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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.”
News Dugg by people
A new review of currently available and proposed energy sources yields some logical conclusions and startling wake-up calls. Ars breaks it all down.
News Dugg by people
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.)
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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?
News Dugg by people
Forget about corn—future biofuels will be made of wood chips and trash.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
While dozens have been made ill in recent months from E.coli-contaminated beef, there may be a connection to the ethanol industry.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
Bp, trying to stay on top of the Oil game.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
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.
News Dugg by people
What’s behind the current food shortages: Is the increase in ethanol production to blame or is hoarding the problem?
News Dugg by people
“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.”
