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Partnering with Powerful Allies: Jim Sears

Jim Sears' Story: Jim Sears had a simple three-word vision: Energy security worldwide. When he set out to make it a reality, he knew he wouldn’t only be launching a new business, but a new industry with unproven technology.

A longtime researcher and serial entrepreneur with an interest in renewable energy, Jim was concerned about transportation fuels. “What happens when the fossil fuels run out?” he asked. “What about global warming?”

Two years ago he learned about a possible solution that had been proposed in a discontinued program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewal Energy Laboratory in which algae, fed with sunlight and carbon dioxide, could produce eco-friendly fuels.

There were significant technological problems to overcome. Fuel-grade algae species are hard to grow in open ponds because of unregulated temperatures, invasive species and a number of other problems.

That’s Some Pond Scum, Chum

"Algae are the fastest-growing organisms on the planet and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than the conventional soil-tilled crops that are now being grown for biofuel use," Jim says. “I saw the technical problems as a great opportunity and began to research the history of the technology development associated with algae-based fuels.”

The main hurdle was figuring out how to produce the algae-based fuel to be sold at a price that would be competitive with petroleum-based fuels. Jim came up with the idea to grow the algae in enclosed photo bioreactors lying flat on the ground and primarily made up of a few sheets of specialty plastics.

“I did the financials and came up with an infrastructure price per square meter that was sufficiently low,” he says. “In the end, I thought I had the answer.”

The “coolest day” of his life, he says, was when he met with the NREL study manager who suggested that he may indeed have found the solution. So for the next few years, Jim went into debt and worked with no salary to further develop the technology. Finding funding was a particular challenge.

“In normal circumstances, it’s difficult to find funding,” Jim says. “And here I was, talking about a technology that had never existed before. This could also be seen as threatening to many industries, who might want to see me fail.

“I knew I needed a powerful partner.”

Finding Powerful, Credible Allies

He began telling his story to, and networking with, people at Colorado State University. “Many of the university’s initiatives aligned with the project,” Jim says. “I knew Colorado State University could be a powerful force. It would lend the technology credibility, so I kept showing up at every meeting and eventually all the right people learned about my project.”

Persistence paid off, Colorado State wrote its first-ever agreement with an independent startup, and Solix Biofuels was born. Together, they proceeded with the patent-pending photo bioreactor technology. The university owns a small percentage of the company and is partnering in research and development.

With $500,000 of initial capitalization from a university-friendly angel investor, Jim and the new Solix team created the first prototype – a 5,000-gallon, 70-foot-long photo bioreactor in Fort Collins, Colo. Now in the second round of funding, Solix is getting ready to enlarge the prototype and build the full-size 350-foot by 50-foot reactor that will be started next year at New Belgium Brewing Co., in Fort Collins.

Researchers will use excess carbon dioxide from the brewery to test the algae-based biodiesel process. Jim expects to have the full-scale reactor ready within two years. When fully activated, he says, it will be able to produce 7,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel per acre each year.

A Global Market, a Global Solution

Jim splits his time between his garage-turned-laboratory in Boulder and offices at Colorado State. He puts in 80-hour weeks, but isn’t complaining. He sees the bigger picture. “Any country in the world will be able to make use of this technology to create local transportation fuels,” Jim says. “It will also help provide a solution to global warming, as the algae consume excess carbon dioxide from power plants and breweries to make the biofuel.”

The necessary infrastructure investment to create fuel-producing algae “farms” is probably in the billion-dollar range, Jim says, financing many square miles of photo bioreactors around power plants. “I realized I was working on a gargantuan mission. But it still needs to get done. I knew I couldn’t say it was ‘too big to do.’”

Jim’s Bonus Insight

Jim Sears credits his success so far with sticking to his values. “It starts with people. I chose to move toward people who shared my ideals and values. That put me on this string of miracles that are slowly making my mission come true.

“No matter the outcome – win or lose – this has been a fantastic journey, filled with meaning, integrity and great colleagues.”