It seems like the big cities on the East Coast have just about everything… except for a big source for biodiesel. Well, that could change soon as New York-based Berkshire Biodiesel builds New England’s biggest biodiesel plant.
This story in the Hartford Courant says the 50-million-gallon-a-year plant is expected to open next year near Pittsfield, Mass. and will make biodiesel from vegetable oil:
Currently, the only New England biodiesel plants are in Bridgewater and Bethlehem, Conn., both of which produce about 500,000 gallons a year, according to the National Biodiesel Board.
But (Berkshires Biodiesel President Garth) Klimchuk said it made sense to open a large-scale plant in New England because so much vegetable oil is delivered to the region’s restaurants and food processing facilities.
“It’s easy to get the supplies we need here, and there’s a huge demand for biodiesel in this area,” Klimchuk said.
Berkshire Biodiesel would be sold within 200 miles of the refinery, covering the cities of Boston, Hartford, Burlington, Vt., and Albany.
On May 16, POET will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for POET Biorefining – Marion, located in north central Ohio about 50 miles north of Columbus. When complete, the plant will produce 65 million gallons of ethanol a year from 21 million bushels of corn.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide up to $200 million, over five years to support the development of small-scale cellulosic biorefineries in the United States. 
According to 
Some student designs are proposing that windmills, such as the one shown on the left, would be built above the nation’s highways. As cars whooshed by, the wind would turn the turbines and produce electricity. Proponents say its a way to produce green energy, even when the original source is not so green.
The 48th Annual Corn Dry Milling Conference is coming up May 31 – June 1 at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. The conference is jointly sponsored by the North American Millers’ Association and the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research Agricultural Research Service, USDA.
There are 115 biodiesel plants in the United States with a combined production capacity of 865 million gallons a year — about five days of total U.S. distillate consumption, according to industry group, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).