A pipeline in the Southeastern United States that has already tested moving biodiesel (see my Feb. , 2009 post) is now looking at sending ethanol through that same conduit.
This Reuters story says Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is looking at shipping ethanol on the Louisiana to Virginia Plantation duct:
“We are evaluating the Plantation pipeline … as the next possible pipeline system that can handle ethanol,” Jim Lelio, a renewable fuels business development director at the company, told the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles conference in Orlando on Tuesday.
Late last year, Kinder said it had started sending batches of the biofuel through a 105-mile (170-km) petroleum products pipeline in Florida on demand from customers seeking to cut the costs of transportation of the fuel via rail and trucks.
Lelio said there were a number of challenges in sending ethanol on product lines and the challenges are bigger for a much bigger line like Plantation. Petroleum products can travel about 10 times as far on Plantation than on the Florida duct.
Th article goes on to say that there are concerns that the ethanol will absorb excess oxygen, causing stress corrosion cracking. But officials with the Association of Oil Pipelines say there are ways to control the problem. And that is good news for other companies, such as Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP.N) and Poet, the largest U.S. ethanol producer, expressing interest in moving ethanol through pipelines.
That familiar Wal-Mart smiley face might be glowing like the sun as the company has upped its commitment to sustainability efforts by adding solar panels to 10 to 20 Wal-Mart facilities in California.
The study comes as indirect GHG emissions has been made a major issue by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) as it prepares to approve regulations for its Low Carbon Fuel Standard. In a CARB staff report submitted to the board for adoption, biofuels are the only fuel that has indirect effects included in their carbon accounting. Despite this new study, no indirect effects are included for petroleum-based fuels. Critics of California’s regulations have argued that applying an indirect penalty to biofuels is unfair as it sets different standards for determining a fuel’s carbon intensity. California currently imports more than 45 percent of its oil from foreign sources.
There is a glimmer of hope that all the input being provided is being heard by officials making the decision, according to a letter received this week by 
Motorists in Grand Island, Nebraska now have a range of choices at the pump when it comes to ethanol blended gasoline. 
President Barack Obama was in Iowa for this Earth Day, visiting a former appliance maker that has converted to make parts for the state’s burgeoning wind energy industry.
The amount of industrial fats and oils in the U.S. has grown by nearly one-fourth over the past couple of years, fueled mostly by the growth in popularity of biodiesel.
America’s first eco-sustainable city is taking its first steps toward sustainable energy.
Today’s Earth Day Celebration is brought to you in part by the book, “Green Hell” written by Steve Milloy. I’ve never met or spoken to the man, but I can presume that he is not a celebrator of Earth Day since his entire book is dedicated to stopping the “greens.” The premise of his book is to educate the public on how environmentalists are trying to control our lives and what we can do to stop them. He writes, “While it is beyond the scope of this book to debunk the scientific claims of global warmists, we’ll take a brief moment here to note the fatal flaw of global warming alarmism: there is no scientific evidence indicating that carbon dioxide, much less man made carbon dioxide emissions, control or even measurably impact global climate.”
solar energy into his business. “Our primary motivator was to produce wines in a way that honors this beautiful coastal area and respects the environment. Conergy’s solutions enable Eos to optimize power generation throughout the day, avoiding the hours of shading confronted by standard systems set to peak hour production,” he noted. “These efficiencies — coupled with the government incentives associated with this project — made the economics of installing these remarkable earth-friendly systems viable,” Hopmayer said.