As entrepreneurs turn their attention to second generation, non-food biocrops, a new potential issue arises. Many of these plants, like Jatropha, are basically weeds that can grow anywhere. Will these weeds escape from biofuel harvesting areas and become invasive species, like kudzu?
The New York Times examines the issue in today’s paper.
“Some of the most commonly recommended species for biofuels production are also major invasive alien species,” the paper says, adding that these crops should be studied more thoroughly before being cultivated in new areas.
Controlling the spread of such plants could prove difficult, the experts said, producing “greater financial losses than gains.” The International Union for Conservation of Nature encapsulated the message like this: “Don’t let invasive biofuel crops attack your country.”
To reach their conclusions, the scientists compared the list of the most popular second-generation biofuels with the list of invasive species and found an alarming degree of overlap. They said little evaluation of risk had occurred before planting.
“With biofuels, there’s always a hurry,” said Geoffrey Howard, an invasive species expert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. “Plantations are started by investors, often from the U.S. or Europe, so they are eager to generate biofuels within a couple of years and also, as you might guess, they don’t want a negative assessment.”
The biofuels industry said the risk of those crops morphing into weed problems is overstated, noting that proposed biofuel crops, while they have some potential to become weeds, are not plants that inevitably turn invasive.
“There are very few plants that are ‘weeds,’ full stop,” said Willy De Greef, incoming secretary general of EuropaBio, an industry group. “You have to look at the biology of the plant and the environment where you’re introducing it and ask, are there worry points here?” He said that biofuel farmers would inevitably introduce new crops carefully because they would not want growth they could not control.
Popularity: 10% [?]
California based OptiSolar has announced the construction of a new eco-friendly solar operation that will produce a staggering 550 megawatts of electricity from thin film solar. The current largest solar plant in the US is at Nellis Air Force Base, and produces 14 megawatts of power. The new plant will provide enough electricity to light up 190,000 homes.
The construction of the solar farm, scheduled to begin in 2010, will be designed from the start for minimal impact to the environment. The construction is expected to take three years.
The panels are low profile, standing less than 5 feet off of the ground for low visual impact. The company is consulting with the California Department of Fish and Game as well as the US Fish and Wildlife service to minimize the effect on local wildlife.
The project will be located in San Luis Obispo County, California and should go a long way towards meeting California’s goal of meeting at least 20 percent of their electricity needs with renewable resources.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Sungri, California based solar panel company has announced the development of a new concentrated photovoltaic panel that should revolutionize the solar energy industry. The XCPV system (Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics) is designed to provide whole electricity cost at the rate of 5 cents per kilowatt hour. The system uses a lens to focus sunlight onto the photovoltaic panel to for greater output. The panels are also designed to not depend on silicon for their construction further reducing the cost per kwh.
The company announced the development of the new panels at “The National Energy marketers Association’s 11th Annual global Energy Forum” in Washington D.C.
“Solar Power at 5 cents per kWh would be a world-changing breakthrough,” said Craig Goodman, president, National Energy Marketers Association. “It would make solar generation of electricity as affordable as generation from coal, natural gas or other non-renewable sources, without requiring a subsidy”
“In a little more than a year we were able to develop and successfully test XCPV,” said Robert S (Bob) Block, co-founder and SUNRGI principal. “We expect the SUNRGI system to become available for both on and off-grid power applications, worldwide, in twelve to fifteen months”
Popularity: 11% [?]
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Nissan plans to introduce a number of electric cars in the United States by 2010.
Nissan, an alliance partner of Renault SA of France, will launch electric vehicles in the U.S. and Japan in 2010, and globally by 2012, Mr. Ghosn said at a Nissan event in Portugal. He said he expects the market for electric vehicles to grow strongly due to high oil prices, a new awareness of environmental issues and breakthroughs in battery technology.
Eventually, Nissan “will have a whole lineup of electric cars,” he said. “The electric car is not a niche product for us.”
Mr. Ghosn said battery-technology advances have given the electric car sufficient range to make it a viable mode of transport for the shorter journeys often made by commuters in big cities. Globally about 10 million vehicles are being used in this way, he said.
High oil prices and the willingness of governments to give tax incentives for so-called zero-emission vehicles can change the economics of owning an electric car and make it “cheaper than gasoline,” Mr. Ghosn said.
Nissan and Renault are in talks with “companies, governments and cities,” to see what kind of incentives can make the introduction of zero-emission vehicles more attractive, he said.
Mr. Ghosn expects new areas of business will open as electric vehicles become more widespread, including making the batteries and providing access to batteries and electricity. Moving beyond merely making cars could see “a change of the business model” in the auto industry.
I have my wallet out and I am ready to purchase an electric car that costs $50K or less, has a range of at least 60 miles, similar safety features as a regular car, and a top speed of at least 70 mph. Here in Dallas where I live, electric cars would make a big difference with air quality issues alone, and I’d love to see cleaner air here.
Let’s hope we’ll see a real electric car that people can actually purchase in the next year or two! (Yes, Tesla and Phoenix Motorcars, the “can actually purchase” jibe is aimed squarely at you. Won’t it be embarrassing if Nissan beats you to market?)
Popularity: 12% [?]
Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company Limited is a Canadian company started in 1937 to produce ground wood pulp, adding paperboard in 1946. Today they make 100 percent recycled paperboard products with power generated from their own hydro power plant. It’s estimated that their plant saves over 10 million cubic feet of landfill space a year. So what better recipient of a government program to produce diesel from recycled plastics?
On April 2, 2008 Premier Rodney MacDonald announced that the Canadian province would be investing up to 20 million in Minas Basin’s new green programs.
“We are committed to investing in innovative and resourceful companies that contribute to job growth, a green environment, and a strong economy for Nova Scotia,” said Premier MacDonald. “Minas Basin is taking a leadership role by helping to ensure environmental sustainability for this province.”
With this investment by the Government the company will be able to invest $27 million in capital investments.
“This assistance from the province allows us to enter the next phase of sustainable restructuring for Minas Basin,” said Scott Travers, Minas Basin president and chief operating officer. “It will create significant operational savings and increase the supply of renewable energy for Nova Scotia.
Details on the process that will be used at the Minas Basin facility were not readily available.
China began converting waste plastic into diesel in 1999, and since then have been importing large amounts of plastic waste that would otherwise go into landfills.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Previously we talked about Jatropha as a new biodiesel source here, here, and here. Now The Naples Daily News reports that My Dream Fuel LLC is has been cultivating a Jatropha SW Florida. Jatropha produces four times the fuel per acre than soy and ten times more than corn. Paul Dalton, a former attorney owns the company and says demand is great:
“There are about 100 buyers for every gallon you produce,” he said.
Dalton already has close to a million plants in the ground and hopes to plant another million before June and is in the process of opening a 15,000 square foot seed crushing and plant cloning center in Ft Myers. The seeds of the of the plant are crushed in order to make biodiesel.
My Dream Fuel is one of the first companies to bring large scale planting to the US of Jatropha, a plant native to Mexico and South America. The company expects to be able to turn out plants at the rate of one million per month
“We studied our mother trees that we use to clone for over six years, and we have over 500 of them. So we have the largest bank of mother trees in the world, of any company,”
“We know of a couple of groups from New York and from Spain that want to plant in Texas and Brazil. So in the next couple of weeks, we may exhaust our current supply,” Dalton said.
Dave Wolfley, the owner of Sunshine Biofuels is working towards establishing a fuel plant. He has been campaigning to convince local farmers to take a chance on the new fuel crop and has a few ready to try it.
Jatropha evangelist are targeting citrus groves in Florida with diseased trees and cattle ranchers looking to branch out. With the reported ability of this plant to grow in nearly any environment that is a lot of land in a lot of the country that these plants could be grown on.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Photo courtesy of brentdanley at Flickr.com.
Where some people see heat mirages on a highway, others see potential energy savings. A company in the Netherlands has developed a way to use asphalt roads to produce energy. Considering the number of miles of blacktop we have worldwide, think about how much energy we could generate by adopting this technology!
Photo courtesy of arnitr at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Photo courtesy of laure_et_carlos at Flickr.com.
Green wine sounds about as appealing as green eggs and ham (which, coincidentally, IHOP is currently offering), but a group of wine producers in the Languedoc region of France has come up with an unusual and environmentally friendly way to ship their product.
Soon, a fleet of ships will be at work carrying French wine to Dublin and crushed glass back for recycling. For each bottle, 4.9 ounces of carbon emissions will be prevented (at 60,000 bottles per trip, that’s more than 18,000 pounds or more than 9 short tons). To put it another way, each of these 4 day sailing trips will reduce emissions of CO2 equivalent to what an average car produces in a year. Now that’s something worth toasting to with a tall glass of wine!
Photo courtesy of RR de Facto at Flickr.com.
Popularity: 7% [?]
2 Apr 08 |
It’s that time of year again - HGTV is giving away a custom built home with amazing features. This year, the dream home embraces a number of green technologies.
These features include:
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On the HGTV website, there’s an interactive map of the green home, video tours, and links to more information about energy and water saving innovations. Oh, and you can also enter to win the home. Good luck!
Popularity: 9% [?]
In Oakland, California there exists a non-profit organization with an emphasis on collaboration between art, industry and community. The Crucible serves as a studio for sculpture and a foundry and metal fabrication shop teaching classes in art…both the gallery and industrial kind. It’s a very special educational facility that, for the first time in my life, makes me wish that I lived in Oakland.
Since May 2006, the 56,000 square foot studio has been getting a huge part of it’s electricity from a 34-kw photovoltaic system. Energy not used by the Crucible is sold back to the grid through net metering.
“As a community organization, a cornerstone of our mission is to be environmentally sustainable in supporting the arts. As a nonprofit organization, our high energy needs also motivated us to look into ways to alleviate that cost. Undertaking a solar energy project fit right in with both of these goals.”
Michael Sturtz,
Executive Director of The Crucible
The system puts out roughly 63,000 kwhr per year, saving $27,700 from May of 2006 through October 2007…roughly $2,000 dollars a month during the summer.
The total solar project cost of approximately $260,000 was covered by individual donations from The Crucible’s supporters, financing of $106,000 by SafeBidco, and a one-time $119,525 rebate through PG-E’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).
But The Crucibles environmental interest doesn’t end with photovoltaic. They’ve been working on a subject near and dear to my heart…a biodiesel motorcycle.
I’ve been wanting a diesel, and by extension, a biodiesel motorcycle for years now. Royal Enfield in India actually had a production diesel motorcycles that sometimes make it across the pond, and if I can ever get my hands on one, you can bet I’ll jump at the chance.
But we’re not talking about a little around town bike with an industrial water pump motor shoved into the frame. The Crucible’s Die Moto set the diesel motorcycle land speed record of 130MPH running on B100 biodiesel.
The motorcycle was built using a BMW motorcycle frame and a BMW V6 diesel car motor, not normally available in the US.
The team is hoping to break their own record with another run at Bonneville in the future, expecting to get it up to 160 mph. Although Die Moto is designed to break records, the real story is that environmental responsibility and alternative technology can result in a high performance motor vehicle.
Popularity: 7% [?]