Biofuels - Dec 5
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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
A Grist special series on biofuels
Grist
Several new articles were posted today; others are scheduled for the next two weeks
- On the Road Again, by Tom Philpott. How the world got addicted to oil, and where biofuels will take us.
- The Big Three, by Maywa Montenegro. The numbers behind ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel in the U.S.
- Newfangled? Hardly, by Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter. A lighthearted look at biofuels through time.
- What About the Land?, By Julia Olmstead. A look at the impacts of biofuels production, in the U.S. and the world.
- The Balancing Act, By Julia Olmstead. How experts measure the energy balance of alternative fuels.
- Can My Car Do That?, By Kate Sheppard. Find out which cars can run on ethanol and biodiesel.
- Get Pumped. All the resources you need to hop on the biofuels bandwagon.
(4 Dec 2006)
More articles will be added during the course of this two-week series.
Algae: Companies convert CO2 to auto fuel
UPI via EarthTimes
A U.S. utility company and a pollution recycling company have successfully converted power plant gas to usable vehicle fuel.
The Arizona Public Service Co. and GreenFuel Technologies Corp. said Thursday they converted carbon dioxide flowing from the plants gas stacks to ethanol and biodiesel using algae, reports Platts, a global energy information provider.
Basically, the carbon dioxide was funneled to containers filled with algae, which is prompted by sunlight to devour the gas.
We estimate that this process can absorb as much as 80 percent of CO2 emissions during the daytime at a natural gas fired power plant, said Cary Bullock, chief executive officer of GreenFuel.
(1 Dec 2006)
Expert: Careful on biofuel subsidies
Associated Press
MUNCIE, Ind. -- A recent study states that government subsidies for the ethanol industry need to be more critically evaluated, but ethanol supporters say the billions of dollars government funding has helped the industry grow.
The report by Doug Koplow, an energy subsidy analyst from Cambridge, Mass., questions whether the ethanol subsidies are the best way to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Koplow said the extremely high returns on investments into ethanol plants are diminishing.
"This is simply unsustainable, and likely reflects a mix of reasonable corn prices, historically high gasoline prices, and very generous state and federal subsidies," Koplow said.
(4 Dec 2006)
