Tag Archives: Sustainability

China Eastern tests flight using biofuel – Xinhua | English.news.cn

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Sinopec is the first company in China to master the technology of turning palm oil and waste cooking oil into jet biofuel l.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The jet, which used a palm oil biofuel made by China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, Asia’s largest oil refiner, flew for 85 minutes after taking off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.

Liu said he performed several extreme maneuvers, including diving above 12,000 meters, but found no significant difference between the Sinopec biofuel and gasoline. The plane’s left fuel tank was filled with gasoline to allow him to compare.

“The performance of the biofuel during the takeoff was powerful,” the pilot added.

Sinopec is the first company in China to master the technology of turning palm oil and waste cooking oil into jet biofuel.

 

See on news.xinhuanet.com

More Major Companies Embrace New Recycling Label | Ethical Consumption

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A dozen major U.S. companies, including General Mills (NYSE:GIS), Kellogg’s (NYSE:K), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and REI, have already joined the labeling scheme. Since launching last January, How2Recycle has established itself as the only labeling system that convey recyclability across all material types and provides explicit directions to consumers to influence their recycling behavior.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“Consumers are faced with a confusing landscape of material and recycling messages that are often inconsistent or misleading. We believe this label will help consumers and companies more effectively communicate recyclability and contribute to more successful resource recovery,” said Anne Bedarf, who led the development of the label, at a launch ceremony for How2Recycle last year.

“As we enable consumers to recycle correctly, we ensure more quality recycled material is available for us to use, our consumers send less waste to landfill, and we can reduce the energy needed to create new packages,” added Lorio, whose company was recently named one of the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” by Corporate Knights.

See on www.justmeans.com

And now, for printed energy storage – with solar : Renew Economy

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Australia’s Dyesol teams up with a developer of printed energy storage technology to create self-powering indoor devices.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Australian solar dye technology develop DyeSol and created a new venture with Singapore based Printed Power to develop combined energy generation and printed energy storage devices designed for the commercial building market.

See on reneweconomy.com.au

Zero Carbon Building Wins Hong Kong’s Inaugural Engineering Innovation Award

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Image Source: Arup Hong Kong’s Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) has won the inaugural “Champion of the Innovation Award for the Engineering Industry” from the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE). The ZCB employed a swath of integrated innovatio …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The ZCB employed a swath of integrated innovations to best meet the unique conditions of Hong Kong’ sub-tropical location and frenetic urban setting, incorporating a total of over 80 sustainability features to heighten its efficiency and diminish its environmental impact.

The roof of the three-storey building is almost completely covered in photovoltaic panels to take advantage of Hong Kong’s torrid climate for power generation purposes. In addition to solar power, the ZCB is also capable of producing energy using biodiesel derived from waste cooking oil, which is widely used in the city’s thriving culinary culture.

See on designbuildsource.com.au

Aemetis Announces Restart of 60 Million Gallon Per Year Keyes Biofuels Plant – WSJ.com

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Aemetis, Inc. (OTCQB: AMTX), an advanced fuels and renewable chemicals company, announced today that the Aemetis 60 million gallon per year capacity ethanol facility in Keyes, California has completed planned maintenance and preparations for the production of Advanced Biofuel under recent EPA rulings, and is now restarting production.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The plant will start up using corn as the principal feedstock, with grain sorghum or a feedstock blend used after startup to maximize operating income. In December 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of grain sorghum feedstock along with biogas in a combined heat and power system to produce an Advanced Biofuel containing approximately 50% lower carbon content than gasoline. Advanced Biofuel generates D5 Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) that have traded at a premium to traditional ethanol D6 RINs.

[…]  “About $5 million of capital investment and new working capital has been invested since mid-January for maintenance and to enable the plant to produce Advanced Biofuel in a flexible configuration that enables the use of multiple feedstocks and energy sources.”

McAfee added, “The Keyes plant has sustainable cost advantages in Advanced Biofuels production. The plant’s location enables both rail and ocean shipping access to advanced biofuel feedstock from lower-cost supply sources. The Keyes plant is also equipped with an energy-efficient Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system to reduce energy costs and decrease the carbon content of fuel. By using grain sorghum feedstock and sourcing biogas for the CHP system instead of natural gas, the Keyes facility is now able to produce Advanced Biofuel to support EPA requirements for advanced fuels.”

See on online.wsj.com

CHP will help reduce EU’s energy imports – European Commission – Gas to Power Journal – Gas to Power Journal UK

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Increased market penetration of energy efficient Combined Heat and Power (CHP) installations can help the EU reduce its energy imports and drive econo…

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“Even if we disregard climate change, it would still be wise to stop spending as much as possible of the some €400 billion a year we spend on importing oil and gas. Instead, we should find ways to use European technologies and labor to get more efficient energy systems to decrease our fossil fuel imports,” he told delegates in a keynote opening address.

… the Commission has proposed €17 billion to go specifically towards energy efficiency projects including CHP. The effect of this, according to Hodson, is that “there is now a greater climate for regional authorities to build energy efficiency into their projects from the very beginning”.

See on gastopowerjournal.com

On-Site Utility – EuroSite Power Providing Savings to DoubleTree by Hilton – Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production

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LONDON, UK – EuroSite Power Inc., (OTCQB: EUSP) an On-Site Utility, offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality, healthcare, housing and leisure centers in the United Kingdom and Europe is now operating a combined heat and power system supplying clean energy to DoubleTree by Hilton, Cambridge, UK.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

EuroSite Power will produce clean energy in the form of electricity, heating and domestic hot water for each hotel at a price lower than The Ability Group’s previous and future energy suppliers. Because The Ability Group opted for the company’s On-Site Utility solution, each hotel pays only for the energy used and avoids all capital, installation and operating costs. EuroSite Power also handles all service, maintenance and repair meaning neither The Ability Group nor Hilton Worldwide need to provide manpower to support the energy equipment.

See on www.cospp.com

Waste and Recycling Industry – Landfill Gas Collection Almost 50% of Renewable Energy Supply USA

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WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The waste and recycling industry is continuing to reduce its release of greenhouse gases — even as waste volumes increase, according to the latest greenhouse gas inventory released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Despite the fact that we are landfilling 6 percent less than 20 years ago, we have greatly improved our ability to reduce methane emissions. As a result, these emissions declined by 30 percent during the same period. This has happened as a result of converting methane to energy, flaring of methane emissions and oxidation techniques.

There are 594 landfill gas-to-energy sites in the United States that generated 1,813 megawatts (MW) of energy and 312 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd) of gas. This is enough energy to directly power 1 million homes and heat 729,000, respectively.

Methane gas collected at landfills is used to power home, businesses and government facilities across the nation. Some of it is even used to fuel garbage trucks. Landfill-gas-to-energy projects and other forms of biomass-derived energy make up the almost half of the nation’s renewable energy supply, almost the same amount as is derived from solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower combined.

See on online.wsj.com

SolarReserve Expands International Development Activities into Latin America – WSJ.com

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SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — SolarReserve, a leading U.S.-based solar energy developer; today announced the company’s international expansion into the Latin American region through the opening of its office in Santiago, Chile.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

SolarReserve’s industry leading CSP technology features an integrated molten salt energy storage system, allowing firm, reliable electricity to be generated on-demand and delivered when the client requests the electricity. This energy storage capability provides a stable electricity product similar to that of conventional fuel-burning power facilities, but without the associated harmful emissions and price volatility.

Engineered and proven by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the technology generates power from sunlight by focusing energy from a field of sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats onto a central receiver. Liquid salt, which flows similarly to water when melted, is circulated through the receiver, collecting the energy gathered from the sun. The heated salt is then routed to an insulated storage tank where it is stored with minimal energy losses. When electricity is needed, the hot salt is routed to heat exchangers to produce steam that is then used to generate electricity in a conventional steam turbine cycle. Therefore, the system minimizes risk, time and cost, while providing high capacity storage that allows energy production on-demand, day or night.

See on online.wsj.com

Intel, Microsoft top clean energy ranking | SmartPlanet

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The EPA has released an updated ranking of the top 50 organizations that use renewable energy to power their U.S. operations.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The agency’s Green Power Partnership, which updates the list quarterly, said Intel uses clean energy to cover 100 percent of its electricity load. Microsoft moved into second place by increasing its green power use to more than 1,9 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Kohl’s came in third, followed by Whole Foods and Walmart.

See on www.smartplanet.com