You probably think of the Deep South, such as Georgia and Alabama, when you think of peanuts, but a farmer and a researcher from Washington State Univesity are looking to grow goobers in the Pacific Northwest to make into biodiesel.
This article in the Seattle (WA) Post Intelligencer says Steve Price’s venture is picking up steam:
Price has been growing dry beans in the area about 30 miles north of Eastern Washington’s Tri-Cities since the 1980s. He planted about 25 acres of peanuts last year, just to see if he could grow them.
Some old-timers in the area also told him a handful of farmers had tried growing peanuts in the area during the 1960s.
“When I started this I thought my background in dry edible beans would be a plus,” Price said. “But I found out I don’t know anything about peanuts.”
Price ran into some problems, such as not having peanut harvesting equipment. In addition, dry bean processing plants didn’t want to handle the peanuts because of the allergy problems. But despite that, he had some success growing the legumes, getting 5,000 pounds an acre… when the national average is only 3,300.
Price’s initiative impressed Tim Waters, a WSU extension educator based in Pasco. He and another professor for WSU’s crop and soil sciences program began working with Price and helping where they could.
This year, Price replanted some peanuts and Waters and a team at WSU planted some test fields of five different varieties at Columbia Basin College.
“We can do this and study the potential to see if this is something that is feasible for growers so they don’t have to take the risk,” Waters said.
This year’s crop looks even better than last year. And, if you remember my July 31st post, researchers back in Georgia are developing a type of peanut ideal for biodiesel. Hopefully, they’ll share their information with the peanut-biodiesel far off to the north.
General Motors, Governor Chet Culver and Kum & Go, L.C. today celebrated plans for the addition of 19 new E85 ethanol fueling locations to be opened throughout the state by the end of 2008. The new fueling locations will be promoted by GM as part of a broader, ongoing national GM campaign to boost the use and awareness of ethanol-based E85 fuel in the United States.
According to a 
Researchers at 
El Paso has more than 10,000 E85-compatible vehicles on the road, the coalition reported. Nationwide, an estimated 6 million E85-compatible vehicles are on the road, according to the coalition.
With those words of wisdom, the 
New York City-based Tri-State Biodiesel has put out a call for people to join its Bio-NYC campaign… an effort to encourage New Yorkers to buy more biodiesel, especially that sold by the company, made from used restaurant cooking oil.
In Eugene, Oregon, SeQuential Biofuels opened the state’s first commercial biofuel facility last year. The station dispenses ethanol as well as locally sourced biodiesel. Company cofounder Ian Hill worked with his mother, Susan Hill, AIA, an architect based in Lexington, Kentucky, to incorporate green features into the station’s design. A roof embedded with a 32.6-kilowatt photovoltaic array shelters the pump islands; its central panels have clear backings to transmit more daylight. The roof above an accompanying 2,000-square-foot convenience store also received a green treatment: It is planted 5 inches deep with 4,800 native Oregonian plants. Bioswales adjacent to the parking areas filter storm water.
Alan Eliot Goldberg, FAIA, a former design consultant to ExxonMobil, has developed a prototype station that embraces sustainable materials as well as solar power, which is used to create hydrogen fuel via electrolysis. Adapted from his Advanced Refueling Retail Center concept, it dispenses six different kinds of fuel. The 5,000-square-foot station will include a convenience store and an information center for hydrogen power. “If you’re introducing a new product, you should have a new concept,” Goldberg says of its design. Developed by the ARRC/H2 Alliance, the first station is planned for Syracuse, New York.