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Lists? Yeah, electric vehicles get on lists. Hopeful, hopeful lists

Here are five technologies that "could change everything": Advanced car batteries Carbon capture and storage Space-based solar power Utility storage Next-generation biofuels This is the list culled by the Wall Street Journal, and we note that plug-in vehicles benefit/are tied to four of those five items. All five if you include things like the E85-capable range extender in the plug-in Chevy Volt. Meanwhile, over at the Seattle Times, Tesla was named one of eight companies that are changing the world. Other companies on ... Read more →

Congratulations! Rise in CO2 emissions halved Domenick Yoney

Congratulations! You've done it! Your hard work and effort to reduce your carbon footprint last year has paid off and, we would like to think, Planet Earth is just a little bit happier to hear that ...

Virent Energy Systems wins Presidential Green Chemistry award for efficient biofuel process Jeremy Korzeniewski

Virent Energy Systems, a biofuel company based in Madison, Wisconsin, has received a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award for its low-energy water-based process for producing fuels. Using its ...

Institute of Mechanical Engineers: Electric cars aren't enough (w/POLL) Jeremy Korzeniewski

According to a recent survey from the Royal Automobile Club Foundation in the UK, there will be lots of people who want to buy electric vehicles but are going to get frustrated by the long delay in ...

GM makes the case for testing E15 ethanol blend Sebastian Blanco

GM has long been a proponent of using high-level ethanol blend, E85, in motor vehicles. But, with all of the talk of putting E15 or E20 (gasoline with 15 or 20 percent ethanol blended in) into the ...

Using biofuels might be a sin, says Muslim cleric 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

I had no idea what would pop up when I typed in "ethanol sin" into the search box over at Flickr. Turns out, you get the image above, which was created for the Pope's visit to the U.S. back in early 2008. It's a good reminder that the debate over biofuels has donned religious clothing before. ...

Let controversy reign: study says biofuels will speed up global warming 8 months ago on Autoblog Green

While the general consensus is clear that corn ethanol isn't as great as once proclaimed, biodiesel has somewhat escaped the criticism swarm (palm plantation biodiesel being the big exception). That may change now that a new study from the Woods Institute for the Environment has found that ...

Australian biofuel imports hurting SE Asian rainforests 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

As anyone who has seen episode 2F13 of The Simpsons (aka Bart vs. Australia) knows, introducing foreign species into an environment can have dangerous effects. A real-world situation - not really all that similar, but I like to reference the Simpsons whenever possible - in Australia shows the ...

The Queen's Bentleys go biodiesel 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

The Queen is going green. Not surprisingly, the head of the Royal Family doesn't drive herself, relying instead on Bentley to provide a couple of £10 million limos complete with drivers. Must be nice, huh? The two luxury machines maintained for the Queen will be converted to run on biofuels, ...

First commercial biofuel jet test successfully completed yesterday 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Airlines all over the world are finding themselves under increased pressure to lower their carbon footprints, and saving a buck or two (million) in the process certainly wouldn't hurt anything. To that end, Air New Zealand has successfully conducted the world's first commercial test flight with a ...

Insert corny title here: U.S. may not meet 2022 biofuels mandate 10 months ago on Autoblog Green

Baring a major breakthrough in cellulosic ethanol technology, the US Energy Information Administration doesn't think there's any way that the United States will meet its self-imposed Renewable Fuels Standard. The mandate in its current form would require that 36 billion gallons of ethanol be ...

EPA ups America's Renewable Fuel Standard to 10.21 percent for 2009 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

In 2009, the U.S. will use at least 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuel. This was the pronouncement of the EPA today regarding an increase in the Renewable Fuel Standard Increased from 7.76 percent (the 2008 number) to 10.21 percent, an increase of 2.45 percentage points or about 2 billion ...

General Motors holds sustainable biofuels workshop in Beijing 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

China is already the third largest producer of ethanol in the world behind Brazil and the US. However, General Motors wants to make the industry sustainable just as it is trying to do here in the U.S. with its investments in Coskata and Mascoma. To that end, the company held a workshop on ...

Welcome to the Platts Cellulosic Ethanol and Biofuels conference, here's your Escalade 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

When Toyota invited reporters to Portland last month for the Sustainable Mobility Seminar, we were greeted at the baggage claim with tickets for the Portland public rail system. Here in Chicago for GM's biofuels conference, we were met at the airport by a driver in an Escalade (and not the hybrid ...

Europe scales back crop biofuels requirements 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Support for crop-based biofuels is falling in many parts of the world, including Europe. When the European Commission proposed that 10 percent of road transport fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020 it didn't specify what types of renewable energy should be used. The European Parliament's ...

Allied Minds and UW partner up in algae biofuel company AXI 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a "novel technology" that uses "commercially advantageous" strains of algae to make biofuels. While work on algae and biofuels is taking place around the world, UW might be on to something here, at least if we trust the investment firm ...

Obama: 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proposed a new ten-year $150 billion energy plan today in Michigan. A large part of the plan centers around transportation -- both the use of petroleum and the types of cars we are to drive in the future. For automakers, $4 billion in loans and loan ...

EurObserv'ER publishes report on 2007 European biofuel use 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

In 2007, the EU used 7.7m tons of oil equivalent (TOE), which accounted for 2.6 percent of all fuels used for road transport that year. This is half of the 2010 target of 5.75 percent usage of biofuels, which means that Europeans will need more imports and to increase production if this target ...

Biofuels to make up 3 percent of Latin America's energy needs 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Up to three percent of the energy needs of Latin America and the Caribbean could be covered by biofuels in 2018. This is the main finding of a report published by the Organizacion Latinoamericana de Energia (Olade, Latin America Energy Organisation) that was presented during the 3rd Biofuel ...

AFVI 2008: A few final thoughts on green moves in Sin City, with Wendell Berry 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

I covered the AFVI Expo last week and that trip was my first visit to Las Vegas. I've heard the stories, the advertising campaign that tries to sell Sin City as, well, Sin City that takes your credit card. What interested me the most, though, was how my environmentalist mind would react to being in ...

Biofuel-friendly Farm Bill gets veto override from Congress 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Photo by Yandle. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. As expected, Congress made sure the Farm Bill (actually called the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008) became law yesterday despite some sort of clerical error that resulted in a number of pages being dropped from the final ...

USDA says biofuels are not to blame for high food prices 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Certainly not an unbiased observer, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued an economic analysis that reveals that crops grown for biofuels (in the U.S., that means mostly soybeans for biodiesel and corn for ethanol) are not responsible for the recent increase in food prices. ...

EPA looking for your thoughts on Texas' request to halve ethanol mandate 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Photo by qthrul. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. Since the Energy Policy Act of 2005 went into effect, there has been a nationwide renewable fuels standard (RFS) in the U.S. The amount of biofuels required by the bill were increased by the Energy Independence and Security Act in ...

We're telling you for the last time, ethanol is not biodiesel 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Photo by merfam. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. Sure, you might be able to describe the difference between cellulosic ethanol made by Coskata and that made by Mascoma. Or, perhaps your biofuel knowledge is just right to explain how cellulosic ethanol and corn ethanol are different, ...

Support for biofuel subsidies collapsing in Canadian parliament 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The single most expensive environmental initiative put forward by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Conservative) was a biofuels initiative that is now seeing significant new opposition. The CDN$2.2 billion (about a $1 trillion at current exchange rates) was intended to provide incentives for ...

Colombia and the United States announce biofuel cooperation agreement 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Some countries believe that their development expectations can be improved if they switch from oil-based fuels to biofuels. Such is the case of Colombia, a country that has just received the support of the United States to produce biofuel to satisfy some of the country's energy needs. Gregory ...

How to host a biodiesel film festival 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Over at the La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley, California on Wednesday night, the people behind Berkeley's Biofuel Oasis are hosting a biodiesel film night in order to raise funds and biofuel awareness. The funds are intended for BBO's new solar powered fueling station and the awareness, well, ...

Biofuels are an "Unlikely Foe" of the Grocery Manufacturers Association 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The Grocery Manufacturers Association. Not a group we hear from a lot on a site dedicated to cleaner vehicle technology. Today, though, in preparation for Earth Day, we saw a message from the GMA titled "This Earth Day, an Unlikely Foe: Biofuels" and wanted to see what they had to say. As the ...

Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation from DfT now in effect 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The U.K. has been planning on requiring 2.5 percent of all road fuels sold to come from biofuels, rising to 5 percent by 2010, as part of a plan known as the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). The time has finally come for that plan to commence, as April 15 marked its official start. ...

New study quantifies differences in biofuel crops, impact on environment 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

There are plenty of flex-fuel capable cars on the roads, but there is not nearly enough ethanol available to power all of them on the gasoline alternative. It's no secret that corn-based ethanol is not the answer to our oil woes, but if that's the case, what alternatives should we be looking closest ...

2009 H2 and H2 SUT - first production E85-capable Hummers 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

As our brothers at Autoblog like to say, it's "officially official." GM has confirmed their plans to offer all Hummers with biofuel-capable engine options. According to Automotive News, a Hummer official has said that the 2009 H2 and H2 SUT will be equipped with flex-fuel engines capable on running ...

Will Consumers Accept Diesels? 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Diesel engines have been widely accepted in Europe for decades, mainly because the oil-burners are much more efficient than their gasoline-powered counterparts. Here in the U.S., however, the loud and smelly performance of diesels in the '70s and '80s has left a bad taste that obviously hasn't ...

The Onion asks about biofuels negative effect on the environment 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Whether it's the University of Minnesota losing biofuel research funding or the UK government asking for more information before moving forward, the critical report in Science has had quite an impact on the public's thinking about ethanol and biodiesel. Even if the distinction between cellulosic or ...

Richard Branson: ethanol would be cheaper than gas if America stopped taxing sugar imports 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson made headlines recently when he knocked the way Americans produce ethanol. In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Branson fleshed out his ideas on ways America can improve the way it produces the alcohol fuel. Thirty minutes in, he says sugar produces seven times ...

Richard Branson, Mayor Bloomberg slam biofuels 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Criticisms of biofuels just keep piling up. At a UN Assembly debate on Climate Change, New York Mayor Bloomberg framed the biofuel food vs. fuel debate starkly saying "people literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up." At the same meeting, ...

Autoblog Green Podcast #19 - Chicago Auto Show 2008 wrap-up 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Some people use airport layovers to sleep, read, or get a meal. Sam and Sebastian took the opportunity to record AutoblogGreen Podcast #19. While waiting for a plane to whisk them back home from the Chicago Auto Show, we recapped a few things we saw at the show. It wasn't the greenest show we've ...

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