Everett-Based Coast Guard Ship Testing Biofuel
by Doug Esser (Seattle Times) The Coast Guard’s Everett-based buoy tender, Henry Blake, completed its first biofuel-propelled voyage Thursday. The Coast Guard is partnering with the Navy in research of algae-based biofuels for ships, a technology the Navy plans to demonstrate in the Rim of the Pacific military exercise that begins June 29.
The buoy tender Henry Blake made its rounds of navigation aids on Puget Sound Thursday powered with fuel partly made from algae.
It fueled up Wednesday at its home port in Everett with a 50-50 blend of diesel and algae oil as the Coast Guard’s first ship to test biofuel, officials said.
The Coast Guard is partnering in the research with the Navy, which plans to demonstrate its “Great Green Fleet” with the Nimitz strike group during the Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, international military exercise beginning June 29 around the Hawaiian Islands.
The 175-foot Henry Blake is a good test vessel for the fuel, as its engines rev up to speed from buoy to buoy and idle during maintenance, said Sam Alvord, energy reliability section chief with the Coast Guard’s Office of Energy Management in Washington, D.C. READ MORE
