Algae biofuel is one of the most promising alternative fuels on the market – so far we’ve seen cars and even planes adapted to run on it. The main drawback thus far has been high production costs and energy usage – until now. Using a new “cost-effective harvesting method” featuring microbubbles, a team from the University of Sheffield believe they have found a way to make algae a more commercially viable fuel source.
Shipping giant Maersk has been making a number on interesting efficient improvements in its containers ships as of late, and now is testing algae-biofuels as well: Right now the Maersk Kalmar is en route from Northern Europe to India running a blend of algae-biofuel and petroleum-based fuel.
During the 30-day trip, over 6500 nautical miles, a variety of blend percentages will be tested, including testing how well the ship performs on 100% biofuel. Emissions of greenhouse gases as well as particulate pollution are being monitored along the route as part of the test as well.
The U.S. Navy’s Self Defense Test Ship has successfully arrived at its port, powered by an alternative fuel blend. Docking at Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme, it completed a 17 hour test voyage which ended at 10:37 a.m. this morning. The decommissioned Spruance-class Paul F. Foster destroyer was converted to run on 50% algae-derived fuel.
The Alaska Air Group is joining the commercial aviation biofuel movement.
The airline launched two flights yesterday running on a blend consisting of 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent petroleum-based fuel. The sustainable biofuel used for the blend was made from cooking oil.
One flight was via a Boeing 737-800 plane from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and the other a Bombardier Q400 plane headed from Seattle to Portland, Ore. Both planes were flown as part of a program to fly more than 75 flights on a cooking oil-based biofuel blend within the coming weeks on Alaska Air’s Alaskan Airlines and Horizon Air carriers.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is estimated at 380 ppm and that needs to come down to 350 ppm to limit the global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. And most scientists agree is the acceptable upper limit. A higher temperature would cause the world’s ocean levels to rise and inundate coastal regions all over the world, threatening many dense human habitations. The global CO2 emissions in 2010 were 40 billion tons and continue to rise as more fossil fuel burning power plants are built. Many growing industrial activities and the rising vehicles on the road all continue to emit CO2. This growth cannot be halted as the population from the poorer parts of the world attempts to lift its standards of living.
The government has given the go-ahead to a huge wood-burning plant which it claims will provide power for a quarter of all Welsh homes, sparking outrage among green campaigners who fear British forests could eventually be lost.
Charles Hendry, the energy minister, said the 300MW power station on the coast of Anglesey would provide a “secure, flexible and renewable source of power” while creating hundreds of jobs. The Holyhead biomass facility would help Britain meet its renewable energy targets.
But Friends of the Earth argues this is just the first of a huge number of new schemes which could create as many environmental problems as they cure.
Earlier this year Dutch airline KLM began experimenting with fuel alternatives for its planes, and now it’s looking to do something similar for vehicles on the ground.
KLM has teamed up with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to invest in a more sustainable way to operate vehicles at airports. Currently 40 percent of all of the ground vehicles at the airport utilize biodiesel, which, just like the alternative plane fuel, is made from reused cooking oil.
What kind of technologies will evolve in the 2030s, and even the 2040s, to transform our fuel, food, and materials choices, and lead us towards some of the fuel targets outlined for 2050 by the International Energy Agency? In looking that far down the line, we have some long term trends to guide us.
With the scarcity and rising costs of fossil fuels, alternative fuel sources have become more popular. Also, global awareness of environmental issues has made everyone to look out for alternative sources of energy which are clean and green and biodiesel appears to be the best option that is available. The best feature of biodiesel is that it can be prepared from used cooking oil and that too at your home with the use of minimum resources and technology. However, at present a vehicle that uses a diesel or turbodiesel (TDI) engine is the only widely available way for consumers to make use of vegetable oil biofuel. But still, the importance of biodiesel cannot be ignored as making biodiesel is environmental friendly, it encourages the concept of recycling and last but not the least, the process is cost effective. By simply following the steps given below, a backyard biodiesel manufacturer can make hundreds of gallons of biodiesel within a period of 24 hours.
If this Brazilian feasibility analysis works out as planned, jet fuel might move over to the sweeter and greener side of the environmental ledger.
Two aircraft manufacturers – Boeing and Embraer S.A. – have joined with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in announcing they will jointly fund a sustainability analysis of renewable jet biofuel made Brazilian sugar cane.
Last month, IDB announced a regional cooperation grant to help public and private institutions develop a sustainable jet biofuels industry.
Follow