BMW of North America & California Bioenergy expand partnership to provide clean energy for EV charging

The first automaker to collaborate with dairy farms on renewable energy projects, BMW of North America and California Bioenergy (CalBio) announced an expanded partnership to include Bar 20 Dairy, a farm based in Kerman, CA. The collaboration aims to power EVs in California with clean energy, and generate cleaner air in the state by leveraging the latest biodigester technology to create renewable energy by capturing methane from manure to feed back into the power grid.

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Sustainable, Plant-Based Jet Fuel Could Reduce Emissions by 68%

Replacing petroleum-based aviation fuel with sustainable aviation fuel derived from a type of mustard plant can reduce carbon emissions by up to 68%, according to new research from University of Georgia scientist Puneet Dwivedi.

Dwivedi led a team that estimated the break-even price and life cycle carbon emissions of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) derived from oil obtained from Brassica carinata, a non-edible oilseed crop. The study was published in GCB Bioenergy.

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Bioenergy: Friendly Fungi Boost Growth for Biofuel Source

An Oak Ridge National Laboratory team has successfully introduced a poplar gene into switchgrass, an important biofuel source, that allows switchgrass to interact with a beneficial fungus, ultimately boosting the grass’ growth and viability in changing environments.

Scientists observed the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor as it enveloped the plant’s roots. This behavior, not known to occur naturally between these fungi and switchgrass, helps the plant to efficiently take up nutrients and water. This symbiotic relationship results in switchgrass that is more disease- and drought-resistant.

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Boise, Idaho to reach 100% clean electricity goal by 2023

Days after President Biden visited Boise, Idaho to highlight the need for action on climate change, the city's mayor announced that the city will reach its 100% clean electricity goal by 2023, years ahead of schedule.

Boise Mayor Laren McLean said on Twitter that the city will reach its goal seven years early. Boise's Energy Plan, approved by the city council in 2019, called for 100% of the electricity used by the city's residents and businesses to be clean by 2035.

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Researchers Engineer Microorganisms To Tackle PET Plastic Pollution

Although plastics are essential to our everyday lives, they are durable materials that do not naturally biodegrade, taking decades or even centuries to decompose in landfills or the natural environment. More than 82 million metric tons of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is produced globally each year to make single-use beverage bottles, packaging, clothing, and carpets, and it is one of the largest sources of plastic waste.

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Economics of Biofuels

Replacing fossil fuels with biofuels—fuels produced from renewable organic material—has the potential to reduce some undesirable aspects of fossil fuel production and use, including conventional and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutant emissions, exhaustible resource depletion, and dependence on unstable foreign suppliers. Demand for biofuels could also increase farm income. On the other hand, because many biofuel feedstocks require land, water, and other resources, research suggests that biofuel production may give rise to several undesirable effects. Potential drawbacks include changes to land use patterns that may increase GHG emissions, pressure on water resources, air and water pollution, and increased food costs. Depending on the feedstock and production process and time horizon of the analysis, biofuels can emit even more GHGs than some fossil fuels on an energy-equivalent basis. Biofuels also tend to require subsidies and other market interventions to compete economically with fossil fuels, which creates deadweight losses in the economy.

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Biofuel Basics

Unlike other renewable energy sources, biomass can be converted directly into liquid fuels, called "biofuels," to help meet transportation fuel needs. The two most common types of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel, both of which represent the first generation of biofuel technology.

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Power and Fuel From Plastic Wastes

Estimates suggest 200 billion pounds of plastic is produced every year. Due to the technical limitations or inconvenience of recycling, only a fraction of that material resurfaces in new plastic products. It takes no imagination whatsoever to throw away plastic and doom it to the fate of a thousand years in a landfill, but plastic waste doesn't just threaten terra firma.

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