BP Oil Spill
Barrons had an interesting take on biofuels from garbage: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB127327100968888619.htmlI have been following this movement for some time and there does seem to be an extraordinary amount of capital and brainpower going int…
GM Investigating Frost-Tolerant Jatropha For US Market – Partners With Indian Research Co. & DoE
Jatropha curcas growing in Mozambique. Photo: Tom Rulkens via flickr.
We haven’t heard much about jatropha biofuels lately, perhaps partly because in the sub-tropical and tropical plant doesn’t survive even a nip of frost, making it less attractive in the US market. Based on reports in the Economic Times (India) though, General Motors is ho…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Harvard’s Tiny “Pocket” Laboratory Could Speed Discovery of New Biofuels, Medications (Video)
Image via Eurekalert, Credit: Courtesy of Jeremy Agresti, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Just a bit smaller than an iPod Nano, a new pocket-sized laboratory could revolutionize the way biofuels are discovered. The device – a “microfluidic sorting device” – can sort enzymes and compounds about 1,000 times faster than the larger equipment in use today, and thus can sniff out potential for new microbe-based biofuels much faster, cheaper and more energy efficiently, than ever before. …Read the full story on TreeHugger
US Navy to Demonstrate Biofuel-Powered ‘Green Strike Force’ by 2012
photo: Wikipedia
We’ve reported a number of times on efforts by the US military to lower the environmental footprint of its operations, most recently how the Navy is researching aviation biofuels in its fighter jets. One step further down that path comes via the Des Moines Register which reports …Read the full story on TreeHugger
Exxon’s Latest Forecast Sees Renewables Growing Faster, Oil & Coal Growing Slower
Photo: Flickr, CC
Small Improvements
Every year, Exxon published an “Energy Outlook” report, and a few numbers from this year’s not-yet-released edition have been revealed. I seriously doubt that Exxon has many friends here, but I still think it’s worth paying attention to their forecasts for the energy market, if only because they probably can’t be accused of being over-enthusiastic about clean energy… The numbers are encouraging for renewables: “Exxon now sees wind/solar/biofuels growing at 9.6% a year from 2005 through 2030 versus 9.3% a year ago;…Read the full story on TreeHugger
So How Much Agricultural Land Will We Need to Keep Global Aviation Aloft with Biofuels?
photo: Ed Lushcei via flickr.
With a continuing stream of announcements regarding the aviation industry’s drive to keep on flying while being a bit greener about it — KLM is making the first aviation biofuel test flight with passengers today — TreeHugger wondered how much land will be required to power the global aviation industry with biofuels. We did some quick calculations and this is what we found out:…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Solar and Agriculture: Double Cropping Energy and Food
Image credit: Piedmont Biofuels
From a 25-megawatt photovoltaic plant in Florida to a 4,500 acre solar thermal installation in California, solar just keeps getting bigger. Within that context, a 100kw array may seem hardly worth mentioning, but folks in my community are excited, and not without reason. (Disclaimer alert: Friends of mine are involved with this project.)You see traditionally, unlike wind, large-scale…Read the full story on TreeHugger
Massachusetts Bans All But Waste-Feedstock Biofuels from Qualifying Under Clean Energy Biofuels Act
The act specifies all diesel and home heating fuel be blended with 5% biofuels by 2013. Photo: Atomic Taco via flickr.
In a move which understandably will get second-generation biofuels manufacturers in a tizzy, Massachusetts’ state Department of Energy Resources has stated that it will ban all biofuels not made from waste feedstocks from qualifying as part of …Read the full story on TreeHugger