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Southern fast-food favorite Chick-fil-A is known for its commercials featuring a cow holding a sign that says, “Eat mor chikin.” But two University of Central Florida students have turned to the chicken chain for a new purpose: “Run your car on mor chikin (grease).”
Mechanical engineering students Eric Williams, Chad Heinrich and Michael Schulist turned to the University of Central Florida’s local Chick-fil-A for used cooking grease, which they convert into biodiesel fuel to run their cars. They’re also passing along 20 percent of their home-brewed fuel to the university, which is using it to power trucks, lawnmowers and other diesel vehicles.
If the U.S. moved aggressively to start harnessing the solar power it receives daily, it could generate enough clean energy to meet the country’s needs many times over, according to a new report from Environment Florida.
The report, “On the Rise; Solar Thermal Power and the Fight Against Global Warming,” touts the multiple benefits of solar thermal power that the U.S. has barely begun to tap. One, it’s a clean source of energy that could replace other power sources that generate greenhouse gases and worsen climate change. Two, by storing thermal energy, it can generate electricity even when the sun isn’t shining. And ,three, it’s wildly abundant in the U.S., offering way more clean energy than we currently use on a daily basis.
300 garbage collection trucks in California will soon be fueled by the same trash that they haul. Landfill gas will be purified and liquefied, producing up to 13,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) daily.
This facility at Waste Management’s (WMI: NYSE) Altamont Landfill in Livermore, California will begin operation in 2009. It comes with a price tag of $15.5 million, with grants providing $1.4 million.
Cleaner Fuel
Waste Management is the largest waste management company in North America and operates the largest US fleet of heavy-duty collection trucks. The company has a goal to reduce fleet emissions by 15% by 2020.
Your house may not be your biggest contributer to globalwarming. Credit: Jim Gunshinan.
My focus in this blog had been on green homes, but there are other areas of our lives that account for our total carbon footprint–how much carbon we are responsible for adding to the atmosphere–a measure of our contribution to global warming. Our houses and apartments, but also our cars, air travel, and the food we eat all contribute.
Don Fugler, who does research for the
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By Erica Rowell •
April 30, 2008
Written by Dr. Bill Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and lead author of the forthcoming blog The Green Grok.
This post is Part 1 of a 2-part series on biofuels. Today’s post looks at corn; Part 2 will examine the most promising biofuels.
Who doesn’t want to be green? But beware of automobile ads claiming environmental benefits from home-grown ethanol. Almost all U.S. ethanol comes from corn and, as a fuel, corn just isn’t as “amaizing” as they say.
“What if we could live green by going yellow?” one TV spot asks. “What if we could lower greenhouse gas emissions,” it continues, promisingly, “with a fuel that grew back every year?” Sounds great doesn’t it? Sorry folks, it’s just not so.
By MC Milker •
April 28, 2008
The Olympic torch on its journey to Beijing is leaving a historic trail of CO2 emissions.
Slate.com, tracking the emissions of the torch, reports that… Through Thursday’s stop in Canberra, the relay has traveled an estimated 40,875 miles, burned 220,725 gallons of jet fuel, and released 5,270,913 pounds of CO2.
Related Post:
Olympic Torch Relay Emits 5,500 Tons of CO2
Green Light New Orleans Recently reached a milestone: 60,000 compact fluorescent bulbs installed for free in local homes since October 2006. The headline-making 60,000th CFL was installed earlier this month at the Jeannette Street home of Irene Green.
Established in 2006 after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Green Light New Orleans is the brainchild of Swiss-born musician Andi Hoffmann, who’s now a resident of the Big Easy. Hoffman started the program first as a way to offset the greenhouse gas pollution he and his band b-goes generated during their tours to Europe. It’s since taken on a greater goal: to reduce New Orleanians’ energy costs and help fight climate change.
Meet Beatrice Ahimbisibwe. She’s a widowed single mother and a school-teacher in Uganda. Plus she creates 5.7 tons worth of carbon offsetting credits annually for TetraPak UK, a company intent on reducing its carbon footprint.
Ahimbisibwe owns a little plot of land on which she grows some of the trees involved in TetraPak’s contract to produce fresh air for all the pollution caused by its production processes. A case study of the carbon sequestration project on EcoSystemMarketplace.com reveals interesting insights into the practices of an emissions offsetting program.
By Sarah Lozanova •
March 27, 2008
One of the most common arguments against large-scale use of renewable energy is that it cannot produce a steady, reliable stream of energy, day and night. Ausra Inc. does not agree. They believe that solar thermal technology can supply over 90% of grid power, while reducing carbon emissions.
“The U.S. could nearly eliminate our dependence on coal, oil and gas for electricity and transportation, drastically slashing global warming pollution without increasing costs for energy,” said David Mills, chief scientific officer and founder of Ausra.
You may be wondering, how will we have electricity at night or during cloudy weather?
Will we use large banks of batteries or burn candles?
The ability to utilize solar thermal technology after the sun sets is made possible by a storage system that is up to 93% efficient, according to Ausra’s executive vice president John O’Donnell.
By Joshua S Hill •
March 19, 2008
In a day and age where the word recession is being thrown around like a football, when asked to make financial sacrifices you’re more likely to get a kick in the crotch then a handshake. But unlike what the critics would have us believe, cutting carbon emissions could actually economically help the US, and similarly other countries in the same position.
A theoretical US policy to cut carbon emissions by up to 40% over a 20 year period could still result in increased economic growth; this, according to an interactive website created by the Yale School of Foresty and Environmental Studies.
Not one to ever stay out of the news for one reason or another, Wal-Mart this week unveiled what it calls its most energy-efficient U.S. store yet: the HE.5 prototype.
The store, located in Las Vegas, is said to use up to 45 percent less energy than your basic Supercenter. It’s also designed specifically for the Southwest’s typical climate conditions.
