Cow Tummies May Hold Key to Unlocking Biofuels

One of the major obstacles of biofuel production today is that the actual process of turning a plant into a usable energy source is time consuming and costly. Well, scientists at the US Department of

Scottish Researchers Transform Whiskey into Fuel

Don’t drink and drive, but feel free to let your car party all it wants! After two years and $400,000, researchers at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland have successfully turned whiskey into

E. coli Bacteria Could Be the Next Source for Cheaper Biofuels

E. coli may not be the smartest thing for your body to ingest, but this bacteria could be just the thing to get vehicles up and running around more efficiently. A team of researchers at LS9 — a

EADS Develops First Algae Fuel-Powered Aircraft

We’ve seen algae-powered cars and biofuel-powered planes, but European aerospace company EADS is the first to combine the two with an algae fuel-powered aircraft. The company’s twin-engine

Sewage Sludge Biodiesel Costs Just 10¢ a Gallon More Than Petrol

Photo courtesy American Chemical Society The key difference between biofuels that are truly green and those that aren’t is the source material: is it genuinely waste, or is it something like food or

Bio-Grow Uses Electronic Waste to Make Algae for Biodiesel

Talk about sustainable multi-tasking. Not only have students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a device that cultivates algae for biofuel production, they’ve made it out of

Ground Broken on a Test Pilot Plant for Fuel Sweating Organisms

A Massachusetts company is moving forward on a test pilot facility for fuel sweating plant production — yes, that’s right these plants sweat diesel. They’ve created gene altered single

New Gasification Process More Efficiently Converts Biomass to Biofuels

A traditional gasification plant Turning biomass like switchgrass and other plants into usable fuel is no easy feat. Gasification, one method of converting feedstocks to fuels, traditionally produces

First Train Fueled by Beef Biodiesel Hits the Rails in Texas

The nation’s first commuter train using a cleaner renewable biodiesel fuel blend launched yesterday as Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer chugged from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Fort Worth, Texas on a

Engineers Develop Carbon-Capturing Photosynthetic Frog Foam

It may seem too good to be true, but engineers from the University of Cincinnati have devised a way to capture and remove CO2 out of the air and then convert it into biofuel building blocks. The engineers

Sundrop Fuels Uses Concentrated Solar Heat to Vaporize Biomass

The technology sounds ultra-futuristic: concentrated solar heat that can vaporize biomass (wood, crop waste, etc.) into synthetic fuels. But the process, developed by Sundrop Fuels, is real, and it can

Tobacco: The Next Big Biofuel?

We’ve seen biofuels made from some pretty strange substances — tuberculosis bacteria, watermelons, and chocolate, to name a few — but a new effort to gather biofuel from tobacco leaves

Self-Destructing Bacteria Could Be the Key to Better Biofuels

Normally we don’t advocate self-destruction, but in the case of biofuel-producing bacteria, it might be a good thing. Researchers at Arizona State University have genetically engineered

Biooctanic: Giant Cactus-Shaped Biofuel Towers

Biofuel is a sexy topic right now, and we’ve seen everything from crop waste to algae to even tuberculosis as possible energy sources. But how about whole buildings that can generate biofuel? While

Researchers Generate Biofuel from Tuberculosis Bacteria

Dangerous bacteria — is there anything it can’t do? First we learned that scientists at Birmingham University are using E.Coli to clean up nuclear waste, and now comes word that MIT

Watermelon Power May One Day Juice Your Car

Watermelons are not just a favorite summer treat, – according to new research by the US Department of Agriculture, they may soon fuel our cars. Research reveals that watermelon juice has a

VegaWatt: Powering Restaurants WIth Deep Fried Fuel

While there’s still some guilt to be had when indulging in a deep-fried take-out, if the restaurant is equipped with a VegaWatt oil converter you can claim you’re only doing it to help the

TRANSPORTATION TUESDAY: The Biofuel Powered Flying Car

We have heard of cars and planes using biofuels, but we must admit that we never thought we’d hear of a bio-diesel powered flying car! Designed by Gilo Cardozo, the Skycar is a vehicle that has been

OILGAE TEST DRIVE: Algae Power Hits the Road

Corn and soybean derived biofuels have long been the most promising options on the table for escaping the clutches of fast depleting petroleum. However, acquiring the space necessary to produce ethanol

POWER YOUR CAR WITH ALGAE: Algae Biocrude by LiveFuels

Image by John MacNeill, commissioned by Solix Biofuels If you think algae is just that green grime that dirties up your pool, think again: it’s also a surprisingly viable source for biofuel. The

BIOBLING: Making Biodiesel Accessible (and sexy!)

If you love the idea of biodiesel but can’t work out the practicalities- finding fueling stations, fixing up your car, or getting all your bio-fuel questions answered, look no further- BioBling has

POND SCUM BIOFUEL TO POWER AIRPLANES

We’ve recently featured the 787 Dreamliner airplane from Boeing, and the Ecojet prototype from Easyjet as examples of environmentally-friendlier air travel innovations. And now comes news from the

BIOFUEL ACCELERATES IN L.A.

Although my sister, the intrepid L.A. street-hiker, stands as proof that some Angelenos do travel on foot, it’s still fair to say that to get from point A to point B in Los Angeles, almost everyone

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