When I traveled to Jay Leno’s Garage recently the EcoJet was still being worked on and we couldn’t take pictures of it. Now it’s out on tour and the latest stop is the CMA Music Festival at the New Holland tent. Jay has a New Holland Boomer tractor to pull cars around in his garage and it runs on a …
Wind Industry Dodges Bird Bullet
The wind generation industry in America breathed a collective sigh of relief when a U.S. Congressman from a coal-producing state pulled a measure that would have effectively killed wind power generation as an alternative to coal-powered plants. Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-West Virginia had been pushing for regulations that would require the U.S. Interior Department to protect birds …
On the Road in Jenny Owen Youngs’ Biodiesel Van
Singer Jenny Owen Youngs, known for her music on the Showtime series Weeds, is incorporating some green (different kind of green in this case) in the van she’s using to tour the country. This article from HARP Magazine features Youngs: On her current tour, Jenny Owen Youngs will be tooling around in a biodiesel van. She got the idea from …
Portland Mandates Biodiesel
Starting next month, all diesel sold in Portland, Oregon will have to have at least a five percent biodiesel content. And according to this story on eTrucker.com, the City Council has made the standard even higher for city vehicles: City-owned diesel vehicles must use fuel with a biodiesel content of more than 20 percent. The rule also mandates that all …
Michigan’s BIG Program Installing Biofuels Pumps
That’s the Biofuels Infrastructure Grant Program that gets federal money to help gas station owners/operators install E-85 and B20 (or higher percentage) pumps to encourage the Earth-friendly fuels. The latest was a station the Quick Sav Food Store in Swartz Creek. That station got about $8,400 to put in the new pumps… one of six stations in Michigan that received …
DuPont Turns Corn Into Oil
No, it’s not corn oil… it’s propanediol, a corn-sugar based product that replaces petroleum in many uses. U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today in Loudon, Tennessee joined officials from DuPont Tate & Lyle in a joint venture to open a $100 million Bio-PDO(TM) facility… the world’s first of its kind. Check out this release posted on PR Newswire: Bio-PDO(TM) …
Ethanol Merger in the Works
Farmer-owned Dakota Ethanol of South Dakota is merging with Countryside Renewable Energy of Iowa. Under the proposed merger announced this week, Dakota Ethanol owners Lake Area Corn Processors would exchange 100 percent of its ownership for a combination of cash and equity shares in Countryside. According to a press release, Dakota Ethanol board member Brian Woldt said the company has …
E85 for East Tennessee
Pilot Corporation has opened the first fuel pump in East Tennessee to sell 85 percent ethanol (E85). Helping with the grand opening was Alan Jones, manager of Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Environmental Policy Office, who is pictured fueling up a state vehicle with E85 at the Walker Springs Road Pilot location just off of I-40 in Knoxville. “Pilot is proud …
Blogging POET
POET is composing a “Rhapsody in Green.” That’s the clever title of POET’s new blog site, created and maintained by POET Director of Public Relations Nathan Schock. It’s a very nice looking and well done blog. Nathan says the purpose of the site is to “give you an inside look at the largest dry-mill ethanol producer in the country. An …
Interest PERC’d in Propane
Here’s a heads up about a short trip I’m taking next week courtesy of the Propane Education & Research Council. I’ll be attending Propane Days, which is sponsored in part by PERC. Propane Days is put on by the National Propane Gas Association to educate policymakers on the benefits of propane. I’ll be there for a couple of days to …