Tag: biofuels

  • Bioenergy Capacity Continues to Increase

    – by Erin Voegele, September 26, 2014, Biomass Magazine The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released the September issue of its Electric Power Monthly report, indicating total in-service bioenergy capacity equaled 13,431.4 MW as of the close of July, up from 13,368.4 MW at the close of June. Overall, 313 MW of new bioenergy capacity was…

  • Study: Biofuel Crops Replacing Grasslands, Contributing to CO2 Emissions

    – April 4, 2015, Grand Island Independent A new study from University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers show that crops, including the corn and soybeans used for biofuels, expanded onto 7 million acres of new land in the U.S. over a recent four-year period, replacing millions of acres of grasslands. The study — from UW-Madison graduate student Tyler…

  • Spatial Justice Tests

    – by Aaron Kreider, Energy Justice Network  One of the main goals of Energy Justice Network’s Justice Map project is to demonstrate the role that income and race play in the siting of dirty facilities. You can use Justice Map (by clicking on Advanced Mode) to analyze the race and income of people who live within, say,…

  • $181,000 Fine for Ethanol Air Pollution in Albany, NY

    – by Brian Nearing, December 12, 2014, Times Union An oil terminal operator at the Port of Albany has been hit with a $181,000 penalty by the state Department of Environmental Conservation for air pollution violations that lasted nearly a year. Buckeye Partners failed to properly control vapor emissions from ethanol — a corn-based biofuel used as a gasoline…

  • Study: Thinning Forests for Bioenergy Can Worsen Climate

    A new study out of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon concludes that selectively logging or “thinning” forests for bioenergy can increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and exacerbate climate change. The study, “Thinning Combined With Biomass Energy Production May Increase, Rather Than Reduce, Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” by D.A. DellaSala and M. Koopman, challenges…

  • Biomass Power Facilities Idle for Months

    One of biomass energy’s main selling points is that it’s a baseload source of energy available 24/7, unlike solar and wind. Despite these promises–and hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies, grants and loans–several biomass power facilities across the U.S. have been sitting idle for months at a time, thanks to fires, equipment failure,…

  • Biomass Energy Growing Pains

    Several biomass power facilities have come online over the last few years in Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida, and Hawaii, but not without difficulties, including fires, inefficient equipment, lawsuits, and competing with the low price of natural gas. Gypsum, Colorado Eagle Valley Clean Energy, an 11.5-megawatt biomass power facility in Gypsum, Colorado started operating in December…

  • Energy’s Water Footprint

    – by Mike Ewall, Energy Justice Network In 2005, thermoelectric power plants (nuclear, coal, oil, gas and trash/biomass incinerators) were responsible for 41% of all freshwater withdrawals and 49% of total water withdrawals (including oceans and brackish waters) in the U.S. Much of this water (mainly used for cooling) is returned to local water bodies, but at a higher…

  • EXCLUSIVE: Biomass Energy and the Carbon Neutral Shell Game

    – by Brett Leuenberger, July 6, 2015 (Graphics by Brett Leuenberger) Who would have ever thought that clean renewable energy could come from a smokestack? And yet, according to our U.S. government and the biomass industry, that’s exactly what’s happening when you burn trees (biomass) for energy. I don’t know about you, but when it comes…

  • Biofuels Company Won’t Pay State of Mississippi After Bankruptcy

    – January 10, 2015, Fuel Fix Bankrupt biofuel maker KiOR and controlling shareholder Vinod Khosla say the state of Mississippi is using legal tactics in an attempt to squeeze money from the company. KiOR, based in Pasadena, fired back Thursday at the Mississippi Development Authority’s December call to convert KiOR’s case from Chapter 11 reorganization into…