alternative fuel

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.

Does it really matter? If we don't start getting these "new and improved" cars to the market, isn't this just a hypothetical exercise?

It might be acceptable if the amber waves of pesticides are feeding thousands of starving people, but now it seems that massive government subsidies are in place to promote ethanol which takes more fuel to create than it produces in the end. Is ethanol an environmental nightmare?

Goteborg, Sweden - Volvo Trucks is taking an important step towards commercialization of hybrid technology for heavy vehicles by launching two hybrid refuse trucks that will be tested in regular daily operations in Sweden by refuse collection firms.

New evidence explains how biofuel production is often resulting in an increase in carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels - not a decrease. Could biofuels be causing more problems than they solve?

The debate continues as to whether we've reached peak oil production. According to this post, it doesn't really matter for the environment since production continues to be artificially limited by OPEC, and maybe Big Oil, which inflates global oil prices-- Which thereby encourages investment and innovation in alternative fuel production. 

Virgin Atlantic has become the world's first airline to fly on biofuel from London Heathrowto Amsterdam.The airline flew one of its Boeing 747s using a sustainable type of biofuel based on coconut and babassu oil - the first time in the world that an airline has run this biofuel in-flight.

The German company Loremo (short for low-resistance mobile) released a turbodiesel sportscar at last September´s Frankfurt International Auto Show capable of a whopping 117 mpg and range of no less than 621 miles. They also plan on hybrid and electric models, and even one that runs on vegetable oil.

An Airbus A380 aircraft has successfully completed the world's first ever flight by a commercial aircraft using a liquid fuel processed from gas (Gas to Liquids - GTL) in the first stage of a test flight programme to evaluate the environmental impact of alternative fuels in the airline market.

In the past at Ecologicliving, we have talked about documentaries about green issues, particularly the 11th Hour by Dicaprio and a Crude Awakening. Well, today I would like to talk about a documentary that is getting allot of buzz, and for a great reason. The film is called Fields of Fuel and by just watching the promo trailer I was immediately hooked.

The supermarket chain Safeway announced this week in Denver that it is converting its entire truck fleet to the cleaner burning fuel Biodiesel. The company is switching over its entire nationwide fleet to B20, a biodiesel blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 petroleum diesel. The company had already converted some of its fleet in California and Arizona.

A Purdue University engineer has developed a method that uses an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water; hydrogen is generated spontaneously when water is added to pellets of the alloy, which is made of aluminum and a metal called gallium. The method makes it unnecessary to store or transport hydrogen - two major challenges in creating a hydrogen economy.

While biofuel energy methods that use corn and soybeans may be a step ahead at the moment, generating energy from algae may provide a more efficient alternative in the long run. At least, some companies - such as Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation in New Zealand - are hoping so.The company says that the green pond scum could generate 30 times more energy per acre of land than other biofuels, and grow at a much faster rate.

A research team from Sandia National Laboratories is trying to reverse the combustion process and turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel.

The process works something like this: concentrated solar power from a giant solar furnace is used to superheat a set of catalytic cobalt ferrite rings that, once activated, literally rip carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules apart.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota describe the school's efforts to develop alternative fuels based on biomass.