Audi exec urges Obama to look at biodiesel—not electric--vehicles for fast change

Photo from: http://audimedia.iconicweb.com/video/35/a8diesel.jpg

The top executive at Audi’s U.S. offices says American political leaders need to think less about plug-in electric vehicles and more about vehicles that run on biodiesel, as well as standardizing the rules for biodiesel.

The Detroit News reports that Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen made the remarks at Washington, D.C.’s National Press Club, where he told the audience that despite the current administration’s love of extended-range electric cars, such as the Chevy Volt, that technology is not financially viable:

Biodiesel is certainly ready today, unlike the electric car. I do think Obama supports biodiesel now, and article like this one will help steer the world toward the cleaner biodiesel solution.

 

New Jersey station was first in state to sell biodiesel one year ago

wooleysign1

The first commercial service station in New Jersey that offered biodiesel is celebrating the first anniversary of that historic event.

As you might remember from my post last year, it was an early Christmas present for the area around Maplewood, New Jersey as Woolley Fuel became the first in the state to offer Biodiesel to the public. Proprietor Norm Woolley, Jr. first offered B5 biodiesel and now offers up to 30 percent biodiesel blends … with plans to up that to higher percentage blends in the future.

See how new biodiesel is, only a year ago, no station sold it NJ. Notice they sell up to B30 in the cold of the NJ, would you see any problems running B30, what percentage are you running?

 

Kansas University shows biodiesel/green awareness

Photo from: http://biodiesel.ku.edu/biodiesel/

• ESPN has produced two features about go-green initiatives on the KU campus, which will air during the broadcast. The first highlights the 15 elliptical machines in the Ambler Student Recreation Center that convert kinetic energy created by individual workouts and feed it into the building's electrical grid. The second features KU's Biodiesel Initiative, which collects used cooking oil from campus dining halls and converts it into biodiesel fuel. This fall the converted fuel was used to power campus lawn mowers and generators in the Hy-Vee Kids’ Fun Zone outside Memorial Stadium.

I would like every university to start a biodiesel program, as it brings many sciences together, providing an excellent example for students going into industry.

 

15 Airlines draft deals with AltAir and Rentech for biodiesel-like jet fuel

Japan Airlines test flight of Camelina jet fuel (Photo: AltAir Fuels.)

Japan Airlines test flight of Camelina jet fuel (Photo: AltAir Fuels.)

Biofuels for jet planes aren’t quite ready for take off. Synthetic fuels and biofuels for use in jet engines are still being refined and scaled up.

But production capacity is growing and today the largest American airline trade group announced that 15 airlines have reached agreements with two alternative jet fuel producers.

Bio-diesel is clean, and I am sure the airlines are interested in maintenance. This new fuel is definitely going to be widely sold, and I wonder how similar it is to automotive biodiesel?