Alternative Fuel

PHOENIX- With the price of oil still above $100 a barrel, everything from wood chips to chicken fat is being scrutinized as an alternative to traditional fuel. But when it comes to airplanes, finding the right mix poses a special challenge."When you're in an airplane, you don't want your fuel to start solidifying," said Robert Dunn, a Department of Agriculture chemical engineer who is studying biodiesel jet fuel.The airline industry is aggressively pushing for homegrown alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuel, while leaning on custom ...

Rising fuel costs are driving some fleet vehicle owners to consider going green by retrofitting or purchasing vehicles that run on advanced fuels.Last Wednesday, the Hocking College Energy Institute offered a one-day workshop entitled "Advanced Vehicular Fleet Fuels" to provide basic information on the advanced fuels currently on the market for fleet vehicles. In addition, this event was "designed to connect public and private agencies with possible partnering agencies as well as funding organizations for vehicle conversion and refuel ...

CORNING - With gasoline prices stuck in the upper range of the "pain at the pump" scale, many owners of flex fuel vehicles in the Hawkeye State have turned to a less expensive and cleaner-burning alternative - E85.E85 ethanol is used in engines modified to accept higher concentrations of ethanol. Such flexible-fuel vehicles are designed to run on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85 percent ethanol by volume.During a 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. special promotion and celebration Friday, vehicle owners may purchase up to 30 gallons of ...

A year ago, Southern Illinois economic development leaders held a meeting where big plans for alternative fuel factories dominated the discussions and confident predictions about groundbreaking dates became the big news.Not a single shovel-full has been turned, however, and the three projects that were making headlines, including a $3.4 billion coal gasification plant just north of Cairo, Ill., are all apparently dead.The other two projects, a biodiesel plant at the Bunge Corp. soybean facility in Cairo and an ethanol plant in Pulaski ...

Bi-County Solid Waste Management has found a way to both generate revenue and provide a source of alternative fuel."We have reached an agreement with a company that wants to use mulch as an alternative fuel source," Director Pete Reed stated in a June 4 press release.Temple Inland, a paper company in New Johnsonville, will burn the mulch, which will serve as an alternative energy source to help operate its boiler, Reed said."We're trying to do what we can to cut costs," Reed said. "This will actually generate revenue and seemed to mak ...

Alternative fuel becomes more practical this week with the opening of a dozen E85 pumps across metro Atlanta. There are now just three stations in the metro area where drivers can fill up with E85, a gasoline-ethanol blend.The opening of so many stations in a market at one time is unprecedented, said Michelle Kautz, deputy director of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, a nonprofit group promoting use of E85.E85 will sell for $1.85 a gallon from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.Don't expect E85 to save you a lot of money after that, however.The c ...

MIDLAND -- Wind or coal? Residents got to hear opposing viewpoints about energy at a special forum.Peter Sinclair, a lifelong Midland resident and advocate of environmental awareness, spoke on climate change and renewable energy in Michigan.Janet Vanderpool, LS Power project development manager for Mid Michigan Energy, outlined the coal-fired power plant proposed for Midland.They spoke to nearly70 attendees recently during a presentation called Coal Impact Forum: Michigan's Future Energy Sources.Sinclair talked about global warming an ...

CHICAGO, May 23 (UPI) -- Restaurants are filling up more than stomachs as U.S drivers turn to used grease as an alternative fuel to skyrocketing gasoline costs, market analysts say.Increasingly, restaurants are being paid for their used cooking oil, instead of having to pay someone to take the discolored, food particle-filled goop away, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.Not so coincidentally, sales for kits that allow diesel-powered cars to run on the spent cooking oil also are on the rise.Rising energy prices greased the wheels for ...

CORVALLIS (AP) - A small Oregon startup company developing new technology to convert waste wood and grass into biofuel has won a $100,000 federal grant.Trillium FiberFuels is testing a new method for making cellulosic ethanol from fibrous plant material.The U.S. Energy Department grant last week was the only one made to an Oregon company by the agency's Small Business Innovation Research program.Trillium was one of 360 companies receiving a total of $36 million nationwide.The grant money will boost the renewable fuel company's credibi ...

Jet Express, which operates a fleet of catamaran ferries, has installed solar panels at its main facility. PORT CLINTON, Ohio (AP) - A ferry company that carries tourists to the Lake Erie islands is searching for alternative sources of fuel to offset rising gas prices.Jet Express, which operates a fleet of catamaran ferries, has installed solar panels at its main facility. The company also plans to apply for a grant that would pay for a switch to biofuel, an environmentally friendly combination of biodiesel and hydrogen."Fuel's a very ...

UPS has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles, in addition to another 300 compressed natural gas vehicles for its U.S. delivery fleet. The purchase of the 500 additional vehicles means the UPS alternative fuel fleet will grow to 2,218 low-carbon vehicles.UPS's "green fleet" operates in the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom and has traveled nearly 144 million miles since 2000. The fleet includes electric, hybrid electric, CNG, liquefied natural gas and propane-powered vehicles. The company als ...

As gas prices have shot up, so has interest in two-wheel transportation, say Northern San Joaquin Valley bicycle shop owners.Whether commuters are buying new bikes so they can park their vehicles, or bringing in ones taken down from the garage rafters to fix up for the same reason, what's good for Shell and Chevron also has been good for bike shops."Most people only drive four or five miles to work around here," said Nick Blackwood, assistant manager at Fun Sport Bikes in Modesto. "So they figure, 'Why drive?' "On Tuesday, AAA of Nort ...

Symposium in Akron is providing insights into possibilities for future sources of energy It took nearly 80 years to create a light bulb that could be commercialized for home use, and Thomas Edison and his predecessors faced a lot of skeptics along the way.Similarly, fuel-cell technology has been decades in development, but high are the hopes that a global energy crisis has finally provided the motivation to push fuel cells to their full potential. This week, hundreds of believers have assembled in Akron to share their successes, creat ...

If you are looking to make your engine more efficient, it turns out you can create your own hydrogen boost.Channel 2's Meteorologist Mike Alger created his own water engine using a couple of mason jars, stainless steel wire, plexiglass frame, a bunch of irrigation tubing, water, and some baking soda. Alger says he found some directions online and after $100 and a couple of weeks he built the contraption on his own kitchen table.Tuesday was the first day Alger tried the water engine and so far his car is running great, he even sees cle ...

United Parcel Service Inc. has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles and 300 compressed natural gas vehicles for its U.S. delivery fleet.The Atlanta-based package delivery company (NYSE: UPS) said Tuesday that the purchase of the 500 vehicles means the UPS alternative fuel fleet will grow by 30 percent to 2,218 low-carbon vehicles from the current from 1,718."Alternative fuel research and development is just one of the ways that UPS is mitigating climate change risks," Bob Stoffel, UPS corporate sustainability officer, said in a news r ...

Las Vegas, NV - Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVi) recognized outstanding leadership in the alternative fuels and vehicles industry as part of the opening day of the 14th Alternative Fuels & Vehicles Conference + Expo 2008. The awards honor excellence in individuals and/or organizations that have advanced the use of alternative fuels, vehicles or advanced technologies resulting in clean alternatives to petroleum. The AFVi 2008 award winners are as follows:AFVi Gold Mettle 2008 Marcy Rood Werpy accepted the award for her signifi ...

Expert on alternative fuel strategies for business identifies the leading myths concerning high fuel costs and fuel shortages. These myths hinder the development and deployment of alternative fuels including ethanol, methanol, butanol, di-methyl either (DME), bio-diesel, straight vegetable oil, bio-methane, hydrogen, natural gas, propane, and synthetic liquid fuel. The author argues business managers should educate themselves so they can begin to address alternatives to rising fuel costs and shortages affecting their business. Sausali ...

Consumption of new fuels including gasohol surged dramatically in April, as consumers continued to seek ways to reduce the impact of high oil prices.The use of alternative fuels reduced gasoline and diesel consumption by an average of 3.83 million litres daily in April, according to the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO).Veerapon Jitrapraditkul, the EPPO director, said that if the trend continued, the country's overall energy bills would be reduced by 42 billion baht for the year, a calculation based on an average petrol price o ...

State tax board has processed fewer than 70 of the required "fuel supplier" licensesDave Eck, a Half Moon Bay mechanic, attracted a media spotlight with his fleet of vehicles fueled by used fryer grease from a local chowder house. So when Sacramento called, he figured officials wanted advice on promoting alternative fuels.Not at all. The government rang to notify Eck that he was a tax cheat.He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier's license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns, and paying a tax on ...

The price of oil hit another record high Wednesday topping $123.00 a barrel. Those frightening numbers have many school districts rethinking their use of diesel-powered buses. The Rail Road Commission is traveling across Texas encouraging school districts to switch to alternative fuel buses. Several school district transportation workers loaded a propane-powered school bus Wednesday for a test drive. Officials from the RRC say, because propane is a Texas produced fuel, distict's are looking at a savings of nearly $2.00 per gallon if t ...

TUPPER LAKE - The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack Energy $mart Park Initiative (E$PI), recently announced that they will hold the North Country Woody Biomass Conference on May 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake.The conference is $40. Pre-registration is required, and space is limited.Woody biomass for heating is a renewable and carbon neutral source of energy that is locally produced from on-going timber harvests and sawmill/forest products manufacturing operations.For more inf ...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Swift Enterprises Ltd. has unveiled a new general aviation fuel that is less expensive, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendlier than any on the market, said co-founder John Rusek.The general aviation industry includes all flights other than military and scheduled airline flights, both private and commercial. Data on Swift Enterprises' 100 percent renewable general aviation fuel was presented April 28 at an annual meeting of an international committee that oversees aviation fuel standards. Unlike current bi ...

Engineering Academy students from Schurr High School competed last month against mostly college engineering students, including UCLA, Penn State, Purdue University as well as those from Mexico and Canada.And they came out on top.They were one of only four high school teams who competed in the two-day 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas at California Speedway in Fontana.The Schurr students placed first in the liquid propane fuel division for their fuel-efficient prototype vehicle.And by doing so, they made history.Schurr was the first tea ...

Will ''alternative'' energy ever dethrone oil as the king of fuels?That question came more than 150 years ago, when the king of fuels was oil -- whale oil. Back then, Nantucket and New Bedford were the Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi of whale oil production. People once thought that it would last forever.It doesn't take an economist to notice the rumblings of historic change pushing close to the surface once again. Demand for oil is growing faster than supplies and so, oil prices reach dizzying new highs day after day. If this trend contin ...

DES MOINES, Iowa, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Applying lessons learned in the classroom, eighth grade students from Denison (Iowa) Middle School have developed a mini-car that is powered by solar energy.And the car works, as the 11 Denison students demonstrated Friday night in Des Moines, much to their delight.The students are participating in Smithfield Foods' Learners to Leaders(TM) program and also are enrolled in Iowa State University's (ISU) Science Bound program. As part of the Learners to Leaders and Science Bound programs, the De ...

MONTREAL -- With gas prices on the rise, some motorists are turning to an unusual source -- the deep fryer -- to avoid paying big bucks at the pump.One Montreal mechanic converts diesel vehicles to run on cooking oil that can be obtained from a restaurant, often at no charge."Since fuel prices went up, the phone started ringing off the hook,'' said Marc Amsden, owner of EcoAuto garage.With some analysts predicting gas to hit $1.50 a litre across Canada, the former Volkswagen mechanic expects to have a busy summer.Many of Amsden's cust ...

The city of Reno showed its "green" side Friday morning as several city-owned alternative-fuel vehicles and machines were on display at 10 N. Virginia St.The goal, officials said, was to highlight the city's commitment to make environmentally-friendly practices a top priority.About a dozen vehicles were on display including Toyota Prius hybrid cars, a diesel Kubota 4X4 that is solar-powered and an ethanol E85 police car that runs on 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol, said Bruce Mullin, fleet manager for the city's public work ...

Startup ethanol producer Coskata Inc. and its partner, General Motors Corp., plan to have a $25 million demonstration plant up and running in the area by early next year.The $25 million demonstration plant is expected to be up and operating by this time in 2009 in Westmoreland County. Officials say it will produce 40,000 gallons of cellulosic fuel, or bio-fuel, to be tested in General Motors vehicles.Governor Ed Rendell says the expansion of cellulosic facilities could create more than 25,000 jobs and 6.6 billion in Pa. revenue.The pl ...

With gas prices hitting a nationwide average of $3.57 this week, alternative fuels are receiving a lot of interest across the country.The campus' Earth Week celebration drew to a conclusion last night when Michael Tamor, executive technical leader of hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicle technology for Ford's research and advanced engineering department, discussed alternative fueling with students, faculty and community members in the Union Theater.There is a 40 year supply of oil from proven reserves, with much more oil esti ...

ATLANTA - Georgia's thousands of acres of pine forests could supply as much as 20 percent of the state's demand for motor fuel, and a forest of offshore windmills could fill some of the electricity needs, but alternative sources aren't likely to help the state cope with the current spike in energy costs, experts say.As gasoline prices passed $3.50 per gallon and Georgia Power Co. asked regulators to OK another $222 million boost to cover increases in the cost of fuel it uses to generate electricity, consumers hoped for alternatives. B ...

It's an alternative to the alternative.Holding a jar of thick brown syrup, Jim and Lisa Highfield open the lid and a fruity aroma fills the air. It's homemade sorghum syrup and it's not bad on pancakes, they say.Sweet sorghum, in refined form, might also be the next thing you pump into your car at the gas station."It's the second generation of bio-fuels," said Lisa Highfield. "It's an alternative to using corn to make ethanol."The couple who own a cash crop farm just off of Highway 40 on Holt Line have been given $223,000 by the feder ...

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c89159) has announced the addition of "Strategic Analysis of European Market for Alternative Fuel Vehicles" to their offering.This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Strategic Analysis of European Market for Alternative Fuel Vehicles provides market share, penetration rates and market size for alternative fuel vehicles. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the following markets: flex fuel vehicles, ...

The price of gasoline hit another record in San Diego County this week, driven by steady hikes in the cost of crude, the Automobile Club of Southern California reported Friday.The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline reached a record $3.755 Wednesday, erasing the previous record of $3.675 set last Friday. The price has since dropped one-tenth of a cent and stands at $3.754 Friday, 7.9 cents more than last week, 17.5 cents more than last month and 45 cents more than at this time last year."California gas prices have ...

When gas prices climbed past $3.25 last month, Megan Jones parked her car and began catching the bus to Southwestern College of Business in Dayton."I don't drive to school or around the corner anymore," said Jones, 19. "If it's a close distance, I'm walking over there."In the latest bit of bad news for cash-strapped consumers, the Energy Information Administration predicts average gasoline prices will shoot up to $3.60 a gallon in June and average $3.54 per gallon over the summer driving period - an increase of 60 cents a gallon over ...

California is offering rebates of up to US$5000 to consumers who purchase alternative fuel vehicles between May 24, 2007 and March 31, 2009 or until funding runs out.$1.8 million in rebates are scheduled to be granted statewide by California Center for Sustainable Energy, an independent nonprofit organization based in San Diego.Owners of Vectrix electric motorcycles may qualify for up to $1,500 and Global Electric Motorcars owners may receive $950 and $1,300. The largest rebates will go to owners of full-sized zero-emission cars, whic ...

Officials tour alternative-fuel facilityBright sunshine played off the large outdoor storage tanks Monday at Lake Erie Biofuels, while inside, a maze of pumps, pipes and tanks churned out the usual day's production of 130,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel."I must have read a million things about this place, but until you see it, you don't get a full understanding of it," said Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.Yablonsky led a delegation of local and state officials on a tour of ...

Newly released sales figures from R.L. Polk reveal a record number of Alternative Fuel Automobiles (AFAs) rolled off dealer lots in 2007. In total, close to 1.8 million AFAs were sold last year, roughly 250,000 more than were sold in 2006. Sales of E-85 capable/flexible fuel vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles were up significantly while clean diesel vehicle sales fell slightly."Gas prices, consumer incentives, and the increasing number of AFA models available to consumers continue to play a role in the rising popularity of these ve ...

For Canton High School students Jon Clark and Jake Santilli, building an E-85 powered vehicle is all about going fast. It has little to do with America's quest for alternative fuels.E-85 is the name for fuel made of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol is made from various plants, including corn."It burns twice as fast as regular gas. It boosts power rather than saving gas,'' said Clark, a senior.But going fast is the point when you're racing, Santilli, a junior, said.The two, along with others in Jim O'Connor's and Mic ...

For $2,000, that bus could be riding at 5 cents a gallon.When LeeTran buys diesel for its 46 buses, 12 trolleys and 41 para-transit vans, it is at the mercy of the cost of a fossil fuel that only gets more expensive as supplies dwindle. The agency is expected to spend $2.5 million on diesel in 2007.A different transportation operation - New Horizons of Southwest Florida in Bonita Springs - hopes to be free of those kinds of expenses soon, as it has enlisted a volunteer to convert its newly purchased bus to run on used vegetable oil.Jo ...

GM exec to push for more filling stationsGeneral Motors Corp.'s leading proponent of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles will challenge the energy industry and governments to commit to developing a public hydrogen fueling infrastructure when he addresses the National Hydrogen Association's annual conference in Sacramento, Calif., today.In his keynote address to the conference aimed at ramping up commercialization of hydrogen, GM Vice President of Research & Development and Strategic Planning Larry Burns is expected to urge cooperation from go ...