biofuel

New York to Power Buildings Using Renewable Energy

- Adam Clare

Mayor Bloomberg shows no sign of slowing down his drive to reduce New York City’s carbon emissions, which is of course a good thing. He’s now set to announce that municipal buildings in NYC will switch to solar power and move from dirty regular oil to a less-damaging biodiesel. Other mayors (and North American federal leaders!) should follow NYC’s example of emission cutting.

On Monday, Bloomberg said the city will issue a request for proposals for a pilot program to install solar panels on city-owned buildings in hopes of generating 2 megawatts of solar capacity _ offsetting about 320 tons of emissions per year, equal to taking more than 50 U.S. cars per year off the streets. The city will not pay for the installation but will buy electricity from the provider.

Virgin Trains Introduces First European Biodiesel Train

- Adam Clare

thanks google!Sir Richard Branson owns a lot of companies and he has previously mentioned that he wants to fight climate change and cut back on emissions. It appears that he’s sticking to his word as Virgin Trains is running a biodiesel train in Europe and plans to switch more trains to biodiesel if this test run goes well.

If running biodiesel isn’t enough, the trains also produce energy!

From their press release:

In addition to the environmental benefits of the Voyager trial, Virgin’s Pendolino electric trains return 17 percent of the power they use to the national grid every time they brake, making the Pendolino fleet one of the most efficient in the world. Over the course of a year this is enough to power 11,825 homes. These trains emit 76 percent less CO2 than cars or domestic flights.

Bio-Cars from Bio-Schools

- Shealyn 1 Comment

The University of Guelph, known for its agriculture and science, had teamed up with three other Ontario Universities to develop an eco -friendly car.  With recent support from the Ontario Government, this project is well on its way to creating great strides for a healthier Canada.

” The concept is a step closer to reality today with the announcement that the provincial government is investing nearly $6 million in the BioCar Initiative, a multi-university project led by the University of Guelph.

“The BioCar initiative aligns some of the most distinctive innovation capacity in Ontario,” said Alan Wildeman, vice-president (research). “It involves a consortium of universities working with two of the largest industries in Ontario, the automotive industry and the agricultural industry. This combination provides an unprecedented opportunity for the province to be seen as a major contributor to the global biobased industrial revolution that is occurring.”

Support for the project will come from the Ontario Research Fund and was announced today in Toronto by Premier Dalton McGuinty, minister of research and innovation.

“It’s a whole new way of looking at agriculture and a whole new relationship between the sector and Ontario’s economy,” said plant agriculture professor Larry Erickson, one of the lead researchers. “It opens the door for a lot more approaches and utilization of crops. Now, agriculture is more than meat and potatoes; it’s car parts, building materials, fuel and more.”

Algae is Good Green Goo

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

algaeLong time readers of ThingsAreGood may know that we like to talk about algae. Today is no exception, Living on Earth is running an interview with a man who dearly loves algae, particularly burning algae for biofuels.

“Berzin grows algae because they’re super rich in oil. In some species, oil accounts for half the little creature’s body mass. In fact, algae synthesize 30 times more vegetable oil per acre than plants like sunflowers or rapeseed. The algae biodiesel can be used to run engines, or converted into methane or fermented into alcohol. And here’s the best part: algae eat carbon dioxide for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And one thing the global warming world has too much of is CO2 from fossil fuel burning power plants.”

Algae Clears the Air

- Adam Clare

A rocket scientists has found a way to use algae in smokestacks to clean the smoke, and what’s more the byproduct of the algae is biodiesel! This means that corporate profit lovers can clean the air and make money off of it.

The algae consumes 60% of CO2 emissions from the test stacks and the smoke contained 86% less nitrous oxide!

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