Published on June 6th, 2008
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CleanTech Biofuels is serious about turning garbage into fuel and sincerely hopes you’ll ignore the fact that your car’s fuel tank could be carrying what’s left of little Timmy’s soiled nappies.
The company has announced that it’s investigating suitable sites for commercial garbage-to-ethanol facilities — leading baby-owners everywhere to rejoice that they may never again have to feel guilty about throwing out enough diapers each day to put the elephant in this commercial to shame (and can I just be the first to say “WTF?” to that commercial).
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Tags:
alternative fuels,
biofuel,
Cars,
CleanTech Biofuels,
Ethanol,
fuel,
Garbage,
innovation,
Landfill,
renewable fuels,
transportation
Published on June 3rd, 2008
OriginOil has been a busy little company.
On the heels of a breakthrough which the company claims will make algae oil farming a true competitor to petroleum, OriginOil has filed two patents that may make the production of fuel products from algae incredibly cheap and easy in the near future.
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Tags:
algaculture,
Algae,
algae biodiesel,
algal oil,
alternative fuels,
Biodiesel,
biodiesel business,
biofuel,
Ethanol,
green tech,
microalgae,
OriginOil,
Technology,
transportation
Published on May 26th, 2008
In the June 2008 issue of the journal Nature Reviews Genetics, internationally renowned biofuels researcher Mariam Sticklen proposes that future production of cellulosic biofuels will be made infinitely more efficient and affordable through genetic modification of cellulosic feedstocks such as cereal grains and perennial grasses. Citing the impossibility of fueling the world on starch-based ethanol, such as that from corn, Sticklen argues that cellulosic biofuels are the only viable option for future commercial production.
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Published on May 23rd, 2008
It’s hard to believe that one of America’s greenest cities lacks a true biodiesel station. Yes, San Francisco has an Olympic station on Third Street however is only supplies commercially licensed diesel vehicles with “B20” which even in the controversial biodiesel world isn’t that green. If the building and fire departments sign off, then Dogpatch Biofuels will open in the near future. Yes, we can wait to smell all the great restaurant cooking oil waste from SF’s top level eateries filled into the hungry car engines. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags:
autopia,
B100,
B20,
car_engines,
cooking_oil,
diesel_vehicles,
dogpatch_biofuels,
electric_car,
Ethanol,
exxon,
exxon_station,
gas_station,
oil_waste,
organic_products,
palm_oil,
waste_vegetable_oil
Published on May 22nd, 2008
On Monday, USDA officials met with reporters to discuss just how closely biofuels (specifically corn-based ethanol) are linked to the increasing price of food. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, who has vehemently defended biofuels before, had this to say:
One theory that has been widely discussed in recent weeks is that the nation’s growing demand for biofuels and the crops needed to produce them is the real culprit behind higher food prices, both at home and abroad. Yet the evidence that we have seen. . .does not support this. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags:
Agriculture,
Biodiesel,
Biofuels,
corn,
economics,
Ethanol,
farmers,
food prices,
Food vs. fuel,
fuel,
gas prices,
Oil,
Policy,
soybeans,
USDA
Published on May 22nd, 2008
In Europe, not so much…
Brazil, which has to a large degree lead the ethanol charge because of its ability to use sugar cane for ethanol production rather than corn, now relies on the biofuel for 16% of its energy needs. This puts ethanol at #2 in Brazil for largest energy sources, right ahead of hydroelectric, which accounts for 14.7% of electricity production. Both of these sources, however, are behind petroleum, which is the largest energy producer in Brazil.
In the US, on the other hand, ethanol still does not play such a prominent role, even though 23.7% of the annual corn crop is going to create biofuels. The market share that ethanol commands in the US will likely only increase, especially as new technologies allow for the production of cellulosic ethanol and sources other than corn come into vogue.
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Published on May 22nd, 2008
“One train can carry the load of more than 280 trucks.”
If you live near a railroad, you see them every day, flat cars with semi-trailers secured to the deck, or shipping containers stacked two-high. They’re moving freight that isn’t clogging our highways and polluting the air with excess hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide and particulates produced by over-the road trucks.
So says the CSX Railroad, a major carrier of goods in the mid-Atlantic shipping corridor, now positioning itself for $700 million in system improvements. The program is called National Gateway, a project the railroad says will create a more efficient flow of rail traffic between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern markets. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags:
annual greenhouse gas emissions,
Biodiesel,
Biofuels,
csx railroad,
double-stack freight,
Environment,
environmental impact of long-haul truck shipping,
environmental impact of rail,
greenhouse gas emissions,
intermodal shipping,
long-haul trucks,
National Gateway,
Rail,
railroad,
railroads,
ship by rail,
trucks
Published on May 20th, 2008
For anyone who’s interested and in the area, on July 20th the second annual Clean Air Car Show in South Pasadena will be highlighting auto manufacturers with hybrids and low emissions vehicles, along with the next generation of these and other alternative energy vehicles.
Since California is the largest market for hybrids and other low emissions vehicles, the show should be full of new models trying to capture this large Southern California market. For more information, see the press release:
(South Pasadena, CA) - The City of South Pasadena, in association with State Senator Gilbert Cedillo and Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, will once again present its free Clean-Air Car Show and Film Festival on Sunday, July 20, 2008. The success of last year’s inaugural event demonstrated that the public is eager to learn about the new technologies that can lead to cleaner, more healthful air for people and pets, help reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, address growing concerns over global warming, and strengthen our national and economic security. Like last year, the show will be part of an effort to promote cleaner, more efficient alternatives to the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine by showcasing emerging alternatives like Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, Electric, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Ethanol, and Biodiesel vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 14th, 2008
Photo Credits: deborah sherman photography
The Cafe Racer Truck Runs on 100% Recycled Coffee Grounds
A commenter on Ben’s wood-powered truck post pointed us to a similar car hack. The truck above is also powered by a wood gas generator, except this one runs on coffee grounds. The Cafe Racer is a 1975 GMC pickup that essentially burns up used coffee to create a combustible gas. The gas is filtered on its way to the engine and, Viola, a caffeine-powered truck. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 13th, 2008
I’ve heard of making fuel from wood before, but rarely does using wood as fuel come up. However, just today I was pointed to this site, hosted by a local radio station, with a real-life example of someone burning wood as a fuel in his truck.
I can’t say for sure how the system works, whether it’s dual fuel or the wood-burning supplies all the fuel the engine needs, but it doesn’t appear to be a hoax and is certainly interesting. Evidently, during WWII, there was some experimenting with alternative fuels (due to shortages caused by the war), and one of the results was the wood burning automobile. Read the rest of this entry »
