Biobutanol got a boost from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday at the launching of a Cobalt Technologies pilot plant in his state,
Schwarzenegger said biobutanol will meet California’s Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS), which was approved this week by the state’s Office of Administrative Law. “It is great companies like Cobalt that will help California meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets under AB 32 and our Low Carbon Fuel Standard,” said Governor Schwarzenegger, who used the occasion to promote his proposed sales tax exemption for clean tech companies. “Cobalt shows us that what is good for the environment can also be good for the economy. In fact, within the next few years, Cobalt has plans to build an even larger plant that will create 1,300 permanent jobs. I want that plant and those jobs right here in California.”
Biobutanol can be used as a standalone fuel or blended with gasoline, diesel or ethanol. It can also be converted into jet fuel or plastics, or sold as is for use in paints and coatings. It is similar to ethanol and can be produced from non-food feedstock, such as forest waste and mill residue. However, while the new state LCFS would virtually eliminate corn ethanol, the company says a 12 percent blend of Cobalt biobutanol with gasoline complies with the standard. The drawback is that biobutanol is not yet commercially available. The ethanol industry has filed suit in federal district court in Fresno, California, challenging the LCFS on the grounds it violates both the Supremacy and Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
American manufacturing giant General Electric is striking some big deals in the alternative energy field, especially wind power.
Yesterday, I told you how electric vehicles were all the rage at this year’s 
Jurors stressed that the Fusion hybrid drove more like a “normal car” than many hybrids, but still had strong fuel efficiency.
As a guy who is from the Upper Midwest, I can tell you that the kind of cold that the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota have experienced the last couple of weeks was a “special” kind of cold. Forty or 50 below zero is Jack-London-Call-of-the-Wild-spit-freezin’-in-mid-air kind of cold. So, it’s no wonder that the cold has put Minnesota’s 5 percent biodiesel mandate … the only cold weather state with a requirement that aggressive … on hold, at least until it warms up.
In today’s 
One key for the giant exhibition, traditionally a showplace for production vehicles, is the addition of a 37,000-sq-ft display area called Electric Avenue. The new area will serve as an expo for 12 manufacturers of electric vehicles, ranging from traditional automakers, such as Nissan and Mitsubishi, to entrepreneurial firms, such as SSI Racing and Saba Motors. Electric Avenue will be sponsored by Dow Chemical Co., which is involved in the development of electric vehicle battery technology.
Company investigators say they have found the cause of the explosion last month at the Imperium Renewables biodiesel plant near Grays Harbor, Washington state.