·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Read the full story in Biopact.

Interesting developments in both solar thermal and bioenergy allow us to envision a relatively low-cost future of carbon-negative baseload power. The more energy one would use from this power plant, the more one would be solving the climate crisis. Read that again: the more you consume, the better for the planet. Best of all, ‘negative emissions energy’ can be done by taking over the enemy: coal-fired power plants into which we plug renewables and CCS.

Read the full story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

A passionate, witty young filmmaker-ecologist named Josh Tickell is hoping that his film “Fuel” catches on in the green environs of Seattle, Portland and Austin, Texas, and has a cross-country run comparable to the biodiesel powered “Veggie Van” in which he took to the road a decade ago.

Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.

The U.S. EPA has published a compliance assistance manual for biodiesel producers.

Published by the EPA’s Region 7 Biofuels Work Group, the manual titled “Environmental Laws Applicable to Construction and Operation of Biodiesel Production Facilities” provides information about federal environmental programs and the roles that federal, state, and local agencies play in relation to companies interested in designing, building, and operating biodiesel manufacturing facilities.

Read the full post at Biopact.

A few days ago some of the world’s leading climate scientists wrote that we need to be far more active in cutting carbon emissions, urgently. Currently, atmospheric CO2 levels are at 383ppm and we need to go back to 350ppm if we want to keep the planet liveable. This implies a range of technologies that actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere, such as biochar, reforestation and carbon-negative bioenergy (i.e. biomass coupled to CCS). Now professor Tim Flannery, chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council and the Australian equivalent of Al Gore, joins in saying we must use biological means to tackle a crisis that could otherwise end in a catastrophe much earlier than expected.

Read the full story in the Coloradoan.

The city of Fort Collins and Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises, or RMSE, are having its second annual Holiday recycOil event to help residents recycle waste fryer oil after Thanksgiving. This will divert hundreds of gallons of waste vegetable oil from municipal sewer systems and landfills. So take that leftover vegetable oil to our one-day collection event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 29 at the city’s Rivendell Recycling Facility, 1702 Riverside Drive. The oil will be used to manufacture biodiesel.

Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.

Renewable Energy Group Inc. has received a $740,000 grant from the Iowa Power Fund to staff a new state-of-the-art biodiesel research and feedstock commercialization lab at its headquarters in Ames, Iowa.

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

Wal-Mart has signed a contract to help power hundreds of its stores using wind energy, one of the largest investments in the field by a U.S. retailer.

The four-year agreement with Duke Energy is expected to provide up to 226 million kilowatt-hours of power each year to about 360 stores and distribution centers in Texas, about 15 percent of the total electricity used. The company said the purchase will result in the reduction of about 139,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of what 25,000 cars would emit.

Read the full Associated Press story.

In future years we may look back at the Great Mexican Tortilla Crisis of 2006 as the time when ethanol lost its vroom.

Right or wrong, that was when blame firmly settled on biofuels for the surge in food prices. The diversion of American corn from flour to fuel put the flat corn bread out of reach for Mexico’s poorest.

Two years later, the search is on for ways to keep corn on the table rather than in the gas tank. Moving away from food crops, the biofuel of the future may come from the tall grass growing wild by the roadside, from grain stalks left behind by the harvest, and from garbage dumps and dinner table scraps.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

Phoenix fire officials say they have seen a trend of area residents using chemicals like methanol and lye to make cheap fuel.

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

The federal government has invested billions of dollars over the past 16 years, building a fleet of 112,000 alternative-fuel vehicles to serve as a model for a national movement away from fossil fuels.

But the costly effort to put more workers into vehicles powered by ethanol and other fuel alternatives has been fraught with problems, many of them caused by buying vehicles before fuel stations were in place to support them, a Washington Post analysis of federal records shows.

Read the press release.

It might be difficult to see the future of hybrid automobile efficiency underneath the grime surrounding an unpainted 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle.

“That’s the fun. By the time we’re done, it’s going to be totally different, and it’s going to be great,” says Lou McKown, a University of Kansas senior in mechanical engineering.The EcoHawks hard at work on a 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle

For his senior project, McKown is part of a team called the EcoHawks, that is taking the iconic round vehicle and transforming it from a motionless heap to a fully integrated hybrid vehicle by the end of the school year.

Read the full post at Biopact.

Landfill sites produce the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide, as putrescible waste decays. Growing selected plants and trees on top of a landfill, a process known as ‘phytocapping’, could reduce the production and release of these gases, according to Australian scientists writing in a forthcoming issue of International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management. What is more, the technique allows urban communities to build new green spaces in and around their cities. When phytocapping is carried out well, the former garbage sites can even become biodiversity corridors for species that were previously chased out of the city-scape.

Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

Researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M) are launching a project to develop a Web-based, interactive modeling tool that can be used to analyze the likely impact and potential viability of proposed technologies and policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the light-duty vehicle sector. As a test case for the development of the tool, the researchers are using President-elect Barack Obama’s proposal to put a million US-made plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) getting 150 mpg on the road by 2015.

Read the full story in the Oregonian.

When Lisa Frack, the indomitable blogger and moderator of Activistas, invited me to a green cleaning party, I was intrigued. Making your own household cleaners sounds like such a self-sufficient thing to do. Not to mention cheaper than buying spendy eco-friendly stuff I’ve switched to since becoming a mom.

Read the full story from InfoZine.

Particularly in a turbulent and tough economy filled with uncertainty on so many fronts, why pay more than necessary to power your home when you can use the money for other things? The Alliance to Save Energy offers a number of no-cost/low-cost home energy-efficiency tips that pay off in lower monthly energy bills, reduced pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and improved comfort and energy security.

Read the full story at CNBC.

According to Energy Star, a joint program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department, the average U.S. business can save 30 percent or more on their bills through money-saving investments in energy efficiency.

Read the full story in Small Times.

Friction is the bane of any machine. When moving parts are subject to friction, it takes more energy to move them, the machine doesn’t operate as efficiently, and the parts have a tendency to wear out over time. But if you could manufacture parts that had tough, “slippery” surfaces, there’d be less friction, requiring less input energy and the parts would last longer. Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are collaborating with other research labs, universities, and industrial partners to develop just such a coating.

Read the full story in the Washington Times.

As energy costs continue to soar and the colder winter months are approaching, more homeowners are taking proactive steps to ensure their homes are energy-efficient, as the “green factor” of a home is becoming more of a priority for potential buyers in the current market. Sellers and buyers who want to ensure they have the latest tips, referrals and resources on energy usage in the home can opt to work with an EcoBroker, a Realtor who has been trained by EcoBroker International (www.ecobroker.com) to understand the complexities of green homes, sustainable design and healthier environments.

Read the full story in Enterprise Management Quarterly.

Enterprises constantly evaluate their organizations to optimize costs.  For IT managers, an economic squeeze means doing more with less as spending freezes can threaten energy efficiency goals.

However, careful planning and network design choices offer some of the smartest ways yet to maximize energy efficiency while controlling costs.

Read the full story in the Oklahoman.

Q: What really makes one home energy-efficient and another one not? We’ve done a few things over the years to save energy in our home. Just how much has to be done before a home can really be called efficient?

Read the full story in USA Today.

Low-income people who live in old or flimsy housing are becoming prime targets for cities and groups intent on slashing energy use.

Recent efforts to cut energy consumption in the home have focused on new construction, often in more affluent areas and public buildings. Now, community organizations and cities that have embraced the green effort are homing in on low-income houses and apartments to reduce emissions and help poor people lower their utility bills.

Read the full story in the Boston Globe.

The worldwide economic crisis is prompting a growing number of countries to back away from pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and invest in clean energy, just a week before the start of talks in Poland on a new worldwide climate change treaty.

In the United States, some business groups are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to move cautiously in tackling global warming, saying that a too aggressive response could prolong the economic downturn and cost jobs.

But a growing chorus of other businesses, environmentalists, and politicians are calling for a green-based economic recovery.

An enormous federal government investment in clean technology would provide low-cost capital to accelerate energy efficiency, build massive renewable energy projects, and jumpstart a sustainable low-carbon economy, these groups say. Such a Green New Deal, woven into the economic stimulus package being crafted for early next year, could create millions of government-subsidized jobs and build a new energy infrastructure.

Read the full post in the Freakonomics Blog.

I’ve never thought much about my toilet. (Though we’ve discussed toilets on this blog here, here, and here.)

It usually does its job; sometimes it needs a little help from the plunger.

Rose George’s new book The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters not only got me wildly interested in my toilet, but also in what happens after I use it.

In her book, she discusses why we should pay a lot of attention to an issue that affects everyone — several times a day — and why aversion to it (on a personal and global level) isn’t doing us any good.

George holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. She has written for The Nation, Slate, Details, The New York Times, and many other publications.

She has agreed to answer our questions about her book. But first, she has a question for Freakonomics blog readers:

Do you ever wonder what happens after you flush the toilet? If you don’t, why not?