Another step toward algae diesel

An American company called Solazyme has announced that its algae derived biodiesel has passed US standards testing and is compatible with unmodified diesel engines. The process can use waste materials and has a big advantage over farmed biodiesel in that it doesn't take capacity away from food production.

via Jalopnik

Technorati tag: biodiesel

The tropical Atlantic ozone sink

Measurements in the Atlantic have shown that the actions of ultraviolet light and sea spray are scrubbing ozone and methane out of the atmosphere in the area faster than expected. Which is fairly good news, if only we can stop pumping out so many pollutants the Earth may clean the rest up faster than we deserve.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse

Energy independence begins at home

Gordon Brown has announced a £100billion renewable energy plan. The Daily Mail and its readers have reacted as you'd expect, ignoring the boost to the economy from all the jobs created and the opportunities through grants to go energy independent.

So, those of you who can, I'd recommend stealing a jump on the whingers and using their tax money to go off grid. When I researched grants for solar panels last month I found that the existing scheme had been phased out, which was annoying. I'm now willing to give Brown the benefit of the doubt and hope this was because they were gearing up to a new and improved scheme. It isn't easy. I'm not as obnoxiously and knee-jerkingly anti Brown/New Labour as the Mail's readers, but past performance does mark the Government as untrustworthy.

The schemes for householders will be announced later this Summer. I'll be looking out for them and will try to do some number crunching on them when they arrive.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse

Guerrilla Gardening in Tokyo

Even one of the most densely populated cities in the world still has some space for an enterprising guerrilla to plant tomatoes.

via BoingBoing

Technorati tag: EcoHouse

Algae powered adventures in Chicago

In a piece of brilliant education a Chicago science teacher ran a project with his students to see if they could create enough biodiesel from algae to run a VW camper on a 20 mile round trip from their school to the Sears tower and back again. The algae "farm" was set up in a corner of the classroom, using fluorescent lamps to double for sunlight, and the resulting liquid separated in a centrifuge at a proper lab. A writer for Jalopnik was along for the ride as the battered old vehicle puttered its way through the windy city's heavy Friday traffic.

Obviously the small scale set up the students used was probably carbon negative overal, with its reliance on pumps and artificial light, but large scale algae farms could benefit from natural light and wind or solar PV to power any motors.

Technorati tag: Biodiesel

CO2 scrubbers, a step toward a technological fix

A team of Arizona based scientists believe they are close to building CO2 "scrubbers". These will collect the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere using plastic membranes that could later release the gas into greenhouses or other more permanent traps. They're not the solution, millions would be needed to soak up current production levels and I doubt they'll be cheaper than most of the methods used to reduce emissions at source, but they could be deployed as part of a clean up campaign.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse