Thursday, September 30, 2010

Scotland to get 100 pct green energy by 2025. Reuters

(Reuters) - Scotland should produce enough renewable electricity to meet all its power demand by 2025, First Minister Alex Salmond said Tuesday.

"Scotland has unrivalled green energy resources and our new national target to generate 80 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2020 will be exceeded by delivering current plans for wind, wave and tidal generation," Salmond said.

"I'm confident that by 2025 we will produce at least 100 percent of our electricity needs from renewables alone, and together with other sources it will enable us to become a net exporter of clean, green energy," he said a statement ahead of a renewable energy investment conference.


Wednesday, September 29, 2010

NREL Releases Biomass Mapping Application. RenewableEnergyWorld.com

A mapping application shows where bio-energy facilities are located now and where more could be developed.
Published: September 28, 2010

Washington, DC, USA – With funding from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Blue Skyways Collaborative and DOE's Biomass Program, NREL has developed a cool new web portal that may lead to more bioenergy developments across the U.S.
 
The portal is a bioenergy mapping tool in which users can start with a blank map of the country. They can then overlay the map with biomass feedstocks to see where certain feedstocks can be harvested and then overlay that information with ethanol and biodiesel plants both active and idle, existing transportation infrastructure, power plants, fueling stations, refineries and more.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Canada implements national RFS, allows open mandate for blenders. Ethanol Producer Magazine

By Kris Bevill

It’s been years in the making, but Canada’s first national renewable fuels standard (RFS) is finally in place. The mandate to require refiners to blend 5 percent renewable fuels into their gasoline supplies went into effect on Sept. 1 and was met with enthusiastic optimism from members of the nation’s ethanol industry, according to Canadian Renewable Fuels Association President Gordon Quaiattini. “This has been a long time coming and there’ve been some dedicated folks in the ethanol market in Canada who have waited a long time to see this national mandate come into force,” he said. “We’re no longer an industry in its infancy. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve achieved an adolescent stage and there’s more to come.”

Read Full Story

Thursday, September 23, 2010

State-by-State Report on Renewable Energy in the 50 US States. RenewableEnergyFocus.com

15 September 2010

The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) has released a state-by-state report on renewable energy in the 50 US states.

Renewable Energy in America: Markets, Economic Development and Policy in the 50 States has been published as an online resource, compiling financial, renewable energy resource potentials, market and policy information in an online format.

Read Full Story

Monday, September 20, 2010

Microbial Breakthrough Impacts Health, Agriculture, Biofuels. ScienceDaily.com

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010) — For the first time ever, University of Illinois researchers have discovered how microbes break down hemicellulose plant matter into simple sugars using a cow rumen bacterium as a model.

"This is ground-breaking research," said Isaac Cann, associate professor in the U of I Department of Animal Sciences and member of the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) in the Institute for Genomic Biology. "The implications are very broad, yet it all started with a simple rumen microbe. It's amazing how we can draw inferences to human health and nutrition, biofuel production and animal nutrition because of our new understanding of how a microbe works."

The cow rumen is an excellent model to study as it's one of the most efficient machines to deconstruct plant matter, Cann said. Microbes in the rumen break down plant matter into glucose and xylose to use as nutrients for fermentation and energy acquisition.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

World's top 15 electricity producers... Rediff.com

The world is already in the grip of a major power crisis. With the developing nations' appetite and demand for more energy, the situation is likely to get even worse if steps are not taken to find alternate and clean/green sources of energy.

Almost all natural resources that are used to generate power -- oil, gas, even water -- seem to have limited availability. Thus alternative sources of energy -- wind, nuclear, solar -- might be the way out for the developing as also the rich countries.

After the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, many nations pledged to reduce their carbon emissions. Developing countries, including India and China, believe it is the responsibility of wealthy industrialised nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States to cut more carbon emissions as they have already achieved a certain standard of living.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Tips on Seeking a Renewable Energy Degree. RenewableEnergyWorld.com

With jobseekers across the globe considering clean energy careers, how do they know where to begin?
Published: September 13, 2010
New Hampshire, USA -- September is back to school month for many in the U.S. and elsewhere. As one season fades into the next, it's time for new beginnings and fresh thinking. Change is in the air and for some that means thinking about a career in clean energy. 
 
Many analysts predict that by 2020 the global clean energy economy will top one trillion dollars. With that much money on the table, it’s no surprise that people all over the world are wondering how they might join this vibrant new field. And green jobs may be more lucrative, too. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, green jobs pay an average of 10 to 20% more than other jobs.

“Green expertise makes an excellent overlay on almost any existing career,” said Kristen Bacorn, a nationally recognized educator and LEED certified building expert.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Hamilton: Green jet fuel takes flight. TheStar.com

By Tyler Hamilton
Energy and Technology Columnist

Could a unique microorganism found in the waters of Atlantic Canada represent the future of jet fuel production?
That’s what Halifax-based Ocean Nutrition Canada is hoping to find out as part of a four-year demonstration project funded by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC).
The company, which is the world’s largest supplier of Omega-3 fatty acid supplements, has discovered a kind of super-algae that, according to experts, is dramatically more efficient at producing oil than other types of algae being used for biofuel production.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Methane Reduction from Cattle. EnvironmentalNewsNetwork (enn.com)

From: Andy Soos, ENN
Published: September 9, 2010

Methane is a significant green house gas that can lead to global warming. It is also commonly produced by many animals including humans and cattle.

Cow belches, a major source of greenhouse gases, could be decreased by an unusual feed supplement developed by a Penn State dairy scientist. Belching (also known as burping) involves the release of gas from the digestive tract through the mouth. It is usually accompanied with a typical sound and an odor.

Many other mammals, such as cattle, dogs, and sheep also burp. In the case of ruminants, the gas expelled is actually methane produced as a byproduct of the animal's digestive process. Anaerobic organisms such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) and methanogenic archaea produce this effect. An average cow may emit between 542 liters and 600 liters (if in a field) of methane per day through burping, making commercially farmed cattle a major contributor to the greenhouse effect.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Student Biodiesel Initiative Begins. TheBioenergySite.com

US - The next generation of scientists in the US is gearing up to lead America's energy efforts with biodiesel at the forefront.
Student scientists from Dartmouth College to Oregon State University are leading a new Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel initiative. The group has formed to demonstrate and grow support for biodiesel among tomorrow's scientific leaders.

Lucas Ellis of Dartmouth, pursuing his Master of Science in Biochemical Engineering, is one of four co-chairs of the effort.

"In college there is an eagerness to become an advocate or have a cause, and mine was the environment, science and educating others about sustainability," Ellis said. "Biodiesel combined all of those and became my passion."

Cellulosic Ethanol—Biofuel Beyond Corn. TheBioenergySite.com

Fuel ethanol production in the US is expected to exceed 7.5 billion gallons before 2012, writes Nathan S. Mosier from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University.
This represents a doubling of ethanol production from 2004, which consumed approximately 10% of the corn produced in the U.S. in that year. Increased demands for domestically produced liquid fuel is increasing competition between animal feed and fuel production uses of corn.