Biofuel

Crossing the U.S. on Ten Gallons?

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URBEE is a return to fundamentals, a rethink of traditional automotive design and manufacturing. As a species endangered by our own actions, we must quickly learn to stop burning fossil fuels. Surely, the ultimate goal of Design is to serve the ‘public good’. Therefore, corporations and individual designers have a responsibility to offer products that … Read more

Growing the Cleantech Workforce

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Around 100 students are expected to enroll this year in EDGE (Educating and Developing Workers for the Green Economy), a public-private partnership that offers industrial and technical certificate programs in biofuels and biotech production, analysis and processing. EDGE’s first certificate course began in March at MiraCosta community college in northern San Diego County, and a … Read more

Algae Fuels — From Drops to Gallons

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In Australia, Aurora Algae opened its demonstration facility in Karratha, Western Australia, where the Company’s algae-based biomass is being harvested for products in the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, aquaculture and renewable energy markets. “This would not have been possible with a U.S.-based production facility,” said Greg Bafalis, CEO of Aurora Algae, “where we believe the climatic conditions … Read more

The 3.0 Phase of U.S. Biofuels

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With projects like Sapphire Energy’s drive to put a huge algae-fuel production facility in the Mexican desert, you’re seeing the first building blocks of world-scale capability for these fuels. Margaret McCormick, the co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Matrix Genetics said, “I think that microorganisms can solve most of the problems of the world. If you … Read more

BP says plans to invest in biofuels this year

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ST. GALLEN, Switzerland (MarketWatch) — BP PLC’s (BP.LN) plans to invest $1.5 billion in biofuels in 2011 but won’t do so at the expense of food security in the countries where it does invest, Chief Executive Robert Dudley said Friday. “It is our policy…We will not invest in biofuel, in corn-based ethanol, on lands used … Read more

Eating Garbage & Excreting Crude Oil

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LS9’s bugs are single-cell organisms, each a fraction of a billionth the size of an ant. They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli, but LS9 modifies them by custom-de-signing their DNA. Using genetically modified bugs for fermentation is essentially the same as using natural bacteria to produce ethanol, although the … Read more

Life Form That Turns CO2 to Fuel

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“We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock.” Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter. Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such … Read more