Continental Airlines will run a test flight on biofuel sometime next year.
This story posted on Gizmag.com says the experiment with Boeing will make Continental the first major U.S. carrier to attempt such a flight that hopes to find a sustainable fuel for the aviation industry:
Continental’s biofuel flight will use a Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines. CFM is a joint enterprise of General Electric Company and Snecma. In the months leading up to the flight, Continental, Boeing and GE will work together and with an undisclosed fuel provider to identify sustainable fuel sources that don’t impact food crops, water resources or contribute to deforestation, and which can be produced in sufficient quantities to support a pre-flight test schedule that includes laboratory and ground-based jet engine performance testing to ensure compliance with stringent aviation fuel performance and safety requirements.
The article goes on to say that Continental has been working hard to reduce its environmental impact. The company has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption per mainline revenue passenger mile flown over the past decade.
In honor of Rudolph Diesel’s birthday on March 18, 1858, today is National Biodiesel Day! As you might know, the inventor of the diesel engine advocated for the use of vegetable oil (in particular peanut oil) to power his fuel-efficient invention. Today, biodiesel is the manifestation of Diesel’s vision, as it provides a clean source of renewable energy for the world.
According to Alan Rae, CEO of O2Diesel Corporation, “We believe KL has developed a commercially ready and environmentally friendly process and has a business model that can be easily replicated, which will provide the opportunity for rapid, wide-scale distribution of affordable fuel grade ethanol on a carbon positive basis. Additionally, the KL process provides the potential for multiple natural waste feedstocks, which supports global efforts to move renewable fuel production away from traditional agricultural feedstocks. Access to competitively priced ethanol from second generation production will further enhance the environmental benefits of O2Diesel as we expand our European and other markets.”
“Basically, three to four gallons of water per gallon of ethanol is used in the ethanol plant,” Krissek says. “A little over one gallon actually touches the corn in what we call the contact process.” The rest is called non-contact, which is for processes such cooling of the equipment, that mostly evaporates. And he says plants are becoming even more efficient with some already falling under three gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.
Nebraska’s first ethanol plant, now known as 
When you live in this part of the country, you KNOW how big of rivals Kansas and Missouri are. This hatred goes all the way back to before the Civil War! I’ve even known people who would actually spit after they spoke the other state’s name. Officials at MU and KU have tried to tone down the rhetoric by calling it a border “showdown” instead of border “war” (which most diehard fans still call a war). Pretty fascinating for an Iowa boy who didn’t grow up with this rivalry that has moved to the football fields and basketball courts of the two states.
The high price of soybean oil is making it awfully tough on some biodiesel makers. In an unfortunate sign of the times for the biodiesel industry, Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group has had to withdraw its attempt at an initial public offering (IPO).
The town of Greenwich, Connecticut want to run about 150 of their 300 vehicles in the city’s fleet on biodiesel. Unsure how well that might actually work, officials decided to visit another New England town to see how their efforts had gone.
An Oregon teenager has been honored for his work on making solar cells more efficiently.