In what could be a major breakthrough, Joule Biotechnologies announced that it has directly produced fuel from the plentiful carbon dioxide in the air around us using highly engineered photosynthetic microbes.
A group of University of Kansas students have rigged up a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle to run on a mix of biodiesel and battery power.
The team, calling themselves the Ecohawks, claim the quirky hybrid is capable of getting 50 MPG from a series of 10 lead-acid batteries and a biodiesel generator.
Performance-wise, although quite cool looking in a retro kind of way, the car isn’t exactly what you’d call a speedster, topping out as it does at a leisurely 30 mph.
That doesn’t seem to bother team-leader Prof. Chris Depcik though, who told reporters, “We have driven it around and reached approximately 30 mph, but this was more of a proof-of-concept drive without pushing the boundaries. We are currently getting the vehicle into road-ready shape to be driven safely in order to determine these values.” (More pics after the jump).
Just about this time last year I reported on the very promising and innovative Mcgyan® biodiesel process. It was one of the most popular stories gas 2.0 ran that year, and rightly so: the breakthrough seemed to deliver the possibility of making biodiesel in mere seconds from start to finish, reducing costs by half the price of other biodiesel, producing no waste, using no chemical reactants, and using any animal fat or vegetable oil as a feedstock.
At the time the company in charge of the project, Ever Cat fuels, had only succeeded at making a small-scale pilot operation of 50,000 gallons per year. But, as of 2 days ago, the process has been completely commercialized.
With the attention on first generation corn ethanol fading, the next big thing on the sustainable fuel horizon is nonfood biofuel crops. Within that category, inedible weeds are taking a front-row seat due to their relatively low demands on water, pesticides, and herbicides, and their reduced need for tilling and other mechanized soil prep. Some weeds with biofuel potential can also thrive on contaminated soils, absorbing and cleaning pollutants in a process called phytoremediation.
This is actually old news that recently resurfaced, and as a lifelong Cougar aficionado I can’t pass it up. In actuality, the Mercury Cougar was a refined, “gentleman’s muscle car” based on the 1st generation Mustang. It came standard with a number of gas-guzzling V8 motors including the epic “Boss” 302.
But the pristine-looking 1967 Cougar pictured here has done away with those gas hogs in favor of a Mercedes turbodiesel motor that runs on, you guessed it, biodiesel.
Syntroleum Corporation and Tyson Foods have partnered in a 50/50 venture called Dynamic Fuels to produce a new high-grade renewable diesel fuel. Using a proprietary Bio-Synfining process and a feedstock of animal fats, greases, and vegetable oils supplied from Tyson, Dynamic Fuels will produce diesel fuel with the lowest greenhouse gas emission levels of any transportation fuel available today.
Last month Dynamic Fuel chose Emerson Process Management to provide the digital automation and process management systems to help operate a new $138 million renewable diesel facility in Geismar, Louisiana, the largest such plant in North America. Scheduled to begin operation in 2010, the plant will produce 75 million gallons per year of of the fuel.
The rate at which virgin tropical rainforests are currently being cleared to plant palm plantations to supply the ravenous growth of worldwide palm oil demand is staggering: In Indonesia alone 4.4 million acres of rainforest disappear each year. Given that one American football field is roughly one acre, that’s just about 4.4 million football fields. Truly staggering.
Together, Malaysia and Indonesia account for 80% of worldwide palm oil production, but they also contain more than 80% of the remaining virgin rainforests in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the only remaining lands in Southeast Asia that are also the best for palm oil production are these vast swaths of virgin rainforest.
Today, Rentech, Inc. announced that it will be supplying renewable synthetic fuels to eight airlines for ground service equipment operations at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
This multi-year agreement will supply the airlines with up to 1.5 million gallons per year of renewable RenDiesel. The airline purchasers under the agreement with Aircraft Service International Group (ASIG) include Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, UPS Airlines and U.S. Airways. The airlines will begin using the RenDiesel in 2012, when the plant that will produce the fuel is scheduled to go into service.
“This commercial purchase contract among Rentech, ASIG and the airlines validates the growing demand for synthetic fuels produced by the Rentech Process,” said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rentech. “The low-emissions profile and near-zero carbon footprint of our renewable RenDiesel will guarantee that LAX ground service vehicles using this fuel will be among the cleanest and greenest of their kind.” Read the rest of this entry »
Algae, algae, algae. The research that is occurring on this second generation fuel has overfloweth the petri dish as just this week there have been five major algae announcements.
Running your car on biodiesel fuel is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. BioFuel Oasis, a women’s collective/owned business in Berkeley, offers not only fuel, but a level of expertise and service you haven’t experienced in a fuel transaction in years.
Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil, normally from soybeans. You can grow the beans to produce the oil, but the most environmentally conscious way is to use recycled oil from restaurants. Because diesel engines have much higher compression than gas engines, they can burn a range of fuels, including the stuff they use to cook French fries.
In a study to be published in August, Chinese researchers have found that waste shrimp shells can be converted into a material that makes biodiesel production faster, cheaper and more environmentally-friendly.
For all of us, “Going Green” means something different. Whether it is just changing the light bulbs in your house or going completely off the grid, every little bit helps. But for some people, changing the world is a full time job, and a full time job requires a company car.
Or a bus. Enter the Solar Bus.
There is an urgent need for renewable fuels and alternative technologies to reach the marketplace as many experts predict that in the blink of an eye, a barrel of oil could exceed $200. That means $6.00 per gallon gas or more. Today, LS9, a company whose mission is to replace petroleum with advanced biofuels, has become one step closer to doing just that. The company’s UltraClean(TM) Diesel (many people use the term green diesel) product has been vehicle tested and exceeds the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6751 and Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum ANP-7 specifications.
The key to these tests are that they were conducted by a third party which makes me excited for the future applications of the fuel. Personally, I think many technology claims are bogus. Too many “breakthrough” technologies are never validated by a third party and they whither and die in a matter of months. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s hard being an environmental celebrity, especially when you are Royal too. People want to see you, but that can mean racking up a lot of carbon miles.
So Prince Charles had his Aston Martin converted to run on bio-ethanol made from aged English wine, and his Audi, Jaguar, and Range Rover all run on what the English call old cooking fat.
In the US we call this reused cooking oil because that’s much hipper and greener sounding, and marketing is everything.
So now Prince Charles is driven in the royal Jaguar that runs on homemade biodiesel and, for a little variety; in the Land Rover or the Audi, in a carbon conscious fashion.
But what about his airplane travel? Well…
Read the rest of this entry »
For many years, environmentalists have encouraged people to tread more lightly on the planet through buying local. The most common way to buy local is through fresh food purchased at a local farmer’s market, and to get there you should bike or walk since everyone knows that you can’t produce a sustainable car with local material. Right? Wrong. You’ve heard of bamboo bikes, well now there are bamboo taxis. These taxis were commissioned by the mayor of Tabontabon (in the Philippines) Rustico Balderian.
The bamboo taxis are made out of 90 percent bamboo and run on coconut biodiesel. The palm trees and wild bamboo stalks are native to the area.
Gas 2.0
Gas 2.0 digs into the viscous world of biofuels and the fast-paced transit arena, exploring the technologies and substances that are the future of transportation.
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