Ten Things I’ve Learn About Driving A Car Powered by Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)
What makes a seemingly rational guy, who can afford to drive pretty much whatever car he wants to, trade in his shiny, new Audi for a 27-year old Mercedes 240D that runs on waste or straight vegetable oil (WVO/SVO)? Well, in my case, someone took the time to call me out on my level of willingness to make a difference–or at least try to.
In late 2007, my partner and I took on a brand development project for a fledgling, Washington DC-based hybrid limousine company. These guys were not only driven by a real desire to reduce their industry’s carbon footprint, but also to engage with the theoretical decision makers on Capital Hill. Every week, we’d be on these long conference calls, where I would inevitably begin to complain about the escalating price of gasoline and the perils of foreign oil dependency. Finally, one of these brave entrepreneurs told me to shut up and do something about.
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.
W2 Energy, based in Canada, announced that it has completed its Sunfilter commercial scale algae bioreactor.
Algaeventure Systems said that it has begun receiving orders for its algae harvesting, dewatering, and drying technology. The company that has placed the order is General Atomics.
Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at University of North Dakota was awarded a subcontract by SAIC to use its proprietary technology to produce jet fuel from algal oils.
Kent BioEnergy, based on California, announced that it is going to establish a division of the company in Charleston South Carolina, partnering with a Grant Know, a local entrepreneur.
Algenol Biofuels, a Florida based company, has threatened to leave the state and now they are working with CEO Paul Woods to entice his company to stay. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Q: Due to this breakthrough technology (Live Extraction) and some of the others you’ve recently announced, how soon do you think you’ll be able to use this technology to produce algal fuels at a commercial scale?
A: Due to the lag in actually building large scale projects, the ability will come long before the fact. Also, we won’t build or produce ourselves, but instead we will provide technology and devices, and help design, build and maintain these sites. The next step is a pilot plant which could occur as early as next year.
Who needs a gas station to fill your tank with ethanol? Not you. GreenHouse has just announced the E-Fuel MicroFueler, a portable in-home micro-refinery system that turns organic waste into ethanol. The first installation of the E-Fuel MicroFueler was in the home of none other than basketball great Shaquille O’Neal, who lives in Pacific Palisades a subdivision in LA.
A national consumer awareness campaign aimed at owners of flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) was officially launched in Orlando, Florida today at the Farm-to-Fuel Summit. The project is a cooperative effort between key Florida state government interests, gasoline/E85 distributors, the ethanol industry, and several nonprofit environmental and energy advocacy groups.
Ironically, Florida has one of the largest contingencies of FFVs in the country. Out of the current 8 million FFVs on the road, 500,000 are Florida residents. I know most of you assume they are in the Midwest but can you say snowbirds? Like many other states announcing initiatives to spur the development of alternative fuels such as ethanol, Florida is no different. At the helm of this initiative is Charles Bronson, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Los Angeles based OriginOil has made several major announcements during the past few weeks including a patent filing for its Dynamic Control System, and its application for a Patent Cooperation Treaty for low-energy, high-efficiency algae production. Now, they have announced a breakthrough process for Live Algae Extraction, coined ‘milking’ which is a complicated way to say that they can continually extract the oil from algae without killing the cells.
This new ‘milking’ process is an addition to the company’s Cascading Production technique which is a combined cycle that turns algae to fuel more efficiently, economically and cost competitively when compared to petroleum. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
11 billion pounds of chicken feather meal are accumulated annually by the poultry industry in the U.S., and if a process developed by scientists in Nevada moves forward, those chicken parts could be used to produce 153 million gallons of biodiesel a year, and 593 million gallons worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »
US Department of Energy secretary Steven Chu and US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have announced that the two agencies will be providing $6.3 million dollars for 7 projects at research institutions throughout the US to improve the use of plant feedstocks in biofuel production.
Although biofuels have fallen out of favor in the public eye recently, the federal government — led by Secretary Chu — is still forging ahead with providing money to research next generation biofuels.
“Part of the solution to the energy problem will be home-grown energy crops,” said secretary Chu in a statement. “These projects will help us unlock the true potential of advanced biofuels, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and create new jobs and a thriving biofuels industry in America.”
The new super-biofuel, known as Jet Propellant-8 (JP-8) was used to launch a rocket above the Mojave Desert, where it approached the speed of sound and reached an altitude of 20,000 feet - a major leap forward in biofuel-powered flight.
Speaking about the launch Carsten Heide, associate director for the EERC said, “We demonstrated that this fuel is a flying fuel, and is 100% renewable and burns clean. It would open up the possibility to run 100% renewable, clean planes. You can see in the picture how clean it burns.”
The study, called ‘Green Skies Thinking‘, was published today by right wing think-tank Policy Exchange, and advocates the phase-in of an EU Sustainable Bio-Jet Fuel Blending Mandate by 2020, which would force aviation companies to commit to a rising proportion of jet fuel from sustainable bio-jet fuels.
Crucially, the report also reckons that growing the feedstock needed for advanced biofuels would require significantly less land and be more sustainable than first generation biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, generally used by road transport.
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.
11 billion pounds of chicken feather meal are accumulated annually by the poultry industry in the U.S., and if a process developed by scientists in Nevada moves forward, those chicken parts could be used to produce 153 million gallons of 
