Holiday Roundup: Top Biofuels, Solar, and Wind Power Inventors of 2012
US Design Patent (D670596 “Christmas Decoration”) assigned to Santa’s North Pole Light Factory AB in Sweden.
The movement towards a clean energy future demands the hard work and ingenuity of our scientists and engineers – people who spend their days imagining and creating solutions for our most pressing energy needs. As the holiday season approaches, we would like to take the time to recognize some of the top renewable energy inventors of 2012.
Biofuels:
The top biofuels inventors, as measured by number of US patent grants in 2012 (as of 12/11/12).
The top biofuel inventors of 2012, by a long stretch, are co-inventors Aniket Kale, Milton Sommerfeld, and Qiang Hu of Arizona State University (ASU). This is not surprising, given Professors Milton Sommerfeld and Qiang Hu‘s years of experience researching and optimizing various strains of algae for fuel production, pharmaceuticals, foods, and other applications.
Most of Kale, Sommerfeld, and Hu’s 2012 patents are assigned to Heliae Development, an algae technology company based in Gilbert, AZ. The relationship between ASU and Heliae has lasted over 4 years. In 2008, Heliae signed a technology licensing agreement with ASU, and in return, contributed $3 million towards biofuel R&D at ASU. In 2010, Science Foundation Arizona, ASU, and Heliae partnered to develop a world-class algae R&D center at ASU.
Congratulations again to Kale, Sommerfeld, and Hu for being the top biofuel innovators in 2012! We look forward to hearing more about your algae research in the years to come.
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