Gevo Inc.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) researchers say they have identified a process that could lead to new methods of engineering plant oils for use in renewable chemical and biofuel production.

Here are the Top 10 Renewable Energy News Stories You May Have Missed this Week:

1.  United States: Wind Developers Waiting on New Transmission Lines - The proliferation of wind power in the United States this decade is at a tipping point. A major problem that needs to be addressed is transferring the energy from wind farms to the high density cities.

Here are two very different advanced biofuel strategies: Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) is producing algae from byproducts at one of its commercial ethanol plants to make biodiesel, and Codexis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDXS) is developing biocatalysts to produce advanced biofuel and pharmaceuticals and to remove carbon from smokestacks.

Until recently, it has been difficult to see how or when advanced biofuels would reach customers. Here are two companies whose go-to-market strategies have made notable progress in the past few months: Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) & Amyris Inc. (NASDAQ: AMRS).

Shares of biofuels and renewable chemicals company Gevo, Inc. (GEVO) are steady in mid-session trading today after rising 9.6 percent to close Wednesday at $16.44 for the company’s first day of trading on NASDAQ. On Tuesday, the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) raised $107.25 million with the sale of 7.15 million shares at $15 each.

So what’s up with the biofuels sector? Two biofuels companies last week filed unpriced initial public offerings (IPOs) with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a third did the same earlier this summer. A fourth biofuels company completed an IPO in April 2010. 

Hundreds of companies are pursuing different technologies and strategies they believe will yield a winning next-generation biofuel.  To increase its odds of backing a winner, Khosla Ventures has made no less than nine investments in this sector.

While solar power comes from sunlight and wind power comes from wind, biomass is a fascinating alternative energy because it can come from so many different sources – and the federal government is looking into many of them.