There are several global campaigns underway to educate people about solar energy. The Solar Campaign is a new campaign featuring Sunny and Stubborn who use competitive humor to show why solar lights offer positive alternatives to traditional fuels. Produced by Peabody Award winner Firdaus Kharas, the goal of this campaign is to explain how switching to solar can transform a …
RFA Announces New Board Members
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) held its annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska this week and during the event, members elected new Officers of the Board of Directors. The new Chairman of the RFA Board of Directors is Neill McKinstray, President of the Ethanol Division, The Andersons, Inc. as Chairman of the RFA Board of Directors. McKinstray previously served as the Vice …
EU Surpasses 100 Gigawatts of Wind Power
Wind power in the European Union (EU) has surpassed 100 gigawatts according to the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). This is enough electricity generated per year to meet the total needs of 57 million households. The installation of wind power is accelerating: it took 20 years to install the first 10 gigawatts; 13 years to add another 90 gigawatts. “It …
Gevo To Refine Biobutanol Plant
In May of 2012, Gevo, Inc. announced the start-up of its bio-isobutanol plant in Luverne, Minnesota. Since then, the company says it has both produced and shipped commercial quality product in railcars for customers. One thing the company has learned is what works well and what needs to be tweaked. So the company has switched the plant to ethanol production …
Industries Account for 30% of Energy Use in US
According to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Energy Manufacturing Consumption Survey, the industrial sector used more than 30% of the total energy consumed in the U.S. in 2011. Why should you care? Because this sector includes biorefineries, manufacturing facilities that produce parts for wind turbines and solar panels and segments of the agricultural sector as well. It also includes much …
Butamax Patent Portfolio Expands
Butamax Advanced Biofuels has been granted another patent 8,273,558 (‘558 patent). The company is focused on developing commercial technology for the production of biobutanol, with a focus on the fuel market. One aspect the company has been working on is capitalizing on sugar conversion via the enzymes paired with yeast. Yeast only expresses certain enzymes in small compartments of a cell …
States Battle Over ‘Food Before Fuel’
According to an analysis by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), “food before fuel” is a fight between states. After reviewing eight waiver requests from governors submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a common argument was farmers in other states have to provide their states’ livestock industries corn. The waivers request a halt, or lowering, of the amount of …
Fuel Your Natural Gas Vehicle at Home
The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is partnering with the Center for Electromechanics at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-CEM) to engineer ways to fuel natural gas vehicles at home. GTI has been focused on making natural gas vehicles more competitive in the marketplace, and last week I brought you the story about how their FuelMule fueled up natural gas …
Free Biodiesel Producer Conference Call
Lee Enterprises Consulting is hosting a free conference call for those in the biodiesel industry on Tuesday, October 2, 2012 beginning at 2:00 pm CDT. There are several key topcis and speakers featured during the call. 1. “Recent OSHA Developments in Safety and Process Safety Management for Biodiesel Plants,” presented by Nathan Vander Griend with ERI Solutions. OSHA is currently conducting focused …
Texas A&M Showcases Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Three 20-kilowatt vertical axis wind turbines are now generating energy for Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. The turbine trio is the largest vertical axis wind turbine installation of its kind in the United States as well as the largest of their kind. The main campus also installed a 4-kilowatt wind turbine that can be horizontally lowered and opened for …