The Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change recently released a white paper recommending 20 steps the Department of Energy (DOE) should take in carrying out the President’s Climate Action Plan. The recommendations include strengthening specific energy efficiency standards, accelerating the development and deployment of low-carbon energy technologies, expanding the use of energy savings performance contracts to save energy at federal …
NextFuels Producing Biofuels from Palm Residue
NextFuels has unveiled its strategy for economically producing transportation and industrial fuels from wet, unprocessed agricultural waste. The underlying technology, which was developed by Shell Oil over several years, will allow NextFuels and its partners to produce bio-based petroleum at commercial scale for $75 to $85 a barrel out of wet biomass that has not been mechanically or thermally dried. …
BioEnergy Bytes
UL (Underwriters Laboratories), a global safety science leader, was recently selected as the only foreign testing center for wind turbine generation systems over 750kW by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), a division within the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MTIE). This designation by the Korean MTIE will allow global and local companies to earn not …
Biodiesel Production Starts at Promethean Biofuels
Earlier this summer, we told you about the deal between U.S. Energy Initiatives Corp. Inc. and California-based Promethean Biofuels for upcoming biodiesel refining. This Biodiesel Magazine article says they’re now actually producing biodiesel at Promethean’s 2.1 to 3 MMgy refinery. “We are just excited to be producing B100 biodiesel, which is a high-grade, single-source ASTM-quality biodiesel,” said USEI CEO Anthony …
DF Cast: Agencies Work Together on Biofuels Targets
On August 6, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rule for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) based on analysis provided by, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which revised downward its cellulosic biofuel forecast for 2013 to 4 million gallons (or 6 million ethanol-equivalent gallons) target for cellulosic biofuels use in 2013, less than half what was …
India & Australia Renewable Energy Investments Up
India and Australia, powered by policy support from the government, will increase their share of renewable energy projects in the near future, according to the recent report, Asia-Pacific Renewable Energy Policy Handbook 2013, published by GlobalData. In addition, the report finds China will remain the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the report, Australia’s cumulative installed capacity for …
Pacific Biodiesel to Use Hawaiian Jatropha
Pacific Biodiesel will soon be using oil from jatropha. Biofuels Journal reports the feedstock will come from the 200 acre Hawaii Pure Plant Oil (HIPPO) farm started in 2008. Now, five years after the farm’s inception, the [father and son partners Christian and James Twigg- Smith] have formed a direct collaboration with Pacific Biodiesel Technologies (PBT) under its federally funded …
Senators Call for Big Oil Investigation
U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) called on the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate possible anticompetitive practices by oil companies that limit consumers access to homegrown renewable fuels such as ethanol. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Klobuchar, the Chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee, and Grassley, …
Growth in Wind Industry to Boost O&M Market
According to a new report from GlobalData, with wind energy capacity growing at rapid pace, the value of the operations and maintenance (O&M) market is expected to increase from $3 billion in 2008 to $19 billion in 2020. The report finds that more than 191 GW of wind power capacity was added between 2008 and 2012, which has drastically increased …
Solar Panels Being Installed On White House
They say nothing is a secret in Washington, D.C. and it’s no secret that after intense pressure from several environmental organizations including 350.org, solar panels are now being installed on the White House. Some will remember the days when President Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar panels on the storied home back in the late 70s only to have them removed …