Soy beans on the left, and corn, on the right, are being used for bio-fuel. Photo by cindy47452.

Today, Brenda Gorman reports in the New York Times about a rash of cases involving the bio-fuels industry in which industrial waste is improperly disposed, fouling rivers and streams in states like Alabama and Missouri. The title of her article suggests the internal contradictions of a purportedly green business that harms the environment: “Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a ‘Clean’ Fuel.” As Ms. Gorman writes,

The discharges [from the bio-fuel plants], which can be hazardous to birds and fish, have many people scratching their heads over the seeming incongruity of pollution from an industry that sells products with the promise of blue skies and clear streams.

For more of TheCityFix’s coverage on bio-fuels, click here, here, here, and here. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Photo by gisleh from Flickr.

On Friday, the US House of Representative voted 235-181 to approve a major energy bill that would substantially raise fuel efficiency standards for the first time since 1975 when the OPEC oil embargoes, triggering oil shortages and long-lines at the pump, drove Congress to increase fuel economy.

Under the new bill, fuel economy for cars and light trucks would rise 40% from its current level of roughly 25 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon by the year 2020. While the change would be significant, it’s still a far cry from the much more ambitious aim of European nations to achieve 38 miles per gallon for gasoline-fueled vehicles by 2008. Japan, another country with fuel efficiency standards, is more in line with the Europeans, aiming for 35 miles per gallon by 2010.

In addition to increased fuel efficiency, the bill also mandates the introduction of 36 billion barrels of ethanol into the national fuel mix by 2022. It also includes new energy efficiency standards for buildings, which account for nearly 40% of the nation’s energy use. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

A man making his own biodiesel. Photo by Mike Murrow from Flickr.

In Kilmarnock, Scotland, bus passengers will soon be able to pay their fare with used cooking oil instead of cash. Eight buses carrying over 15,000 passengers a week will run on 100% biodiesel generated from used cooking oil and tallow, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by an anticipated 82% and virtually eliminating air-polluting sulfur emissions. As an added incentive to boost the program during its six month trial period, free containers will be provided to those who want to take their used cooking oil to a nearby recycling plant in exchange for discounted bus fare. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

In the United States, corn is widely sought as an alternative to oil. Photo by tlindenbaum from Flickr.

The agrarian arms race to turn larger swaths of farmland over for the production of biofuels recently reached rhetorical heights as Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, argued that it would be a crime against humanity to use productive soil to produce fuel and not food when hundreds of millions of people go hungry each year. “It’s a crime against humanity to convert agriculturally productive soil into soil which is producing food stuff which will be burned into biofuel,” he said at a press conference last Friday.

Calling for a five year moratorium on bio-fuels, Mr. Ziegler’s comment came at a time when more and more politicians are looking to energy made by corn, sugarcane, and palm as an alternative to oil.

We’ve covered the environmental impacts of biofuels here, here, and here, but this is the first time that we’ve heard someone make the case against biofuels on the grounds of fighting hunger.

Share This

This weekend EMBARQ participated in the 5th Annual AltWheels Festival , which is the largest alternative transportation and energy festival on the east coast of the U.S.

Held on Boston’s City Hall Plaza, this year’s AltWheels was a flurry of activity featuring everything from homemade biodiesel cooperatives to web 2.0 ridesharing company GoLoco to plug-in hybrid manufactures to Moonbeam, a contender for the Automotive X-Prize.

One highlight was an appearance by the Mayor of Boston, Tom Menino, who announced a new diesel retrofit grant program for Boston, promised to plant over 100,000 trees in Boston over the next 12 years, and to make Boston the most bike friendly city in the country.

Share This

Will biofuels lead to deforestation? Photo by Mike Warren.

When it comes to fighting global warming, biofuels are all the rage these days. Just ask Richard Branson, the hot-air baloon adventurer, whose post-industrial empire includes Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Limousines, Virgin Active and almost any other word that can come after “Virgin.” That’s because Mr. Branson, after watching Al Gore’s famous PowerPoint, has become “obsessed with alternative energy” and plans to invest up to $3 billion of his personal fortune into bio-fuels. Is this a strategic miscalculation?
Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

In an Earth Day special, MTV’s Pimp My Ride will feature the greening of a ‘65 Chevy Impala. During this very special episode of Pimp My Ride the crew will be replacing the original engine of the Impala with a 800 horsepower diesel engine that will run on biodiesel. While this should be entertaining, chances are it won’t touch EMBARQ’s Mexico City Diesel Retrofit video Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

On March 26, Lee Schipper, Director of Research at EMBARQ, waded into the cacophonous debate over biofuels during a presentation at the World Bank.

Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are often touted as a panacea for a host of environmental and energy-related problems. This hot topic has even become a centerpiece of high level geopolitics, as evidenced by President Bush’s recent trip to Brazil, where ethanol was a principle area of discussion. Brazil is currently one of the world’s leading ethanol producers, and during Bush’s visit the two countries agreed to collaborate on improving the technologies and markets for this alternative fuel. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This