, Texas; and Phoenix. El Paso in particular has jumped up the charts; it ranked 17th in 2008, compared with No. 81 in 2005. |
| Friday April 17, 2008 07:51 General Growth Properties: A Really Big Bankruptcy comment. Prudential pays Sandia labs retirement benefits. Life insurance companies, hobbled by real estate investments and committed to paying some costly retirement contracts, face more cuts in their credit ratings before the year is up and have little choice but to seek capital in unforgiving markets. ... We wonder if PRU holds positions in General Growth Properties? http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/altreport/newmexicopr/newmexicopr.htm#coronado |
The owner of four New Mexico malls, including Albuquerque's Coronado Center, has some serious economic worries. |
| MondayApril 13, 2009 09:10 http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/altreport/newmexicopr/newmexicopr.htm#investments |
| N.M. Funds Among
Worst Nationally
Those funds, along with the Land Grant Permanent Fund and
the Severance Tax Permanent Fund, declined $5.7 billion during the last three
months of 2008. The funds were down $11.4 billion from the last quarter of
2007. All of the funds performed worse than the benchmarks their managers try
to beat, the LFC reported. The LFC found that: · The Educational Retirement Board lost $1.38 billion, or 17.3 percent, in second quarter of the state fiscal year and $2.78 billion, or 29.6 percent, from the same period a year ago. · PERA lost $1.8 billion in the quarter, or 16.8 percent, and $4.34 billion -32.7 percent - for the year. · The land grant fund lost $1.64 billion in the quarter, a 17.7 percent loss, and $2.84 billion in the year, or 26.6 percent. · The severance tax fund lost $821 million in the quarter - 20.6 percent - and $1.47 billion for the year - 31.8 percent. The LFC said the declines lowered the PERA's 10-year return to 3.19 percent and the ERB's to 1.8 percent. Both funds require a long-term growth rate of 8 percent to accumulate enough money to honor commitments to retirees, according to the LFC. The PERA fund's annual performance ranked in the 99th percentile of similar funds in the nation, meaning that 98 percent of funds performed better, according to the LFC. The land grant fund ranked in the 61st percentile, the severance tax fund in the 78th, and the ERB in the 85th. A variety of problems affected each fund's performance, since each fund's asset mix and objectives are different. The State Investment Council manages the land grant and severance tax funds. ERB and PERA each have separate managements. The LFC found PERA suffered from a "large exposure to
international equity investments." As of Dec. 31, 21 percent of PERA's assets
were in international equity. While that allocation proved "extremely
advantageous throughout the middle part of the decade," the sector has fallen
more than 45 percent in the past year, LFC said. Contributing to the severance tax fund's decline were "economically targeted investments," which the LFC said are "intended to stimulate the New Mexico economy despite having a lower than market rate return." The land grant fund's losses were due in part to underperformance in its domestic equity assets, made worse by changes in hedging strategies adopted in response to changing market conditions, LFC said. Albuquerque Journal Monday April 13, 2009 |
| Saturday April 4, 2009
11:06 http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/altreport/newmexicopr/newmexicopr.htm#thornburg |
| Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News comment. NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Thornburg Mortgage Inc (THMR.PK) said it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and go out of business, making the provider of "jumbo" mortgage loans one of the largest casualties of the nation's housing slump and credit crisis. The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based company specialized in making mortgages larger than $417,000 to borrowers with good credit. It has struggled with liquidity problems since the summer of 2007, when the value of mortgages on its balance sheet began to fall. It later suffered a series of margin calls from its creditors.  Albuquerque Journal Saturday April 4, 2007 |
| Sunday March 22, 2009
06:15 Our legal and electrical projects would only work in Albuquerque, NM. http://home.comcast.net/~bpayne37/pnmelectric/altreport/newmexicopr/newmexicopr.htm#sunsetapril2009 |
  /  http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal/theinvestigation/theinvestigation.htm#reedemail 
http://newmexico.org/relax/
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