Windmills might soon be going up all over San Francisco, as a a task force is recommending that the city start putting up the turbines at places like Treasure Island, the San Francisco Zoo, city parks, and the city airport as demonstration sites for how urban wind farms could help power the city. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the …
Iowa Schools to Get Biodiesel Education Grants
Two more Iowa schools will be the benefactors of Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) grants aimed at educating communities about biodiesel and incorporating biodiesel and renewable fuels into school programming. The latest $2,500 Biodiesel Backer Awards will be awarded in December and follow this past summer’s awarding of three grants: IRFA has created the Biodiesel Backer Toolkit to help schools …
BIO Calls for EPA to be Fair on RFS2
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has joined the chorus of renewable fuel advocates who are calling on the EPA to give biodiesel and ethanol a fair shake in the proposed Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2). BIO’s remarks come as a growing number of green fuels backers say the EPA has to acknowledge the full extent of the uncertainty in its estimation …
Grant Helps Iowa State Establish Wind Energy Lab
Researchers at Iowa State University will be able to learn more about wind turbine technology… a good idea when you consider how big wind energy has become in the state. The school’s work with Arizona-based TPI Composites and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., to improve the process currently used to manufacture turbine blades has …
NBB, RFA Submit Biodiesel, Ethanol Comments to EPA
The comment period for the EPA’s proposed Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) has come and gone, and the leaders in the biodiesel and ethanol industries have turned in the comments they’ve collected from their members and interested parties. The National Biodiesel Board’s main contention is that the proposal contains several significant flaws: • EPA’s GHG [Greenhouse Gas] methodology relies on outdated …
Subsidies Should Help Nearly Double Canadian Biofuels
Biodiesel and ethanol production in Canada is expected to rise more than 75 percent over the next two years, thanks to subsidies from that country. Reuters reports that total biofuel output north of the border will reach 660 million gallons each year by 2011, including about 500 million gallons of ethanol and about 160 million gallons of biodiesel: “We’re certainly …
Ford Debuts B20 Biodiesel, E85 Compatible Trucks
Back at the end of August, I told you about how Ford was getting ready to debut a new engine that would be compatible with more blends of fuels, including B20 biodiesel. Today, at the State Fair of Texas, the automaker unveiled its new line of F Series trucks that will not only take the higher blend of biodiesel but …
Biodiesel Boosts Renderer’s Bottom Line
A Texas-based company that has made its living rendering grease and animal carcasses has seen a recent boost to its bottom line… thanks to biodiesel. CNNMoney reports that Darling International, a company that picks up the waste at 116,000 restaurants and slaughterhouses and is the largest independent renderer in the nation, has also turned profits of $55 million. That makes …
MotionPower Moves to Big Rigs
A couple of weeks ago, Joanna told you about how a company had installed a system that would capture the energy of cars and light trucks that went through a fast-food drive through (see her post from Sept. 14, 2009). Now, New Energy Technologies has announced it has successfully tested its MotionPower technology for generating electricity from the movement of …
Renewable Energy One of Obama’s Pillars in UN Speech
Renewable energy was part of Barack Obama’s speech to the United Nations today, as the American president outlined his vision for the future before the world body. Obama told delegates that the U.S. has spent $80 billion in clean energy. But the overall efforts of using renewable energy to save the climate are for the entire world: We will move …