biofuel

I don’t like Mondays

by Gareth November 12, 2007

Lady Young, head of the UK’s Environment Agency, thinks that coping with climate change demands wartime urgency, as the Telegraph [UK] reports: “This is World War Three – this is the biggest challenge to face the globe for many, many years. We need the sorts of concerted, fast, integrated and above all huge efforts that [...]

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Formerly the weekend roundup

by Gareth October 30, 2007

Saturday’s promised omnibus extension never arrived, in part because of the arrival of a big cat on my computer, so here’s a Tuesday update.

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Tuesday linkfest

by Gareth October 20, 2007

Labour weekend means just that, chez Hot Topic. Catching up with farm work, planting the vege garden, getting a sore back – all in a weekend’s work. But climate change waits for no man, so here’s a compendium of stuff that caught my attention over the last few days. Contact Energy has announced plans for [...]

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New energy and energy efficiency strategies announced

by Gareth October 11, 2007

Renewables are the key to New Zealand’s future energy needs, according to the government’s new energy strategy, published today [HTML, PDF]. No new thermal generation should be built over the next ten years, the government is going tell the power generation and distribution state owned enterprises. New generation capacity is expected to come from an [...]

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Biofuels to fly, and other stories

by Gareth October 2, 2007

Air New Zealand is carefully positioning itself as a climate-friendly airline with its latest announcement that it is to trial biofuels in a 747 flight from Auckland in the next couple of years. Working with Boeing, Air NZ will be part of the first commercial trial of biofuel, in a Rolls-Royce-powered jumbo in the next [...]

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The whey forward?

by Gareth August 5, 2007

New Zealand’s first E10 biofuel – a blend of petrol with 10% ethanol – went on sale in three Gull petrol stations around Auckland last Wednesday, and the PM poured the first drop [Herald]. The ethanol comes from Fonterra, mainly from their Edgecumbe dairy factory in the Bay of Plenty, which can produce 30,000 litres [...]

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Fuel from willows

by Gareth July 25, 2007

Interesting interview with Jim Watson, former President of the Royal Society of NZ on Kathryn Ryan’s Nine to Noon programme this morning (podcast here, but only for a week). Watson, the founder scientist of Genesis Research & Development discusses the new Biojoule project being established at Taupo. A species of willow (not the cricket bat [...]

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Do android farmers dream of electric tractors?

by Gareth July 3, 2007

Here’s a way to reduce agricultural emissions: the electric tractor. Global Public Media make the case for the electric tractor as a means to eliminate fossil fuel use (and helpfully explain why farms can’t be self-sufficient in biofuels): This week we took a (petroleum-powered) scenic drive through the redwoods to the Mendocino coast to visit [...]

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