Biodiesel

Whoever wins the presidential race will likely be pleased to hear this news: farmers (at least soybean farmers) are getting into biodiesel. Soybean farmers, through their checkoff program, are supporting the National Tractor Pullers Association spreading the word about biodiesel among tractor ...

US ethanol production for September dropped to its lowest level in at least 27 months, in large part because of plant shutdowns. Ethanol plants produced 983.9 million gallons in September, down 9.4 percent from August. The previous low since the EPA started keeping such records in July 2010 was ...

Brad Albin, president of Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, and Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, were thrilled to see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approve a 28-percent increase in the amount of biodiesel that will be mandated for the nation's diesel engine vehicles in ...

After looking at the new Trident Iceni Grand Tourer, it's obvious that Europe gets all the cool cars. Sexy styling? Check. Amazing performance? Yup. Torquey, fuel-efficient diesel engine? Unequivocally, yes! This built-to-order coupe apparently has it all for the performance enthusiast who wants ...

Alternative energy and cleantech have been a platform for political jabs and Congressional hearings in Washington over the past year – the Solyndra scandal, Chevrolet Volt post-crash-test battery fires, and Fisker Automotive's Department of Energy grant loan quickly come to mind. The latest ...

The U.S. Department of Energy has got its fingers in a lot of alternative-energy pies, from hydrogen vehicles to plug-ins. Today, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the DOE has announced that it will reach a little deeper into 13 biofuel and feedstock improvement projects ...

BMW may have dibs on being the "Official Automotive Partner to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games," but that doesn't mean there aren't other automotive-related promotional opportunities to be had at the games. Exhibit A: BP's new "Wayne Helix" fuel dispenser. Sounding like something from ...

Don't worry, you won't be tested on this. Michigan State University scientists have found a biofuel production method that the institution says boosts energy from the production process by a factor of 20. Gemma Reguera, a microbiologist at MSU, led an effort that uses – stay with us ...

More good news for Saab enthusiasts big on alt-fuel transportation. The China-based entity slated to be the majority owner of Saab is headed by a tycoon that runs companies in the biofuels industry, the Associated Press reports. Kai Johan Jiang, who once worked for Volvo Trucks, heads a company ...

Need some lighthearted proof that Millennials – or whatever we're calling college-age students these days – can get excited about not driving cars? Check out The Michigan Transportation Musical. The reason the twelve-and-a-half-minute video got made is to let new students at the ...

Do $6-a-gallon gas and electric vehicles go hand in hand? Well, it may be a stretch to conclude that from a two-minute fifty-second man-on-the-street video posted by Honda, but it may not be far off. Honda said it polled 1,000 Americans about their attitudes towards both buying more ...

The V40 is a vital product not only for Volvo itself, but also for the tuners that specialize in customizing the Swedish automobiles. See especially, Heico Sportiv. The German tuning firm hinted a few weeks ago at its impending line of accessories for the new sportwagon, and has now followed up ...

It looks like Blue's fighting Red over the Green. Democratic members of Congress and some U.S. military leaders are planning to fight the Republican-led effort to quash efforts to expand use of biofuels for the U.S. military, the Colorado Independent reports. Proponents of more biofuel use by ...

So about those plans for more military biofuel production... A Republican-led group within the House Armed Services Committee recently voted to ban the U.S. Department of Defense from paying more for biofuels used for military vehicles than regular fuels, putting at risk hundreds of millions of ...

Another day, another opinion on the feasibility of E15. This time, a group called the Coordinating Research Council released a study saying that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to push for allowing gas with a 15-percent ethanol blend (aka E15) to be sold to the general public ...

If you thought last year was a bad one at the gas pump, it could've been worse. That's what one report partially funded by ethanol advocate Renewable Fuels Association says. U.S. ethanol production actually cut wholesale gas prices by $1.09 a gallon last year because of relatively lower ethanol ...

VW steadily developing an interest in Das Plug-ins... and algae diesel If there's one truth about alternative fuel plans espoused by most of the major automakers, it's that they like an "all of the above" approach. They'll try flex-fuel, offer you some plug-in cars, toy with diesels in the U.S. ...

Last November, the Boise State University student team called Greenspeed broke the land speed record for a truck (in its class) that uses vegetable oil with a run of 155 miles per hour. Now, they're confidently ready to go after the faster, dirtier, petroleum-powered trucks. To get that record, ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boosted its 2012 goals for production of non-corn-based biofuels by about 36 percent, reflecting the federal government's efforts to both cut its dependency on foreign oil and find alternatives to corn- and alcohol-based fuels. The EPA boosted its ...

Will there be enough feedstock to support a massive biofuel boom? It sure seems possible, 'cause Pike Research predicts that the value of the biofuels industry could double in the next ten years, depending on the emergence of advanced feedstocks. Motivated, mainly, by concerns about energy ...