Articles tagged with: biofuel
Posted in Fuel, Pollution on 4 September 2008
Sugarcane Waste is produced on a large scale in a nation like India whose Southern Belt is rich in Black Soil required for the crop to flourish. Being one of the world’s largest producers of sugar, the nation obviously has plenty of Sugarcane Waste to deal with. Bagasse, as sugarcane waste is known, is the pulp from which all the sweet has been extracted. It is rich in fiber content and it is this fiber that India is turning to provide it with much needed extra energy.
Posted in Energy, Fuel, Solar, Technology on 4 September 2008
It was not too long ago that we saw an effort by the New Zealand Airways to try and convert Jatropha weed in to biofuel and while we have not heard any further story in that regard, we have the Arizona State University trying to convert Algae into Jet Fuel. An Arizona State University spinoff company has secured $3 million in public and private funds to advance its technology that converts algae to jet fuel. The brains behind the algae-to-jet-fuel amazing concept are ASU professors Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld, who head ASU’s Laboratory for Algae Research & Biotechnology.
Posted in Animals, Eco-Friendly, Fuel, government on 25 June 2008
It’s the same tug-of-war for people of Kenya, which every nation wanting to progress, faces today. The issue being is it development or devastation in the name of development? The recent decision of Kenyan government to approve a biofuel project in the Tana River delta area has created an uproar among people. The biofuel project requires the setting up of a sugar cane plantation in the 80 sq mile river delta. Much of the crop produced at the plantation would be converted into ethanol. This would be done in a nearby purpose-built factory. The factory will provide employment opportunities to the locals. This is the government’s side of story. The other side is provided by the local farmers and fishermen. These people along with the environmentalists detest the approval to the project. The Tana River delta is an area of biodiversity in terms of animal and plant species found there. The land is home to hippos, lions, rare shark species, primates and 345 bird species. It also sustains the local community of thousands of fishermen and farmers. Their protests against this project, it seems have fallen on deaf ears! According to Paul Matiku, executive director of Nature Kenya (a Nairobi- based conservation group), the whole project is an ecological disaster. “It will seriously damage our priceless national assets and will put the livelihoods of the people living in the delta in jeopardy,” Paul said.