Grist | Topics | 267 Results

RESULTS		Results 226 – 250 of 267
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Something Ventured, Something Gained Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla chats about the promise of ethanol	Amanda Griscom Little	08 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Venture capitalist and ethanol booster Vinod Khosla. Billionaires are piling onto the biofuels bandwagon. Bill Gates is doing it. Richard Branson is doing it. The Google guys are doing it. Less well-known is the billionaire who kicked off the whole trend: Vinod Khosla, a cofounder of Sun Microsystems and former partner with Kleiner Perkins, the ven ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Biofuel Skeptic Extraordinaire An interview with David Pimentel	Tom Philpott	08 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Any worthy idea can withstand and even be improved by naysayers; scolds and skeptics play the useful role of pointing out obvious flaws. The biofuels industry has no more persistent, articulate, and scathing critic than David Pimentel, professor emeritus of entomology at Cornell University. David Pimentel. Photo: Chris Hallman / Cornell University Photography. In 1979, with the price of oil surging and a ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol, interview (all these topics)

Choose Your Own Bio-Adventure Three perspectives on the biofuels debate	Tom Philpott	08 Dec 2006	Soapbox
Imagine how amazing petroleum must have seemed back when it was an emerging alternative fuel in the U.S. Drill a hole in the ground in some parts of Texas and Pennsylvania, and rich black stuff would come gushing up, loaded with energy. What could possibly be the problem with such bounty? In some quarters, biofuels inspire similar wide-eyed wonder today. They are, after all, renewable and carbo ...
Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics)

The ABC's of Biofuels A handy biofuels glossary, and videos to boot	Kate Sheppard, Tom Philpott	07 Dec 2006	Main Dish
A handy biofuels glossary, and videos to boot By Kate Sheppard and Tom Philpott 07 Dec 2006 With all the talk of biofuels swirling around, things can get a bit confusing. So we've put together this handy glossary for your reference. Now you can pontificate at cocktail parties with the best of 'em. And just to keep you awake (yeah, we remember second grade too), we've included some explanatory videos thanks to the good folks at Current TV. Look! Real people using and tal ...
Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics)

Strike It Richard Richard Branson chats about embracing ethanol and slashing airplane emissions	Amanda Griscom Little	07 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Does a music mogul who signed the Rolling Stones and Janet Jackson have what it takes to make a pop star out of biofuels? Sir Richard. Earlier this fall, publicity-chasing British entrepreneur Richard Branson made a $3 billion bet that he could do just that -- and help solve the climate crisis to boot -- via Virgin Fuels, a new company in his wide-ranging Virgin Gr ...
Topics: biofuels, business, climate, energy, ethanol, greening biz operations, Richard Branson (all these topics)

The Doctor Is in ... Your Tank An interview with Seattle biodiesel distributor Dan Freeman	Yolanda Crous	07 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Dan Freeman. As a kid, Dan Freeman experimented with using alcohol to run lawnmowers and minibikes. (Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for that parent-son conversation.) These days, he runs Dr. Dan's Alternative Fuel Werks, a Seattle-based biodiesel retail and distribution company with customers ranging from school districts to organic farmers to concerned individuals who want ...
Topics: biofuels, business, cars, energy, interview, placemaking, Seattle, Washington (all these topics)

Small Potatoes Using grease and other goodies, small biodiesel producers are making a big difference	Emily Gertz	07 Dec 2006	Main Dish
If you live in a city of any size, you've likely seen them out there: boxy little '80s-era foreign cars, bumpers adorned with pro-ecology and anti-war slogans, and references to "grease." Even the fumes they emit may smell different: literally like French fries, in some cases; like generic used vegetable oil in others. Foh sizzle my fuel-izzle. Photo: iStockph ...
Topics: biofuels, cars, energy, placemaking (all these topics)

Trouble at Muscle Beach? Grassroots biodiesel operations contend with industrial sand-kickers	Emily Gertz	07 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Can grassroots biodiesel projects deliver a steady supply of safely produced, high-quality fuel? Stickin' it to the man. Photo: Current TV Greg Hopkins, president of U.S. Biofuels, Inc., a mid-sized producer of biodiesel refined almost entirely from local Georgia waste poultry fat, isn't sure. U.S. Biofuels recently relocated its sole production plant in Rome, Ga., to a new 2 ...
Topics: biofuels, cars, energy, placemaking (all these topics)

Pump us for details Got biofuel resources or questions? Let us know	Katharine Wroth	07 Dec 2006	Gristmill
The thing we discovered while researching our biofuels series is this: there's no end of freakin' information on this ever-evolving topic. We've put together a glossary and a resources page for you, our dear readers, but we know they are by definition incomplete. In fact, we heard yesterday from reader Kate McMahon, a research assistant with Friends of the Earth, who let us know about a beta version of an online biofuels database she's building. She'd love your hel ...
Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics)

Give Green, Go Yellow How cash and corporate pressure pushed ethanol to the fore	Tom Philpott	06 Dec 2006	Main Dish
... got all liquored on that road house corn ... -- Tom Waits, "Gun Street Girl" Before it became widely used as a car fuel, ethanol was just grain liquor -- and the federal government was not particularly kind to it. We pledge allegiance to ADM. Shortly after the American Revolution, the new government imposed a draconian tax on the stuff, hoping to pay down wartime debt. ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Coming Soon to a Gas Tank Near You The what, where, and why of E85 ethanol	Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter	06 Dec 2006	Main Dish
If you're like the rest of us, you've probably heard of E85 -- yet don't have the slightest idea what it is. Or if you do have an idea, it's, well, slight. But never fear, friends and neighbors: We've got the skinny on the corn-a-rific fuel that's increasingly on the tips of tongues and in the depths of gas tanks. Lend us your ears. Photo: Ohio Dept. of Agriculture So ... what is i ...
Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

What About the Land? A look at the impacts of biofuels production, in the U.S. and the world	Julia Olmstead	05 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Nothing but blue skies from now on? Photo: house.gov Great news! We can finally scratch "driving less" off our list of ways to curb global warming and reduce our dependence on foreign oil! Biofuels will soon not only replace much of our petroleum, but improve soil fertility and save the American farmer as well! Sound too good to be true? Well, yes. But you coul ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, deforestation, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

The Balancing Act How experts measure the energy balance of alternative fuels	Julia Olmstead	05 Dec 2006	Main Dish
For years, critics have claimed that corn-based ethanol is fundamentally a bust: that it takes more fossil fuel to produce than it displaces in the gas tank. It takes a lot of ugly to make this pretty biofuel. Photo: industrial-innov.lbl.gov This condition, known as a negative net energy balance, has haunted the biofuel throughout its long career as a darling of corn-belt politicians like ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, deforestation, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Can My Car Do That? Find out which cars can run on ethanol and biodiesel	Kate Sheppard	05 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Going bio with your auto doesn't mean you have to invest in some strange contraption your neighbors will stare at. In fact, upward of 4 million cars currently on the road in the United States are already compatible with E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. More automakers are making new E85-ready models -- known as flex-fuel vehicles -- every year. To top that off, so to s ...
Topics: biofuels, cars, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Get Pumped All the resources you need to hop on the biofuels bandwagon		05 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Once upon a time, we were going to make a beautiful map for you, showing all the available biofuel pumps in the country. Then we realized: hey, there are already beautiful maps out there. Not to mention books. And articles. And organizations working their tails off on this stuff. So why reinvent the wheel? Instead, we compiled this list o' links. Then we went out for a heaping plate of French fries -- because they ...
Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics)

The Big Three The numbers behind ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel in the U.S.	Maywa Montenegro	04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
America devours oil like no other country in the world. Representing 5 percent of the global population, the country consumes fully a quarter of the world's oil. Every year, to move ourselves and our goods around, we burn 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 40 billion gallons of diesel -- enough to propel the average U.S. car around the world 1.6 billion times. But rising price ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Newfangled? Hardly A lighthearted look at biofuels through time	Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter	04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
The way most people talk about biofuels, you'd think they were a brand-new invention. But using natural products for fuel is an idea as old as the hills, as this highly selective timeline demonstrates. Mid-1800s: Soap-makers begin to transesterify vegetable oils -- you know, exchanging the alkoxy group of an ester compound by using another alcohol, often catalyzed by the addition of an acid o ...
Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics)

On the Road Again How the world got addicted to oil, and where biofuels will take us	Tom Philpott	04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
If oil is over, what's on the horizon? Photo: house.gov They may be hyped as the way of the future, but biofuels already count as a juggernaut. Supported by the government and embraced by the Big Three automakers, ethanol is surging in the United States. Biodiesel, meanwhile, is roaring ahead in Europe as the continent strives to meet its carbon-emission obligations under the Kyoto tr ...
Topics: biofuels, energy, oil (all these topics)

Fill 'er Up A Grist special series on biofuels		04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Illustration: Keri Rosebraugh These days, ethanol is praised as the whiz-bang cure-all for our energy ills. And maybe all the sweet talk will cause this "new" fuel to forget that America dumped her for oil in the early 20th century. Oil's just so ... ew all of a sudden. We may finally be ready to return to our first love, an energy source that's been by our side in some form or another since Neolithic times. Oil was too high-ma ...
Topics: biofuels, energy, placemaking, renewable energy (all these topics)

'Cause baby we're not ... biofuel-fuel-fuel-fuelin'! Get ready for a special series	David Roberts	01 Dec 2006	Gristmill
Been hearing a lot about 'biofuels'? Having more and more trouble concealing your ignorance about them? Wish someone would pull together a special series of articles, explaining the differences among various biofuels, analyzing who profits from them, listing the various political initiatives around them, interviewing experts, and answering once and for all the vexed questions about energy balance?Well aren't you in luck! On Monday morning, steer your browsers to grist. ...
Topics: energy, biofuels (all these topics)

The Revolution Will Be Solarized An interview with Travis Bradford, author of Solar Revolution	David Roberts	30 Nov 2006	Main Dish
Solar power has been the Next Big Thing for decades now, yet it remains a niche player in the energy world. The problem of intermittency is unsolved, up-front capital costs remain high, and surging demand for polysilicon, a key component of solar panels, has recently outstripped supply, stifling production. Travis Bradford. So when someone claims that within decades solar ...
Topics: biofuels, coal, energy, interview, natural gas, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

Call it what it is Ethanol subsidies, that is	David Roberts	09 Nov 2006	Gristmill
Oh great. The White House needs to recapture some political momentum after its party got shellacked this week. It also needs to make good on its laughable promise to "change the tone" and start working with Democrats to "get things done."So where does it turn? What issue can unite politicians across the fractious partisan divide?You guessed it: ethanol subsidies energy independence!The Bush administration will soon launch a big "energy independ ...
Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

McCain's crooked talk express Flip flops on ethanol	David Roberts	01 Nov 2006	Gristmill
Today, Charlie Pierce wrote this: Someone please show me a single act of public political courage undertaken by John McCain since he won the New Hampshire primary in 2000 that he hasn't hedged, trimmed, or walked back completely. The Bush campaign trashed his wife and daughter, and he's spent the years since trying to get a job as the pool boy in Crawford. He gave a brave speech about the danger of political preachers, but he'd walk on his knees across broken gla ...
Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol, John McCain, politics (all these topics)

Have Some Class: The Big Green Bus Dartmouth students ride the future	Sarah van Schagen	23 Jun 2006	Gristmill
If you've been reading Gristmill -- as I'm sure you all have! -- you'll know that I just returned from a trip to cover the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. (And what a long, strange triperoo, it was!) One of the many things I didn't get to mention in my story is that I met these folks while I was there. I happened to be hanging around the straw-baled green pod when I looked out into the sea of tents and port-o-potties and noticed a big, gre ...
Topics: biofuels, Bonnaroo, education, energy, green living (all these topics)

Will ADM surrender gracefully to cellulosic ethanol?	David Roberts	10 Jun 2006	Gristmill
Don't miss a great piece by Sasha Lilley about Archer Daniels Midland and ethanol: "The dirty truth about green fuel." The latter part covers the environmental sins of corn-based ethanol -- familiar to Gristmillians -- but the first part provides some crucial context. It's about ADM. Here's a taste: ADM has more than 25,000 employees, net sales last year of $35.9 billion, with $1 billion in profits, as well as a recent 29 percent profit increase in the ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

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Stories About: biofuels AND energy