Gas 2.0

Renewable fuels company Sustainable Oils shared the results of a life-cycle analysis of jet fuel created from proprietary Camelina seeds. According to the study, renewable jet-fuel made from Camelina reduces carbon emissions by 84% percent compared to the petroleum-based counterpart.

A team at Michigan Tech University based their research on Camelina grown in Montana and then processed into bio-jet fuel using “UOP hydroprocessing technology”. Next generation biofuels are true hydrocarbons and in the molecular aspect are indistinguishable from fossil fuels, which makes Camelina oil a good candidate to quickly reduce carbon emissions produced by aviation.

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At most college dining halls, they’ll fry just about anything.

Wings, mozzarella sticks, fries and onion rings. Old shoe leather (wait, maybe that’s just a memory of how things tasted at my college dining hall.) All that frying leaves a lot of leftover grease and oil.

At the University of Rochester, a group of students used that oil as the foundation for a business plan that has produced both a biodiesel powered shuttle bus and a new building for biofuel experimentation. The project will hit a milestone on Earth Day, when university President Joel Seligman will help send the shuttle bus off on its first trips around campus, including a tour of the new building.

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On Monday at the Denver Auto Show, Lightning Hybrids unveiled their concept 100-MPG hydraulic-hybrid that will vie for the Automotive X Prize.

Since we first covered this ‘biodiesel hydraulic-hybrid,’ the team at Lightning Motors has been working around the clock to finish in time for this debut. Read the rest of this entry »

Biodiesel produced from saltwater-based Algae could be cost competitive with petroleum diesel, according to some reports.

Aurora Biofuels, located in Alameda, CA has reported their 18 month pilot project produced 1,000 gallons of ATSM quality biodiesel in Florida open ponds of just 1/8th of an acre. The company estimates they could grow 6,000 gallons per acre in full production mode.

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The automotive research and manufacturing company Lightning Hybrids says they’ve designed a 100 MPG hydraulic-hybrid with sports sedan performance (0-60 mph in 5.9s). The company hopes to score the $10 million purse from the Automotive X Prize.

You may be asking yourself ‘What, exactly, is a ‘hydraulic-biodiesel hybrid’? Since there isn’t a great deal of information available on the Lightning Hybrids’ website or ABG, I decided to give the company a phone call. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the latest advancements in automotive hybrid and flex-fuel technologies, motorcycles and scooters remain one of the most efficient ways for energy-conscious commuters to get around town.  Unfortunately, there haven’t been any real “alt fuel” options open to motorcyclists.  As such, despite the incredible efficiency of some 2-wheelers (my own Honda Ruckus gets over 100 mpg), motorcycles remain petroleum-dependent gas addicts.  They may be sippers - rather than guzzlers - but still.

Enter Europe’s EVA, manufacturers of the Track T800CDI diesel motorcycle - a bike so full of exotic features and new technology that I’m almost at a loss for words … almost.

Specs and pictures of this amazing machine available after the jump.

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On March 13, the European Union will impose a counter-subsidy tax on U.S. biodiesel producers for “dumping” biodiesel on the European market.

European producers have been complaining about cheap imported biodiesel for quite a while, and it looks like a key European trade panel finally took action. The tax will be specific to each biodiesel producer:

• ArcherDaniels Midland: 86 cents per gallon; 
• Cargill: 90 cents; 
• Imperium Renewables: 96 cents; 
• Green Earth Energy Fuels: 93 cents; 
• World Energy Alternatives: 96 cents; 
• Peter Cremer North America and remaining biodiesel producers will pay $1.36 per gallon. Read the rest of this entry »

Volkswagen, which introduced its Clean Diesel Technology on the race track in 2008, announced it’s using B5 biodiesel to power its race cars, transport vehicles and generators for the 2009 Jetta TDI Cup season.

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Editor’s note: Robert Moffitt is one of the newest additions to the Gas 2.0 writing team. Welcome aboard Robert!

Last week, temperatures in my home state of Minnesota stayed below zero for nearly four consecutive days. Extreme cold is not particularly unusual in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but it’s not much fun to commute to work or school with air temperatures at -20ºF. As I bundled up and drove to work in the middle of the cold snap, I heard a radio news story that one large suburban school system had closed, saying their school buses couldn’t run “because the biodiesel had turned to gel.”

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The UK’s Daily Mail recently posted this great John Lawson-penned cutaway drawing of the upcoming Cadillac One, the heavily armored limousine that President Barack Obama will be cruising home in immediately after his inauguration.

Explore Cadillac One inside and out (to varying degrees of precision) after the jump.

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A team of researchers at Baylor University, Texas, have figured out a way to make car parts from coconuts, opening the door to the replacement of environmentally damaging plastic with an abundant, renewable resource.

The team have also created biodiesel from coconut oil, and are confident the new fuel could be an economically viable substitute for gasoline, as well as a vital source of income for more than ten million coconut farmers worldwide struggling on tiny annual incomes, typically as little as $500.

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Last week, The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the success of a city-wide holiday recycling drive, which looked to top the more than two tons of used cooking oil San Fransicoans unloaded over Thanksgiving weekend. The grease will go to power the city’s fleet of fire trucks, ambulances, Muni buses and other vehicles.

According to Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, programs like this can also put a huge dent in the city’s sewer repair budget, as kitchen grease is one of the major causes of municipal water pipe damage, responsible for over 50% of sewer emergencies each year.

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Last week, Nick told you about the plastic surgeon who discovered he could use the fat from liposuctions to fuel his two SUVs.  He’s not the first person to use human fat for biodiesel, as Team Earthrace used the captain’s liposuctioned fat to beat the world record for circumventing the Earth powered by biodiesel.

Now, the Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Craig Alan Bittner is being investigated by the California’s public health department for violating state law that  forbids the use of human medical waste to power vehicles, which I think is a strange law to be on the books. Read the rest of this entry »

In the category of “Things I’d Rather Never Read About Again,” we’ve found a winner.

A plastic surgeon in Los Angeles has discovered that he can use the fat he liposuctions off of his patients to provide all the biodiesel he needs to power his and his girlfriend’s SUVs. Not only that, he says he has extra. I wonder if he’s willing to share?

Got the heebies yet?

Alan Bittner, a high scale Beverly Hills doctor, has been making the liposuctioned human fat into biodiesel for some time now. There are lots of rendering firms in the US — like Tyson Farms, for instance — that already take similar waste, such as poultry fat, and turn it into biodiesel, but I’m imaging that Bittner is the first guy to actually turn human fat into fuel.

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In the spirit of the season, lets look at winter weather performance of five alternative fuels. After all, what good is your electric, hydrogen or CNG car if it won’t start in the cold?

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