Green Car Advisor
Biofuels
August 27, 2008
Organizers of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize opened the official registration process this week - the first step in qualifying for the fuel efficieny competition's $10 million in prizes - after receiving letters of intent form more than 120 teams.
The prospective entrants are from 17 countries, with most coming from the U.S. - 28 states are represented on the initial list.
The contest challenges entrants to design, build and operate a production-capable vehicle that can deliver, at minimum, the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon fuel economy.
Prospective entrants range from Indian automaker Tata Motors to a high school team from West Philadelphia.
Missing from the preliminary list are all of the major U.S., European and Asian automakers, but a few celebrities apparently will be on hand, among them Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young, who has said he intends to enter his 1960 Lincoln Continental - converted to a plug-in hybrid running on biodiesel..
Registration closes January 1, 2009, and entrants then will have about eight months to prepare for a series of competitions that will start in New York in September and take the vehicles to as many as nine major U.S. urban areas through early 2010.
Winning teams must deliver vehicles that achieve at least 100 miles per gallon-equivalent fuel economy and meet stringent emissions standards. the teams also must present compelling business cases for their vehicles.
Click here for more information about the competition, the prize and the entry process.
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- John O'Dell August 27, 2008, 12:54 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Green Vehicles, Hybrid, Plug-ins and Electric, Tata
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- $10 million X Prize
, Fuel Efficiency, Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize
August 20, 2008
By John O'Dell, Senior EditorThen: "Fill 'er up with premium."
Now: "Let's see. I've got $50, so guess I'll get 12 gallons of regular unleaded."
Someday: "Gimme 10 gallons of that sewage sludge distillate please."
Sounds yucky, but sewage sludge and garbage and plant waste that used to go to the dumps may someday be part of the nation's transportation fuels supply.
A two-year-old California startup,
Byogy Renewables Inc., said today that it has licensed a process developed by researchers at Texas A&M University that turns waste into high octane gasoline.
Production of the alternative fuel could begin within two years (
could being the operative wiggle word), said Daniel Rudnick, chief executive of the Bakersfield-based company.
The beauty of the biofuel Byogy hopes to produce is that it doesn't need to be blended with other fuels, he said.
And it can be shipped through existing gasoline pipelines and pumped from existing gasoline pumps, unlike biodiesel or alcohol fuels such as ethanol that are corrosive and need to be blended and, in some cases require a separate delivery and pumping infrastructure.
"This technology is important because it addresses many issues -- eliminating waste, producing economical fuel quickly and being friendly to our environment," said Kenneth Hall, associate director of the
Texas Engineering Experiment Station at Texas A&M University, which developed the waste conversion process.
"Furthermore, this technology is ready to be commercialized now and does not require any new scientific or technological breakthroughs to become a reality," Hall said in an interview with Greenwire, a subscription-only environmental news service.
Byogy uses a multi-step process that begins with fermenting the waste and then treating it hith heat and chemicals to produce intermediate materials that are subjected to heat and pressure to produce 95-octane gasoline, Rudnick said in an interview with
Green Car Advisor.
Continue reading...
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- John O'Dell August 20, 2008, 7:18 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Fuels & Technologies, Recycling
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- Alternative Fuel
, Bio Fuel, Biofuel, Byogy, Texas A&M
August 15, 2008
LS9 Inc. says it has created synthetic "industrial microbes" that can digest sugar in plant-based food and excrete it as hydrocarbon-based "petroleum replacement products."
But that's not all. The South San Francisco, Calif., company says it can genetically tweak the bacteria to produce a variety of "DesignerBiofuels" that are essentially indistinguishable from gasoline, diesel and even jet fuel.
LS9 says the fuel its proprietary microbes produce can go straight into a car's gas tank or be sent to a refinery for further preparation.
What's more, the fuels are nearly carbon-neutral, LS9 reports, meaning that about the same amount of carbon dioxide is generated by the combustion of its fuels as is consumed by the plant-based foods eaten by the bacteria.
The company suggests that its bacteria's efficient use of biomass or sugar cane addresses the food-versus-fuel issue plaguing corn-based ethanol and other alternative fuels.
LS9 says it is "rapidly commercializing and scaling up" production so that the company can produce fuel by the barrelful within a few years.
Visit the company's Web site for further details.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett August 15, 2008, 1:01 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy
August 12, 2008
While automakers wait for more 85 percent ethanol blend gasoline pumps to be installed at gas stations, the ethanol industry is waiting for automakers to produce more "flex-fuel" vehicles that can safely burn the E85 blend, in what has resulted in a widespread waiting game.
"E85 needs more infrastructure," Rick Gunther, Midwest fleet and commercial operations manager for General Motors, told the subscription news service Greenwire. "I tell retailers, 'We're the chicken, you're the egg.' "
Detroit's Big Three automakers are waiting for Japanese companies Honda and Toyota to be more active in the flex-fuel market to stimulate demand for more pumps, but so far their response has been slow. Toyota plans to introduce a flex-fuel version of its Tundra in 2009.
Pump manufacturers told Greenwire they are waiting for Underwriters Laboratories certification of safety and efficiency on the new blender pump, which would offer more options for ethanol blends -- beyond the 10 percent or 85 percent currently available.
And everyone is waiting for U.S. EPA to decide whether it's safe to use a 20 percent blend of ethanol in car engines. The 10-percent blend is now the maximum for regular engines, although EPA has approved E85 for flex-fuel vehicles.
Ethanol proponents say E20 and maybe even E30 are safe for regular car engines, although automakers disagree.
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- Scott Doggett August 12, 2008, 2:08 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Chrysler, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Toyota
Researchers at the University of California at Davis have developed a process for making a new kind of biofuel -- one they say is cheap, easy to make and takes advantage of hard-to-use cellulose.
Research published by Mark Mascal and Edward Nikitin in the German journal Angewandte Chemie describes a method to transform biomass into fuels that could be used as substitutes for diesel fuel.
In an e-mail to Greenwire, a subscription-only environmental news service, Mascal said his process very efficiently turns raw materials into fuel and is simple and inexpensive compared to processes to make ethanol from cellulose.
Many U.S. and international companies are pursuing the conversion of biomass to ethanol, in large part spurred on by federal ethanol mandates.
But while using sugars to make fuel is fairly straightforward, producers have stumbled over challenges involved with processing plant waste and other cellulosic materials that exist in abundance and would avoid conflicts between food and fuel.
Mascal told Greenwire that while the recent publication covers just the processing of sugars into furanic fuels, his research shows similarly strong results for cellulosic materials that are currently being written up for a follow-up paper.
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- Scott Doggett August 12, 2008, 1:47 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Legislation
August 8, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
AE Biofuels Inc., a Silicon Valley energy-crops startup, announced today that it will open the nation's first integrated cellulose and starch ethanol demonstration refinery (right) on Monday.
The Butte, Montana, refinery is expected to produce up to 150,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually from local wheat straw, corn stover and other agricultural waste materials, said Rory Mackin, a spokesman for the Cupertino, California-based company.
The refinery will use a patent-pending enzymatic process (see graphics) to break down tough cellulosic materials into fermentable stands of sugar, Mackin said. If the technologies work as expected, AE Biofuels will likely expand the plant to produce 1.2 million gallons of ethanol annually, he said.
"The enzymes do work," Mackin told Green Car Advisor. "It's only a matter of getting them up to commercial scale," he said, adding that company scientists "may have to do some tweaking" of the enzymes for certain feedstocks to make that happen.
AE Biofuels' project comes amid a high-powered political push to reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.
President Bush signed an energy bill last year that requires the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels annually by 2022. The legislation includes specific targets for cellulosic ethanol, starting with 100 million gallons in 2010 and escalating sharply over a decade.
Major oil and chemical companies are responding.
On Wednesday, British Petroleum PLC said it would invest $90 million in Cambridge, Massachussets-based Verenium Corp. to research and develop cellulosic ethanol, a biofuel typically produced from the non-edible parts of plants
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- Scott Doggett August 8, 2008, 12:12 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Legislation
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- AE Biofuels
, Biofuel, British Petroleum, Cellulosic Ethanol, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, Ethanol, Fuel Efficient, Rory Mackin, Verenium Corp.
August 7, 2008
Long the bane of lawn owners everywhere, the sunny-faced dandelion could revolutionize the rubber industry.
Scientists from Ohio State University and the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center recently received a $3 million grant to design and build a processing plant that would turn sticky white dandelion root sap into quality rubber, according to a Discovery News article published this week.
"We still haven't been able to find an artificial substitute for natural rubber," said William Ravlin, a researcher involved in the project. "We're still harvesting [rubber] the same way they did 1,000 years ago -- by cutting into the tree and letting the sap drip into containers. It's not a very efficient system."
Efficiency, the Ohio scientists say, would be Midwestern farmers in air-conditioned tractors harvesting acres of dandelions with the same machines used to pull tulip bulbs.
Ten to 20 percent of the plant's carrot-like root is rubber-ready. "And that's without modifying them with biotechnology or breeding," Ravlin told Discovery News.
Researchers expect that within a few years the processing plant in Ohio could produce about 20 million tons of rubber annually.
Synthetic rubber doesn't perform as well as natural rubber. Car tires can contain as little as 10 percent natural rubber, but the more demanding the job, the more natural rubber is needed: Airplane tires are 100 percent natural rubber.
Some of the dandelion rubber will eventually go to Bridgestone, a leading tire manufacturer.
"I think this has some real potential," Bridgestone's Jason Poulton told Discovery News.
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- Scott Doggett August 7, 2008, 3:35 PM
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- Biofuels, Fuel Economy, Recycling, Tires
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- Bridgestone Tires
, Dandelions, Environment, Green, Recycle, Rubber
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
To be honest, we nearly decided not to report the following development, because as anyone who has paid the slightest attention to EPA Administer Stephen Johnson (right) the past year knows, he was as likely to approve Texas's request to halve the 2008 renewable fuel standard as he was to appear before the Washington press corps in a yellow polka-dot bikini.
In denying the state's request to cut the national biofuels mandate in half for a year, Johnson -- a Bush appointee -- said today that the renewable fuel standard "is strengthening the nation's energy security and supporting America's farming communities."
The mandate "will remain an important tool in our ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil in aggressive yet practical ways," he said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry asked EPA to lower the 2008 renewable fuel standard from 9 billion gallons to 4.5 billion gallons, saying the mandate was spurring skyrocketing food and feed costs and hurting his state's economy.
Politically, rubbing some Texans the wrong way given that the state can be counted on to vote Republican anyway is a small price to pay compared to losing campaign contributions from the agriculture industry and votes from swing states where agriculture is big business.
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- Scott Doggett August 7, 2008, 12:25 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Methanol
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- EPA
, Ethanol, Flex Fuel, Renewable Fuel Standard, Stephen Johnson, Texas Governor Rick Perry
July 28, 2008
The race is on to develop cellulosic ethanol that comes from waste material and plants that aren't part of the normal food chain and can be grown in much of the country, as map (left) shows. The resulting fuel can help offset oil use in the U.s. and abroad.Cellulosic ethanol refineries seem to be growing these days like the switchgrass many hope to use to make an oil-replacement fuel for our cars and trucks.
The latest announcement comes from DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, a new joint venture of
DuPont and Denmark's
Danisco (a food and enzymes conglomerate).
The two plan to build a 250,000-gallons-a-year cellulosic refinery and research facility in eastern Tennessee, near Knoxville, feeding it with corn cobs, corn stover - the leaves and stalks of corn plants - and with switchgrass grown by area farmers under a program aided by the
University of Tennessee's Biofuels Initiative.
Cellulosic ethanol is a plant-based alcohol fuel that is not
dependent on food crops, as is the corn-based ethanol now produced commercially in the U.S.
Its drawback, to date, is that it is more difficult to break down fiberous plant material to extract the sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. That has made cellulosic processes more expnesive and more energy intensive than producing ethanol from corn.
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- John O'Dell July 28, 2008, 1:30 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Ethanol, Fuels & Technologies
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- Cellulosic Ethanol
, Danisco, Dupont, Tennessee
July 24, 2008
Rendering of a waste-to-ethanol plant being built in the Midwest by Coskata Inc., a start-up firm financed venture capitalists and by General Motors Corp.
Los Angeles County's decision the other day to give BlueFire Ethanol a permit to build a $30 million waste-to-fuel plant in California's high desert raised a question: How much money is being pumped into efforts to produce oil-replacing automotive fuels from things such as wood pulp, algae,wheat chaff and the gazillions of tons of garbage society creates each month?
A recent survey of venture capital firms - the same wells of largesse that helped fuel the dot-come and Internet booms - helps answer that.
It's not a whole lot when compared to the money being spent to turn food supplies into ethanol and to hunt for more, and more efficient, ways to suck crude out of the ground.
But, as my dad was fond of saying about any huge sum of money, it's sure a lot more than I make in a week!
In the first half of the year, according to the survey by Thompson Reuters reported in the New York Times, venture capital firms invested $612 million in biofuel development firms, up from $375 million for all of 2007.
The total for this year is likely to top $1 billion, and if even a few of the biofuel firms being aided by the investment funds manage to become commercially viable, the flood gates could open.
Maps from Iowa State University show existing biofuels plants (ethanol on left, biodiesel on right) in green, proposed plants in yellow.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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- John O'Dell July 24, 2008, 4:57 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Fuels & Technologies
- Technorati Tags:
- Biofuels
, Ethanol
The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future, the New York Times reports today.
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks.
Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel.
Feed prices have soared in the last two years as fuel has begun competing with food for cropland.
"When you find yourself in a hole, you have to quit digging," Perry said in an interview with the Times. "And we are in a hole."
His request for an emergency waiver cutting the ethanol mandate to 4.5 billion gallons, from the 9 billion gallons required this year and the 10.5 billion required in 2009, is backed by a coalition of food, livestock and environmental groups.
Naturally, farmers and ethanol and other biofuel producers are lobbying to keep the existing mandates. Corn growers and ethanol producers say they are being made scapegoats for failed economic and energy policies.
The Times report will bring you up to speed on the ethanol mandates if you've fallen a little behind.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 24, 2008, 11:13 AM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Courts, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Legislation
July 22, 2008
Right, BMW 7 Hydrogen on Nürburgring racetrack. The car or one like it will be available for test drives.
The Detroit area is famous for the Woodward Dream Cruise, a summertime showcase of thousands of hotrods, muscle cars and other exotics.
Now in an effort to improve Motown's gas-guzzling image, a new group has organized what they call Nextcruise, which will actually give the public an opportunity to drive what many see as the next generation of vehicles - hybrids, fuel cell, clean-diesel, plug-in electric and other green machines.
The low-emissions, fuel-efficient vehicles will be available for free 15-minute drives on a first-come, first-served basis in Pleasant Ridge, just outside Detroit, in mid-August.
The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Memorial Park, 23925 Woodward Avenue, Pleasant Ridge 48069-1199.
Nine automakers have agreed to provide green vehicles and green-car-technology demonstrations for event to date. They are: General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
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- Scott Doggett July 22, 2008, 3:44 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Audi, Auto Shows, BMW, Biofuels, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler, Diesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen
July 21, 2008
By now most of us are aware of the pitfalls of ethanol, among them: It's raising food costs worldwide, it requires a tremendous amount of water, it produces less energy than gasoline while emitting more pollutants, it's contributing to rainforest deforestation, it's displacing valuable food crops, the fertilizers it requires are wiping out marine life. The list goes on.
But here's one pitfall this writer was unaware of: Ethanol is allowing Detroit's Big Three automakers to manufacture more gas-guzzling vehicles and as a result is making the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil, not less.
In his book "Gusher of Lies," Robert Bryce points out that the Big Three love ethanol because the automakers can use it to inflate the fuel-efficiency ratings of their cars artificially at a time when the federal government requires them to increase the corporate average fuel economy of their vehicle lines.
The CAFE rules allow for a complex formula that increases gas mileage by factoring in a percentage of ethanol use, but only counting the gasoline consumed. If, for example, the gasoline-ethanol variant of the Chevy Suburban used gas 52 percent of the time and ethanol 48 percent, it would have consumed a gallon of gas in the first 15 miles, then would be refilled with ethanol and would have used a gallon or so over the next 14 miles. But of the nearly 2 gallons consumed, only the gallon of gas would be counted.
So what does Bryce, a freelance journalist specializing in energy issues, suggest as an alternative fuel? Biodiesel derived from algae, solar and nuclear power to feed a grid that charges plug-in electric cars, and super-batteries that haven't been invented yet but likely would be soon if private foundations, the U.S. Department of Energy, or both offered a $1 billion prize to its inventor.
"Gusher of Lies" gives alt-fuel fans lots to think about. It lists for $27, but can be found at Amazon.com and other online stores for $10 less.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 21, 2008, 8:56 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Chrysler, Courts, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
July 19, 2008
By Dale Buss, Contributor
Everett Henley's family have been grease middlemen for four generations now, so he's not unduly flustered by new competition from "grease rustlers" who know that recent price jumps have turned the commodity into liquid gold.
Henley simply makes more of the theft-proof grease receptacles he designed and supplies them to the hundreds of restaurants in metro Houston whose waste vegetable oil and other drippings his Central Texas Grease Recycling Co. picks up.
When a would-be thief tries to siphon waste oil out of one of the four-by-six-foot steel containers, a system of snags designed by Henley rips up the siphon hose.
As a result, Henley's business remains largely unscathed in what he and others in the business view as growing problem: grease rustling.
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- Scott Doggett July 19, 2008, 12:30 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Courts, Emissions, Fuel Economy
July 17, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
In a speech that every American ought to read or at least watch, former VP Al Gore today told an energy conference "to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge: for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now."
It was in large part his inconvenient-truth pitch, but he broadened his case; he says we must abandon fossil fuels for national security and dire economic reasons, too. The New York Times' coverage made a nice note of the expansion.
But we could practically hear the ears of thousands of plug-in EV fans perk up when the Nobel laureate said, 27 minutes into his speech: "We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid."
Those 49 common-yet-wonderfully-arranged words were magic to Felix Kramer, one of this nation's most resilient proponents of plug-in EVs, and thousands of other plug-in fans.
"This definitive acknowledgment of the benefits of electrification gives advocates of steps on global warming a better answer for transportation than timid suggestions that more people buy more efficient gasoline cars or drive less," Kramer wrote in a passionate posting on his calcars.org site.
But it was another Website that came to mind when we heard Gore speak, the one belonging to Tesla Motors, maker of the all-electric Roadster. Tesla sponsors blogs for its customers, one of whom wrote something two years ago that stayed with us.
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- Scott Doggett July 17, 2008, 8:20 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
Right, the cockpit of Honda's HFCV.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
A transition to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is entirely doable but requires nearly $200 billion in funding and further technological breakthroughs, National Research Council experts said today in a report requested by Congress.
While stressing the "best-case scenario" nature of their report, the experts concluded that hydrogen could be the key driver of a shift away from fossil fuels and emissions tied to global warming, with other clean technologies and biofuels helping in that transition.
"The benefits of hydrogen would be less in the early years but have a dominant effect" in the longer run, panel chairman Mike Ramage, a retired ExxonMobil executive, said in a conference call with reporters. "Hydrogen is a pathway to a sustainable energy future."
The best-case scenario assumes the automotive industry invests $145 billion and the federal government spends $50 billion over the next 15 years to drive down the costs of hydrogen production and vehicles that run on hydrogen.
"The number is big, but in perspective" it is doable, Ramage said, noting that the federal ethanol subsidy is at a pace to cost $160 billion over that same period. "We need durable, substantial and sustainable government help to make this happen, just as there is for ethanol."
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- Scott Doggett July 17, 2008, 4:31 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Transportation Alternatives
July 15, 2008
Right, threatened Gulf marine life.
A surge in Midwest corn production to meet U.S. demands for ethanol is drastically worsening pollution problems in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of federal and state scientists said today, according to E&E News.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting that a record spike in nutrients from the Mississippi River basin this summer will produce the largest Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" ever.
An area the size of New Jersey is expected to contain dissolved oxygen levels too low to support marine life, the respected subscription service E&E News reported.
Based on data collected by NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University, the predicted 8,800-square-mile hypoxic zone would be 11 percent larger than last year's and the largest since scientists began monitoring the problem in 1985.
In a conference call, scientists attributed the gulf's deteriorating conditions to spikes in runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus, key ingredients in fertilizers needed to sustain record corn harvests in the Midwest.
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- Scott Doggett July 15, 2008, 5:15 PM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
July 7, 2008
The same day a World Bank report identifies biofuels as the principal cause of the global food crisis, the Bush administration announces creation of a Web site that Americans can use to locate biofuel service stations.
"Need to know where to buy E85 or other alternative fuels?" today's announcement asks. "The U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center now has an online station locator. Just specify which kind of fuel you want, then enter your address and the locator will map out the closest stations that sell that fuel."
It's been reported that the World Bank withheld publicizing its findings to avoid embarrassing President Bush. The World Bank's determination that biofuels are responsible for the food crisis that threatens the lives of 100 million people contradicts the U.S. government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3 percent to food price rises.
The White House must be delighted that Bush isn't the only Western leader with egg on his face today. The president's good friend, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, sparked outrage after it was disclosed today that he and other world leaders enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit, where the global food crisis tops the agenda.
The prime minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit -- just hours after urging the world to reduce the "unnecessary demand" for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food.
For the low-down on that scandal, take a look at an article in today's edition of the British newspaper Telegraph.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 7, 2008, 2:17 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Natural Gas
Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75 percent -- far more than previously estimated -- according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian newspaper.
The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally respected economist at the global financial body.
The figure emphatically contradicts the U.S. government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3 percent to food-price rises, the newspaper reported. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.
Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President Bush.
"It would put the World Bank in a political hot spot with the White House," said source is quoted as telling the Guardian.
The news comes at a critical point in the world's negotiations on biofuels policy. Leaders of the G8 industrialized countries meet next week in Japan, where they will discuss the food crisis and come under intense lobbying from campaigners calling for a moratorium on the use of plant-derived fuels.
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- Scott Doggett July 7, 2008, 1:33 PM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy
July 2, 2008
Crude oil comes from zooplankton and algae that settled to the bottom of seas and lakes in large quantities over many millions of years.
Today, many researches believe that cultivated algae could supply enough biofuel to meet the world's transportation needs -- and do so using a fraction of the land other biofuels would require.
In fact, some scientists are of the opinion that enough algae can be grown on 4.5 million acres -- an area the size of Maryland -- to replace all of transportation fuels consumed in the United States.
Other researchers believe even less land is needed, and unlike corn and other materials that can be converted into biofuels, algae doesn't threaten food supplies, economies or the environment. In fact, algae gobbles up carbon dioxide, the worst of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
To get a better understanding of algae's promise as an alternative fuel to petroleum, turn on your computer's speakers and click here to watch a Wall Street Journal video on the subject.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 2, 2008, 8:28 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels
June 27, 2008
Michigan's upper penninsula, a place with a lot of trees, has been selected by Mascoma Corp. for its first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant.
Mascoma, which is partnering with General Motors Corp.
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- John O'Dell June 27, 2008, 4:27 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Ethanol, General Motors
June 26, 2008
CIBC chart shows 10 million fewer vehicles on U.S. roads by 2012 than today.
Gasoline prices in America have risen from around $1.80 in 2004 to the current $4 per gallon mark. The most recent surge in pump prices has, in inflation-adjusted dollars, already taken pump prices to a buck a gallon above the record prices seen in 1981...
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- Scott Doggett June 26, 2008, 4:59 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Transportation Alternatives
Betcha it'll be on TV tonight!
Cameramen crowded the apron this morning to get shots of a Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicle filling up with compressed hydrogen gas at the
new Shell Hydrogen pump on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles.
The hydrogen pump is the 46th in the nation and one of only two that shares location with a regular retail gas station.
The facility was dedicated in a ceremony attended by a number of Los Angeles area dignitaries including -- in the Equniox for the posed photo above -- David Nahai, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and (driving) Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.
The pump is one of five being installed nationwide (others already in are in New York and Washington, D.C.) as part of a hydrogen fuel demonstration project cosponsored by the federal Energy Department, General Motors and Shell Hydogen...
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- John O'Dell June 26, 2008, 3:38 PM
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- Biofuels, Fuel Cell, General Motors, Hydrogen
June 24, 2008
Congress is vowing to take actions that it believes will reverse runaway crude and gasoline prices. Oil rose above $136 a barrel on Monday – more than double what it cost a year ago – and gas hovered around $4.07 a gallon nationwide.
Lawmakers have introduced nine different bills on speculation, not to mention many more that tackle other causes of escalating fuel and oil prices. Several of the speculation measures have bipartisan support...
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- Scott Doggett June 24, 2008, 7:46 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Courts, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Elec
