WNAT'S HAPPENING AT GREEN ACRES

Burning Green: 15 Cutting-Edge Biofuel Sources

Posted: 3rd April 2009 11:05 AM PDT

(image via Recharge News)

Last year’s record high oil prices have renewed mainstream interest in alternatives to fossil fuels.  Current products like corn-based ethanol, with its quick-burning consistency and negative effect on global food prices, might soon be seen as a hiccup in the story of sustainable, green fuels.  A new generation of bio-fuels, as well as new approaches to established fuel sources, are making a cleaner, greener future seem like more than a mere pipe dream.

Jatropha

(images via pyonko and jatropha plantations)

Jatropha is the new darling of the bio-diesel movement.  The bush-like plant grows in semi-arid and rocky regions where agriculture is impossible.  Its seeds contain large amounts of oil, which is extracted and converted into usable fuel.  Jatropha has already been tested in airplanes.  Air New Zealand was the first to complete a successful test flight using a jet-fuel/jatropha-fuel mixture in one engine.

Algae and Switchgrass

(images via CISBC and mongabay)

Algae is another promising bio-fuel source.  It can produce 15 times more oil than corn has the ability to grow virtually anywhere - freshwater, salt water, even polluted or contaminated water.

Fat growing switchgrass isn’t able to produce the amazing amount of oil that algae is, but the hearty plant that populates fields in Middle America is a readily available, non-food alternative to current corn and sugar-based fuels.

Used Cooking Oil

(image via technology4life)

Recycling waste products as fuel is the dream of every environmentalist.  Some mechanically savvy drivers have found a way to convert their diesel engines to run on vegetable oil.  The process of preparing this fuel requires a little chemistry skill, but this is the best avenue for individuals who want greener cars but don’t want to wait for the R&D process that the other fuels on this list will need to undergo before they hit the mainstream.

Corn, Sugarcane, and the Future

(images via country living and recharge news)

People might disagree that corn-based fuel is fading from importance.  Farmers and venture capitalists who invested in the ethanol industry certainly don’t want their product to be overtaken by these next-generation upstarts.  Perhaps the answer lies in the husks and stalks of corn plants, which have sugars that can be converted into fuel by a process that is only a bit more complicated than the one currently used to make fuel from the kernels.

Brazil has invested in ethanol made from sugarcane.  While there are questions about effects on food prices and destruction of rain forests to make way for cane fields, Brazil stands by its industry and points to the fact that cane fuel burns 90% cleaner than fossil fuels.

Camelina

(image via Montana DoA)

Camelina is a feed crop that is being noticed by farmers who are intent on getting into the bio-fuel game.  The plant is part of the mustard family.  It is a hot topic in the industry right now because it is a nearly perfect candidate for crop rotation.  It can easily be rotated with staple crops like wheat.

Palm Oil

(image via saveyourworld)

Countries like Malaysia and Indonesia are championing the use of palm oil as a bio-fuel because they can produce massive quantities (and thereby cash in).  Palm oil is an edible oil from the palm fruit.  As with sugarcane in Brazil, questions about farming practices and rain forest destruction have put palm oil fuel on the blacklist in some European countries.

Straw

(images via Green and Concept Sustainable)

Japan is striving to find a use for the waste that is generated from rice production.  Rice straw has been used for a variety of things over the years (hats, woven baskets, sleeping mats), but never as a fuel.  The country is racing with China and other major rice producers to develop this potentially lucrative energy source.

Major wheat producers are pushing similar ideas for wheat straw.  The process for converting straws into fuel is a bit more daunting than converting other sources, but the economic potential is enough to warrant an attempt.

Waste

(image via M13 Blog)

Garbage as fuel?  Here’s the catch: you could easily end up putting more pollution into the air.  Energy companies have been getting quite creative,capturing landfill gases and converting them into natural gas.

Fat Trees

(image via Biodiesel.pl)

The word “tallow” is usually used to refer to the excess fat taken off meat products and used in cooking.  But the tallow tree, an extremely fast growing tree, is potentially one of the best sources for natural plant oils.  The oil is also used for medicinal purposes in Australia.

Using Microbes as a Refinery

(image via ASU Biodesign)

Complicated refining processes have been the major drawback to most bio-fuels.  Scientists have been studying a potentially earth-shattering idea: using microbes to naturally convert plant material into sugars that can be used to create ethanol.  Potentially, this could make the discussion about which source is best irrelevant.

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT GREEN ACRES

Travel Unplugged: 15 Off-the-Grid Destinations (Photo via Port Promotions) Visiting tourist sites “off-the-grid” usually means trekking to a geographically remote area with your bug spray, anti-malaria meds, and pith helmet in tow.  In these secluded spots, going green is a necessity; there is simply no power supply to plug into.  But even some of tourism’s urban sites are getting into the green game by creating cutting edge constructions or, sometimes, by simply changing the source of their electricity. Ultimate Eco-Resorts (images via Golden Buddha Resort) Traditional eco-tourist resorts are thriving.  Some of these, like the Golden Buddha Resort on island of Phangnga in southern Thailand, try to put visitors into contact with natural surroundings while not sacrificing too much comfort. The Phanghga wetlands area, protected by the Ramsar Convention, is often visited, but untouched by development and over-use.  To get from your guesthouse door to the most remote place you’ve ever been takes less than one hour. Other resorts, like Three Rivers Eco-Resort on the island of Dominica, take it a step further, by going completely off-the-grid, making their own power and growing their own food. Green and Rustic (image via Lova Lava Land) Hawaii is a vacation hotspot.  But a trip to the Big Island doesn’t mean staying in a large, concrete block that doubles as a hotel.  The yurts and recycled VW vans at Lova Lava Land are only the beginning of the greenness.  The owners offer solar power, composting toilets, wind-up flashlights, and, best of all, reasonable prices. Sustainable School (images via Living Routes) Brazil’s unique Ecoversidade is a grassroots community that offers intensive classes on sustainable agriculture, the utilization of green technologies and planning sustainable communities.  The program draws students from across the globe and the course’s credits are transferable to most major universities. But Northern Hemisphere dwellers needn’t cross the equator to learn sustainability.  The Maharashi School of Management in Iowa teaches classes. Though it has no grassroots community, the school’s Sustainable Living Center has earned rave reviews for its green design from the mainstream press. Hotel Without Wires (image via The Legacy Rockville) The Legacy Hotel in Rockville, Maryland looks like any other hip, boutique hotel.  But there is something quite unique about it.  The Legacy is the first hotel in the country to be powered by 100% wind energy.  Guests won’t even notice the change in power source amidst the cool interior design. Sustainable City within a City Singapore’s skyline is ever-changing.  Now, it seems that the Lion City, the last place on earth you’d expect, it going green.  Fusionopolis, a research and development complex designed by architect Ken Yeang, acts as a fully contained eco-system with vertical gardens, natural light, and an eco-friendly drainage and watering system.  The “fusion” comes from the idea that the building’s organic and inorganic components can work together to create a complete and independent eco-system. On the Beach, Off-the-Grid (images via Hotelito and Chumbe Island) Baja California is nowhere near Tanzania’s Chumbe Island, but resorts in each region share plenty of off-the-grid/close-to-nature qualities.  Chumbe offers traditional bungalows and has built up practices to ensure the surrounding eco-system is not altered by the presence of tourists.  Hotelito is more plush and less “flashlights-and-camping,” but its environmental practices and rather remote location put it into the same category as Chumbe in terms of treading lightly. Gaudy but still Green (images via Dynamic Architecture) Leave it to Dubai to champion the building of over-the-top structures.  The glittery city on the Persian Gulf is not exactly the greenest around.  Environmental groups might have a lot to complain about, but a planned rotating tower will be quite green.  The floors will rotate independent of one another.  Sounds like a huge waste of energy, except that the whole thing will reportedly be powered by wind-generated electricity. Green Science Museum (image via staySF.com) The California Academy of Science is a San Francisco institution.  Its newest incarnation is one of the finest examples of green architecture in the world.  From the living roof to the plant-infested interior to the fact that 90 percent of the structure was built using materials recycled from the previous museum building, environmentalists will find nothing to complain about at CAS. Backpackers’ Delight Much of Laos has that off-the-beaten-path feel.  Even the major cities of Luang Prabang and Vientiane feel like small towns.  But backpackers looking to truly drop off the map head to the tiny tourist outpost of Vieng Vang.  The town (if you can call the collection of buildings a town) is surrounded by a river, rocks, and rice paddies.  But you can still find guesthouses and cafes serving that backpacker staple, banana pancakes. Natural Side (images via Punta Placer and Ultima Thule Lodge) Sometimes, getting off the grid means getting close to nature.  The Alaskan wilds sit right outside the front door of the Ultima Thule Lodge in Chitina.  The location is so remote that the family-run guesthouse has to be self-sufficient, making its own electricity and relying on the land for some of its food. Punta Placer’s beach bungalows are not quite as remote as Alaska, but the Mexican government has passed laws to protect the area’s wildlife, including the famous sea turtles who frequent the beach as often as tourists. Amazing Green Technologies from Young Innovators Solar-powered fridge (Images via DailyMail) One of many problems facing developing countries is the difficulty of keeping food refrigerated under extreme weather conditions and fluctuating electricity. In response to this widespread problem, 21 year-old Leeds University student Emily Cummins has developed a solar powered refrigerator in hopes of helping starving Africans. According to DailyMail, Cummins’ eco-friendly fridge is powered by evaporation, can keep perishables cool for days, and holds a temperature of 6 degrees Celsius without using any power. Biofuel producing algae (Image via Bellingham Herald) How great would it be to turn waste into something useful? If the amazing waste-into-energy system developed by three Bellingham high school students is any indication, the wait may be over. Calvin Atkins, Dylan Albrecht, and Sam Lewis split first price at Washington University’s highly competitive Imagine Tomorrow science competition. Their creation? An ingenious tubing system that uses algae to recycle carbon dioxide emissions into biofuel. 700% more efficient water desalination (Image via TreeHugger) Mohammed Rasool Qtaisha, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa, has created a water desalination system so amazing that there isn’t even a publicly available picture of it yet. All that is currently known is that Qtaisha’s system utilizes patent-pending membrane technology and solar power to produce “50 kilograms of water per metre square of the membrane per hour“, whereas current technology would be hard pressed to churn out even seven or eight kilograms.