Via Autoevolution

According to Auto Evolution, the trial will take a two-year period with a view to demonstrate the potential for large-scale investment in DME produced from biomass.

Bio-DME is produced from several types of biomass. When it’s made from natural gas, it’s called simply DME. Bio-DME is estimated to achieve a reduction of 95% in carbon emissions. It is also less noisy compared with traditional engines. The Volvo trucks are being fuelled with Bio-DME produced from black liquor, a by-product of the pulp industry.

The fuel will come from Chemrec’s pilot plant in Piteå, which will have the capacity to produce four tonnes of Bio-DME a day. The opening ceremony will take place tomorrow.

Filling stations will be built by Preem and the first one was inaugurated in Stockholm yesterday (September 7). Other stations will be opened in Göteborg, Jönköping and Piteå.

“From an over-riding perspective, Bio-DME is one of the most promising second-generation biofuels. It provides both high energy efficiency and extremely low emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Volvo Trucks Environmental Director Lars Mårtensson.

The EU believes Bio-DME could replace half of today’s diesel usage for heavy commercial transportation by 2030.

For the 2.5 million Vietnamese who don’t have access to electricity, solar power may provide some hope.

Three percent of Vietnam’s population live in very remote villages and don’t have access to the grid. But according to a report by industry newsletter Thin Film Today, the Hanoi government in May entered an agreement with Schneider Electric Vietnam to build a solar power station in Quang Binh, in the north of the country. The station will use concentrated photovoltaic to provide electric power.

The project was described as “non-profit” and it “aims to minimize the negative effect on the environment and promote the use of green, clean, sustainable energy.”

It is a small-scale project with a 11kW capacity that will benefit 35 households. But it is part of a national drive to power those excluded by the grid.

The Qaung Bihn project eventually will be compatible and connectable to the regular grid. It is part of the suggestively named Bip-Bop (Business, Innovation & People at the Base Of the Pyramid) program, a community-based scheme to bring sustainable electricity to rural areas across the globe. This will be the first Bip-Bop program in Vietnam.

Source: Thin Film Today. To find out more about Bip-Bop, please visit their website.

Image: Propel

The station development project is known as Low Carbon Fuel Infrastructure Investment Initiative (LCF13). Propel will match the grant with $16 million in private investment. Besides the environmental benefits – displacement of 39 million gallons of petroleum and 187,500 tons of CO2 emissions per year – LCF13 has the potential to create over 450 green jobs in California.

“This grant brings a new choice to Californians looking to do their part to reduce our nations’s dependency on imported oil and help meet the state’s emission reduction goals”, said Propel Fuels’ CEO, Matt Horton.

The project funding was awarded by the U.S. DOE Clean Cities’ Petroleum Reduction program (approximately $6.9 million) and California’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology program ($4 million). Both sources of funding have as their goal to reduce petroleum consumption and gas emissions by increasing the use of renewable sources of fuel. California has the largest fleet of alternative fuel fleet vehicles in the United States.

In conjunction with the new station build-out, Propel will work with CALSTART and East Bay Clean Cities to educate consumers and fleets on the advantages of clean fuel and to increase awareness of current and future options.

“More than one million and Flex Fuel passenger cars are capable of running on renewable fuels, but there hasn’t been a sufficient number of renewable fuel stations”, said John Boesel, CALSTART’s President and CEO. “This program takes a major step forward.”

Construction work has already started in major markets across California. The 75 stations funded by the project are expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

To find out more please visit Propel

Via Ecofriend

Vegetarians will love this car. The bio composite material is made from Hemp mats produced by Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) in Edmonton Alberta from hemp stock grown in Vegreville, Alberta.

“We saw a unique opportunity to make significant advancements in the automotive sector and support the Canadian Auto Sector by providing sustainable products and opportunities to create new green manufacturing jobs.” Quite.

Motive says the goal is to achieve the same mechanical properties as glass composites and a reduction in weight as well.

“Natural materials such as hemp can offer a green and sustainable alternative to conventional fibers used in composites”, says AITF’s Dr. John Wolodko.

Formula One and road going vehicles already use composite materials, which have been found to have strength and safety benefits above that of steel.

Motive designed Kestrel to participate in Project Eve, a Canadian initiative to stimulate the production of electric vehicles and their components in Canada. More information about the project will be announced during Vancouver EV 2010.

Photo: Steve Punter

“When people think of themselves, they may tend to think of what they can do that is cheap and easy at the moment,” said Shahzeen Attari, postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the university’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. She added that experts are failing to communicate what they know about the potential of investments in technology and have focused instead on recycling and turning off lights. “That is, keeping the same behaviour, but doing less of it.”

An example that Dr. Attari gives as efficient action is switching to high-efficiency light bulbs, which can be kept on and still save more than cutting down on the use of low-efficiency ones.

To find out more about energy-efficient products, please visit Energy Refuge’s store.

Source: Earth Institute

Via WikiMedia

To follow up on the theme, we spoke to the City of San Jose’s Tech Policy Strategy Scott Green about energy efficiency and what San Jose is doing about it as part of its Green Vision program. The city is keen on accelerating energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings by connecting the technology, policy and physical infrastructure “beyond individual cases of experimentation or implementation.”

ER: What can be done to reduce energy consumption by buildings, which now account for 40% of the total?
SG: Make them smarter! Use high performance materials, and integrate disciplines and technologies at the earliest possible stage of design. Silicon Valley has companies leading the way in this regard. Energy monitoring and control technologies, sensors, automated continuous commissioning. These include wireless pneumatic thermostats, next-generation lighting and fenestration technologies. Accelerating the commercialization of technologies in this space is critical as is working to design program level approaches to address existing building stock. With respect to public buildings, we need to ensure that publicly financed buildings incorporate best available technologies to reduce energy consumption. Finally, we need to raise awareness. Profile industry leaders, demonstrate payback periods for advanced building energy efficiency technologies, raise the profile and importance of demonstration leaders that help technologies/companies prove concept, raise capital, and scale quickly.

ER: How does green building fit in with the City of San Jose’s Green Vision?
SG: Ensuring sustainable construction and promoting green building practices are an essential component of our Green Vision. An estimated 40 percent of the community’s total energy use and 16 percent of its water goes to buildings. We can change this by building green or retrofitting our existing buildings to reduce energy and water use and incorporate sustainable construction materials. This will significantly reduce our carbon impact. In 15 years, San Jose will be home to 50 million square feet of green buildings. We recently opened the first green community center, the Starbird Teen Center, and plan to do much more. The City also has adopted aggressive standards for requiring green building practices for City facilities and will work with private-sector partners to ensure sustainable developments.

ER: Can we get to a point when buildings will be carbon neutral?
SG: This is certainly the goal. Many local governments have already implemented green building standards for public and commercial projects, as well as programs designed to conserve resources and reduce waste and GHG emissions We have many examples of buildings in San Jose that have incorporated high levels of sustainable design. Updates to California’s new Title 24 building energy efficiency standards also increased building energy performance standards, as well as water conservation and waste reduction requirements for all types of projects. We have perhaps the first zero carbon emissions, zero energy structure in San Jose in IdeAS (Integrated Design Associates, an office building in San Jose). The leadership examples are out there.

ER: Besides the environmental benefits, what are the economic advantages of adopting energy efficiency innovations?
SG: Whether new construction or retrofitted structures, these buildings helping to meet San Jose Green Vision goals will meet high environmental standards, such as achieving a U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) certification. These energy efficient buildings will provide a showcase for local Clean Tech products as well as innovations in green building materials, local commitment to sustainable practices, and the fiscal benefits of building green.

Via Gainesville.com

Citizens are challenging a state agency approval of Gainesville Renewable Energy Center incinerator, being proposed by the Massachusetts based international joint venture, American Renewables, LLC.

The coalition is led by Dr. Thomas Bussing, former mayor of Gainesville, who intervened to enter testimony in the trial in order to prevent harm to human health and the environment from the incinerator.

The GREC incinerator will burn trees to make electricity. Opponents assert that local residents, particularly children, will suffer harm from the toxic emissions generated by burning wood at the Gainseville site.

Dr. Ron Saff, a medical doctor from Tallahassee, Florida who specializes in asthma, provided deposition testimony in the case. According to Dr. Saff, the pollution from biomass plants causes asthma and heart attacks, cancer, shortens lives and poses a health risk to Gainesville residents.

According to the GREC permit application and the citizen petition, air pollutants from the incinerator will include particulate matter, including PM 2.5, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), acid gases, sulfur compounds, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, PCBs and dioxin-like compounds. Opponents say the incinerator will violate state laws prohibiting objectionable odors, poses a risk of fires in the wood chip piles, and will emit dangerous greenhouse gases.

American Renewables says a study by an independent forestry consultant confirmed that “fuel resources within this radius are more than adequate to fuel the project. GREC will comply with the Florida Division of Forestry Best Management Practices, and has agreed to additional standards to foster improved nutrient retention and overall forest health.”

The record of the hearing can be viewed here.

Via: FreeSpeech

The InterAcademy Council, an umbrella group for various national academies of science from countries around the world, concluded that IPCC has changed little since its inception 20 years ago. In order to avoid future mistakes, such as the controversial 2007 claim about the disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 and improve the organization’s transparency, the committee suggested a sweeping reform of the Panel.

The review, which took nearly four months to be completed, examined every aspect of how the IPCC’s periodic climate science assessments are prepared, including the use of non-peer reviewed literature and the reflection of diverse viewpoints. The review also examined institutional aspects, including management functions as well as the panel’s procedures for communicating its findings to the public.

Amongst the suggestions by the 12 scientists that took part of the review are the creation of an executive board to follow closely Rajendra’s decision and the appointment of a renowned scientist to take over a director role. These will be debated at IPCC’s next meeting in October when the organization will be launching its fifth report on climate change.

IPCC published a release on its website saying “it will be strengthened by the IAC review and by others of its kind this year. We already have the highest confidence in the science behind our assessments. We’re now pleased to receive recommendations on how to further strengthen our own policies and procedures … By overwhelming consensus, the scientific community agrees that climate change is real. Greenhouse gases have increased markedly as a result of human activities and now far exceed pre-industrial values.”

Via International Rivers

Now, Brazil’s President, Lula, has signed a contract allowing the construction of Bela Monte on the Xingu River to go ahead. He said it was victory for Brazil’s energy sector.

But opponents say that Belo Monte, which will be the third largest dam in the world, will devastate the local environment and threaten the lives of thousands of indigenous people living in the area because their land and food sources will be seriously damaged.

Former secretary of environment of Sao Paulo State, Walter Coronado Antunes, has come out in public to say that Belo Monte is “the worst engineering project in the history of hydroelectric dams in Brazil, and perhaps of any engineering project in the world”.

Lula can expect protests to go on and they are likely to become increasingly loud. Alongside environmentalist, indigenous protesters have travelled to Brasilia to protest the signing of the contract. A coalition of organizations have published a declaration against the Belo Monte dam and described the project “death sentence for the Xingu River’ and a ‘scandalous affront to international human rights conventions, Brazilian law and the Brazilian constitution”.

Hydroelectric power is listed as a type of renewable energy, but projects like Belo Monte raise serious questions about their environmental sustainability.

Source: Survival International

Via: Vivbizclub

Petrobras will provide $11 million to adapt KL Energy’s demonstration facility to the use of bagasse and validate, by means of tests, the optimized process for producing cellulosic ethanol. The goal is to integrate a bagasse-based cellulosic ethanol plant into a sugarcane mill in Brazil by 2013.

KLE’s unit uses wastewood as feedstock and can be optimized for multiple feedstocks.

The agreement provides for mutual exclusivity in the area of developing cellulosic ethanol from bagasse. Petrobras will have the option to enter into a technology license for the use of KLE’s technology within Petrobras Group assets.

The deal is part of Petrobras’ plans to develop alternatives for the production of biofuels and renewable, sustainable chemicals to complement initiatives already in progress, such as research with microalgae to produce oil.

“Brazil is a global leader in the production of affordable biomass and bagasse, which we believe is a perfect feedstock for our process. KLE plans to be at the forefront of the emerging cellulosic ethanol market in Brazil,” said Peter Gross CEO, of KL Energy Corporation.

“Petrobras views cellulosic ethanol as a very promising technology to improve the sustainability of our sugarcane mills and substantially increase ethanol by some 40% without increasing the land area required to produce it. This agreement with KLE will considerably accelerate this development effort”, said Miguel Rossetto, CEO of Petrobras Biocombustível.