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GM Switchgrass Could Boost Future Bio-Fuel Production
Not so long ago, it seemed that biofuels were assumed to be the best means for us to wean ourselves from our oil addiction, with ethanol, in particular, attracting most attention as a putatively green-fuel. But then it became apparent that growing feed-stocks for biofuel production has some significant downsides – and perhaps now, electric [...]
Four Fuel Alternatives That Have Been Overlooked
For decades we’ve taken advantage of our natural supplies and just ignored the fact that one day, we will run out. Now, we seriously need to find a renewable and green power source to continue the evolution of the car. But what fuels have been overlooked since the motorcar was invented?
World Bank Reports that Food Prices are Higher than Ever
A new report from the World Bank reveals that food prices are approaching the peak levels achieved in 2008. Global food stocks are on a decline, and since the population is going up, so goes demand, and prices along with them. The situation is further complicated by volatile oil prices which raise the cost of transporting [...]
Tips for Using Biofuels in Your Corporate Fleet
Converting a corporate fleet to biofuels is one way to reduce emissions, and improve your corporate social responsibility. Biofuels are not a panacea by any means, but can be locally grown, locally processed, and are completely renewable, helping to break your company’s addiction to oil. For smaller companies looking to do biofuels for deliveries, sales [...]
Intel Generated 27% More Chemical Waste in 2010 than 2009
Last week Intel released its tenth annual CSR report, 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report. While earlier this year we reported on Intel’s large purchase of renewable energy credits and innovative algae biofuel project, the five-year numbers in the report show ups and downs in several areas. 2009 was a tough year all over and business at [...]
Rotisserie Chicken, Biofuel and Sam’s Club: Creative Sustainability
When Walmart established its lofty goal of eliminating all landfill waste generated by U.S. operations by 2025, managers were probably a little unsure of how they were going to get there. Such ambition requires creativity, ingenuity and the willingness to look at everything in a new way. Fortunately, our friends at Sam’s Club, the company’s [...]
Intel Secures LEED Silver, Bets on Algae
Intel is the first semiconductor or industrial technology company to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for a manufacturing complex. As a result of Intel’s long history of energy conservation, its Ocotillo, Arizona site was awarded the silver LEED certification without any substantial building [...]
Enerkem Localizes Fuel Production Using Landfill Trash
Gas prices are again spiking, which is why it may be the perfect time to look in your trash can. Come again? Yes, what was a joke in Back To The Future is now coming true: Enerkem has perfected taking Municipal Solid Waste (aka landfill trash), along with agricultural and forest product residues, and turning [...]
OPXBIO Brings a High Tech Twist to Biofuel
Colorado-based OPX-Bio is a group of PhD’s and MBA’s who are clearly the smart guys in the room. Instead of driving tractors, are driving a massively parallel computer software algorithm that they call EDGE, which stands for Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering. It is this proprietary software which gives them their competitive edge in what they call third generation bio-engineering. OPX-Bio just received a $6 million ARPA-e grant, this one allocated by DOE for a process to combine CO2 and electricity to make a viable transportation fuel.
Former BP Exec Sets Her Sights on Algae as the Fuel of the Future
CJ Warner was at the top of her game when she saw the writing on the wall. Twenty years into a glass-ceiling-busting career at BP, she had risen to the rank of Head of Global Refining for BP, making her one of the highest ranking executives in the oil industry. That was when she realized that she was running towards a dead end. “I had a slow but growing realization that the industry was maturing, the current fields were falling off in volume more quickly than anticipated, and the feats required to find new oil were becoming more and more heroic.”
Prophetic words perhaps for someone who left BP a year before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but she wasn’t so much running away from something bad as she was running towards something better.
EU Announces Guidelines for Biofuel Sustainability Labeling
By Mackinnon Lawrence As part of the EU’s effort to improve the sustainability of biofuels used for transport in Europe, the European Commission (EC) adopted guidelines today to implement the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive which forms part of its 2008 climate and energy package. The package, which includes two communications and one decision, aims [...]
Aviation Sector Lags on Sustainability, But Biofuels Present Opportunity
This post originally appeared on Biomass Intel By Mackinnon Lawrence Maddock Douglas, a business consultancy based in Chicago, found in its MapChange 2010 (to be updated this summer) that the Airline sector lags behind other industries in its sustainability efforts. MapChange 2010, which profiles the sustainability of companies, shows that since many airline brands received [...]
Algae Based Fuel Is Not A Silver Bullet
Algae as fuel is the latest biofuel rage. On January 14 the Department of Energy (DOE) announced an investment of $44 million in algae-based fuels. Last summer, ExxonMobil Corp. announced a partnership with scientist Craig Venter’s Synthetic Genomics to develop algae based fuels. However, there is a problem with algae-based biofuel.On January 19 the Environmental [...]
An Open Letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently told reporters that we should caution against blaming biofuels for higher food prices, stating that the food versus fuel debate is based on the assumption that where we are today remains static relative to production. Vilsack went on to say he’s convinced that within 10 years, with just seed [...]
KLM Flies into Sustainable Air Transport
Is that the smell of bio-kerosene in the air? If you were one of the passengers on KLM Royal Dutch Airline’s first passenger flight powered by bio-kerosene this week, then you were also one of the first to get a whiff of this new sustainable fuel, if indeed it is whiff-able. The Netherlands airline underscored [...]
It’s Over: Five Reasons Why the Electric Car Wins
It could take ten years or more to become apparent, but I’ll call it now: the electric car will replace the internal combustion engine. A caveat: I am not an automotive industry expert. Which is why I’m right. I’m not mired in the details, the past failures, the what ifs or the buts. All I [...]
Biochar – Clean Energy, Soil Restoration, and Economic Viability
When I first heard the word “biochar,” it didn’t exactly conjure notions of sustainability, clean energy, or economic viability. The word’s syllables, strung together, sounded more like a reference to some sort of eco-firewood. Close, but no cigar: turns out biochar is a relatively carbon neutral technology that could hold its own in the biofuel [...]
Camelina Seed Goes Airborne as Biojet Fuel
Is camelina the next big thing in biofuel crops?
Will Aviation Biofuel Fly?
Even with the attention of the two largest aircraft makers, Boeing and Airbus, aviation biofuel is not exactly on the near-event horizon: Think 2025 before biofuel accounts for even 25 percent of the fuel airlines use.
Market Reality Bites Biofuel Companies
The sour economy, low oil prices, the collapse of the commodity market and flight from food-based biofuel sourcing merged into in a deadly mix. Not that long ago ethanol and related first generation biofuels were the next big thing in alternative energy. Now this segment is in danger of becoming the next big bust. In [...]
Make Biofuel From Your Home Using Leftover Beer
E-Fuel has recently partnered with Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to produce ethanol from waste beer using its E-Fuel100 household microrefiney.
New Documentary Fuel Presents Road to Energy Independence
Al Gore told us The Inconvenient Truth about global warming. But many of us asked, “What can I do about it?” The documentary film FUEL, winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, provides more than doom and gloom; it provides sustainable business solutions. This film has the potential to do more to promote [...]
The Ethanol Quandary And Why Governments Ignore It
Ethanol. The ins and outs of why governments fail to regulate biofuels.
Non Food Biofuel Crops Are Highly Risky According To The United Nations
Non food biofuel crops are massively dangerous in many cases says the United Nations in a special paper. Many of the crops are classified as ‘invasive species’ which threaten to overrun other farms…
Texas Company Patents Biomass Biofuel Technology
A Texas company says it has developed the technology to create biofuel that is ‘the holy grail’ of all biofuel. Costs per gallon are between $1.70-$2.00.
The Backroom Biofuel Processors Are Meeting Online On A Professional Exchange
biofuels making them yourself, and a new exchange bringing little oil barons to market
EU Policy Makers Are Proposing To Slash 10% Biofuel Target
Food, biofuels. Links between third world poverty and EU petrol guzzling cars.
BioTruck Expedition Update – Timbuktu!
Back in November I posted Willie Wonka and the Chocolate (biodiesel) Truck. The goal was to drive a truck (three trucks actually) all the way from England to Timbuktu powered on biodiesel produced from “waste chocolate” (cocoa butter extracted from chocolate “factory rejects” that would otherwise be discarded). I am happy to report that Andy Pag and John Grimshaw arrived [...]
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate (biodiesel) Truck
Two men left England last Friday on their way to Timbuktu in a truck powered by chocolate. For the sake of accuracy, the truck is powered with biodiesel fuel made from “waste chocolate” (I never knew there was such a thing as waste chocolate!). Leaving from England on a ferry across the English channel, the team of [...]
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Webinar: Feb 17Greening Stonyfield Farm: As a consultant with Stonyfield Farm for the past 12 years, Switzer Fellow Tim Greiner will discuss efforts to broaden and deepen sustainability within the company. He will discuss the company's efforts to track its environmental impacts, barriers the company had to overcome.
Webinar: Feb 29Product Scorecards for Sustainability: Product scorecards that detail and evaluate environmental and sustainability aspects of products are increasingly adopted by leading companies. This webinar covers the best practices in this area and a case study by Seventh Generation.
NY: Mar 19-20Wall Street Green: The longest running and most comprehensive environmental market event in the industry. The Wall Street Green Summit covers cutting edge content, industry developments and features the practitioners and the leaders of tomorrow.
Bay Area: Mar 22-23GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
SF: Mar 26-28Cleantech Forum San Francisco: The 2012 Cleantech Forum San Francisco will mark the 10th anniversary of Cleantech Forums, the annual gathering of the global clean technology innovation community. Our theme this year is “The Power of Global Partnerships,” an exploration of how strategic relationships are playing an ever more important role in the future of clean technology. For a $300 Discount use code "VIPofTriplePundit " More Info.
SF: April 10-12 Navigating the American Carbon World: The must-attend event for professionals in the carbon landscape. Over the past decade, NACW has consistently provided informative content, thoughtful discussions and outstanding opportunities for collaboration.
Have your event listed here.
Webinar: Feb 17Greening Stonyfield Farm: As a consultant with Stonyfield Farm for the past 12 years, Switzer Fellow Tim Greiner will discuss efforts to broaden and deepen sustainability within the company. He will discuss the company's efforts to track its environmental impacts, barriers the company had to overcome.Webinar: Feb 29Product Scorecards for Sustainability: Product scorecards that detail and evaluate environmental and sustainability aspects of products are increasingly adopted by leading companies. This webinar covers the best practices in this area and a case study by Seventh Generation.NY: Mar 19-20Wall Street Green: The longest running and most comprehensive environmental market event in the industry. The Wall Street Green Summit covers cutting edge content, industry developments and features the practitioners and the leaders of tomorrow. Bay Area: Mar 22-23GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!SF: Mar 26-28Cleantech Forum San Francisco: The 2012 Cleantech Forum San Francisco will mark the 10th anniversary of Cleantech Forums, the annual gathering of the global clean technology innovation community. Our theme this year is “The Power of Global Partnerships,” an exploration of how strategic relationships are playing an ever more important role in the future of clean technology. For a $300 Discount use code "VIPofTriplePundit " More Info.SF: April 10-12 Navigating the American Carbon World: The must-attend event for professionals in the carbon landscape. Over the past decade, NACW has consistently provided informative content, thoughtful discussions and outstanding opportunities for collaboration.Have your event listed here.
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