Green Options

Researchers want to produce biodiesel at the coast. Building on last week’s post, University of Delaware researchers are interested in developing a type of mallow, the seashore mallow, for biodiesel and ethanol production:

And unlike soybeans and corn, which require annual plantings on valuable farmland to feed the growing appetite for biofuels, the pink-flowered seashore mallow is both a perennial and a halophyte, or

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Following in step with Boeing's prophecy for future aviation biofuels, the Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded a $1.1 million contract to Shell Oil to produce synfuel for the U.S. Air Force and one NASA facility. The contract, signed on June 6th, requires Shell to produce and ship 315,000 gallons of synfuel through August 1-31, 2007.

What, you might ask, is 'synfuel'? As

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Nice looking truck, isn’t it? And it runs well too, without an engine, radiator, or those other amenities, although there is a five-speed manual transmission. You’re looking at a Florida man’s lifelong dream: his first electric vehicle.

62-year-old Kenneth Watkins is an electrical engineer in Orlando, Florida. Ken said he’d wanted to build an electric-powered vehicle for years, but raising a family came first and now that everyone’s grown, he has

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April was a monster month in the biofuel world. I've already written about a few top stories, including a biofuel race from Washington, D.C. to San Jose, Costa Rica, UC Berkeley proposing a biofuel rating system, and San Francisco announcing it will be turning restaurant oil into biodiesel.

I couldn't write about it all though, so I thought a summary of other big stories was in order:

1. A [...]

The allure of marketing environmentally destructive biofuels under the pretext of ecological responsibility may be a short-lived prospect. Last Tuesday, UC Berkeley's Sustainability Transportation Center proposed the introduction of a green rating system for biofuels that would take into account all environmental aspects, including production, processing, and transportation.

There are two primary reasons for labelling: first, labels would provide consumers with the information they need to make smart, environmentally sound choices about the

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On March 6, Earthrace - a powerboat run on biodiesel - will set off from Barbados on a trip to attempt to break the world record on circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. However, the true Earthrace journey started over three years ago. Run by Pete Bethune of New Zealand, this Captain has a background in the oil industry. Truly on a mission to promote the use of alternative fuels, he and his crew (all

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Venture capitalists have been sinking a lot of cash into alternative energy and clean technology start-ups in the past few years. $727 million was invested in 2006 alone, which was up from $195 million in 2005.

However, these venture capitalists are finding that in order for their new alternative energy businesses to grow and thrive they're going to need a little help from state and federal governments. This means trying to influence politicians

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