A study by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has found that ethanol can be a viable alternative to gasoline for vehicles, and at the same time, its use can effectively reduce emissions. Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of sugarcane, and cane-based ethanol. Researchers found that the ethanol provides nearly eight times the energy used to create it, and that number could increase further with the introduction of new technologies and plant varieties.
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Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics is bold. It’s exciting. And, it’s green.

In fact, Chicago 2016 organizers even call their concept of the Olympics the “Blue-Green Games.”

Blue for clean air and water. And, green for parks and nature. Together, the blue and green combine to create the ideal conditions necessary for optimal athletic performance.

What’s more, Chicago 2016 organizers have developed a comprehensive plan that will deliver the most eco-friendly games in modern history.

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As the economy took a beating, a number of construction projects were stalled and abandoned. The Boston Globe asked architects to have a look at such sites and come up with new projects that would be feasible, and also help improve the city. One of such buildings is the Filene development in downtown Boston. The structure of the building is up, but it is just a shell full of holes.

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California regulators have passed some new rules that will ban storing some types of biodiesel underground. The fear is the new rule will hamper the fledgling green industry.

“…gas stations, fleet yards and others who distribute the increasingly popular ‘green’ fuel can only store biodiesel blends of up to 20 percent in underground tanks, even if the tanks are double-walled.”

The tanks need to be tested for leaks and the test is expected to take 2-3 years. Biodiesel advocates say it will reduce sales across the Golden State.

“This is stupid. It’s a step backwards,” said CB, who runs a Tree Service in San Jose. “It’s like they are picking on us. We are trying to do the right thing.”

Translated means – let’s test the dickens out of the non green industry folk but give us a free pass.

These rules grew out of several pollution disasters that California has experienced over the past 30 years. Higher concentrations of biodiesel have some solvent properties and have not yet been approved by Underwriters Laboratories.

Sounds reasonable to me, unless of course, you think we are walking backwards.

Image by David Reverchon

Can’t win for trying. Fossil fuels prices are back down and now Southeast Asia is unhappy.

Malaysia and Indonesia produce the bulk of the world’s palm oil = the two countries had much to offer the biofuel industry and stood to make a killing by gouging the world on prices for the commodity during the fossil fuel price hikes.

However, when crude oil, which once peaked at $147 a barrel plummeted back to earth at $37ish a barrel, the two southeast Asia countries saw their dreams take a dive as well.

Last year, palm oil prices went up to $1,245/ton. This year – $526/ton after once dipping to $405/ton.

I get the whole supply and deman thing. But, it seems to me that if the palm oil producers could find a fair price and stick with it, they will have a better chance in the long run, no?

Malaysia had hoped to be the world’s leader in the biofuel industry.

Indonesia is still content to make biofuel 5% of its energy mix by 2025.

Both countries will be happy now, just to survive.

Although biofuels help fight gobal warming by potentially helping us to respond to the challenges we face, it’s true that there are drawbacks associated with them. Like threatens for food prices to drive up in poor countries or negative effects on soil protection and bio-diversity. However, we’re pretty sure these are not the reasons why Muslims may prohibit use of biofuels.

Image courtesy of octal

Looking like a pretext for you and me, the Muslim culture forbids alcohol buying, selling, transporting and drinking. And according to Sheikh Mohamed al-Najimi of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy, that includes the ethyl alcohol present in ethanol or any alcohol-derived fuels.

Therefore we can only wonder why luxury car makers are considering the green path if the rich oilmen of the desert won’t be able to fill the tank.

Do you think prophet Muhammad would be against biofuels knowing they could help reduce global warming, even by a bit? Would that be a sin? There are always camels … No?

If only we could harness the Martian methane belch…

There was a surprising and mysterious belch of methane gas on Mars NASA says. NASA thinks there might be microbial life underground, but admitted the gas could come from changes in rocks. Methane gas on earth is by far mostly a byproduct of life — animal digestion and decaying plants and animals.

This is the first study to find regular methane on Mars. Some 21,000 tons of methane were released during a few months in late summer of 2003. Hmm…I wonder, could we run a pipe from Mars to Earth? Nah. Doesn’t seem likely, does it?

“This raises the probability substantially that life was there or still survives at the present,” says the study author at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

By 2006, most of the methane had disappeared…adding to the mystery of the gas.

A similar phenomenon to the Mars belch happens in the waters near Santa Barbara, Calif. There the gas comes from decaying life in the sea floor. Even microbes in the Arctic and other extreme Earth environments release methane even they don’t use O2.

Methane is not only a waste product of life, it is also food for other life. NASA doesn’t know where the methane came from but they’d sure like to have it appear again. What do you think about the possibility of life in space?

Biofuels are in the news in Japan.

A Japanese research group is claiming a first – a cleaner/greener production of biodiesel fuel – the “non-catalytic superheated methanol method.”

“At a pilot plant the group was able to continuously produce 400L of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), a biodiesel fuel, out of 500L of raw material oil every day.” They also succeeded in producing FAME from vegetable oil (new oil) and waste edible oil in their tests.

The current method – the methyl esterification:

1. used a complicated refining process which was required to remove side products
2. required repeated cleaning resulting in multiple processes and a large amount of waste water
3. required repeated cleaning to improve the purity of the product also wasting water

However, the new method :

1. does not require a catalyst
2. creates virtually no waste water or liquid.

Image courtesy of griffs0000

Meanwhile, JAL (Japan Airlines) will test biofuels in one of its airliners; 50% biofuel and 50% traditional Jet-A jet (kerosene). It’s “a mixture of three second-generation biofuel feedstocks: camelina (84%), jatropha (under 16%), and algae (under 1%).” The test flight will have JAL staff only, no passengers.

Please be seated while we drink our fuel and fly it, too.