In an interview with European Voice, Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for the Environment, said that the Commission will recommend legislation establishing binding targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions from cars. Up to now, efforts to cut CO2 emissions have been voluntary, with the industry targeting an interim level... Read more →

Click to enlarge. Sales of hybrids in the US in October rose to 18,784 units, up 10.9% from the 16,934 sold in October 2005. The October 2006 tally does not include sales of GM’s VUE Green Line Hybrid—GM is not yet breaking out those results separately. Total light duty vehicle... Read more →

VeraSun Energy Corporation, the US’ second-largest ethanol producer, plans to produce biodiesel from oil extracted from distillers dried grains (DDG), a co-product of the ethanol production process. VeraSun has been exploring biodiesel for years. In 2005, VeraSun and other ethanol producers (Glacial Lakes Energy, KAAPA Ethanol and Golden Grain Energy)... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new air toxics standards that would reduce the evaporation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in gasoline vapors from smaller emitting gasoline distribution sources (“area sources”) including bulk terminals, bulk plants, pipeline facilities, and gasoline dispensing facilities (such as service stations, convenience stores,... Read more →

Researchers at Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung have compared the effects and performance of biodiesel fuels derived from two different feedstocks of importance to that country—palm oil and jatropha—in a direct-injection diesel engine. The study, described in a paper presented at the recent FISITA 2006 conference in Yokohama, Japan, by Dr.... Read more →

The Smart Energy 25. Beacon Power Corporation has assembled and spun up to more than 11,000 rpm the first pre-production unit of its fourth-generation Smart Energy 25 flywheel energy storage system. This is slightly more than two-thirds of the target maximum design speed and represents significant progress in the next-generation... Read more →

Schematic of reactor. Click to enlarge. University of Minnesota researchers have developed a process that flash evaporates nonvolatile liquid bio-feedstocks such as soy oil or glucose-water solutions by catalytic partial oxidation to produce hydrogen in high yields with a total reactor time of less than 50 milliseconds. The new process... Read more →

The intermediate band allows absorption of photons at three different energy levels, corresponding to the three different band gaps. In particular, low-energy photons are captured that would pass through a conventional solar cell. Click to enlarge. RoseStreet Labs, LLC and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Sumitomo) have formed a joint venture,... Read more →

The Avestor battery. Avestor, the Canadian developer of Lithium-Metal-Polymer (LMP) battery technology, is shutting down. The company filed with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy in Montréal with a view to making a Proposal to its creditors on 31 October. In August, the company had produced and shipped its... Read more →

Dynetek Industries (Calgary, Canada), a provider of lightweight storage cylinders for compressed hydrogen and compressed natural gas (CNG), has signed a letter of intent with Delphi Automotive Systems Do Brazil LTDA. Delphi SA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delphi Corp. Dynetek and Delphi SA intend to negotiate a commercial... Read more →

Bloomberg reports that Toyota Motor may extend the Prius into a line of vehicles as the company tries to triple annual US sales of hybrids. The US will account for more than half of the 1 million hybrid cars and light trucks Toyota plans to sell worldwide each year by... Read more →

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and Pollution Probe today released Driving Towards a Cleaner Environment—a Healthier Future, with recommendations that, if implemented, could cut motorists’ greenhouse gasses (GHGs) by 30 to almost 50%. The report integrates the role of the motorist, the road and the vehicle into a plan for... Read more →

Virent Energy Systems has been awarded a $2-million dollar grant from the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy to develop further its capabilities to convert glycerol, a co-product of biodiesel production, into renewable propylene glycol, a high-value chemical usually made from fossil fuels. Virent is the developer of an aqueous... Read more →

Processing routes for vegetable oils and grease. Click to enlarge. UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, has established a new business unit dedicated to introducing new technology for processing renewable energy sources in existing or new petroleum refineries worldwide. The new unit, called Renewable Energy and Chemicals, will accelerate UOP’s already... Read more →

The vision of the European Biofuels Technology Platform, of which UPM is a member. Click to enlarge. UPM, one of the world’s leading forest products groups, announced that it will strongly increase its stake in second-generation biodiesel in the next few years and prepare to become a significant producer of... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Virginia Commonwealth University have concluded that the weight gain of Americans since 1960 has resulted in increased fuel consumption. In a paper to appear in the October-December 2006 (Vol. 51, No. 4) issue of the journal The Engineering Economist, the scientists... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is offering about $17 million for the development of highly efficient organisms that can convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol. With this funding opportunity, DOE is seeking companies to develop fermentative organisms such as yeasts and bacteria that can process both C5 and C6 sugars... Read more →

Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC) has announced a global Kubota decision approving the use of B5 (5% biodiesel, 95% petroleum diesel) biodiesel blends in specified Kubota diesel-powered products. Kubota has tested and approved the use of American B5 biodiesel fuel as a blend component that meets the minimum requirements provided by... Read more →

by Rafael Seidl German auto touring club ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V.) has published its annual total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison of diesel and gasoline versions of vehicles currently on the German market. For context, here’s a translation of the boilerplate. The text obviously applies only to the situation... Read more →

According to a recent MIT survey, Americans now rank climate change as the country’s most pressing environmental problem—a substantive shift from three years ago, when they ranked climate change sixth out of 10 environmental concerns. The environment continues to rank in the middle of the list of “most important issues... Read more →