Category: Top Stories

CleanStar launches first cooking fuel facility in Mozambique; alternative to charcoal cooking, heath risks, at hand in Africa

May 18, 2012 | Jim Lane

In Mozambique, the first sustainable cooking fuel facility was inaugurated by Federal Minister of Agriculture José Pacheco. The CleanStar project will produce ethanol-based cooking fuel for sale with the company’s cookstoves, an affordable new form of cooking that is cleaner, faster and safer than using charcoal. The plant in Dondo, in Mozambique’s Sofala Province, will […]

Military leaders call on Congress to secure America, support alternative fuels

May 17, 2012 | Jim Lane

In “Operation Free”, a coalition of retired Admirals and Air Force and Army Generals say “We cannot drill our way out of the problem of energy security,” in letter to Senate Energy Committee heads. In Washington, a group of retired military leaders, organized as “Operation Free” within the Truman National Security Project, called on Senate […]

Dow, Novozymes, Ford, Albemarle, Waste Management among early leaders in 40 Hottest Bio Partners voting

May 17, 2012 | Jim Lane

Early voting is underway in the 40 Hottest Partners in Bioenergy and Bio-Based Products rankings. Among the category leaders in the early going: Green Plains Renewable Energy, Harris Group, Novozymes, Solazyme, Waste Management, Khosla Ventures, the USDA, POET-DSM, Mintz Levin, Stoel Rives and Wilson Sonsini, Albemarle, BASF and Koch, Gevo and UOP, Ford, MBI, the […]

The $6 Gasoline That Almost Was

May 16, 2012 | Jim Lane

Mad as heck about $5 gasoline? According to new research from Iowa State, the price could have hit $6 per gallon, if the US had not had its ethanol supply. A landmark 2009 study, conducted by researchers at Iowa State’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, and updated this week for impacts through 2011, found […]

Energy station of the future: Propel launches first Clean Mobility Center

May 16, 2012 | Jim Lane

Free tire air for improved fuel economy; bicycle tuning; renewable fuels; on-demand carbon offsets; at-pump recycling; community transit info; Propel’s got it all going in the Golden State. In California, Propel Fuels is launching the company’s first Clean Mobility Center, in Fullerton. The Center offers a distinctly different customer experience, featuring high performance renewable fuels […]

Green Strike Group or Green Hike Group? With small-scale advanced biofuels, who foots the bill?

May 15, 2012 | Jim Lane

US lawmakers tussle over funding for advanced biofuels demonstrations and early-commercialization. Who should pay premium rates for small-scale fuel production? The US Navy and other customer groups? Fuel makers and their investors? In Washington, the path for the Obama Administration to complete its proposed $510 million Defense Production Act investment in commercializing advanced biofuels for […]

EdeniQ: Silicon Valley meets the Mississippi River Valley in California’s San Joaquin Valley

May 14, 2012 | Jim Lane

High tech and high practicality converge at EdeniQ – cellulosic ethanol via retrofits or bolt-ons to existing corn and sugarcane ethanol plants. Next month in Visalia, California, in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, EdeniQ and Logos Technologies will officially debut a cellulosic ethanol pilot plant, funded jointly by the DoE and EdeniQ with […]

Peeking at the Future of Algae: International Algae Competition announces winners

May 11, 2012 | Jim Lane

Cities where buildings are covered with green photosynthetic membranes? Where vertical gardens collect the sun’s energy and produce food for urban citizens. The International Algae Competition’s winners spark visions of algae landscape and architecture design, novel algae production systems and new foods. In Arizona, the organizers of the The International Algae Competition, Robert Henrikson and […]

Enough corn? USDA says “abundantly so”, forecasting record 2012 harvest

May 11, 2012 | Jim Lane

If you have been reading newspapers and online sites over the past four years, you may have formed the impression that the use of corn for ethanol production has triggered food riots in Mexico, caused untold suffering for US meat producers, and in general caused global mayhem by turning food into fuel. And you may […]

Green Dragon: 20 Signs that 2012 is the Year of China

May 10, 2012 | Jim Lane

Why is China accelerating on industrial biotechnology, just as US pols preach unilateral disarmament on government efforts to foster commercialization? Does the sun rise in the east as it sets in the West? Yes, Digesterati, 2012 is supposed to bring, according to someone’s reading of a Mayan calendar, the end of the world some time […]

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