January 2009
Monthly Archive
Disneyland trains run on used oil
Posted by admin on 31 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Biofuel
Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is running five trains on biofuel made from used cooking oil.
Disney Director of Environmental Affairs Frank Dela Vara said the biodiesel fueling five Disneyland Railroad trains was created from oils once used at the California resort’s various hotels and eateries, The Orange County (Calif.) Register said Wednesday.
Scientists publish complete genetic blueprint of sorghum
Posted by admin on 30 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Biofuel
The US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute has published the complete genome of sorghum, an important food and fodder crop and potential biofuel source.
This is an important step on the road to the development of cost-effective biofuels made from nonfood plant fiber,” said Anna C. Palmisano, DOE Associate Director of Science for Biological and Environmental Research. “Sorghum is an excellent candidate for biofuels production, with its ability to withstand drought and prosper on more marginal land. The fully sequenced genome will be an indispensable tool for researchers seeking to develop plant variants that maximize these benefits
Biofuel Bentley to go into production this year
Posted by admin on 29 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Biofuel
Bentley announced that its first biofuel car, which be unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show in March, will go into production later this year.
Bentley in a statement on Tuesday said its first biofuel offering will be its “fastest, most powerful production car ever.” It said the vehicle is “delivering stage one of Bentley’s environmental commitment and pioneering the use of this fuel in the luxury sector.”
Reuter would not disclose global volume targets for the biofuel Bentley. But he hastened to add that this is not merely a demonstration vehicle. “This is a production model that will be available in worldwide distribution,” he said.
British biofuel research center established
Posted by admin on 29 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Biofuel
British Science Minister, Lord Drayson, announced the launch of the Sustainable Bioenergy Centre.
The Sustainable Bioenergy Centre, which will have hubs at six universities – including Cambridge, Dundee, York and Nottingham – has been established by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
New lightweight material generates solar energy
Posted by admin on 28 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Solar
Konarka, a solar technology firm, introduced a new lightweight, flexible material called Power Plastic that converts both indoor and outdoor light into electricity.
Konarka’s film rolls off a converted printing press that used to belong to Polaroid. It prints a secret plastic ink onto rolls of thin film. As it absorbs light, the polymer ink emits electrons, producing electricity.
All British homes could be powered by offshore wind by 2020
Posted by admin on 27 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Wind
5000-7000 more offshore wind turbines could generate enough electricity to power all the homes in the United Kingdom by 2020.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change study concluded that another 5,000-7,000 wind turbines could be built off the coast by 2020, generating 25 GW of energy, equivalent to 25 large coal-fired power stations. The new capacity would be on top of 8GW already being built or in planning, making a total of 33GW.
Ethanol-powered fuel cells come closer to reality
Posted by admin on 26 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Ethanol
A team of scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, in conjuction with researchers at the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a catalyst that can oxidize ethanol and produce energy.
But at Brookhaven, scientists have found a winner. Made of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles, the research team’s electrocatalyst is capable of breaking carbon bonds at room temperature and efficiently oxidizing ethanol into carbon dioxide as the main reaction product. Other catalysts, by comparison, produce acetalhyde and acetic acid as the main products, which make them unsuitable for power generation.
Microbes could be key to energy needs
Posted by admin on 25 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Biofuel
Microbes can be used to ferment biomass into biofuels, providing enough energy to someday meet the world’s energy needs.
In the context of a strong global political and economical debate on the gradual substitution of petroleum by renewable alternatives such as biofuels, Demain reviews how microbes can help solve the energy problem, and focuses on the organisms that ferment lignocellulosic biomass to produce bioethanol, biobutanol, biodiesel and biohydrocarbons in particular. His review also highlights how the use of these biofuels would help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plants that produce the biomass remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of their growth and normal metabolism.
Persian Gulf states push research in renewables
Posted by admin on 24 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Energy Engineering, Finance and Investing, Solar
Countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are funding research into renewable energy technologies.
They are aggressively pouring billions of dollars made in the oil fields into new green technologies. They are establishing billion-dollar clean-technology investment funds. And they are putting millions of dollars behind research projects at universities from California to Boston to London, and setting up green research parks at home.
UK grocery chain to send unsold food to biomass plant
Posted by admin on 24 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Biomass
Sainsbury’s, the UK’s third largest supermarket chain, will start sending unsold food to a Scottish biomass facility. The plan will go into effect in the rest of the United Kingdom by the end of the summer.
The chain’s 28 stores in Scotland send 42 metric tons of waste to landfills each week. The effort would divert the waste and produce enough power for a town the size of Inverness, which has a population over more than 50,000. The chain said each metric ton could power 500 homes.
