The Minnesota Governor’s Ethanol Challenge is happening this week at four Wissota dirt tracks– July 10 in Alexandria, July 11 in Madison, July 12 in Willmar and July 13 in Montevideo. According to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest, the Midwest Modified class races are “auto racing at its roots – loud, local and promoting an alternative fuel …
California Plans World’s Largest Solar Farm
San Francisco-based Cleantech America, LLC says it will build a solar power farm possibly a square mile in size… making it seven times bigger than the world’s largest and 17 times bigger than anything else of its kind in America. This story from CNN.com says the project is slated to be completed in 2011 and would produce 80 megawatts of …
Rising Feedstock Prices Squeezing Biodiesel End Product
Federal Agriculture Department officials are warning that the rising demand for biodiesel is pushing up the demand, and the price, for the feedstocks that go into biodiesel… and that is cutting into already thin margins biodiesel are working under. USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins says soybean oil prices have already been going up, and farmers are planting 15 percent fewer …
All-Star Broadcast Powered by Biodiesel
Tonight’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be seen by millions of fans across the country… thanks, in part, to biodiesel. And it’s just the start for the green fuel’s part on America’s sports stage. Fox Sports will be powering all of its generators, satellite trucks, and other diesel equipment at its television compound in San Francisco with 20 percent …
Biofuel Output Forecast
The International Energy Agency is forecasting that global biofuel output will double from 2006 levels to 1.75 million barrels a day in 2012. According to a Dow Jones newswire report, the agency included its second annual report on biofuels in its medium-term oil market report through to 2012, released on Monday. IEA also raised its 2006 biofuel supply baseline by …
EPIC and RFA at Green Grand Prix
Hybrid and alternative fueled vehicles were in the spotlight July 6 at the Green Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, NY. The event is organized annually by the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association, according to Executive Director Carol Fitzgerald. “This was our third annual Green Grand Prix and it was tremendously successful,” said Fitzgerald. “The goal of the event was to …
Military Wants to Switch to Alternatives
The Department of Defense has signed a contract with Syntroleum Corp. to buy 500 gallons of biofuel made from animal fats. The feedstock for Syntroleum’s fuel would come from Tyson Foods. This company press release says it’s a first-of-its-kind test program that is aimed to see if the military could use fuel from domestic, renewable sources: Under terms of the …
U.S. House Allows Sugar as Ethanol Stock
The U.S. House Agriculture Committee is considering a measure that would allow U.S. growers to sell cane and beet sugar for making ethanol. It’s part of an 111-page proposal updating U.S. agriculture subsidies. This Reuters story says the proposal was written by Ag Committee chair Cong. Collin Peterson of Minnesota: Support rates for sugar would rise under the proposal, to …
Green Star Algae-Biodiesel Test Successful
California-based Green Star Products, Inc. announced today that it has completed the second phase of testing its facility that turns algae into biodiesel. According to this company press release, the company has been testing the five most important operating parameters that need to be controlled at its Montana facility including daily and seasonal pond temperatures, pH, evaporation, salinity, and invasion …
Shipping Ethanol Could Be Literally On Track
Ethanol producers facing the dilemma of not being able to ship much of their fuel through pipelines… but also not wanting to burn more fuel to make deliveries of the green fuel… have found the answer in an industry that can ship large quantities at a relatively cheaper price than semi-trucks: trains. This article in Business Week says the boon …