Wanted to make sure you saw this and maybe put it on the blog:
Posted on May 26, 2009
By Amy Goodman
The economy is a shambles, unemployment is soaring, the auto industry is collapsing. But profits are higher than ever at oil companies Chevron and Shell. Yet across the globe, from the Ecuadorian jungle, to the Niger Delta in Nigeria, to the courtrooms and streets of New York and San Ramon, Calif., people are fighting back against the world’s oil giants.
Shell and Chevron are in the spotlight this week, with shareholder meetings and a historic trial being held.
Read more…
Ethanol News, News Dugg by people, e85 News
Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a tiny aquatic plant can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and potentially be part of the answer for the global energy crisis. Their research shows that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn …
News Dugg by people
E85 Ethanol makes the Continental Supersports the most powerful street-legal Bentley ever.
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As if the debate around using ethanol to fuel cars weren’t already complicated enough, now an Islamic scholar has suggested that driving or even riding in a vehicle fueled by ethanol could be considered a sin for observant Muslims.
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Stating “federal government subsidies and mandates for corn-based ethanol produce potentially catastrophic consequences to the environment, and have no payback to taxpayers in terms of alleviating global warming effects, providing for energy security, or even simply reducing the cost of driving.”
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A new review of currently available and proposed energy sources yields some logical conclusions and startling wake-up calls. Ars breaks it all down.
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Ethanol producers want to use a bailout of the auto industry to boost production of cars that can run on higher blends of the corn-based fuel. Detroit opposes these mandates. (As does the National Turkey Federation.)
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The technology to make biobutanol, a non-food based biofuel, cost-competitive with gasoline isn’t here yet, but companies in the know say that it could be by 2010. Butanol is much less corrosive than ethanol and has a similar energy content to gasoline.
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Today’s slumping oil prices may undermine viability of alt-fuel programs – again….“When oil prices dropped, it killed that push to ethanol – and you could have that happen again,” …will GM stay with the Volt if oil prices drop further? Will consumers pay $40,000 for it if gas is $2.50 per gallon?
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Forget about corn—future biofuels will be made of wood chips and trash.
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After the successful launch of the first commercial scale algae biodiesel plant in the U.S., PetroSun is setting its sights on a new partnership in China to develop an algae biofuel facility there. Along with planned ethanol and biodiesel output, the facility will be producing “other commercial products” from the algae.
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Using microscopic metal particles, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that plant-based sugar can be converted to gasoline to be used in current engines. The substance is cleaner-burning than petroleum-based gasoline and more stable than ethanol.
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Sunflowers are already used for oil production and to make biodiesel— now scientists want to look into its viability as an ethanol producer in the state of Georgia and beyond.
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Currently the most ethanol that a flex-fuel car can run on in the US and Brazil is E85 — which is an 85% ethanol/15% gasoline blend.
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While dozens have been made ill in recent months from E.coli-contaminated beef, there may be a connection to the ethanol industry.
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Humans have used bacteria and yeast for centuries to do similar work, creating beer, moonshine and, more recently, ethanol. But scientists’ recent strides in genetic engineering now allow them to control the end product.
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Corn has given ethanol a bad name and scientists are searching far and wide for alternative feedstock. Agave has been getting attention lately and looks very promising, although tequila connoisseurs may not be cheering. Here’s why agave is so much appealing.
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Bp, trying to stay on top of the Oil game.
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It’s quite a week for biofuel breakthroughs and news. Iowa State University research has revealed a way to reduce the energy and water use required to produce corn ethanol, saving ethanol plants a possible collective $800 million a year in energy costs and as much as 10 billion gallons of water a year. And it’s all based on a fungus, and recycling.
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A wider of range of plant material could be turned into biofuels thanks to a breakthrough that converts plant molecules called lignin into liquid hydrocarbons. The reaction reliably and efficiently turns the lignin in waste products such as sawdust into the chemical precursors of ethanol and biodiesel.
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As far as policy is concerned, Obama’s support for ethanol is based primarily on foreign policy and security concerns, not environmental ones. Supporting ethanol, he believes, is a way to divest money and interest from foreign and often hostile powers.
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Looking way beyond ethanol, scientists have zeroed in on 2010 or 2011 for the zero-emissions magic to start happening: a genetic transformation from bug juice to eco-friendly hydrocarbon power—the production-ready designer fuel to end high gas prices for good.
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As part of a push by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to make plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) cost competitive with other cars by 2014, Ford has delivered a plug-in hybrid electric flex-fuel Escape to the DOE to join its test fleet of other PHEVs currently undergoing research and testing.
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Diggers who buy the “they’re turning food into fuel!” myth should take note: the number one reason for the rising cost of food is oil prices. Who perpetuates the food/fuel myth? The Oil Lobby.
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CleanTech Biofuels is serious about turning garbage into fuel and sincerely hopes you’ll ignore the fact that your car’s fuel tank could be carrying what’s left of little Timmy’s soiled nappies.The company is investigating suitable sites for commercial garbage-to-ethanol facilities.
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Now that ethanol is the second biggest energy source in brazil after petroleum products, it seems that it’s definitely a force that is here to stay.
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Recently, the E-Fuel Corporation, introduced the first ethanol refinery system designed for home use. The Micro Fueler, a backyard fueling station, can create pure E100 ethanol from sugar feed stock.
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General Motors announced today it would be entering into a strategic relationship with Mascoma Corp., a second-generation biofuel company with the technology to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-food sources via a single-step biochemical conversion.
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What’s behind the current food shortages: Is the increase in ethanol production to blame or is hoarding the problem?
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“Mileage can suffer by about 25 percent with E-85, according to AAA. Over the course of a year, that amounts to an extra 300 gallons of E-85 to go the same distance as when using conventional gas. That means an average household, when the total cost of conventional gas and E-85 are compared, would spend nearly $100 more per year for E-85.”
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In an effort to help boost the nation’s supply of biofuels, researchers have created three strains of genetically modified corn to manufacture enzymes that break down the plant’s cellulose into sugars that can be fermented into ethanol.
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The mass diversion of the North American grain harvest into ethanol plants for fuel is reaching its political and moral limits.
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Every year a New Jersey-size patch of the Gulf of Mexico where no sea life can be sustained is created by nitrogen-based fertilizer runoff. This runoff comes largely from corn production, which is now tied heavily to the production of ethanol in areas of the Midwest where the runoff comes from. So what can we do about it?
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Range Fuels Inc. announced yesterday it has secured over $100 million in Series B funding, an investment that could make it the first company to seriously commercialize cellulosic ethanol. The first phase of construction will produce 20 million gallons of mixed alcohols per year by 2009, and has the potential to expand to up to 120 million gallons.
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Popcorn’s getting more expensive as corn is increasingly used for ethanol production. At the same time, concessions keep movie theaters afloat. Would you like butter with that?
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Corn ethanol may become a major energy player in the future, but it will take great deal of water to keep it going.
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Farmers are planting corn like crazy, turning food crops into ethanol & biodiesel. Scientists are squeezing oil out of algae, while other developers are touting the battery-operated electric car. One company is even building a car that runs on compressed air… But, which system will survive?
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A biofuel startup in Illinois can make ethanol from just about anything organic for less than $1 per gallon, and it wouldn’t interfere with food supplies, company officials said.
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General Motors and Vinod Kohsla have invested in a new company promising to produce ethanol from any organic substance (grass, newsaper, tires, agricultural wastes) for as little as one dollar per gallon.
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“The Gulf Ethanol Corporation claims to have made a breakthrough in processing cellulosic ethanol, a form of fuel that is expected to be much more efficient and sustainable than corn-based ethanol.” That’s good, since damn near anything would be more efficient and sustainable than corn-based ethanol.
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Vinegar, which is created from the fermentation of ethanol, is an inexpensive and more environmentally friendly alternative to what might be in your medicine cabinet. Here are five of the ways that vinegar can be good for your health.
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This country, famed for its development of sugar-cane-produced ethanol, soon could become one of the world’s great oil powers— if its state-controlled energy company, Petrobras , can tap a potentially massive deposit beneath the South Atlantic Ocean.
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When it comes to solving the fossil fuel crisis, it seems like every silver lining comes accompanied by a dark cloud. The rush to change over to a more ecologically friendly fuel source — ie, the rush to ethanol — is systematically causing damage to the Earth’s greatest natural resource. No, it’s not the kids of the future; it’s our water!
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The biofuel goldrush may be petering out, says The New York Times, along with hopes of a new future for rural America. Companies and farm co-ops have built so many distilleries so quickly that the ethanol market is facing a glut, in part because the means to distribute it have not kept pace with production.
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“Everyone seems to think that ethanol is a good way to make cars greener. Everyone is wrong.”
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Here’s an A to Z of alternative materials and innovative processes that can turn biomass into fuel. From milk-based ethanol, to termite intestines that help make biofuels, check out these 26 sources.
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By now you may have heard of the economic questions regarding using corn for ethanol production, but less attention has been paid to the environmental impact of using ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. Is ethanol more of a pollutant than gasoline? A Biochemical Engineering expert proves the answer here…
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A push from Congress and the White House for huge increases in biofuels, such as ethanol, is prompting the oil industry to scale back its plans for refinery expansions. That could keep gasoline prices high, possibly for years to come.
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Tequila, drunk in shots and cocktails around the world, is named after a town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. Mexican farmers are setting ablaze fields of blue agave, the cactus-like plant used to make the fiery spirit tequila, and resowing the land with corn as soaring U.S. ethanol demand pushes up prices.
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According to new research, the antioxidant capacity of strawberries can be significantly enhanced when they are combined with ethanol, the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits. Those antioxidants attack free-radicals that can cause cancer, arthritis and heart disease.
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