Category: Top Stories

Zero Emission Vehicles, and Zero Carbon: The Chart that the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post Dare Not Publish

Zero Emission Vehicles, and Zero Carbon: The Chart that the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post Dare Not Publish

November 28, 2013 |

You know, sometimes hard data just knocks you for a loop. Here’s a chart that’s so contrarian to everything that mainstream media, mainstream thought-merchants want you to believe, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post declined to publish it. What belief does it contradict? The assumption that zero emissions vehicles (generally, electric cars) have […]

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Choose greener roadside assistance, says 20/20 Project, over pro-Big Oil, anti-green AAA

Choose greener roadside assistance, says 20/20 Project, over pro-Big Oil, anti-green AAA

November 28, 2013 |

In Massachusetts, the 2020 Project, a not-for-profit public education group, launched a public awareness campaign today against the American Automobile Association (AAA). The objective of the effort – called AAA Truth – is to expose AAA’s ongoing  alignment with Big Oil and educate motorists about better performing alternatives to AAA for roadside assistance. “Consumers seem […]

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Advanced Biofuels, 12-15% of EU transport market by 2030: report

Advanced Biofuels, 12-15% of EU transport market by 2030: report

November 27, 2013 |

What the EU really needs, says E4tech, is a 2030 policy for biofuels in Europe to unlock investment While the United States shuts down for its annual Thanksgiving holiday, let’s look at the latest from the EU market, where E4tech has released a report finding that advanced biofuels could grow to 12-15% of energy to […]

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Relief at the pump, begins with the pump

Relief at the pump, begins with the pump

November 26, 2013 |

High gas prices?! They’re a scandal, all right. Turns out, alternative fuels are affordable fuels. And getting them distributed — well, here’s a chance for Iowa to show the way. Last Friday, a distinguished group of Iowa’s political leaders gathered at Lincolnway Energy in Nevada, not far from Ames, for a “Defend the RFS” event. […]

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Why have expectations for sweet sorghum soured?

Why have expectations for sweet sorghum soured?

November 25, 2013 |

As Ceres points towards minimal plantings of its sweet sorghum hybrids in its key market of Brazil for next year, investors ask two questions. Will sweet sorghum realize its vast potential, and when? Just when many observers hoped that Ceres would dramatically expand hectares planted with its Blade hybrid sweet sorghum, the 2014 planting outlook […]

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Lewinsky’s Dress Syndrome and the EPA biofuels debacle

Lewinsky’s Dress Syndrome and the EPA biofuels debacle

November 24, 2013 |

So, the EPA hands down cruel cutbacks in renewable fuel targets as the Administration reels under Obamacare pressure. What happened to biofuels, why is “everyone’s friend” biodiesel getting the shaft, what’s next? And what is Lewinsky’s Dress Syndrome, anyway? Answers for your questions. On Friday November 15th, the EPA issued a proposal for the 2014 […]

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Financing bioenergy, and making better investment decisions – via renewable proved reserves

Financing bioenergy, and making better investment decisions – via renewable proved reserves

November 21, 2013 |

Reserve accounting — a powerful balance sheet and analytic tool for traditional energy companies. When will it be available for renewables, and how? In November 2011, the Digest ran a story on a remarkable proposition — advanced by Richard Hamilton, CEO of Ceres — that biofuels companies – on the “level playing field” theory advanced […]

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Are you a fuel smartie? Which money-saving fuel did you buy, and when?

Are you a fuel smartie? Which money-saving fuel did you buy, and when?

November 20, 2013 |

If you were buying higher blends of renewable fuels this year, you saved on dollars per mile. So many blends, so many fuels, and a commodity price roller-coaster to navigate. Who’s the biggest fuel smartie? We look at the price data to map the trends. Times are hard and nobody ought to be spending any dollars […]

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Bio Architecture Lab, EcoShift make waves with seaweed-based biofuels

Bio Architecture Lab, EcoShift make waves with seaweed-based biofuels

November 20, 2013 |

By Dustin Mulvaney, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Energy Resources, Department of Environmental Studies, San Jose State University — Principal, EcoShift Consulting Measuring the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of biofuels has become increasingly important in recent years. Studies have shown a significant amount of variation in biofuels made from different feedstocks. In some cases, biofuels are only marginally better […]

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Unlocking the universe of biobased (and not so biobased) materials

Unlocking the universe of biobased (and not so biobased) materials

November 19, 2013 |

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, exotic materials are brought from outer space, but in the Digest Cinematic Universe, the most transformative materials are all around you. Possibly in your trash.  If there is a lesson we can draw from the fracking and the biobased revolutions, it is that the most important work we can do […]

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