Biofuels

AltTransport takes a look at the biggest skirmishes in the world of transportation and sustainability that took place over the past calendar year.

September 15, 2010 - AltTransport

A U.S. ambassador is proposing a novel approach to helping Afghanistan -- since opium crops are rampant, why not find a way to turn poppies into biofuel?

August 11, 2010 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Beef by-products, turned into bio-diesel, make up 20% of the fuel being used today by Amtrak's Heartland Flyer between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City.

April 28, 2010 - Fast Company

Jevon's Paradox is the idea that the more efficient a resource becomes, the more it is consumed. With new future fuels in the works, those promoting sustainability and conservation find themselves at odds with innovation.

March 22, 2010 - Fast Company

There's a glut of ethanol on the market, and the solutions to consume it are not easy. The maximum blend in gasoline is 10% before it affects the catalytic converter, and E85 can't compete with the more efficient, though more expensive, gasoline.

November 30, 2009 - The New York Times - Energy & Environment

Researchers are experimenting with using LEDs to grow algae in abandoned mines to be used for biofuels.

November 11, 2009 - Scientific American

A new report claims that the way the global warming impact of biofuels is measured leaves out the land use component of clearing land and growing crops.

October 27, 2009 - The Washington Post

Low fuel prices, high corn prices, and a new CA regulation that penalizes the energy intensity necessary to convert corn to fuel are hurting the industry.

April 9, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Nobel laureate and new Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu is interviewed on what it will take to solve the climate change crisis - three major technological improvements plus carbon pricing. While no fan of coal, he acknowledges improvements are needed.

February 16, 2009 - The New York Times

Cellulosic ethanol - biofuel produced from non-edible plant material - has been 'five years out' for a long time. Obstacles remain to mass production, but a handful of producers are up and running.

February 16, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor

The Skycar is a combination parasail, swamp boat and dune buggy. Sponsored by a British knight and arctic adventurer, the design team is planning an expedition from London to Timbuktu in January of 2009.

November 13, 2008 - autobloggreen.com

The city of Austin considers a multi-billion dollar investment in a "biomass" power plant, burning wood waste in East Texas as a carbon-neutral, renewable energy source.

August 15, 2008 - Austin American-Statesman

Austin and a number of other cities are working to reduce the carbon footprint left by their fleets of city vehicles. Austin officials are looking for ways to offset their remaining emissions.

July 3, 2008 - Austin American-Statesman

In August of 2006, an unknown Irish company called Steorn took out a full-page ad in The Economist to announce that they had created a magnetic technology that produced more energy than it used- essentially, a perpetual motion machine, the Holy Grail of energy.

June 24, 2008 - Tim Halbur

Household sewage is currently fueling cars in Sweden, and has for years. But Swedish industry has given up on the idea, investing in ethanol-based gasoline.

May 30, 2008 - International Herald Tribune

In an incredible recycling operation that reduces global warming, a waste hauler is building a facility to produce Liquefied Natural Gas from methane emitted from its California landfill to fuel its garbage trucks.

May 7, 2008 - The Sacramento Bee