Browsing environmental news sources so you don't have to. Contact Laura Barnes (lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu) with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Follow ENB on TwitterRead the full post at Green Inc.
Houston is America’s oil capital, with its sprawling oil company headquarters and highways so densely trafficked at rush hour that they sometimes feel like endless parking lots. But Houston’s city government and Reliant Energy are trying a modest new effort to green the city’s image with a program called “Power of the Plug-in.”
Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.
At the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison, Wis., researchers are looking to leafcutter ants for new enzymatic processes that will further progress to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Leafcutter ants, which are found in tropical climates and live in enormous colonies that can number in the millions, have evolved several features over time that make their particular cocktail of enzymes attractive to researchers.
Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.
Valerie Reed of the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy talked about the direction the DOE is taking to accelerate the development of algae-based biofuels at the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy held this week in Honolulu, Hawaii. She said the agency intends to develop advanced biofuels — hydrocarbons and other high-density fuels that can be drop in replacements for diesel and gasoline — in a more accelerated fashion than cellulosic ethanol.
Read the full story in the Bowling Green Daily News.
Western Kentucky University is expanding its energy consciousness.
For years, the Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology has worked on trying to make coal-burning power plants more efficient; the university has attempted and mostly accomplished making its campus more energy efficient and soon ICSET will study how best to convert agriculture products into fuel.
A $500,000 federal budget line item will be used to establish a “theoretical framework” to use a chemical reaction to turn ag products into biofuels, said Buddy Steen, director of the WKU Center for Research and Development.
A team of University of Minnesota researchers and BioCee, a university start-up company, have been awarded $2.2 million from the Department of Energy for a research proposal using bacteria to produce biofuel.
Lead investigator Larry Wackett, University Distinguished McKnight Professor in the College of Biological Sciences, is working with faculty from the BioTechnology Institute; Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics; Department of Microbiology; and the Institute of Technology’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.
The university’s project was one of three featured in Monday’s New York Times. In essence, the team proposes to develop a bioreactor using bacteria embedded in a thin latex coating to produce hydrocarbon fuel. They are one of the only groups in the world with the ability to make biohydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon fuel has many advantages because society has invested trillions of dollars in the infrastructure to produce, transport and use it.
Read the full story in the Detroit Free Press.
Motor Trend magazine selected the Ford Fusion midsize sedan as its car of the year. Billionaire financier George Soros revealed his investment arm has purchased $52.9 million in Ford stock. And, the company’s stock price hit a 2-year high of $9 per share before closing at $8.98 for the day.
International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, United Nations Environment Programme
http://www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel/pdf/Assessing_Biofuels_Full_Report.pdfA far more sophisticated approach needs to be taken when developing biofuels as an environmentally-friendly energy option a new report concludes. Governments should fit biofuels into an overall energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural strategy if their deployment is to benefit society, the economy and the environment as a whole.
As currently practiced in a country such as Brazil, it can lead to emissions reductions of between 70 percent and well over 100 percent when substituted for petrol. However, the way in which biofuels are produced matters in determining whether they are leading to more or less greenhouse gas emissions. Conditions under which production of biofuels does lead to higher emissions have been identified in the report.
The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics is cited. It can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions-up to 2,000 percent or more when compared with fossil fuels. This is mainly as a result of carbon releases from the soils and land. However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.
Read the full post in Biomass Magazine.
At the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center in Madison, Wis., researchers are looking to leafcutter ants for new enzymatic processes that will further progress to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Leafcutter ants, which are found in tropical climates and live in enormous colonies that can number in the millions, have evolved several features over time that make their particular cocktail of enzymes attractive to researchers.
Read the full story at Mother Nature Network.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, has selected 37 forward-thinking energy research projects to receive a portion of $151 million in funding. The $151 million is part of the $400 million that ARPA-E has received from the Recovery Act.
ARPA-E received 300 applications for the initial round of funding. Ultimately, 37 research projects in 17 states received funding with 43 percent going to small businesses, 35 percent to educational research teams, and 19 percent to large corporations.
Read the full post at Green Car Congress.
Thirteen scientists and land use experts conclude in a new paper that an important but fixable error in legal accounting rules used to measure compliance with carbon limits for bioenergy could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging deforestation. Their paper is published in the 23 Oct. issue of the journal Science.
A separate paper published online in Science Express by researchers from the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole and MIT concludes that indirect land use change associated with global biofuels programs will be responsible for substantially more carbon loss (up to twice as much) than direct land use. Their model also predicts that because of predicted increases in fertilizer use, nitrous oxide emissions will be more important than carbon losses themselves in terms of warming potential.
Read the full post at Green Car Congress.
A team at China’s Southeast University in Nanjing is developing a process to improve the thermal stability and heating value of bio-oil produced using catalytic fast pyrolysis. A paper on their work was published online in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels on 19 October.
Read the full story at Fox News.
For teacher Bob Smith, there’s no reason why his students’ brain power can’t help move them forward — literally.
Students at the small East Burke High School in rural Connelly Springs, North Carolina, are taking the chemistry lesson out of the lab by turning used cooking oil into bio-diesel.
In the past year, the students have made over 90 gallons of fuel from the used food product, which the local school district uses to power school buses.
Read the full story at In These Times.
As frugal consumers demand more from their vehicles, and bailed-out car companies scramble to manufacture affordable yet eco-friendly models, some drivers are turning to an alternative to the gas-guzzling status quo: vegetable oil.
Read the full story in Popular Mechanics.
A 1963 Chrysler turbine car and GM’s 1950s Firebird jet cars inspired Jay Leno to build another high-tech supercar. This new turbine supercar runs on biodiesel and could theoretically top 245 MPH.
Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.
The $50 million program that allowed the U.S. EPA to the purchase or retrofit of 14,000 diesel-powered vehicles and pieces of equipment has seen some results. EPA told Congress — which allocates funding — in a report issued last week that its Diesel Emission Reduction Program resulted in reducing 46,000 tons of NOx, and 2,200 tons of particulate matter over a vehicle’s lifetime.
Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.
Assessing the energy balance of soy biodiesel is a continuous effort. The University of Idaho and the USDA have been involved with the project for years—they’ve found that biodiesel’s numbers keep improving. “New data becomes available as the industry evolves,” says Jon Van Gerpen, biological and agricultural engineering department head at UI. “Ag-production practices and energy efficiencies are getting better and better all the time.”
The collaborative report concludes that biodiesel returns 4.5 units of energy for every unit of fossil energy required for its production. The National Biodiesel Board used the circumstance of the report’s publication to criticize the U.S. EPA’s proposed rule to implement RFS2. “EPA used 2005 baseline numbers for petroleum and biodiesel to project carbon impact 22 years in the future,” NBB stated. “That stacks the deck in favor of petroleum.”
Read the full story at Kansas City InfoZine.
Engineers from the University of Kansas Biodiesel Initiative have teamed up with Kansas Athletics Inc. to power inflatables at the Hy-Vee Family Hawk Zone at Memorial Stadium with biofuel generators powered by used cooking oil from a campus dining facility.
Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.
A project in Pennsylvania seeks to determine if abandoned and active mine lands can be reclaimed and used to grow biofuel crops such as switchgrass and other warm-season grass species.
Pennsylvania has about 180,000 acres of abandoned mine land, plus active mine land, that is not being used currently for food, feed or fiber, according to Rick Stehouwer, Penn State professor of environmental and soil science. That degraded land can be used for biomass production, but it needs to be reclaimed first, he said. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of soil amendments, determine whether the land can support biomass crops, and if the crops are cost effective.
Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.
A shuttered ethanol production research facility is preparing to restart with a new focus of operation. Central Lakes College Ag Center director Bob Schafer said the 100,000-gallon capacity plant in Staples, Minn., began operating in 1980 as a corn ethanol production research facility and was one of the first stationary production facilities in Minnesota. But in 1983 the facility was abandoned by researchers because of operational difficulties with some of the equipment at the facility and poor ethanol economics. Ready-to-use biomass pellets were left in the biomass boiler, documents were left out on desks and pieces of operational equipment were simply shut off and left to rust. “It was just like somebody walked away from the dinner table,” Schafer said.
Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.
Slow and steady wins the race, according to Coskata Inc. CEO Bill Roe.
The company, along with strategic investor General Motors Corp. and plasma gasification veteran Alter NRG Corp., officially unveiled its semi-commercial cellulosic ethanol facility near Madison, Pa., on Oct. 15. Though slightly behind the start-up date announced initially, Roe attributed the company’s progress to a “hybrid approach” to cellulosic ethanol—a combination of biochemical and thermochemical technologies—and the significance of being truly feedstock flexible.
Read the full post at Green, Inc.
Proponents of jatropha, the plant once heralded as the future of biofuels, are running into some hurdles.
In a report leaked to The East African newspaper last week, Envirocare, an environmental and human rights organization, highlighted the impact of the jatropha trade in Tanzania — including concerns over the displacement of farmers, water consumption, and the substitution of food crops for biofuels.
Read the full post at Green, Inc.
The European Commission this week introduced an open-access online tool to monitor the development of about a dozen low-carbon technologies in the trade bloc.
The commission said itsStrategic Energy Technology Plan Information System, offered ways for citizens, researchers, investors and policy makers to map funding for projects in areas including hydropower, wind, photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, wave, geothermal, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage, smart grids, nuclear fission and fusion, hydrogen and fuel cells.
Biofuels: Potential Effects and Challenges of Required Increases in Production and Use. GAO-09-446, August 25.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d09446high.pdf
Via GreenBiz. This is an incredibly useful database.
Established in 1995, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), primarily through the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis (PBA). The site is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
The DSIRE web site provides information about renewable energy and energy efficiency incentives and policies in effect in the United States. Relevant incentives and policies established by the federal government, state governments, local governments, electric utilities and non-profit organizations are included in DSIRE.
Read the full story in Domestic Fuel.
The Renewable Fuels Association today released comments to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding proposed regulations to implement the expanded renewable fuel standard (RFS) program enacted by Congress in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) in 2007.
Read the full story at Domestic Fuel.
A study commissioned by the National Corn Growers Association finds that proposed regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard would cost the ethanol industry as much as $420 million a year.
The study found that the up-front cost to the ethanol industry for compliance with the new regulations could total $30 million, with annually recurring compliance costs reaching up to $420 million.
Read the full post at Green Car Congress.
US Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from going ahead with regulations that would include indirect land use change (ILUC) effects in implementing the renewable fuel standard.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
So much environmental progress unfolds behind the scenes that it’s easy to miss.
An example: Environmental Defense Fund’s work with FedEx, Eaton and others to develop a hybrid electric truck industry. (Recently, I interviewed Eaton’s CEO about hybrid trucks here.) We notice Priuses on the highway. But have you ever noticed a hybrid truck?
Read/listen to the full story at NPR.
Not everyone is sold on alternative fuels as the solution to energy problems. Time magazine senior correspondent Michael Grunwald is a skeptic when it comes to renewable fuels. He tells Steve Inskeep instead of emphasizing alternative energy sources, the U.S. should focus on boosting efficiency and reducing consumption.
Read the full post at GreenTech.
Automakers this week are showing off all manner of fuel-efficient concept cars at the Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany. But, in general, the majority of people are reluctant to pay a big premium for the last green auto technology.
Think tank the Rocky Mountain Institute has launched an online calculator to figure what higher up-front cost brings you in terms of savings and environmental benefits. It’s part of the group’s Project Get Ready to prepare communities for plug-in electric vehicles.
Read the full story at EcoGeek.
New research has come out that indicates watermelon could make a good biofuel additive. Now, I know you’re immediately cringing because watermelon is a food crop and that spells disaster, but the good news is that no one is proposing that we start taking over arrable land with watermelon patches.
It turns out that 20 percent of every annual watermelon crop is unused because, well, it’s ugly. Misshapen or bruised fruit doesn’t sell, so farmers leave them in the field and take a loss. Those extra watermelons could be processed for their juice, which could then be made into biofuel.
Read the full post at Ars Technica.
In a decade, your gas might be made from switchgrass, and designer bacteria might well be involved. Ars takes a look at the various promising approaches to greening our gasoline.
Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Aramark Uniform and Career Apparel Inc. is adding 50 alternative fuel vehicles to its fleet, the 11th largest private fleet in the United States.
With hundreds of biomass industry professionals vying to present at the 2010 International BIOMASS Conference & Expo, we’re calling for abstracts early to meet a swell of international speaker interest. Submit your presentation idea now, and plan to engage decision makers at the fastest growing biomass conference in the world. Don’t wait. The number of abstracts submitted per category may soon be limited. With 6 tracks, 30 panels, 90 speakers, 150 exhibitors and an anticipated 2,000 attendees, BIOMASS is the world’s ideal business-to-business forum for producers and future producers of biomass power, fuels and chemicals.
Select from Six Presentation Categories:
The peer review of the renewable fuel standards lifecycle analysis is now available online. In May, Administrator Jackson announced the lifecycle analysis would be peer reviewed when the agency proposed its overall strategy for increasing the supply of renewable fuels.
More information on the peer review: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/index.htm
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has joined the EcoCar consortium of government, industry and academic leaders dedicated to advancing clean, efficient automotive technology. The consortium hosts EcoCar,The Next Challenge, a three-year competition among 17 universities in the U.S. and Canada to redesign and reengineer a 2009 Saturn VUE to further minimize fuel consumption and emissions. In addition to EPA, major sponsors include U.S. Department of Energy, California Air Resources Board, Environment Canada and General Motors.
As part of the sponsorship, EPA will provide mentoring, technical advice, and dynamometer emissions testing on competition vehicles at EPA’s lab in Ann Arbor, Mich. EPA will also serve as a competition judge.
More information on EcoCar: http://www.ecocarchallenge.org
Read the full story in the New York Times.
Three months into a pilot program testing hybrid patrol cars, officers are reporting discomfort with the smaller seats. The department will refit the cars.
Read the full story in Technology Review.
The US Department of Energy has granted $9.5 million to a company in California that plans to build America’s first recycling facility for lithium-ion vehicle batteries.
Read the full story in Food Manufacturing.
Pulling up to the pump in a diesel car or rig? In Oregon from now on, a small portion of the fill-up will be soybean squeezings or recycled cooking grease.
Biodiesel production has reached a level in Oregon that triggered a mandate from the Legislature that requires a 2 percent blend with standard diesel fuel across the state.
Read the full story at Edie.net.
The widespread introduction of bio-fuels in the aviation industry would result in carbon cuts worth billions to Europe, a think tank report says.
Read the full story at GreenerDesign.
A New England startup claims it has found a way to make ethanol using solar power and carbon dioxide — without agricultural land or fresh water.
Read the full post at Green, Inc.
A type of fuel once used in Japanese aircraft during World War II is slowly making its way again toward the market, and its backers say that it will work better in automobiles than ethanol.
Read the press release from the University of Tennessee.
East Tennessee has officially welcomed a new alternative fuel production facility to the region, and enthusiasts from state and local government to local restaurateurs are poised to help biodiesel succeed.
On hand to open the facility were University of Tennessee President Jan Simek and UT Vice President for Agriculture Joseph DiPietro, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke, Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens, and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam. Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Executive Director Stephen A. Smith helped wield the oversized scissors that made short work of the ceremonial ribbon at the gathering of local business leaders.
Built with an Alternative Fuels Innovations Grant from TDEC in partnership with SACE, the community-based biodiesel production unit aims to convert waste fryer oil from local restaurants into useable fuel. The production unit, which is located on the University of Tennessee agricultural campus, will also be a research center for other ag fuels like soybean oil and oilseed crops.
Read the full story at Scientific American.
Grassoline it ain’t. After a jury ordered a leading cellulosic biofuel company to pony up millions for defrauding investors, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely come in 60 million gallons shy of its 100 million gallon target next year.
Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.
The 2009 Collective Biodiesel Conference, dubbed “the national conference for home brewers,” will be held July 31 through Aug. 2 at American University in Washington, D.C.
Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.
Two reports issued from the United Kingdom’s Renewable Fuels Agency and the European Biodiesel Board this week give a snapshot of the European biofuels industry.
Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.
The Methanol Institute (MI) today released a Methanol Safe Handling Manual to be shared across the global methanol distribution chain to increase awareness of the chemical and promote safe handing in order to protect workers, consumers, and the environment. This manual will be accessible to everyone who comes into contact with methanol, from research engineers to shipping managers, from tank truck drivers to plant operators and will be available throughout the world. The manual will also be a valuable resource for emergency first responders looking for information on the physical properties of methanol and incident management. To ensure accessibility, the Methanol Safe Handling Manual has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic to reach the broadest possible international audience.
Read the full story in Biodiesel Magazine.
A small biodiesel refinery in Sedgwick, Kan., Healy Biodiesel Inc., has signed a letter of intent with Cetane Energy LLC to license its patent-pending hydroprocessed renewable diesel technology. Cetane Energy operates a standalone hydroprocessing plant in Carlsbad, N.M., which started operations late last year.
Read the full story in Science News.
Biofuels are liquid energy Version 2.0. Unlike their fossil fuel counterparts — the cadaverous remains of plants that died hundreds of millions of years ago — biofuels come from vegetation grown in the here and now. So they should offer a carbon-neutral energy source: Plants that become biofuels ideally consume more carbon dioxide during photosynthesis than they emit when processed and burned for power. Biofuels make fossil fuels seem so last century, so quaintly carboniferous.
Read the full story in Scientific American.
In a bid to take the lead in algae-based biofuels, ExxonMobil will plow $600 million into genome guru Craig Venter’s company Synthetic Genomics and plans to construct a pilot facility in San Diego, Calif.
