Tag: biofuels

  • Proposed Incinerator a Bad Choice for Island

    – Linda Damas Kelley, August 6, 2014, West Hawaii Today Just having returned from a monthlong mainland trip, I found that the waste-to-energy controversy has reached a boiling point. I just read recent commentaries by Hunter Bishop and Nelson Ho; like them, I too worked for the Department of Environmental Management during the Mayor Harry Kim…

  • USDA Funds Genetic Engineering Research for Switchgrass Biofuels

    –  July 24, 2014, Farmers’ Advance Michigan State University (MSU) plant biologist C. Robin Buell has been awarded $1 million from a joint U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program to accelerate genetic breeding programs to improve plant feedstock for the production of biofuels, bio-power and bio-based products. Specifically, the MSU College…

  • Biomass Burning Kills 250,000 People a Year

    –  by Jo Nova, August 5, 2014, JoanneNova.com.au The headline at Science Daily is that wildfires and other burns lead to climate change. The paper itself asks: “As such, particle burn-off of clouds may be a major underrecognized source of global warming.” For me what matters are the deaths in the here and now: “We calculate that 5…

  • Forest Thinning Will Increase Wildfire Risk

    – by Charles Thomas, The Oregonian As fires again rage across the West, senators from John McCain, R-Ariz., to Ron Wyden, D-Ore., echo the refrain “thin the forests” to prevent wildfires. Unfortunately, most of the advocated thinning will actually stoke the wildfires of the future rather than lessen their occurrence and impacts. Thinning prescriptions proposed in…

  • Biomass Rejected in Favor of Solar in Springfield, VT

    –  by Susan Smallheer, July 17, 2014, Rutland Herald North Springfield, Vt. — Out with biomass, in with solar panels. Winstanley Enterprises announced Wednesday that it was seeking state approval to build five, 500-kilowatt solar arrays in the North Springfield Industrial Park. Some of the land that will be used was earlier proposed to be…

  • Shuttered Texas Biomass Incinerator to Reopen

    –  June 23, 2014, Bioenergy Insight InventivEnergy, an asset management firm, has selected NRG Energy Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, to restart the Aspen Power biomass plant located in Lufkin, Texas. NRG will also operate and maintain the facility once it resumes operation. The plant first opened in August 2011 and was the…

  • Activists Shut Down Seneca Biomass Incinerator in Eugene, Oregon

    – by Cascadia Forest Defenders, July 7, 2014, Forest Defense Now Scores of activists with Cascadia Forest Defenders and Earth First! converged on the Seneca Jones biomass plant this morning to protest the company’s privatization of public lands in the Elliott State Forest and ongoing pollution in West Eugene. Currently several people have locked themselves to…

  • On Biomass, EPA Should Follow the Science

    Other than the author’s support for so-called “sustainable” biomass, overall a decent piece. – Josh – by William H. Schlesinger, June 18, 2014, The Hill In America’s Southeastern states, there’s a booming energy trend that’s as big a step backward as imaginable. In fact, it stretches back to the time of cavemen. Power companies are burning…

  • Half the Wood for New Hampshire Biomass Incinerator from Out of State

    – by Chris Jensen, May 23, 2014, New Hampshire Public Radio About 51 percent of the wood purchased for the new Burgess BioPower biomass plant in Berlin during its first two months of operation came from New Hampshire, according to a new “sustainability” report filed with the state’s Site Evaluation Committee. Thirty-five percent came from Maine. Five percent…

  • Couple Suing Iowa Ethanol Plant

    – May 21, 2014, WhoTV.com   localtvwhotv.wordpress.com A Nevada couple is suing a cellulosic ethanol plant after a fire threatened their home. Ernest and Barbara Clark are suing DuPont Danisco. They are claiming the company has acted recklessly and carelessly in storing the highly combustible corn stover across from their home. On March 31st, at least eight…