Green Options

This month I wrote about making biodiesel from algae, growing biodiesel crops in freeway medians, refinery issues surrounding high gas prices, and the demand for sustainable biofuels.

Here are some stories I missed:

Al Gore was in Argentina, where he spoke before the biofuel industry there (May 1)
Argentina is looking to jump on the biofuel bandwagon by offsetting 5% of its fuel usage with biodiesel or

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Last week I wrote about how Honduras's Bay Islands are suffering from exorbitant electricity prices despite the conspicuous potential for wind and solar technology. Today I would like to talk about the potential role of biofuels in offsetting or eliminating diesel usage as part of a renewable energy 'solution'.

Let me return to the Bay Islands and add a third and final player to the renewable energy triad: biodiesel.

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Malaysian Rainforest ClearcutIt's easy to think that any bio-based fuel must be better than petroleum. After all, it comes from a plant, right?

Well, that depends on what you mean by 'better'? A usable alternative fuel must fulfill a few important functions, such as work in existing infrastructure (ie the cars we have now) and contain a reasonable amount of energy (so your tank stays roughly the same size). There's

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