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Author |
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Section |
Yo ho ho 'n' a bottle o' scum
New Belgium beermakers to brew algae-based biodiesel |
Sarah van Schagen |
13 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| New Belgium Brewing Co. is known for its Fat Tire Amber Ale and a number of other bubbly bevvies. But you'll want to think twice before chugging the company's latest concoction: the ecofriendly microbrewery is teaming up with energy startup Solix Biofuels to brew biodiesel from algae. (Yeah, I pirated the headline -- arrr ... how could I resist!)Before you choke on your brewski, let me explain why you're in no danger of finding bits of pond scum in your pint glass: ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, business, food (all these topics) |
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Ethanol: clutching at the public purse
Is anyone still taking this stuff seriously? |
Tom Philpott |
05 Feb 2007 |
Gristmill |
| President Bush's recent pledge to raise the Renewable Fuel Standard to 35 billion gallons by 2017 dropped with a bit of a thud.David Roberts made a pretty good case that all the recent hype around ethanol may soon prove quaint: that, in essence, the ethanol craze will eventually likely crumble under its weighty political, agricultural, and technological contradictions. Maybe so.Meanwhile, though, farmers are planting a shitload of corn, dozens of ethanol plants are spro ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Sundance: Strangers in alt. fuel vehicles are so much less threatening
More adventures in Utah |
Kate Sheppard |
27 Jan 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I first heard about Sundance's renegade biofuels enthusiasts via email. The folks from Freedom Fuels, a new documentary about biofuels, were in town for Sundance -- well, roaming town that is. They weren't actually in the festival, but they were there to screen their movie regardless, traveling around town in a biodiesel-powered school bus showing it to anyone who'd climb aboard and watch. 'We would love to have ya come on by and say howdy,' wrote Heidi, one of the fil ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, movies, Utah (all these topics) |
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The ethanol love-fest will not last
Once subsidies and tariffs are removed, watch out |
David Roberts |
26 Jan 2007 |
Gristmill |
| So, Bush wants massive new ethanol subsidies. He wants 35 billion gallons of "renewable and alternative fuels" -- the vast bulk of which will be corn ethanol -- online by 2017. Right now, there's basically no opposition to this push. It's got support from industry (mainly Big Corn and Big Auto), legislators from both parties, farmers, environmentalists, national security types, and the public at large. That's not going to last. It's clear that there's jus ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Terry Tamminen: Ethanol
Let's wonk it out |
David Roberts |
12 Jan 2007 |
Gristmill |
| DR: On our site there are many people highly skeptical about biofuels. For lots of reasons: corn ethanol barely breaks even on energy balance. It's an environmental nightmare, with nitrogen fertilizers in the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It is a commodity sector governed by a few massive multinational corporations, which are lavished with subsidies -- seems awfully reminiscent of the petroleum sector. The inevitable response to any criticism of corn eth ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, ethanol, interview, Terry Tamminen (all these topics) |
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Make way CAFO-diesel
The latest beneficiary of biofuel subsidies: industrial feedlot operators. |
Tom Philpott |
04 Jan 2007 |
Gristmill |
| So far, a huge amount of the government's lavish support for biofuel has ended up on the bottom line of Archer Daniels Midland, the king of industrially produced, environmentally ruinous corn. Now another type of model corporate citizen is in line for a cut of the action: huge-scale confined-animal feedlot operation (CAFO) players like Tyson and Smithfield.This AP story details the efforts of a couple of oil men to set up a biodiesel plant outside of a Missouri industr ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, energy, industrial ag (all these topics) |
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My predictions
Guaranteed true, top to bottom! |
biodiversivist |
02 Jan 2007 |
Gristmill |
| In 2007: Prius sales will peak and begin a slow decline as consumers anticipate 2008 models from competitors that will have similar or better performance and therefore higher status. Electric hybrid bikes will become increasingly popular as a commuting tool thanks to improved battery technology. The SUV fad will continue to fade. The corn ethanol pyramid scheme will continue to play out based on the canard that the use of environmentally destructive biofuels i ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, electric vehicles, environmental justice, green living, hybrids, lists, Prius (all these topics) |
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An environmental A to Z for 2006
The year, alphabetically |
Kit Stolz |
29 Dec 2006 |
Gristmill |
| When it comes to global warming and the environment, everything seemed to change in 2006 -- at least in terms of public awareness. Here's an A-to-Z accounting of just some of those changes: A is for An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's scientific but surprisingly human documentary on the threat of climate change, which was expected to take in at most $6-7 million at the box office but went on to gross over $45 million, the biggest documentary of the year and the thi ... |
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| Topics: Al Gore, Arnold Schwarzenegger, biofuels, energy, green living, James Hansen, Kyoto Protocol, lists, movies, politics (all these topics) |
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A Bridge to Somewhere?
What we've learned from the biofuels series |
Tom Philpott |
15 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Future or folly? Photo: iStockphoto After spending much of the last several months thinking about the biofuels boom and its implications in preparation for this special series, we've come to a few conclusions. Like other energy sources, biofuels have significant environmental liabilities. Boosters' rhetoric about "renewable energy" aside, topsoil -- from which biofuel feedstocks spring -- is ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics) |
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FutureFlex/LoveSounds
An interview with Mary Beth Stanek, General Motors energy director |
Yolanda Crous |
15 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Trucks with a green hue? GM is in heaven. What a difference three bucks a gallon makes. In the past year, General Motors has rallied state and federal support to get more E85 (an 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline blend) pumps at U.S. gas stations, launched a corn-hued marketing blitz, and announced that it is increasing production of its flex-fuel vehicles by 25 percent. Ma ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, business, cars, energy, ethanol, interview (all these topics) |
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When Dreams Become Reality
How a grassroots biodiesel group can show the way for others |
Erik Hoffner |
15 Dec 2006 |
Soapbox |
| The way that Rob Del Bueno backed into the world of biofuel almost by accident, as told in the article "Small Potatoes," is emblematic of the way most folks get engaged in grassroots biofuel development. It starts with a desire to use a renewable fuel to power your life long before a GMO-happy megacorporation was going to start reliably supplying you with it, and then it ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Plus, They Smell Good
The top 10 reasons to give a hoot about biofuels |
Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter |
15 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Well, here we are, at the end of Grist's illustrious series on biofuels. We've thrown a lot of information at you, and we hope it's becoming clear why biofuel production is a big, Relevant Thing that deserves your attention. But just in case you need more proof, behold: Grist's Top 10 Reasons To Give a Hoot About Biofuels. 10. The future is now. Sure, it may feel like biofuels are some ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics) |
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You Want Me to Put What in My Tank?
The strangest biofuel sources you've never heard of |
Kate Sheppard |
14 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Sure, you've heard of corn and switchgrass as potential sources of biofuel. But those are rendered totally boring in light of the potential of trash, dead cats, and human fat to meet our energy needs. Make your engine purr. Photo: iStockphoto Surprising sources abound in the world of biofuels, with researchers probing the farthest reaches of their imagination in hopes of spinning ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy (all these topics) |
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Samba Lessons
What Brazil can teach the U.S. about energy and ethanol |
Tom Philpott, Gordon Feller |
14 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| By Tom Philpott and Gordon Feller 14 Dec 2006 In 2006, Brazil officially achieved "energy independence" -- that is, its oil exports came into line with imports and cancelled them out. No longer beholden to foreign suppliers for its energy needs, the nation theoretically has no stake in costly Middle East military adventures to secure access to oil reserves. Grain alcohol? Haven't touched the stuff since college. Phot ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, Brazil, energy, ethanol, oil (all these topics) |
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Bio for All
A biodiesel entrepreneur in Argentina spreads seeds of wisdom |
Kelly Hearn |
14 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Even by Argentine standards, Ricardo Carlstein can talk a blue streak. Ricardo Carlstein. I met with the founder of Biofuels SA, an Argentina-based maker of small-scale biodiesel plants, in the posh environs of Buenos Aires. Carlstein sat at his desk and explained how any person can be a fuel plant by using his invention, a technology protocol he calls "high-temperature pressurized" (si ... |
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| Topics: Argentina, biofuels, business, energy (all these topics) |
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Stuck in the Middle with Fuel
As its neighbors back biofuels, Central America gears up for business |
Eliza Barclay |
14 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Driving down either of El Salvador's two principal highways, you're almost sure to end up braking behind a pickup truck that's jammed with people standing shoulder to shoulder. Occasionally these rural taxis are new vehicles, but most are rickety, rusted, and running on antiquated engines and exhaust-spewing diesel. Even though 48 percent of Salvadorans live below t ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, energy, ethanol, Guatemala (all these topics) |
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Feeding the Beast
It's time for a real 'food vs. fuel' debate |
Tom Philpott |
13 Dec 2006 |
Victual Reality |
| It's time for a real "food vs. fuel" debate By Tom Philpott 13 Dec 2006 Grain piled high at an ethanol plant will feed only insatiable driving habits. Photo: iStockphoto Can U.S. farmers keep filling the nation's bellies as they scramble to fuel its cars? Given its evident gravity, the question has drawn remarkably little debate. Like it or not, though, more and more food is being devoted to fueling the nation's 211-million-strong auto fleet. High gasoline prices, ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, economy, energy, ethanol, food, fossil fuels, greenhouse-gas emissions, industrial ag, Victual Reality (all these topics) |
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Powered by the Stars
Check out the latest entries in the celeb-biofuels biz |
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13 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| You've heard of BioWillie, Willie Nelson's foray into the world of celebrity-branded biodiesel. But did you know that several other celebs, not to be outdone, have plans to unveil their own biofuel lines? During our series, Grist has been doused with requests from PR professionals to promote their clients' fuelish products. We're only too happy to oblige. Celeb: Martha Stewart Product: DIY Biofuel The deal: M ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, celebrity, energy (all these topics) |
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Miles to Go
An interview with Missouri farmer and ethanol co-op member Brian Miles |
Yolanda Crous |
13 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Cultivating change? Photo: iStockphoto Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him, Brian Miles spends his days working the family farm. Unlike his forebears, however, he also sits on the board of Mid-Missouri Energy, a farmer-owned ethanol cooperative in Malta Bend, Mo. Grist talked to Miles about the present ethanol boom, the potential for an ethanol bust, and the ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, business, energy, ethanol, interview, Missouri (all these topics) |
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The Ethanol Bill
Congress prepares to soak the 2007 Farm Bill in ethanol, to the delight of agribiz. |
Tom Philpott |
13 Dec 2006 |
Gristmill |
| 'You can have Republicans and Democrats absolutely in lockstep agreement on certain issues in the farm bill, and it has nothing to do with parties. These issues tend to be commodity-driven,' gushed USDA chief Mike Johanns. Uh-oh. Looks like a good old-fashioned 'bipartisan consensus' has formed: time to use the 2007 Farm Bill as a tool for maximizing ethanol production -- which evidently doesn't already draw enough government support.Talk in the above-linked piece cent ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, biofuels, ethanol, politics (all these topics) |
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Professor Cellulose
Biofuel pioneer Lee Lynd points the way toward a 'carbohydrate economy' |
Jennifer Weeks |
12 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Biofuel pioneer Lee Lynd points the way toward a "carbohydrate economy" By Jennifer Weeks 12 Dec 2006 Well before cellulosic ethanol became the hot new fuel, Lee Lynd was immersed in it. Since 1987, the engineering professor has been leading a major academic study group on cellulosic ethanol from his perch at Dartmouth. Before that, he even wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on it. Lee Lynd. Photo: Joseph Mehling/Dartmouth More recently, Lynd has been putting his ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, scientific research (all these topics) |
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It's Happening in Ottawa
Grains become fuel at the world's first cellulosic ethanol demo plant |
Sharon Boddy |
12 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Our plant supplants your plant: a real-life cellulosic ethanol refinery. Photo: Iogen Sometimes it seems virtually anything can be made into fuel. As though, if we had the right technology, we could throw together old T-shirts, bumper stickers, and pine cones to make a magical elixir to run the millions of cars on North America's highways. That's not an entirely far-fetch ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, Canada, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics) |
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Are We There Yet?
Not quite, but cellulosic ethanol may be coming sooner than you think |
Jennifer Weeks |
11 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Even as organizations ranging from Consumers Union to the Cato Institute cast doubt on the environmental value of corn-based ethanol, facilities designed to make it are popping up by the dozen throughout the Midwest. Meanwhile, cellulosic ethanol -- which can be derived from just about any plant matter -- draws near-unanimous environmental raves. Trouble is, the technology requir ... |
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| Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol, politics, scientific research (all these topics) |
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Who Will Get the Jobs?
An environmental-justice advocate responds to the biofuels boom |
Alan Hipólito |
11 Dec 2006 |
Soapbox |
| I am very excited to see this Grist series, because I am a biodiesel user. I am also very worried about the growth of the biofuels industry, because I am an environmental-justice advocate, and I see this industry rapidly leaving my community behind. What happens after the photo shoot? Photo: house.gov The growth of the biofuels industry creates significant economic benefits and dow ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, economy, energy, environmental justice, politics (all these topics) |
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Grease Be With You
An interview with Greasecar founder Justin Carven |
Yolanda Crous |
11 Dec 2006 |
Main Dish |
| Justin Carven. In the span of just two years, Justin Carven invented the first waste-oil conversion kit for diesel engines, graduated from Hampshire College, drove a vegetable-oil-fueled van across the country, and started his very own company. Six years later, Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems is selling so many conversion kits that Carven is talking about setting up franchises in India and Brazil. ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, business, cars, energy, interview (all these topics) |
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