ethanol

a company called EFuel100 showed up with a product that replaces the gas pump from the oil station with your own gas pump. Their product, called MicroFueler, produces ethanol and is ready to be shipped beginning with the fourth quarter of this year.

Not all biofuels are created equal, as the chart above illustrates (click the image to see full size). It’s one of the best depictions I’ve seen of how each biofuel feedstock has completely different impacts on overall greenhouse gas emissions, water and pesticide use, and the energy required to produce the fuel.

Homemade ethanol guru Floyd S. Butterfield and Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovator Thomas J. Quinn want to see you making ethanol in your backyard. Their creation, called the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler, is a stacked washer-dryer sized reactor that can convert sugar into ethanol for (they claim) $1.00 per gallon.

Senator Grassley rebuts the argument that ethanol and corn farmers are to blame for rising food prices. He says increased oil prices play a role.

Thomas J. Quinn, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur who patented the motion detector used in the Nintendo Wii has teamed with California ethanol pioneer Floyd Butterfield on a system for home-brewing biofuel they say could turn the oil industry on its head. About as large as a stackable washer-dryer, the system is expected to cost $9,995 and be on the market by the end of the year.

General Motors announced today it would be entering into a strategic relationship with Mascoma Corp., a second-generation biofuel company with the technology to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-food sources via a single-step biochemical conversion. This is GM’s second investment in a cellulosic ethanol company, after announcing partnership with Coskata back in January.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been cultivating a list of actions that I can take to make my footprint even lighter, and also documenting the changes that I’ve already made. I was pretty proud of myself. And feeling quite up-beat about the future of our species. Then I started looking around me.

Texas Governors sides with Big Oil and Big Food to crush competition to gasoline

A fifth of the US corn crop is now used to brew ethanol for motor fuel, and as farmers have planted more corn, they have cut acreage of other crops, particularly soybeans. End result cooking oil shortage and wheat shortages.

"Mother Nature's Son," Sir Paul McCartney, recently expressed his disappointment with environmental NGOs for not putting greater emphasis on reducing meat consumption -- along with driving less and replacing standard light bulbs with CFLs -- as ways to fight climate change.

Maybe it was the martinis I had already drunk, or the beers he had already drunk, or maybe it’s just plain impossible to have a discussion about Biofuels without getting heated. But boy, did I have a doozy on Friday.

Somehow the discussion then veered away from Biofuels specifically and towards agriculture and GHG emissions in general. At which point, he presented his most sensational argument yet...

Oil prices and food prices are going to rise. The only choice we have is between two separate evils, not evil or no evil

Currently, the average price for a gallon of E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) is $2.67. That’s amazing if you think about it, since a gallon of ethanol requires about 16 lbs. of corn to produce.

AAMCO, one of the world’s largest chains of automotive service centers, has started an initiative designed to promote environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. AAMCO is also promoting alternative fuels by installing E85 conversion kits that allow vehicles to run on ethanol blends up to 85%.

Scania (part of Volkswagen) builds modified, heavy-duty diesel engines designed to run on almost pure ethanol (E95, or 95% ethanol, with a 5% ignition improver).If that sounds weird, that’s because it is. US auto manufacturers make a big deal out of converting cars and trucks to run on ethanol/gasoline blends of up to 85% ethanol.