NewNergy

Bay Area in the USA has more Toyoto Priuses than most states in the US. So it is not surprising that Carolyn Coquillette came up with the idea of Hybrid Specialty Garage called the Luscious Garage. That's right, this garage specialises (and does only) in hybrids. It also offers a nice carrot - it can change your hybrid to all-electic plug-in (or a hybrid plug-in) at a reasonable cost.

While it appears that she has not quite turned the financial corner with her business, it sure is a good beginning for a region that wants to go all-electric.

Labels: autos, hybrids, usa

Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany have made a breakthrough by converting wood into sugar molecules, which can then be used to produce ethanol, a biofuel. The new method comes as researchers in Germany are stepping up their efforts to find innovative ways of tapping bioenergy sources to address growing concerns about the merits of using food crops or agricultural land for biofuels because of their impact on food prices and the environment.
Additional research areas include looking for breakthroughs in technology to turn wood into gas or other forms of energy, to use biomass for cooling, and to use old wood to prepare pellets.

For the method of conversion and more

Labels: biofuels, ethanol, research

Energy & Environmental Research Center of North Dakota says it has produced a sample of a 100 percent renewable jet fuel. The research was funded by U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to meet its requirement for JP-8 jet fuel. The researchers added that they can also make it for Jet A, commercial aviation equipment. They also added that algal-oil-to-fuel projects research is also being conducted.

Source: http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2139

Labels: biofuels, research

Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois planted 25 acres of pennycress at their project site in Mapleton. Pennycress is a winter plant that produces large amounts of seeds. The seeds contain oil that researchers say makes and excellent energy crop. They believe that large-scale production for commercial biodiesal manufacturing will begin with crops planted in 2010, which could give farmers a boost in income.

Dr. Peter Johnson with Inovacom Partners, says, "The seed contains about 36% oil, so it's a great crop for making biofuels. Then it also leaves you time to plant soybean in spring so you can double crop. This represents a whole new income stream to farmers."

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The world's first commercial aviation flight powered by a sustainable second-generation biofuel moved a step closer this week.

The jatropha-based fuel to power one of four engines on the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400, has arrived at the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, UK, for testing prior to the flight.

Preliminary data shows the fuel meets all required specifications for use in commercial aviation and a technical team led by Rolls Royce is now putting the fuel through a rigorous testing process to further validate its specifications.

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Labels: airlines, biofuels, jatropha

Many scientists around the world are investigating methods of liberating the energy held within lignocellulose.

Lignocellulose comes from woody plant biomass; it is the most widespread source of carbon in nature. However, current lignocellulose-to-bio-ethanol processes are not deemed economical.

Lignocellulosic material comprises cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Cellulose and hemicellulose are polymers of fermentable sugars. They are put through a process of hydrolysis to convert them into sugars, which can ultimately be refined into bioethanol. They can also be treated thermochemically through gasification, combustion or pyrolysis to create high-value energy or chemical products.

Some research teams are developing yeast strains that can produce a combination of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes (enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose), required for lignocellulosic hydrolysis. Its aim is to develop the yeast strains to be able to directly convert pretreated lignocellulose into ethanol and other fermentation products in a single-step process called consolidated bioprocessing.

With a view to provide a solution to the problems caused by sudden dips in voltage in from wind energy, Jesús López Taberna, an industrial engineer and member of the INGEPER Research Team (Spain) has put forward in his PhD two protection techniques so that wind generators continue to be operative despite breaks in electricity supply.

Jesús López Taberna specifically proposed in his PhD thesis two effective protection systems. Both have been patented. The first, only requiring changing the control of the machine converter, has been transferred to a manufacturer for its introduction into wind farms worldwide; the other requires changing elements inside the machine, so it is still in study with the idea to apply it in the next generation of wind turbines.

For more info

Labels: research, technology, wind