School Heated with Biofuel

John Davis

North Country School, just outside of Lake Placid in upstate New York, is switching its heating source to biodiesel. According to this story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the school has always been pretty progressive… organically farming and composting food scraps to make 150,000 pounds of compost material each year. Now, they want their energy sources to be good for …

Biodiesel

Dallas Greens Up Biodiesel Buses

John Davis

Many of the city buses in Dallas, Texas are already running on biodiesel. Now, the city will put in an additive that will reduce NOx emissions even further. According to a press release, Dallas will be the first fleet in the nation to use the additive, ORYXE LED for Biodiesel, recently received approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality …

Biodiesel

BioWillie Distributor Woes

John Davis

In what could be seen as a cautionary tale that you’ve got to have more than good intentions to make it in the biodiesel business, the company that had rights to Willie Nelson’s brand of biodiesel… BioWillie… will delay the filing of its 2006 financial results because of “circumstances surrounding the auditor review of our financial information.” In this story …

Biodiesel

JAMA Warns Biodiesel Homebrewers to be Careful

John Davis

A brief report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) points out that biodiesel is a substance that needs to handled carefully. The article points out an incident in Colorado where a biodiesel homebrewer accidently left the heating element on while he left for the weekend. The resulting fire released biodiesel, recycled restaurant cooking oil, smaller amounts of …

Biodiesel

Eleven States Considering Biodiesel Requirement

John Davis

We’ve been trying to document all the different pieces of state legislation out there that have impacts on the biodiesel industry. This blog entry posted by John Gartner on Autopia – Wired News, I think, kind of sums up what the effects might be if the 11 states… Florida, Connecticut, Missouri, California, Oregon, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nebraska, Montana, Tennessee and New …

Biodiesel, Legislation, Opinion

Fuel From Fiber

Cindy Zimmerman

A reader alerted us to the impending opening of VALCO Bio Energy in Harlingen, Texas – the first plant to use cottonseed oil as a base stock for manufacturing biodiesel. Valley Coop Oil Mill announced the project last fall and is expected to open the plant this spring. Southeast Farm Press did a story earlier this year with Valco CEO …

Biodiesel

Keokuk Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

Downtown Keokuk is the home of a new, five-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant. And this article in the Burlington (IA) Hawk Eye promises it’s just the beginning for the town: The Tri–City Energy facility that cost $5 million to begin operations is small compared to its peers that make from 30 million to 60 million gallons a year. But as part of …

Biodiesel

Canadian Study to Boost Biodiesel

John Davis

A newly-completed study in Ontario shows that biodiesel could be an effective alternative fuel for farm operations in Canada. According to a Canadian government press release, the project was conducted on six farms in the province: “This project was designed to accelerate the adoption of biodiesel use on Ontario farms through a series of on-farm evaluations,” said Deanna Deaville, Special …

Biodiesel, International

AFVI Kicks Off in Anaheim

Cindy Zimmerman

The Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute 13th Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference + Expo is underway in Anaheim, California. More than 1250 fleet and industry professionals are there for four days of information and product previews. Fleets were in the spotlight Sunday with workshops on how alternative fuels are being used in private fleets, airport shuttles, school buses, mass transit, …

Biodiesel, EPIC, Ethanol, News

Two Presidents Talk Ethanol Again

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol and trade were the two main topics discussed by the presidents of Brazil and the United States meeting over the weekend at Camp David. “We talked about biofuels,” said President Bush in a joint press conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday. “And I told the President that not only are we committed domestically to …

Biodiesel, Ethanol, International, News