Can coal a green fuel make? Silverado Green Fuels of Fairbanks, Alaska wants to process powdered coal that has less energy density and convert into fuel that could be used to power electric plants or converted into synthetic diesel for transportation, according to UPI.
This "low rank" coal has less energy density than oil, and converting it to a liquid fuel produces a lot of CO2. But on the bright side it is much cheaper than oil and is widely available in
North America
. If carbon sequestration is feasible and the greenhouse gas emissions are no worse than petroleum, then this may be worth investigating.
Silverado Green Fuels is one of several companies pursuing coal as a fuel source, a process that has a seven decade history. Production plants for gasifying coal and then turning it into synthetic diesel could later be adapted for turning biomass into fuel, which protects the substantial investment. Posted by John Gartner 3:47 PM PST | Post Comment | View Comments (53) | Permalink
Flex Vehicles Can Feast on E85 Topic: Alt Fuel
Owners of flex fuel vehicles who wish to cut the nation's oil dependency will soon have less of an excuse for not filling up with ethanol.Corncob_bob
The Department of Energy issued grants that will be used to build 167 new E85 refueling stations across the country. This will increase the number of ethanol fueling stations by nearly 18%, for a total of 1,104 stations. Yes, this is paltry compared to the number of petroleum stations, but most folks should be able to fill up within a few miles of their homes.
Here are the states (and number of new 85 fueling stations) benefiting from the DOE funds, which pay for between 25 and 50 percent of the cost of the new facilities:
NY:30
NC: 21
IN, IA: 19
OR/WA, CA: 15
PA: 14
VA: 12
AL: 6
SD/MN, CO: 5
KY, TN: 3
If your state isn't on the list, blame your Congressman or Congresswoman.
You can find existing station locations here.
Also, there is more ethanol being made to fill these stations in waiting. According to the Renewable Fuels Association (per the Green Car Congress) ethanol production is on target to be up 20 percent this year to 4.7 billion gallons. So those millions of flex fuel vehicles on the road should find it easier to get their first taste of renewable fuel.
