fuel

Is Kiwi Fruit the Fuel of the Future?

scleaver — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

What’s small, fuzzy on the outside, green on the inside, and may be filling our gas tanks as well as decorating our fruit salads?

You guessed it, the kiwi fruit.

New research out of New Zealand adds kiwi fruit to the list of potential biofuels. Two companies, Scion and Zespri Innovation, are working on ways to turn the 14.5 to 15.6 million trays of kiwifruit waste produced each year into biofuels and other products, including adhesives and bioplastics, according to the New Zealand Herald. If the project pans out, kiwi refineries would be near existing kiwi processing plants and would be similar to wineries.

New Zealanders, like David Roberts, chairman of the Green Growers Association, are excited about the prospects. “The Green Growers Association has been asking for a long time for research into [a] way of using reject fruit and turning it into bio-gas makes sense,” he told the New Zealand Herald.

Here are more fun kiwi facts: the fruit is already known for its laxative, blood thining, and meat tenderizing properties.

Photo from the New Zealand Herald.

Airlines Can Save $$Millions in Fuel—By Adding Minutes

susan — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Sometimes all it takes is a tiny action to make a big difference. If you’ve been worrying about how much your carbon footprint grows whenever you take an airplane trip, now there’s a solution. Fly an airline that is flying a little slower. You know you get better mileage when you take your foot off the gas pedal in your car. Now the airline industry has figured out it works in planes, too.

Jet Blue is now flying a little slower, adding an average of about two minutes to each flight—and saving about $13.6 million a year in jet fuel, according to a recent report in The New York Times by the Associated Press.
Southwest Airlines projects that it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight a mere one to three minutes.
Northwest Airlines is adding four minutes to its flights to and from Hawaii – for a savings of $600,000 a year.
Northwest is also slowing down from 542 m.p.h. to 532 m.p.h. (not exactly a snail’s pace) on its flights from Paris to Minneapolis – which adds only 8 minutes (you’ll hardly notice on a flight that is close to nine hours anyway) and saves 162 gallons of fuel, over $500.

So if you don’t mind spending a few more minutes in the air, to reduce your carbon footprint, let the airlines know you think it’s a good idea. And you might ask them if this means they could cut that extra fuel surcharge they’ve started tacking on to the cost of every flight.

To find out more about reducing your carbon footprint:

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint From Travel

What Exactly is a Carbon Footprint?

The Quest for the Perfect Carbon Calculator

Carbon Footprints

Reduce Your Business Travel By Meeting Online

jplatt — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Over the last few years, my wife and I have traveled to more than 20 states and who knows how many cities for business meetings, classes and conferences. Each trip required time, money, and a heck of a lot of jet fuel.

But lately, a greener alternative has popped up. More events are being held online using web conferences and webcasts. Not only does this save the stress of travel, its also avoids the high fuel costs associated with driving or flying to these events. And yes, it saves us and our employers money, too.

A web conference is just like a meeting around a conference table -- only everyone is at their desks on their PCs. Ideal for spread-out workforces, web conferences offer flexibilty and easy scheduling without trying to get everyone in the same room at the same time.

Webcasts are more like a TV broadcast, but often with some form of interactivity. Ideal for classes, lectures, sales presentations and other events with few speakers but a large audience, these allow you to reach a large number of people without anyone having to travel.

Beyond travel, webcasts have other environmentally friendly benefits you might not think of right away. Live meetings typically come with reems of printed materials -- handouts, folders, etc. With an online event, all of that material is distributed digitally. By not printing these materials, companies save money and reduce waste (because let's admit, 90% of those handouts are going to end up in the trash the next day).

Speaking of waste, how many meetings that you've attended have been catered? And how much of that food is usually left over and needs to be thrown out? You can't feed people over the web, so that saves more money and avoids more garbage.

So the next time someone invites you to fly across the country for a meeting, ask them, can we do it online instead?

E85 Gets Green Flag

khallgeisler — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:42:42 -0500

With the 12 Hours of Sebring kicking off the season in March, the American Le Mans Series has announced that it will allow E85 to be used for the first time. EPIC, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, has spearheaded the move, and GM will race two E85-powered Corvettes in the 2008 season.

(For non-race fans, these cars are low-slung race cars closer in shape to Formula One cars than street cars. Based on the classic French 24-hour Le Mans race, the American series caps its longest race at 12 hours and 3,100 miles, which should be long enough for anyone.)

In 2007, EPIC was able to make an in-road with ALMS by getting E10 on the track. This fuel, commonly known as "gasohol," is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline and can be used in unmodified engines. Not surprisingly then, E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline and can only be used in so-called "flex-fuel" vehicles. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, E85 reduces ozone-forming emissions and carbon dioxide while being renewable and biodegradable. They should know.

E85 also has an octane rating of about 100 to 105; for comparison, regular unleaded gas has a rating of 87, most premium gasoline at the pump is rated 93, and NASCAR's leaded fuel is rated 110.

Speaking of America's favorite race series, NASCAR has just this year caught up with 1971 and switched over to unleaded fuel. Sunoco, NASCAR's official fuel supplier, has finally developed an unleaded race fuel called Sunoco 260 GTX that won't damage stock car engines. Look for NASCAR to switch to E85--or any other enviro-friendly fuel--in 2045.

Photo courtesy fiatguy85.