Category: Blog entry
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Biomass Industry Needs to Prepare for Water Constraints
- April 14, 2014. Source: KDUZ/KARP St. Paul, Minn.– The ethanol plant in Buffalo Lake formerly owned by Minnesota Energy is in the process of correcting water and air quality permit violations, and must pay a $10,000 civil penalty, according to an agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). In October 2012, Renville County officials…
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Biofuel Producer Warns of Default, Bankruptcy
- by Christopher Martin, March 18, 2014. Source: Bloomberg Businessweek [Read more about Khosla: Cellulosic Ethanol: A Bio-Fool’s Errand ‑Ed.] Kior Inc. (KIOR:US), the Vinod Khosla-backed operator of the first U.S. commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel plant, fell the most on record after management told regulators they have serious doubts about staying in business. Kior declined 41 percent to 63 cents…
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Genetically Engineered Trees as Biofuel Feedstock
[Now that corn ethanol has fallen out of favor politically, the bioenergy industry will be focusing more and more on forests.] - by Alex Maragos, November 28, 2014, WLFI Ethanol made from corn already powers millions of cars and trucks on the road, but a group of researchers at Purdue University wants to make biofuel better.…
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UK Biomass Project Halted, Developer Blames “erosion of support” for Biomass
UK biomass project halted, developer blames “erosion of support” for biomass – by Nina Chestney, March 7, 2014. Source: Reuters Renewable energy developer RES has stopped a 300-million-pound ($500 million) project to build a biomass plant in Northumberland, northeast England, due to what it called inconsistent government subsidies. The 100-megawatt (MW) plant was scheduled to be…
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Fanning the Northeastern Biomass Flame
[The biomass industry is teaming up with environmentalists to increase the amount of forests burned for polluting energy in the Great North Woods.] Fanning the Northeastern Biomass Flame - by Joseph Seymour, March 11, 2014. Source: Biomass Magazine Migrating 1 million homes to biomass heat is optimistic—let alone 6 million—but recent developments in the northeastern U.S. are driving…
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UK Biomass Project Halted, Developer Blames “erosion of support” for Biomass
UK biomass project halted, developer blames “erosion of support” for biomass – by Nina Chestney, March 7, 2014. Source: Reuters Renewable energy developer RES has stopped a 300-million-pound ($500 million) project to build a biomass plant in Northumberland, northeast England, due to what it called inconsistent government subsidies. The 100-megawatt (MW) plant was scheduled to be…
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Maryland Seeking to Becomes the Nation’s Burn-Capitol
Maryland’s state legislators are at it for a four year in a row, pushing bills that would increase trash and biomass incineration in their state and region. In 2011, the state became the first, and only, to put trash burning in competition with wind power in its renewable energy mandate. Now, over half of the energy used to meet…
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VICTORY: Hazardous Waste Incinerator Defeated in Bucks County, PA
A politically-connected new company hoped to sneak an application through during the holidays for a 60 ton/day hazardous waste incinerator in Bristol Township, near Philadelphia, PA. Once word got out late last year, political opposition grew fast and furious. People packed local government meetings to overflowing. Energy Justice director, Mike Ewall, who grew up in the adjacent township,…
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Methane’s Global Warming Potential makes Gas worse than Coal for Climate
We just updated our page on natural gas with links to the latest studies showing that methane is far more potent for global warming than EPA considers it. Next time you’re hearing how much natural gas is a transition fuel or that it’s better than coal — or that landfill gas should be burned for energy (which releases more methane than…
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New Law Will Make Biomass Heating Cheaper in Massachusetts
- by Shira Schoenberg, December 1, 2014, Mass Live A new law that goes into effect in January will make it cheaper to use renewable energy to heat a home – and could provide a boost to the wood industry in rural parts of Western Massachusetts. “This is going to help (renewable) technologies compete with and…