Clean Energy's posts with tag: biodiesel
May 20, '08 Gaza:‘Green’ Groups Oppose Use of Cooking Oil in Cars (IsraelNN.com) Environmentalist groups in Gaza have begun a campaign against the use of cooking oil in cars. Dozens protested on Sunday near the offices of the Al-Damir rights group, calling on residents of Gaza to avoid using cooking oil in vehicles. The oil creates toxic fumes that are extremely harmful to human health, protestors said. Many residents of Gaza have converted their engines to allow their cars to run on cooking oil due to a shortage of gasoline in the area. The supply of gasoline to Gaza is often cut off due to terrorist attacks on Israeli crossings, but cooking oil, which is considered a humanitarian need, continues to enter the area despite terror attacks.
| By Karin Kloosterman August 24, 2007 There may be a revolution blowing our way: The Israeli company Seambiotic has found a way to produce biofuel by channeling smokestack carbon dioxide emissions through pools of algae that clean it. The growing algae thrives on the added nutrients, and become a useful biofuel.
For the last two years, the company has done something that other alternative fuel companies have dreamt about and are only starting to do now: they've tested their idea with an electric utility company - a coal-burning power plant in the southern city of Ashkelon operated by the Israel Electric Company (IEC).
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Looking high into the sky, it is far too obvious how badly power plants and factories are polluting our environment. One of the most worrying gases produced by power plants today is carbon dioxide, which is believed responsible for global warming.
In Israel, as in the US and the rest of the world, it is estimated that power plants produce about 40% of all greenhouse gases. By employing tactics designed by nature, however, Seambiotic believes it can lock up carbon dioxide emissions through a process called biofixation. And they have employed a slimy plant from the algae family to do the job.
Algae are marine-derived plants that thrive on carbon dioxide and sunlight.
"Algae grow fast and continuously," says Seambiotic CEO Amnon Bechar. "An algal pond can produce oil 365 days a year and much more oil per hectare of land than traditional plant crops."
Studies have shown that algae may be one of the world's most promising biofuels. It is capable of producing 30 times more oil per acre than the current crops used for the production of biofuels; algae biofuel is non-toxic, contains no sulfur, and is highly biodegradable.
The company's prototype algae farm in Ashkelon uses the tiny plants to suck up carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Seambiotic's eight shallow algae pools, covering about a quarter-acre, are filled with the same seawater used to cool the power plant. A small percentage of gases are siphoned off from the power plant flue and are channeled directly into the algae ponds.
Originally when the prototype started operating, a common algae called nannochloropsis was culled from the sea and used in the ponds. Within months, the research team noticed an unusual strain of algae growing in the pools - skeletonema - a variety believed to be very useful for producing biofuel.
According to Noam Menczel, Seambiotic's director of investor relations, the company's developments have stirred interest around the world, specifically in Brazil, which has become one of the champions of R&D in the area of alternative and renewable fuels.
"A Brazilian professor wrote to us recently, 'if that algae of yours has the better features as you say it does, we will close our sugar cane operations and switch to algae,'" said Menczel.
If all goes according to plan, Seambiotic plans to build its first large-scale biofuel reactor by next year and hopes to do so with a large international partner. Several potentials are already knocking on the door.
Menczel reports that Seambiotic is meeting with electric plant operators from Hawaii, Singapore, Italy and India, all keen on hearing about Seambiotic's technology.
"As we have already developed and produced algae through the process, our main goal is to market the installation and development of our unique algae growing system around the world," notes Menczel, who adds that Seambiotic's approach includes a special system to filter out heavy smoke.
IEC senior engineer Gabriel Jinjikhashvily says that besides offering their coal-burning site as a pilot plant for Seambiotic, the power station also lends its know-how to help fulfill the company's dream. And in return, the IEC is getting some vital experience from Seambiotic.
Recently, the IEC became part of a European consortium, working with universities from Holland, Germany and France, aimed at developing new water technologies in the scope of climate change - project GLOWA 'Global Change in the Hydrological Cycle'.
"Seambiotic provided an opportunity for us to test the applicability of membranes [gas filters] developed by our European consortium, where we aim to separate carbon dioxide from the other flue gases," said Jinjikhashvily.
"The greatest problem today when dealing with carbon dioxide emissions is separating them from the other gases. The target of this multi-national group is to develop new membranes that are both cheap and efficient," he added.
According to Seambiotic's CEO Bechar: "By raising the level of carbon dioxide emissions in the water we increased the yield [of algae] one million-fold compared to the natural state in the sea."
While Seambiotic's approach may be novel, using algae for biofuel or "biofixation" is not a new idea. An Israeli scientist now in the US had a similar idea for cleaning emissions and joined US-based GreenFuel some time ago. Earlier this year, GreenFuel announced that it would be building a prototype for a Louisiana power plant in New Roads. But current reports on funding issues, suggests that the fate of this project is not clear.
When the project was announced David Crane, the CEO of the Louisiana plant said: "Coal is - and will remain - the premier domestic fuel source for power generation purposes in the United States for the foreseeable future. This means it is incumbent on us not only to build new coal plants using technology which limits or eliminates greenhouse gas emissions but also to find the best way to retrofit the country's existing fleet of coal plants for post-combustion carbon capture."
John Laumer, an environmental consultant from Philadelphia and a writer for TreeHugger.com thinks that algal farming, when it aligns closely to that found in nature, will give the most promising results.
"The use of cooling ponds and other artificial, shallow impoundments; and to learn how to cultivate and harvest sequential blooms. This is the path that will be proven economical and environmentally acceptable," he says.
This appears to be the approach taken by Seambiotic, which has modestly spent only $2 million on R&D funding up until now. Knowing how to use investment money, concludes Menczel, is the strength of Israeli entrepreneurs:
"This is Israeli ingenuity for you - knowing how to conserve investor dollars. In Israel, we have creative ways for taking short cuts and don't always live by the rules. This approach allows us to do much more with much less resources."
In the context of climate change and a future energy crisis, let's hope Seambiotic uses its creativity and resources to make algae the next big thing. Perhaps even one day, the slimy green stuff that we scrape off of our boats and fish tanks, may be worth as much as gold. |
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Link: http://www.electricitybook.com/Bill Anderson shows how to make your own electricity frm solar cells, etc.
Plud a free e-book with instructions to make biodiesel from used cooking oil.
|  | Renewable energy has become a major factor in farming. Cows produce a lot of methane. |
Continue explaining how to make biodiesel default.htm (1 KB)
How to make Biodiesel default.htm (1 KB)
By Karin Kloosterman June 24, 2007
 |  Ormat's CEO Yehudit 'Dita' Bronicki with her husband Lucien: We started working in clean technology a long time ago - in 1965 well before anyone had ever heard of this market. | Daryl Hannah rides around in her 1983 El Camino making it sexy; Willie Nelson sings about it and brews his own recipe; Woody Harrelson says he is addicted to it: Biodiesel - the hip, new and responsible car fuel of the 21st century and one of today's hottest biotechnology products that environmentalists can't enthuse enough about. The Israeli alternative and renewable energy company, Ormat, is poised to accelerate the biodiesel market and take the use of biodiesel out of the realm of celebrity and environmentalism and into the mainstream. Ormat recently unveiled a new biodiesel formulation that overcomes all current limitations of the fuel. | The company expects its biodiesel will be in gas stations within the next two years. After 40 years of pioneering new forms of energy around the globe with her husband Lucien, Yehudit "Dita" Bronicki, Ormat's CEO is revving her company's engines to help phase out polluting, traditional diesel.
"We have developed biodiesel which has the same features as conventional diesel, but that can be used in engines with a concentration of 100 percent biodiesel and without changing anything in the car," says Bronicki, who co-founded the company with Lucien in 1965.
Biodiesel can be plant or animal-based, but it is usually made from soy or canola oil. It is a renewable energy source, which burns cleaner than regular diesel, is less toxic than table salt, and helps curb America's dependence on foreign oil.
Its use also helps cut down on greenhouse gases, the major contributor to global warming.
While use of biodiesel is increasing in the US, the fuel is currently limited. Cars that run on diesel, especially older ones, often need to be retrofitted with a special device for the fuel to be processed properly; and in most cases, only a small proportion (between 2 and 5 percent) of the biodiesel can be used in a traditional diesel mix- as per car manufacturer warranty.
And although Ormat expects its biodiesel to be more expensive than traditional diesel in the beginning, Bronicki believes there will be government and state incentives in the US for promoting its use.
"Biodiesel is better for the environment because it is made from renewable resources and has lower emissions compared to petroleum diesel," advocates the National Biodiesel Board in the US.
She may already be of retirement age in the US, but Bronicki, who manages a company with a net worth of over $1 billion looks both in body and spirit like she is just getting started in the renewable and alternative energy field.
Bronicki retells the company's beginnings. "We started working in clean technology a long time ago - in 1965 well before anyone had ever heard of this market. We were never hippies, though," laughs Bronicki when asked about what inspired her. "We were always square people with a clear vision that we wanted to do something in which Israel could excel."
Today Ormat has realized its vision. It is one of the most important alternative and renewable energy companies in the world, especially in the areas of geothermal energy and energy recovery.
They also have a stake in a multi-billion dollar project with OPTICanada to refine heavy oil spread throughout the Alberta tar sands in Canada. Ormat owns the technology which the Canadian company will be using.
"People need fuel security and fuel diversity," Bronicki told ISRAEL21c. "We are talking about having independence from Middle East oil in countries like Canada and the US - what we are doing is an important step in making that happen."
In the area of geothermal energy (taking heat energy from the earth and converting it into usable energy), where Ormat derives most of its income, the 700 man company has commercialized a technology called the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC).
The ORC enables the production of electricity not only from steam, but also from hot water. Ormat has 11 such energy plants around the world with several at US locations in Nevada and California; Ormat has also built similar units in a Kenyan wildlife reserve taking giraffes into consideration and building structures that the animals can walk around.
"Geothermal power usually follows consumption needs and because of that we generally build our plants in populated areas," says Bronicki, whose plants produce about 360 Megawatts of power-enough energy to serve about 500,000 people.
Energy recovery is the company's second most important area of business. Ormat has built a turbine technology that fits to heat-generating factories.
"These turbines collect heat that would otherwise be wasted," says Bronicki, who notes that the heat from cement kilns and other industrial processes salvaged by the Ormat units equates to about 50,000 pounds worth of fossil fuel saved each day.
She adds, "Most of our applications are along natural gas pipelines which use waste heat collected from gas turbines that drive the compressors." Energy clients include Basin Electric in North Dakota, Southern California Edison, and Sierra Pacific Power in Nevada.
The energy collected either goes back to serve the customer's needs or it is sold to utility companies for general use.
Ormat is also manufacturing small gas-fired units for telecom along pipelines, for example along the trans-Alaskan pipeline where such units are in operation for 30 years.
With words such as "carbon neutral" entering the world's lexicon in recent years, the Bronickis are not surprised to see the cleantech revolution taking form. "We believed in it and have been working in this area for 40 years. Finally today," says Bronicki, "there is the awareness that cleantech issues come to mind."
Bronicki recognizes her company's importance but she believes it will take more than one company's good intentions and deeds to reverse environmental pollution and global warming. "Ormat is only one drop in the bucket," she says. "And that bucket should be a cooperative effort of policy makers, and people who influence public opinions in the US and around the world."
Talking to ISRAEL21c from her American office in Nevada where she commutes to regularly, Bronicki however, is very positive about the future.
"Public opinion is evolving all the time," she says. "I am sure a change will come about using biodiesel, ethanol, geothermal, recovered and other alternative and renewable energy sources. Awareness is more important in the US than any lobby group."
Karin Kloosterman is a freelance reporter living in Israel.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Environmental policies can help to boost the economy, create new jobs and new revenue streams
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.press.release.page&obj_id=130268 Speaking to the Renewable Energy Association's Micro-Renewables Conference 2006, the Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, said:
"Man-made climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenges we face. Its consequences aren't just environmental – they're economic too. Ignoring the scientific consensus simply won't do. It won't do for our environment and it won't do for the economy.
"As smart companies and politicians have always known – today's problems are tomorrow's opportunities. Protecting the environment doesn't have to come at the expense of profits and economic growth. Environmental policies can help to boost the economy and create new jobs and new revenue streams.
"The global market for new energy products and services – including micro-renewables – may potentially be worth trillions of pounds over the course of this century. What a fantastic opportunity for British companies and the British economy. This is exactly the type of high technology, value-added sector that we could be excelling in. But in this country we're falling behind our competitors. We're failing to make the most of this fast growing market.
"American companies are leading the way in bringing affordable renewable technologies to the market. That's why, next week, I'll be in Silicon Valley visiting some of the pioneering green energy companies based out there, building on bright ideas coming out of Stanford University.
"We need bold and effective action. Other countries have shown us how it can be done – by creating a stable tax and regulation framework that encourages the development and installation of new environmental technologies and by reforming the planning system and energy infrastructure to enable a wider uptake of micro-renewables."
George Osborne MP
08/06/2006
| | Energy in the form of methane gas, ethanol, biodiesel, etc. from grass, manure, vegetable waist, garbage, etc |
| | Biodiesel from Jatropa, used cooking oil, algae, etc. Ethanol from corn, wheat, biomass, etc. |
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