The City of Long Beach, California might be the latest municipality to join the ranks of those that are switching their fleets to biodiesel. The Long Beach Gazette reports the city is trying to reduce its carbon footprint: The City Council directed City Manager Pat West to investigate the feasibility of using biodiesel to power its 361 city-owned trucks, large …
“Fields of Fuel” Reviews
The biofuels documentary “Fields of Fuel” made its debut this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to mixed reviews. AFP reports that the biodiesel film is “not to everyone’s tastes at Sundance.” The reviewer, who interviewed film director and activist Josh Tickell, focused on the food versus fuel controversy rather than the film itself, saying “not everyone is …
WI Governor Proposes Energy Independence Plan
Wisconsin’s governor is proposing an aggressive plan to make his state a leader in renewable energy. From the text of Gov. Jim Doyle’s speech, he has called for lawmakers to approve his strategy to increase his state’s homegrown power through the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund: Over the next 10 years Wisconsin will invest $150 million to help our businesses, our …
MO Governor Makes Surprise Announcement
Missouri’s youngest governor has decided not to run for a second term, saying he has accomplished all the goals he had when he took office in 2005. Among those goals was a ten percent ethanol mandate for gasoline, which took effect this month. Blunt recently announced proposals for $2 million in tax incentives for retailers who install E-85 ethanol pumps …
SD Biodiesel Tax Break Moves Forward
A plan to cut state fuel taxes for biodiesel is moving forward in South Dakota’s legislature. This story from Forbes says the state Senate’s State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to move Governor Mike Rounds’ plan to the full Senate: The bill would cut the 22-cent-a-gallon tax on diesel to 20 cents for diesel fuel that contains at least a 5 …
Biodiesel Put to Extreme Cold Test
Temperatures are typically pretty cold this time of year in Canada, so there’s no better place to put biodiesel through Canada’s most extensive cold-weather, on-road demonstration test of biodiesel. The move is being applauded by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association in this press release: Over sixty trucks will be put to the test by Climate Change Central, an Alberta government …
X Games Even Greener
ESPN’s Winter X Games 12 is set to begin on Wednesday, and organizers say, despite the mountains of snow, it will be greener than ever. It’s not global warming taking its toll… it’s green fuel. This story on SupercrossKING.com says ESPN has made the competition one of the most environmentally-sound action sports events ever by featuring biodiesel for its fuel: …
Biodiesel U. Giving a Green Education
Dan Goodman is preaching, and his disciples are students who spread the word even further. But he’s not a minister at a pulpit. He has a non-profit venture called Biodiesel University that gives students hands-on experience producing the renewable fuel, while educating consumers on the benefits of biodiesel. This feature story in the Washington Post says he works with college …
Florida Awards Biofuels Grants
Twelve grants totaling $25 million were awarded today by Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson as part of the state’s “Farm to Fuel” initiative. “We believe that awards such as these are critical in triggering the development of a renewable energy industry in Florida,” Bronson said. “With the backing of and an investment from the state, we’re …
Biofuels Dominating Renewable Energy Patents
Patents for biofuels dominated renewable energy patents in 2007… outdistancing patents for solar and wind combined. According to this article on cleantech.com, since 2001, nearly 2,800 biofuel patents were published in the U.S. with 1,045 of those coming in 2007 alone. That compares to 555 for solar and 282 for wind power last year. Overall, the number of patents for …