(Algae Industry Magazine)  Jonathan Trent, of the OMEGA Global Initiative, explains to a CNBC reporter at the recent Myriad Conference, in Brisbane, Australia, how his efforts to study the possibility of living on Mars paved …

by Fabio Caiazzo, Akshat Agarwal, Raymond L Speth and Steven R H Barrett (Environmental Research Letters)  Contrails and contrail-cirrus may be the largest source of radiative forcing (RF) attributable to aviation. Biomass-derived alternative jet fuels are a …

(German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR)) Three weeks of research flights from Ramstein Air Base; NASA DC-8 and DLR A320 ATRA fly together; The focus is on particle emissions of alternative fuels and their …

by Sean Broderick (AIN Online) Biofuels offer more than an alternative to hydrocarbons; they also reduce jet-engine particle emissions by as much as 70 percent, research by a NASA-led group suggests.
Working with the German Aerospace Center …

by Christopher Joyce (NPR)  It is “extremely likely” that human activities are the “dominant cause” of global warming, according to the most comprehensive study ever of climate science by U.S. government researchers.
The climate report, obtained by …

(Penn State News)  Slowed as much by extremely low oil prices as supply-chain and technological challenges, the effort to integrate biofuels into the nation’s aviation fuel supply is nonetheless progressing, according to a researcher in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Canada, Air Canada just revealed its participation in the Civil Aviation Alternate Fuel Contrail and Emissions Research project, a research project led by the National Research Council of Canada …

by Jonathan Amos (BBC)  Some close-quarter flying has provided new insights into aircraft pollution.  —  US space agency-led scientists flew small, instrumented, chase planes directly in the exhaust plume of a big jet to measure the …

by Alan Boyle (GeekWire/Yahoo!)  A NASA-led study demonstrates that airplanes powered by biofuels can emit up to 70 percent less particulate pollution – providing a potential boost for technologies that are being pioneered at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The study, …

by Tim Meko and Laris Karklis (The Washington Post)  There are more than 900,000 active oil and gas wells in the United States, and more than 130,000 have been drilled since 2010, according to Drillinginfo, a …

by Steven Cohen (Huffington Post/Columbia University’s Earth Institute)   …    Even though we can provide information and interact via phone, web and video, there is no substitute for humans sitting together and breaking bread. …

by Drew T. Shindell, Yunha Lee & Greg Faluvegi (Nature Climate Change)  An emissions trajectory for the US consistent with 2 °C warming would require marked societal changes, making it crucial to understand the associated benefits. Previous …

by Robert E. Kozak* (Advanced Biofuels USA)  In looking at a way to jump-start this country’s bogged down production of biomass-based jetfuel (Jet-A, JP-5, JP-8) and rocket fuel (RP-1/2), the early history of the US …

by Robert White (Renewable Fuels Association)  RFA works with many fleets each year to assist them with meeting their federal requirements to purchase alternative fuel vehicles and ultimately use the fuel. Each year thousands of …

(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)  Refining ethanol may release more of some pollutants than burning it in vehicles.    After quantifying the airborne emissions from the nation’s third largest ethanol refinery, a team led by …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Alaska Airlines ups the ante in the search for sustainable, affordable jet fuels.  In Colorado, Gevo and Alaska Airlines announced a strategic alliance to purchase Gevo’s renewable jet fuel and fly …

(Gevo/Biomass Magazine)  Gevo Inc. has announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has purchased Gevo’s renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) for aviation use at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Gevo’s ATJ is …

Brad Buck  (University of Florida)  Buck Rogers surely couldn’t have seen this one coming, but at NASA’s request, University of Florida researchers have figured out how to turn human waste — yes, that kind — into …

(Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News)  … But mass-efficient payloads should be possible, insist researchers at the University of California, provided space explorers make use of nontraditional biological techniques. In particular, these researchers say synthetic biology …

by  Piers J. Sellers (The New York Times)  I’M a climate scientist and a former astronaut. Not surprisingly, I have a deep respect for well-tested theories and facts. In the climate debate, these things have …

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Flying high above the California desert, NASA researchers recently took to the skies for the second year in a row with a DC-8 and other aircraft to study the effects …

by Elizabeth Zubritsky (NASA)  A laser-based instrument being developed for the International Space Station will provide a unique 3-D view of Earth’s forests, helping to fill in missing information about their role in the carbon cycle.
Called the Global …

(Algae Industry Magazine) Much has been written about the innovative Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) developed by NASA scientists for deployment on water.
OMEGA, an integrated aquatic system to produce biofuels, treat and recycle wastewater, …

(Biofuels International)  The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Canadian National Research Council (NRC) are researching the use of biofuels in their flights by undertaking a …

(Algae Industry Magazine)   The California Energy Commission (CEC) has just issued their “final” report on the Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) approach to algae cultivation and wastewater remediation. Outlining the research findings …

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration/PR NewsWire/Yahoo!News)  An HU-25C jet from NASA’s Langley Research Center will be in California next month as part of a flight test to assess biofuel and other jet fuel alternatives. News …

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration/PRNewsWire)   NASA has signed separate agreements with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to conduct a series of joint flight tests to study the atmospheric effects of emissions …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Next-gen biofuels technologies may be key to making the International Space Station cost effective — not to mention, other destinations in the NASA agenda.  Which may explain why a high-tech …

by Rod Pyle (Huffington Post)  A team of university students is counting down toward the ultimate science ride, a weightless flight aboard a modified NASA jet to see just how certain fires burn in zero …

by Brock Vergakis  (Associated Press/The Washington Post) NASA researchers said Thursday that test flights conducted in California have shown a commercial jet could fly safely with a blend of jet fuel that includes a plant oil.
Scientists …

(GreenAirOnline)  A team of NASA researchers has begun a programme of flight tests that will compare the environmental impacts from emissions and contrails of a blended fuel containing 50 per cent biofuel against those from …

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)   NASA researchers have begun a series of flights using the agency’s DC-8 flying laboratory to study the effects of alternate biofuel on engine performance, emissions and aircraft-generated contrails at altitude.
The …

by Marc D. Anderson (AL.com)  A company using NASA-licensed technology is looking at a small patch of bayfront property to launch what one day could be a revolutionary wastewater-treating and biofuel-creating endeavor.
Since 2009, Algae Systems …

by Jonathan Trent (Slate)  …Algae are single-celled organisms that thrive globally in aqueous environments and convert CO2 into carbohydrates, protein, and natural oils. For some species, as much as 70 percent of their dry weight is …

(NextBigFuture.com)  Halophytes are salt-tolerant plants that are found throughout the world. Halophytes can be used to grow both fuel and food, and a NASA facility is attempting to use halophytes for large-scale fuel production. The aim …

By Bob Silberg (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/R&D Magazine)  If you’ve had to deal with termites in your house, you probably hate their guts. But not Jared Leadbetter. He loves termites, especially their guts!
“It turns out …

by Ruth Marlaire (NASA)  …A few years ago, Ames Exobiology scientists formed the Algae for Exploration (ALEX) group, which studies various types of lipids produced by different algal species under specific conditions, and started applying …

by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine)  Single cell photosynthetic organisms, such as blue-green algae, could play an important role in the future of our nation’s space program. Not only could they be used to supply valuable …

(Clemson)  By looking to Mother Nature for solutions, researchers have identified a promising new binder material for lithium-ion battery electrodes that not only could boost energy storage, but also eliminate the use of toxic compounds …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  NASA scientist – the inventor, heart, and soul of the OMEGA system (Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae) – Dr. Jonathan Trent received his PhD in biological oceanography at Scripps Institution of …

(NewsWise/South Dakota State University)   Humans may move one step closer to colonizing space thanks to a new research project that NASA is funding at South Dakota State University, the South Dakota School of Mines and …

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 …

(GreenAirOnline)  Four industry and academic teams have been awarded contracts by NASA to continue research on technologies that could enable aircraft entering service between 2030 and 2035 to further reduce fuel consumption, emissions and noise. …

by Michael Finneran   (Yahoo! News/PR NewsWire)  In an RV nicknamed after an urban assault vehicle, scientists from NASA’s Langley Research Center traveled cross-country this month for an experiment with eco-friendly jet fuel.
The Langley team …

by Lisa Sibley(Cleantech Group)   
NASA research scientist Chad Paavola has a problem to solve: When astronauts leave the earth for long periods of time, they’re going to need to produce plants for food and the air …

For long-duration space missions, astronauts someday will grow plants for food and the air they breathe, while transforming inedible parts of the plants into useful resources, such as biofuels, food, and chemicals.   Today, scientists at …

A NASA scientist is confident that within five years commercial aircraft could be powered using a type of biofuel derived from saltwater plants, or halophytes, grown in desert areas and irrigated using sea water. While …