A coalition of business, environmental and energy policy organizations advocating aggressive development of renewable energy will team up with members of Congress for the the 11th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum, July 31st in Washington, DC. According to the group: This year’s EXPO will bring together more than three dozen businesses, sustainable energy industry trade …
French Firm to Develop Va Tech Ethanol, Hydrogen Technologies
French firm Biométhodes has inked an exclusive deal with Virginia Tech’s Intellectual Properties Inc. division to option-to-license the school’s processes to convert biomass into ethanol and hydrogen. This story from the school says the processes were invented by Percival Zhang, assistant professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech: An integrated biorefinery …
Big Easy Bouncing Back with Biodiesel
Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, destroying a large portion of the city and trashing more than half of its 370 buses, the city is getting some public transportation fueled by biodiesel. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that the eight new biodiesel buses arrive just as skyrocketing gas prices are helping increase ridership: The vehicles were …
PA Gov Signs Biodiesel & Ethanol Incentives, Mandate
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has signed into law measures that will provide incentives to biodiesel producers while mandating a rising scale of biodiesel percentages in all diesel sold in the state. This story from FoxBusiness.com has details: “Pennsylvanians are struggling with higher fuels costs,” said Governor Rendell, who signed House Bill 1202 and Special Session Senate Bill 22 into law …
Scientists to DOE: “Keep Working on Biodiesel”
A committee of scientists that helps the government make decisions is recommending that the U.S. keeps working on biodiesel. This story from Biodiesel Magazine says a National Research Council committee looking at the 21st Century Truck Partnership, a group of of federal government agencies and private industries, has told the U.S. Department of Energy to continue research into the green …
Where to Grow Alternative Energy
The world faces a daunting task in replacing what’s known as the “cubic mile of oil” consumed worldwide each year. But like any gargantuan task, it all starts with small steps. To help those small steps grow into sustainable replacements for our dependence on petroleum, this article from Forbes has some suggestions where the most fertile ground in the U.S. …
Rocket Scientists Seek New Wind Energy Sources
Scientists with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are using nearly 10 years of satellite information to figure out where is the best place on the oceans to put up wind energy turbines. This UPI story says they’re using NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite to search for homes for offshore wind farms: QuikSCAT, launched in 1999, continuously tracks the speed, direction …
Algae-Biodiesel Nears Commercial-Scale in New Mexico
Researchers at a facility in New Mexico have reached a significant milestone in their hopes of producing biodiesel from algae. This story from the Carlsbad (NM) Current Argus has details: The Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management recently harvested commercial-scale quantities of algae from its test salt water ponds located at New Mexico State University Agriculture Science Center in …
USDA Not Horning in on Livestock Feed
A federal ag department researcher says the U.S. Department of Agriculture is not trying to take the by-products of biofuels out of the livestock feed system… just trying to find more uses for what’s leftover after biodiesel and ethanol are produced. This story from redOrbit.com says Kurt Rosentrater wants to assure livestock producers that his studies on using dried distillers’ …
Pickens Picks Wind for US Energy Plan
Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is choosing a decidely non-petroleum source as the solution for America’s energy woes: wind power. As you might remember from my post on May 20th, Pickens has invested $2 billion in a 667 turbine wind farm in Texas. Now, he wants to translate that passion for wind to the rest of the country. This story …