Blackhawk Biofuels has announced it will cut the ribbon on its newest biodiesel plant this coming Wednesday (Nov. 19) in Danville, Illinois, with production at the 45-million-gallon-a-year facility to start the next day. This story in TradingMarkets.com says the plant will at first use soybeans from Bunge Milling, adjacent to the biodiesel plant: The cost of soybeans, which had skyrocketed …
Alternatives Helping Drop Oil Prices
This past summer, when oil prices were skyrocketing past $145 a barrel, one man was saying that the price would fall back to $60. People laughed and said we had seen the end of less-than-$100-a-barrel oil. Well, that price has dropped below $60, and 82-year-old oil analyst Henry Groppe has proved his critics wrong… again. So, when Groppe says in …
Oklahoma Potentially Alt Energy Leader
While it might have a past deeply rooted in petroleum, attendees of the Oklahoma Biofuels Conference in Oklahoma City this week were told renewable energy has a huge future in the Sooner State. This story from Forbes says a huge wind corridor in the western part of Oklahoma, along with perennial native grasses for biofuels, gives the state a great …
SF Auto Show to Feature Biodiesel, Hydrogen & More
Luxury vehicles, exotic new rides, and the latest in domestic developments are all part of any auto show. Add to that list the environmentally-friendly aspects of a new car at this year’s San Francisco Chronicle|SF Gate.com 51st Annual International Auto Show. This story from the Chronicle has the green details about the week-long event slated to start on November 22nd: …
EPA Publishes Biodiesel Facility Environmental Rules
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published environmental regulatory rules and requirements for the construction and operation of biodiesel production facilities. In a press release, the agency says it’s a user-friendly manual for the 176 biodiesel plants in operation nationwide: Region 7 Administrator John B. Askew said, “We are taking steps to provide useful tools to help biodiesel facilities comply …
Harnessing the Wind Without a Breeze
One of the knocks against wind energy is that you don’t have power if you don’t have wind. Well, an energy company in the Upper Midwest might have the solution. This story from the Minneapolis (MN) Star-Tribune says Xcel Energy Inc. has teamed up with the state of Minnesota and a Virginia-based technology firm to test the first battery in …
Colorado Firm Building Algae-Biodiesel Plant
A Fort Collins, Colorado biofuel company will build an algae-biodiesel plant on an Indian reservation in southern Colorado. Solix Biofuels has announced it has raised $10.5 million in funding with another $5 million commitment from investors to build the facility on 10 acres on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. This story on Colorado.com has details: The plant will be jointly …
Big Sky Professor Discovers Biodiesel-Producing Fungus
A trip to a Patagonian forest (that’s in South America) has produced the latest development in the biodiesel game. Dr. Gary Strobel from Montana State University has found the endophytic fungus, Gliocladium roseum — a hydrocarbon-producing fungus he found growing in a tree in Patagonia — has been shown to produce many of the same hydrocarbons found in diesel. This …
MO Agribusiness Summit Focuses on Biofuels
Jenna Higgins Rose from the National Biodiesel Board said, “The National Biodiesel Board’s Future Vision is to increase the demand for commercially produced biodiesel within the United States through education, communication, and quality assurance programs.” She added that the goal of NBB is to have 1.85 billion gallons of B100 sales, mostly as blends by 2015. Sponsoring the summit were: …
Report Indicates Little Land Use Impact for Ethanol Production
The amount of agricultural land required to produce 15 billion gallons of grain ethanol in the United States by 2015, as required by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), is likely to be less than 1 percent of total world cropland, according to a new report released today by the Renewable Fuels Association. According to the report, “Understanding …