Biodiesel, Algae Makers Merge

John Davis

Utah biodiesel maker Better Biodiesel has announced it will buy GeoAlgae Technologies (GAT). The Arizona-based GAT makes inexpensive feedstock for the production of biodiesel. This story on C|Net News’ Green Tech Blog says it will give the biodiesel producer a chance to recover from a devastating fire this summer: The buyout is Better Biodiesel’s first public news since announcing this …

Biodiesel

Butter Sculpture To Become Biodiesel

John Davis

The centerpiece of the Pennsylvania Farm Show will be turned into green energy. This story in the Centre Daily Times (State College, PA) says the show starts tomorrow (Saturday), and a 900-pound butter sculpture of a cow and a school bus with three children boarding the bus made for the eight-day show will be recycled into biodiesel: The sculpture will …

Biodiesel

Obama’s and Huckabee’s Biofuels Stands

John Davis

Well, it looks like Iowans have chosen Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the top vote-getters in the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the Hawkeye State. While there’s still a lot of election left to go with all of the rest of the country’s primaries and caucuses still up for grabs, Iowa is many times …

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Imperium Cancels IPO Plans

John Davis

The biggest biodiesel producer on the U.S. West Coast has withdrawn a plan to have an initial public offering (IPO) that could have raised more than $345 million for several biodiesel plants across the country. This story from Reuters says officials with biodiesel giant, Imperium Renewables out of Seattle, Washington, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw …

Biodiesel

As Ethanol Mandate Starts in MO, Biodiesel Requirement Proposed

John Davis

Missouri’s requirement to have all gasoline contain at least 10 percent biodiesel started on January 1st. And now, there’s a proposal in the legislature to make a similar mandate for biodiesel. State Sen. Bill Stouffer’s (R-Napton) SB 759 would require all diesel fuel sold in the state would contain a biodiesel blend by April 1, 2010: fuel terminals in Missouri …

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Cary, NC Going to Biodiesel

John Davis

The city of Cary, North Carolina has changed its fleet of diesel vehicles to biodiesel. The city runs about 3.5 million miles a year, and now those miles will be greener. This story in the Cary (NC) News says 169 diesel vehicles are now running on B20 biodiesel: “It’s purely trying to reduce our dependency on oil,” (Mike Bajorek, the …

Biodiesel

Farm Bureau: Renewable Energy Big in ’07

John Davis

Among the stories seen as significant to the American Farm Bureau in 2007, renewable energy ranked right up there with the new Farm Bill and issues with migrant workers in the fruit and vegetable crop fields. And this column from Farm Bureau says ethanol and biodiesel will be in the headlines for years to come: Energy products including ethanol-blended fuels …

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Nova Opens Up IL Plant for Forum, Tour

John Davis

Houston-based Nova Biosource is opening up its biodiesel plant at Seneca, Illinois for a financial analyst and institutional investor forum as well as a tour of the new facility on Friday, January 25th, 2008. The new facility will be mechanically complete right after the start of the new year and substantially completed this summer. Check out this drawing of the …

Biodiesel

Brazil Putting in Biodiesel Mandate

John Davis

The new year will mark a new requirement for all diesel fuel sold in Brazil: it must contain at least two percent biodiesel. Brazil is already a world leader in ethanol production, and this article from The Canadian Press says the new requirement will help grow the biodiesel industry in the country as well: “The great advantage is for the …

Biodiesel

NBB: Biodiesel at Less than 25% Production Capacity

John Davis

The National Biodiesel Board says the U.S. is not making near what it could be when it comes to biodiesel. This story on Wisconsin Ag Connection says high soybean oil prices are keeping America from producing an NBB-projected amount of 1.85 billion gallons a year… but that could soon change: Soybean oil prices in the mid- to high 40-cent range …

Biodiesel