The enormous biofuel potential of Mexican prickly pear cacti
Nopal, also known as prickly pear cacti, are so common on the Mexican landscape that they are even featured on the country’s flag. The plants are used in salads, shakes, and even some tortilla recipes. Now, one innovative company is finding yet another purpose for the plant as a source of Read More...
Scientists invent process to turn waste seaweed into biofuel
When we allow substances such as agricultural fertilizer runoff to enter the seas, there are very real consequences. One of those consequences is that Sargassum seaweed is growing out of control in many areas, washing up on beaches in huge amounts. Utilizing a new technique, that rotting organic Read More...
Shipping companies want to cut emissions. This biofuel might do the trick
Despite that we’re in the early stages of 2020, it’s already been a momentous year for the shipping industry's commitment to cleaning up its act. On Jan. 1, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ordered the world’s shipping fleet, which accounts for 3 percent of global greenhouse gas Read More...
Toronto’s garbage trucks will run on biofuel made from the city’s food scraps
Garbage trucks in Toronto are becoming cleaner - that is, environmentally speaking - as the city has recently launched an initiative to power the vehicles using biogas produced from the very trash they collect. Starting in March 2020, the city’s fleet of garbage trucks will collect all of the Read More...
California amends rules to push vehicles toward hydrogen, electricity, biofuel
California's Air Resources Board (CARB) has announced that it would tighten restrictions on transportation fuels in the state in the hopes of spurring adoption of electric, hydrogen, and biofuel-based cars, trucks, buses, and even planes. Since 2011, CARB has had a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Read More...
Audi captures CO2 from the air to produce green diesel
While renewables are beginning to make a dent into the carbon intensity of the power sector thanks to the plummeting price of technology, the automobile industry has been exploring green fuels so as to lower its dependency on fossil fuels. Audi has been pushing the envelope, exploring ways to Read More...
Green, cheap hydrogen now ready for fuel-cell vehicles, say scientists
Hydrogen is as clean a fuel as they come… or not. Although it emits very little greenhouse gas, more than 90% of it is currently produced from fossil sources at a high cost. Virginia Tech scientists claim that is soon to be a thing of the past. They were able to produce hydrogen from waste Read More...
After oil
Unfamiliar crops like switchgrass and jatropha hold more promise as alternative fuels than corn and sugarcane Craig Cox| July/Aug 2007 issue It seemed like a marriage made in heaven. Corn farmers, suffering under some of the lowest commodity prices in history, hooked up with environmentalists Read More...