Biodiesel

There was an article in my local paper about the financial concerns of this group. They create and teach others how to create low tech shellers that are used both for food nuts and biodiesel. They work on a miniscule budget and any attention they could get would be wonderful.

Mechanical engineer students at the University of Central Florida have discovered a new way to take used fryer grease from a Chick-fil-A restaurant and make it into clean-burning fuel.

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.

This 100% biodiesel-powered, 78 ft wave-piercing trimaran aims to set an around-the-world speed record while maintaining a net zero carbon footprint. The Earthrace left Sagunto, Spain, on April 27, and has already made excellent time across the Atlantic, landing in Panama just 8 days later.

Concise article about converting your vvehicle to run on waste vegetable oil.

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.

At a Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2007, Volkswagen introduced a new car that will be the first green vehicle to pass the emission standards of all fifty states.

This is a fantastic wiki about finding a solid used car and getting it to run on a green fuel (one that is both reliable and preferably free). Oh, and it's doing all that on a budget! So here's to driving a sweet car, saving the world with green fuel, and keeping cash in your bank account.

It looks like Solazyme will be making algal biodiesel for the US military, after a test-drive demonstrated the fuel’s superior cold-weather properties when compared to commercially-available biodiesel. Former Director of Central Intelligence and Under-Secretary of the Navy R. James Woolsey tested the fuel himself by driving to the Worldwide Energy Conference & Trade Show in an unmodified 2008 Ford F450 fueled by 100% algal biodiesel.

The Phoenix area's only source of retail Waste Vegetable Oil Biodiesel is in jeopardy over a zoning issue. Please visit the link below to learn more and contact the City of Chandler AZ to encourage them to let them operate while this is settled.

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.

On Thursday a small plant in the German town of Freiburg will go online, converting waste lumber into diesel.  The plant is designed to convert waste lumber, and possibly straw, into synthesis gas and from that diesel, avoiding the use of potential food crops such as rapeseed and soy.

A discussion of the New York Times article about the world-wide food vs. fuel crisis that is haunting Western politicians and their favorite biofuels policies. Alternatives to biofuels are discussed, and support is given to biodiesel made from waste (not food products), as long as liquid fuels are needed.

Despite intense debate surrounding the growing global food crises, the European Union today defended expanding the use of biofuels in all 27 member countries. Part of the EU’s climate change package, the current proposal sets a target of meeting 10% of transportation fuel with biofuels by 2020.

NPR’s Morning Addition briefly interviewed World Bank President Robert Zoellick last Friday concerning world food prices. Zoellick called it a “perfect storm of things coming together…” and listed 7 different issues contributing to the increasing cost of food, which led to rioting in Haiti and Egypt last week, along with a general strike in Burkina Faso.