Article Archive for May 2011
by Will Dalen Rice (Earth Science Erratics) …The final day of the conference was all about being “feedstock agnostic” in terms of what you give to your genetically engineered, “proprietary organisms.” This was the really …
by Dana Flavelle (The Star) Canadian truckers say new biofuel requirements for diesel that come into effect July 1 will cost taxpayers $2.5 billion over the next 25 years and do little to curb greenhouse …
Green World Conferences Ltd and Cerebral Business Research (CBR) will be holding the prestigious EnAsia 2011 – Enabling Energy Dialogue conference and exhibition in New Delhi on 5-6 December 2011. The event will include
AWARD: Advanced …
Green World Conferences Ltd and Cerebral Business Research (CBR) will be holding the prestigious EnAsia 2011 – Enabling Energy Dialogue conference and exhibition in New Delhi on 5-6 December 2011. The event will include
AWARD: Advanced …
by Richard Baillie (Renewable Energy World) A host of renewable technologies are now winning the hearts and minds of military planners.
…But the military’s adoption of new technology had its greatest and most enduring impact in 1912 …
by Dr. William Strauss (Renewable Energy World/FutureMetrics) This short article challenges the assumption that there is always a carbon debt incurred first and then a carbon dividend realized later (debt-then-dividend) when using woody biomass for …
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(PRWeb/CRT) From Asia to Latin America there’s renewed interest in Jatropha oil and its cultivation. CMT’s JatrophaWorld Asia on 27-28 June in Hainan Island hones in on Jatropha as sustainable feedstock option for biofuel. Armed with …
by Glenn Meyers (CleanTechnica) There is now more good news on producing hydrogen, the clean-burning fuel that leaves behind water as an emission.
An international scientific team has announced creating hydrogen using ambient temperatures and pressure …
(DEINOVE) Oseo has validated the first key milestone in the DEINOL project (on the production of second-generation ethanol using Deinococcus bacteria) with Deinove and its partners. As a result, Oseo has paid Deinove a second tranche …
(Algae Industry Magazine) Many kinds of algae and cyanobacteria are capable of using energy from sunlight to split water molecules and release hydrogen. One reason this approach hasn’t yet been harnessed for fuel production is …
by Amy Phillips (ABC Rural) Australian PhytoFuel aims to establish hundreds of thousands of hectares of ‘kulpa’ plantations across northern Australia in the next five to seven years.
Spokesman Marshall Mackay says trees will be grown …
by Brooke Coleman (Advanced Ethanol Council/Biofuels Digest) …Often lost in the counter-productive and backward-facing public obsession with corn ethanol are the clear attributes of the ethanol molecule itself.
A recent study, “Ethanol – the Primary Renewable …
(Jagran Post) The project of deriving ethanol, a bio-fuel for blending with petrol, from a seaweed is all set to get a major boost, with the Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI) deciding …
by Ivan Gale (The National) Middle Eastern airlines are being urged to invest in biofuels programmes to help their industry achieve ambitious targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Aviation produces about 2 per cent of global …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …According to E85prices.com, Iowa E85 fuel is priced just about on the money, compared to gasoline. Overall, E85 gasoline sells for an average of $2.97 per gallon, or 76 percent of …
By Jonathan Weisman (Wall Street Journal) It was an odd setting for a policy pronouncement, but on the sidewalk outside the Historical Building here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney embraced ethanol subsidies. It came just days …
by Matt Luebbe (The Fence Post) University of Nebraska researchers plan to conduct a study this summer at the Panhandle Research Feedlot to determine the effects of including a common ethanol plant byproduct, condensed distillers …
(CNN) …In an interview broadcast Sunday on “CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS,” the grandson of the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia said the oil price should be somewhere between $70 and $80 a barrel, rather …
by Jeff Natalie-Lees (Aberdeen News) Export options help facility weather weaker domestic demand
Ethanol produced in Mina is helping Brazil avoid a fuel crisis after a weak sugar cane crop cut that country’s ethanol production.
When the …
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) The European Union has set new environmental and labor standards for the crops used to make biofuels there, angering U.S. farmers who worry that such restrictions could spread to …
by Jerry Hagstrom (AgWeek) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told a gathering of international agricultural development activists recently that U.S. biofuels should not blamed for most of the increases in food prices in recent years. “With …
by Ken Field (Financial Post) The myths that smear a superior fuel
…A recent study released by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) states that adding ethanol reduced wholesale gasoline prices by an average …
(Algae Industry Magazine) …The Fuel Feedstock Freedom Act (S. 1085), gives individual states the option not to participate in the corn ethanol portion of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It also expands the cellulosic biofuel …
by Tyler Hamilton (Clean Break) I had the opportunity this week to visit a St. Marys Cement plant in the small and scenic town of St. Marys, Ontario. A subsidiary of Brazilian cement giant Votorantim Cimentos, the …
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad is expected to sign a bill today, May 26, which will provide a boost to the state’s renewable fuels producers and distributors. The bill, S.F. …
by Tom Doggett (Reuters) U.S. dependence on imported oil fell below 50 percent in 2010 for the first time in more than a decade, thanks in part to the weak economy and more fuel efficient …
(Physorg.com) A Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University research team has developed a process that removes a key obstacle to producing low-cost, renewable biofuels from bacteria. The team has reprogrammed photosynthetic microbes to secrete high-energy …
(Client Earth) The European Commission has been sued, accused of violating European transparency laws. Environmental law organisation ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth Europe (FOEE), FERN and Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) filed the lawsuit following the …
(The Guardian/Eco-Business) Malaysia and Indonesia, which together account for about 90% of the world’s palm oil production, have launched a joint PR offensive to defend the industry’s environmental record.
…(M)inisters from the two countries agreed to finalise plans for …
(National Defense) The Obama administration essentially has given up on sweeping energy reform. But the U.S. military nonetheless is plowing ahead with an ambitious agenda aimed at reducing fossil fuel consumption, switching to renewable energy …
(CSIRO) Establishing an economically and environmentally beneficial, ‘bio-derived’ Australian and New Zealand aviation fuels industry is a viable proposition, according to a report compiled by CSIRO in collaboration with the region’s major aviation industry …
(CSPNet) Ultra-low-sulfur diesel provided along toll roads will contain 2% biodiesel
Sunoco Inc. said yesterday that customers are now able to refuel with biodiesel blends at several New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway service plazas. …
(National Biodiesel Board/Biodiesel Magazine) Vermont continues the momentum for clean air policies in the North East by passing a requirement for renewable, cleaner-burning biodiesel to be used in home heating oil throughout the state.
…The broad-based …
by Ed Olson (Biorefining Magazine) The advanced renewable fuel standard (RFS2) requires aggressively increasing amounts of cellulosic biofuels to be included in the fuel pool each year, and it is likely that there will be …
by Kevin G. Hall (McClatchy Newspapers) When oil prices hit a record $147 a barrel in July 2008, the Bush administration leaned on Saudi Arabia to pump more crude in hopes that a flood of …
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) …Luddites and Malthusians have suggested that crop-based biofuels simply can’t provide significant volumes of energy for transportation without starving the world’s poor.
…Of course, these ridiculous charges have been disproven time …
(25 x ’25) The 25x’25 Alliance recognizes that all sectors must make sacrifices to achieve true reductions in spending and the national deficit. However, draconian cuts to a number ofUSDA renewable energy programs included in a larger …
(SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry) Researchers work to make biobutanol from sustainable resource: wood
…(S)cientists at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) are researching ways to turn wood into sustainable biobutanol.
Researchers …
by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine) A three-way partnership between Angel Labs LLC, Industrial Green Power Inc. and Titan Biodiesel was forged whereby Angel Labs will deliver to market its ultra-efficient, six-inch “Massive Yet Tiny” (MYT) …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …(T)he US Navy released an RFI that indicated that it will fuel the first 450,000 gallon fuel order for the Great Green Fleet via the small hamlet of Manchester, Washington, …
by Mike McAdams (Biorefining Magazine/Advanced Biofuels Association) I recently had the privilege of testifying before the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce and share with its members the …
The ARPA-E Fellows Program consists of highly technical scientists and researchers who will actively help create the strategic direction and vision of the country’s first agency devoted exclusively to transformational energy technology research and development. …
(ABC Rural) The European Union wants more of its transport fuel to be made from renewable biomass like canola oil.
…EU member states can’t supply enough canola or soy oil to meet the demand, so …
(BlueGreen Alliance) Economic Study Shows Shifting a Fifth of Plastics Production to Bioplastics Could Create More than 100,000 Jobs; New Markets in Sustainable Chemistry Enable Chemical Industry to Remain Competitive in Global Economy that Requires …
(Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest) Political support needed to jumpstart growth of domestic biofuels industry
The Pacific Northwest has the diverse feedstocks, fuel-delivery infrastructure and political will needed to create a viable biofuels industry capable of reducing …
Come here how Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is helping Canadian companies move their technologies from demonstration to commercialization at our 2011 Annual Public Meeting. READ MORE
by Luke Geiver (Biodiesel Magazine) In the past 20 years, the National Tractor Pulling Association has never seen as much excitement over a tractor pulling class as it did during the 2010 inaugural season for …
by Michelle Ho (Platts) State-owned refiner PetroVietnam plans to export around 85% of its fuel-grade ethanol production upon its startup until 2013, when it expects the Vietnamese government to implement a mandate that requires 5% …
by Ray LaHood (Department of Transportation) …Because of President Obama’s efforts and automakers’ innovations, Americans today have many more options for fuel-efficient vehicles than ever before. And the new labels will help us make sense …
by Eric Westervelt (NPR) …And even though it’s cheaper, the new 10 percent ethanol gas is not something she’d risk putting into her car, the 32-year-old says.
“You bet I’m worried about my car — most …
by Tom Quaife (Dairy Herd Network) “Pretty amazing,” commented one man standing next to a demonstration model at the Alltech International Animal Health and Nutrition Symposium this week in Lexington, Ky.
The large-scale model, measuring approximately …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) A new report, “Projected Outlook for Next Generation and Alternative Transportation Fuels in California 2010-2030,” has been released. The report concludes that with current investments and advances in alternative fuels over …
This one-day workshop will take place on Thursday, May 26th. Its first time in Florence, will provide background and utilization prospects for a range of fuels including Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), propane, biodiesel, ethanol and …
(AllAfrica) Black Power Investment has set up a refinery plant which produces 3,000 litres of biofuel a day.
…Mr Sheriff said the firm spent US$250,000 to acquire equipment which produces 3,000 litres of fuel a day. …
(TechCrunch/Washington Post) …The BioPro 190, made by Springboard, is a tall stainless steel box containing a biodiesel processor that that mixes, heats and separates used cooking oil, producing ready-to-pump biodiesel in about 48 hours. Both animal …
by Laura Johnson (Anniston Star) Inside the Calhoun County Highway Department’s complex at McClellan, Eric Feemster brews batches of biodiesel fuel.
…It’s a program that has garnered Calhoun County two awards from state associations in the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …In California, energy crop breeder Ceres has filed for a $100 million IPO on Nasdaq, with Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital as underwriters.
…From the S-1: “We are an agricultural biotechnology company …
(OriginOil) MBD Energy places an order for a large-scale algae extraction system to be installed at the first of three commercial ‘CO2 to Energy’ power station projects in Australia.
OriginOil, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough technology to …
(The White House) The Federal Government operates the largest fleet of light duty vehicles in America. We owe a responsibility to American citizens to lead by example and contribute to meeting our national goals of …
by Jennifer Booton (Fox Business) …Many aviation and renewable-energy experts have expressed optimism that biofuels made from algae and certain plants will one day lessen airlines’ dependency on petroleum, while lowering painfully high operating costs …
by Marianne Lavelle (National Geographic News) …The standards-setting body ASTM International is set to vote this summer on certification of hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) fuel.
Tests both in the laboratory and in the air (led …
(GreenAirOnline) Global industrial crops technology company Quinvita is the latest to join a new biofuel alliance that has come together to produce sustainable jet biofuel from Brazilian-grown jatropha. The Brazilian Bio-Jetfuel Platform is a collaboration …
(GreenAirOnline) An aviation sustainability report from the World Economic Forum finds that achieving the industry’s target of halving its carbon emissions by 2050 will be a significant challenge given an 85 per cent CO2 emissions …
by Jim Efstathiou Jr. (Bloomberg) The U.S. and China led 23 nations in agreeing on the the first guidelines for producing biofuel from crops such as palm oil, an agricultural commodity used for cooking and to …
by Brian Sims (Ethanol Producer Magazine) State, county and city dignitaries were on hand to witness the official groundbreaking last week of EdeniQ Inc.’s Corn-to-Cellulosic Migration pilot plant at EdeniQ’s headquarters in Visalia, Calif.
EdeniQ had …
(US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee) The House Appropriations Committee today (May 23, 2011) released the subcommittee draft of the fiscal year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which will be marked up in the Agriculture Subcommittee …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) In a study released by Genencor during the BIO World Congress in Toronto, when U.S. consumers were asked to name a product they considered green, 39 percent of them named ethanol first …
Biomass, such as agricultural residues, straws, grasses, wood residues, animal wastes, and algae, is increasing as a marketable renewable resource for production of electricity, heat, and transportation fuels. This will be the ninth conference dealing …
by Andy Humbles (The Tennessean) He lauds TN’s key role in development of rising biofuel
…U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Nashville on Monday, speaking at a Thorntons gas station in West Nashville on the …
by Jason Clayworth (Des Moines Register/Juice) What once would have been considered a bold, even politically suicidal, call to do away with ethanol subsidies has become the position of some key industry trade groups, paving …
(Scoop) Biodiesel New Zealand is establishing a bulk distribution facility in Nelson to supply upper South Island customers with both its Biogold™ NZ20 renewable fuel blend and Biogold™ NZ100 pure biodiesel.
General Manager Andrew Simcock says …
(Agoracom) BookMerge Technology, Inc. , through its wholly owned subsidiary, Extreme Biodiesel, has contracted with a Algae Oil Company to produce biodiesel fuel from algae oil for a “million mile test” for a major trucking …
(Agoracom) BookMerge Technology, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Extreme Biodiesel, has been selected to produce biodiesel for two major supermarkets. The preliminary agreements are that, on an ongoing basis, Extreme Biodiesel will collect and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Virginia, Osage Bio Energy announced that its board of directors has decided to market the company for sale.The company has also decided not to start production at its Appomattox Bio …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Genencor CEO Tjerk de Ruiter says, “As long as they create a mandate, the $1.01 a gallon cellulosic tax credit will help, but could live without it.”
Last week, Genencor released …
by Chris Thorne (Growth Energy/NewsOK) letter to editor: Regarding “Corn ethanol is burning up food budgets” (Point of View, May 13): J. Patrick Boyle, president and CEO of the American Meat Institute, misled readers about the …
by Mark Borer (Mansfield News Journal) Letter to Editor: …Importantly, all of corn’s high-value components, protein and fat, are returned to the feed supply. Ethanol production only converts the low-value component of corn, starch, into …
by Eric Ehrmann (Huffington Post) Speculators hedging uncertainty in world energy markets are again making renewable fuels derived from corn, cane sugar and soybeans the drivers of food price inflation, just as they did on the …
(PR-Inside) Nine partners from seven countries have joined in an innovative project to show that ethanol, biodiesel and bioproducts can be produced from algae on a large scale. The BIOfuel From Algae Technologies (BIOFAT) project, largely funded by …
(South Dakota School of Mines and Technology) The REACT workshop will provide attendees with a basic foundation in chemical reaction engineering and catalysis. Participants will learn basics of applied chemical kinetics and catalysis, how to design …
(Diesel Technology Forum) A near-capacity room of Congressional staff members, industry and energy representatives gathered on Capitol Hill on May 13th to hear a diverse group of speakers – including U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett – …
(WOWT.com) Iowa State University’s Hans van Leeuwen has moved his research team’s award-winning idea for improving ethanol production from a laboratory to a pilot plant.
Now he knows the idea, which produces a new animal feed and …
by Jon Chavez (Toledo Blade) The price spread isn’t as much as it was a week ago, but ethanol-blended gasoline in the area is still at least 40 cents a gallon cheaper than regular unleaded …
(KELOLAND.com) …High fuel costs are once again fueling the debate about alternative energy sources. And with ethanol one of South Dakota’s biggest industries, both politicians and ethanol supporters say now’s the time to pump up …
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) …Dr. Leslie Bebout (who goes by “Lee”) heads the team of microbial ecologists at NASA’s Moffett Field, CA-based research facility, though much of their work is done in far …
(National Biodiesel Board/PRNewsWire) What can Brown do for you? For a start, it’s making your world greener by using cleaner burning biodiesel. The United Parcel Service began using biodiesel blends at its most vital hub …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Today, the Digest is launching our new online Biofuels Digest Community, going to the next level in connecting you with contacts and opportunities in the bio-based world. Plus, a …
by Martin LaMonica (CNET) … Agrivida is using genetic engineering and other techniques from the biotech industry to create proteins with specific traits designed for rapid, and cheaper, biofuel production from sorghum, switchgrass, and corn stover, the …
(Minnesota Public Radio News) The Assertion: The state and federal government should continue subsidizing ethanol
Ethanol’s promise as America’s path to energy self-sufficiency once seemed strong. But in recent years, that attraction has been tempered. Even …
by Kevin Bullis (MIT’s Technology Review) A new study fuels the debate over the impact of growing crops for fuel.
Greenhouse-gas emissions from biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, may be lower than many researchers have …
by Bill Dolan (Northwest Indiana Times) Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Merrillville, announced Thursday that an out-of-state investment firm is committing $600 million to the construction of trash-to-ethanol production.
“The groundbreaking will be sometime after Memorial …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Nearly a year after Virginia’s first ethanol plant was scheduled to be producing ethanol, the grounds of Appomattox Bio Energy stand quiet, with very little activity. In fact, the …
(Growth Energy) The American Ethanol NASCAR racecar is making its grand entrance.
At the June 5th NASCAR Kansas Speedway Sprint Cup race, the No. 33 Chevrolet racecar, driven by Kansas native Clint Bowyer of Richard Childress …
by Will Dalen Rice (Earth Science Erratics) … The ALBC was more of a business conference than it was a technology conference. Many technologies have been able to prove viability in the laboratory. Step two, …
by James Ott (Aviation Week) A report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) should be required reading for environmental policymakers. “The Impact of Climate Policy on US Aviation” was issued this week by the …
by Josh Mitchell and Stephen Power (Wall Street Journal) The Obama administration has scrapped a proposal to assign new passenger cars a letter grade from A to D based on their fuel efficiency, according …
Dates: September 2 to October 8, 2011
Days/Time: Fridays & Saturdays 1:00PM – 4:30PM; 2 of the Saturday field trips from 8:30am to 1:30
Location: UVM campus & throughout Vermont
Lead Instructor: Lead Instructor Anju Dahiya
Register for Academic Credit: …
(US Department of Energy) As part of the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy announced by President Obama and Prime Minister Singh of India last November, the Department of Energy has committed $25 million over the …
(EurekAlert!) Key to new possibilities for renewable bioproducts
The key to the survival of forestry in South Africa as well as many new possibilities for renewable bioproducts like biofuels and biopolymers may now be available with …
by Frank Jomo (Bloomberg) Bio Energy Resources Ltd. of Malawi plans to build an $18 million plant to produce bio-fuels from jatropha seeds, the Daily Times reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Lourie Webb.
The company plans to start …
