The creation of a sustainable, “bio-derived” aviation industry for Australia and New Zealand can be achieved within two decades, a report by Australia’s top science agency says.
According to the report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization
The burning of wood is currently the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating, and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity. The use of wood as a fuel source for heating is as old as civilization itself.
College campuses across the United States are taking the lead in the transition to a clean energy future, thanks both to their roll as developers of new technologies and ideas, and to the activities of students themselves who are determined to create a more sustainable world. But as more and more colleges and universities move to reduce their reliance on coal
Austria, the country of classical music has lit the way to leading green technologies since the 1970’s and it’s cleantech sector is still growing rapidly. Currently, renewable energies provide a quarter of the energy consumed in the country and two third of the electricity demand. More than 600 international cleantech companies form a
Brazil, the world leader in sugar cane ethanol production and consumption, has announced that its national Development Bank (BNDES) and the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP) have signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement, pledging R$1 billion between 2011 and 2014 for a Joint Plan to Support Industrial Technological Innovation in the sugar-based Energy and
Russia, by far, is the largest producer of gas in the world. The country has commonly relied on coal and natural gas for its growing energy demand. However, because of this, Russia is labeled as the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world as one-fourth of the emissions come from energy generation. Not only that, but in 2010 the EBRD stated that Russia uses
Biomass generation plants primarily burn waste wood, but as their role in clean energy is expanding, more wood will be needed. Where will it come from?
Xcel energy has developed a demonstration project to test which tree species, soils and climates will be most conducive to “biomass plantations” – trees
An Indian company has developed a technology that converts discarded rice husks into energy, so far providing electricity to 60 rural villages and more than 150,000 people. Adapting a decades-old biomass gasification method, Husk Power Systems created a design they say is so simple that even a high school-educated villager can be trained to operate it.
U.S. researchers have used a combination of enzymes that consume cellulose from non-food products to produce a high-quality hydrogen gas, a potential breakthrough in efforts to use biofuels to power hydrogen fuel cells. Scientists at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Georgia combined 14
An organization called Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) this week said in a statement that it expects the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “dramatically lower the amount of cellulosic biofuel companies are required to purchase under the federal renewable fuel standard.”
Cellulosic biofuel, also known as second-
Our country needs a strong, vibrant rural economy. Advanced biofuel production will help create it. Not only will biofuel production from non-food sources create new jobs and new streams of farm income, it will improve environmental quality and reduce our dependence on fossil fuel imported from foreign countries.
The market for clean energy products is growing among India’s rural poor, a massive segment that consists of 114 million households and more than 60 percent of the nation’s population of 1.15 billion, according to a new report. Nearly half of India’s rural poor do not have reliable access to electricity and more than 85 percent largely rely on firewood or dung for
In September, the UK’s University of Bath completed construction on a small building whose walls are insulated with the shredded woody inner core, or shiv, of the hemp plant (not to be confused with bast, the fibrous outer part under the bark).
The hemp plant, which can’t be grown in the United States because one variety,