An Indiana-based oil exploration, production, refining and marketing company (including biodiesel) says reinstatement of the federal $1-a-gallon biodiesel blenders credit is helping make the green fuels competitive with non-renewable petroleum products. CountryMark of Indianapolis says biodiesel blended fuel prices at the farmer-owned cooperative are reflecting the difference the credit is making: “The biodiesel blender tax credit of a dollar per …
USDA Matches Biofuels Facilities with Feedstocks
The USDA is working on matching the best places to build biofuel refineries with the areas that have the best feedstocks to produce the green fuels. This Agricultural Research Service article says they’ve been looking at the potential in the Pacific Northwest: [ARS] agronomist George Mueller-Warrant, plant physiologist Gary Banowetz, and hydrologist Jerry Whittaker calculated that the 6.2 million tons …
New Energy Technologies Finds Power IN the Roads
Usually we talk about alternative energy being used on the roads, but this time, I’d like to introduce you to a technology that harvests energy FROM the roads. Continuing my conversation from yesterday with New Energy Technologies’ President and CEO John Conklin, he tells us today about MotionPower, that captures the kinetic energy produced by moving vehicles. “If solar and …
WI Biodieseler Putting in 24-Hour Pumps, Hybrid Truck
As part of a bigger expansion plan, a biodiesel maker from Wisconsin is adding a 24-hour biodiesel fueling station, as well as using a truck that runs on biodiesel with an electric backup. SunPower Premium Cold Flow Biodiesel‘s Cumberland, Wisconsin station will have B11, B20 and B99 blends available plus a winter additive to increase engine performance: “The owners of …
Farm-based Missouri Oil Company to Grow Biomass
Missouri-based MFA Oil Company, a farmer-owned cooperative, has partnered with Aloterra Energy to form a biomass venture. This MFA press release says the new company, MFA Oil Biomass LLC, will pay about 1,700 family farmers to grow miscanthus for use as a biomass fuel and possibly ethanol in the future: [T]he 2008 Federal Farm Bill created the Biomass Crop Assistance …
National Biodiesel Foundation Silent Auction Raises $50K
Biodiesel outreach, education, research and demonstration activities have gotten a big boost as the National Biodiesel Foundation‘s 3rd Annual Silent Auction netted nearly $50,000 during last week’s National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Phoenix. The Foundation is also recognizing Cima Green Energy Services for a very generous $25,000 donation at the opening of the auction: Executive Director of the National …
Air Force C-17s Certified for Unlimited Use of Biofuels
The big, beautiful cargo plane you see here is the C-17 Globemaster III, capable of bringing in everything from beans to bullets, as well as taking to war and bringing back home the men and women who serve our country so proudly. And U.S. Air Force officials have certified it for unlimited usage of biofuels, more specifically, hydrotreated renewable jet …
New Energy Tech. Debuts SolarWindow Application
A Maryland company has taken a big technological step forward in the solar power generation field. New Energy Technologies has announced it has moved up to a 12″x12″ square of a spray-on type of coating, known as SolarWindow. While a 12″x12″ square doesn’t sound very big, it wasn’t very long ago the company was working with areas smaller than a …
HyperSolar Makes Thin Solar Concentrator Prototype
Innovative solar cell maker HyperSolar has completed a prototype design of its new thin solar concentrator. As you might remember from my post from Oct. 26, 2010, the company is focusing increasing solar cell output by magnifying the sun’s rays: Tim Young, CEO of HyperSolar, commented, “Our ultimate goal is to develop an inexpensive and thin solar concentrator for use …
Biodiesel Board Offers RFS2 Webinars
The new Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) will require at least 800 million gallons of biodiesel are used this year … and how petroleum refiners and importers and distillate distributors get to that number will be the subject of a series of free webinars offered by the National Biodiesel Board. NBB officials say the 90-minute webinars, entitled “RFS2 Ready: Biodiesel Producers …