Scientists in India are experimenting with a method that could make biodiesel production a whole lot more efficient.
Instead of heating sunflower oil and methanol for several hours, researchers at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology are running the mixture over a bed of fungal spores. This article on the Wired Science web site says an enzyme produced by the fungi turns it into biodiesel… without spending energy to produce the fuel:
Typically, biodiesel is made by mixing methanol with lye and vegetable oil and then heating the brew for several hours. This links the methanol to the oils to produce energetic called esters. Unfortunately, heating the mixture is a huge waste of energy, and a major selling point of alternative fuels is efficiency. An enzyme called lipase can link link oil to methanol without any extra heating, but the pure protein is expensive.
Instead of purifying the protein to run this process, the scientists found the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae produced it on its own. So, they’ve turned that fungus into easily used pellets and are now well on the way to producing energy without spending energy… and that’s the whole idea, right?
The recent opening of the 
Dallas-based 
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt has joined the ranks of the chosen few who are test driving the Ford Escape Hybrid. Ford has produced just 20 of its hybrid-electric, flex-fuel Escapes that can run on E85 fuel and Ford Manager Tony Reinhart made the presentation to Blunt last week at the Missouri State Fair. Blunt says the specially-equipped Escape will help promote his Missouri Renewable Fuel Standard, which outlines that all fuel sold in the state will have to contain 10% percent ethanol by January of 2008. The Governor pointed out that Missouri is the fourth state to have such a requirement. The hybrid, flex-fuel also meets Blunt’s executive order that requires at least 70% of new vehicles purchased by the state to be flex-fuel vehicles.
Illinois Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama made a stop in Charles City on his five day tour of Iowa last week to help cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the third ethanol plant for 
Other dignitaries at the event included 
The U.S. House’s version of the Farm Bill includes a provision where the federal government buys surplus sugar and sells it to ethanol producers to be used with corn.
The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson, inserted the sugar-to-ethanol provision in the farm bill. Minnesota is the nation’s largest producer of sugar beets, and Peterson represents the state’s sugar beet-growing Red River Valley. U.S. sugar is made from beets in some Northern and Western states, and cane in a few Southern states and Hawaii.
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the bill when it comes back in after the August recess. And this current provision has the endorsement of the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa):
In a blur of yellow… pushed by a yellow flame shot out of the back of a J60 Pratt and Whitney jet engine… this Corvette funny car might be one of the fastest things on Earth.
For more than 100 years, The Sir Walter Scott has sailed the waters of Loch Katrine in Scotland… one of the last coal-powered steamers in the country. A 2.2 million Pounds (4.35 million U.S. dollar) renovation is due for the old girl, and officials want to run her on biodiesel.
Banks tells Leno that he is “all over the idea of using E-85 to build the ultimate street rods.” The main point of the interview is that ethanol, in the form of E-85, is a very high performance fuel if the car engine is tuned to run on it. 