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GE Aviation signs 10-year supply agreement for biomass FT jet fuel for engine testing; baseline of 500,000 gallons per year

  « Study shows connected-car ecodrive system can increase fuel savings 27% without increasing inter-vehicle spacing | Main | DOE launches alternative fueling station locator app » Print this post GE Aviation signs 10-year supply agreement for biomass FT jet fuel for engine testing; baseline of 500,000 gallons per year Web Schematic 2013 Updated740x442 Schematic of the DG Energy facility that will produce the cellulosic synthetic jet fuel. Click to enlarge. GE Aviation, which consumes more than 10 million gallons of jet fuel annually at its engine testing centers, has signed an agreement to purchase cellulosic synthetic biofuel from The D’Arcinoff Group (DG), based in Washington, DC, to be used for production and development testing of GE jet engines, starting in 2016. The 10-year agreement calls for GE’s baseline commitment of 500,000 gallons annually of the low-emissions jet fuel to be used at the company’s main jet engine testing […]

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Ethanol’s Discount to Gasoline Tightens on Exports, Lower Stocks

Ethanol’s discount to gasoline tightened on speculation that export demand is preventing the highest production rates in 16 months from refilling stockpiles of the gasoline additive. The spread between December contracts narrowed 1.02 cents to 88.62 cents a gallon as the most recent Energy Information Administration data shows stockpiles declining and the pace of foreign deliveries, as of August, at the highest since March. “We have seen stockpiles hit a record low,” said Chris Krukowski, an ethanol broker at SCB & Associates LLC in Chicago. “In general we are seeing tightness.” Denatured ethanol for December delivery fell 0.7 cent, or 0.4 percent, to $1.642 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have fallen 21 percent this year. The November contract, which expires tomorrow, slumped 5 cents to $1.72. Gasoline for December delivery slipped 1.72 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $2.5282 a gallon on the New York Mercantile […]

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Saudi Arabia, Emirates lead charge on Mideast solar power

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 1 (UPI) — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the world’s leading oil producers, are spearheading a Middle Eastern drive to develop solar energy, with plans for projects requiring $1.5 billion in investment by the end of 2014. The program, designed to free up for export increasing amounts of oil and gas being used domestically for power generation, got a major endorsement from the Arab Forum for Environment and Development Monday. It urged Arab states to re-evaluate their relationship with oil, the economic mainstay of the Arab world since the 1950s, and phase out state energy subsidies to focus investment in developing renewable energy. “Oil and gas are important, they will continue to be important,” said Najib Saab, the forum’s secretary-general. “We call for more careful use of oil and gas and for more serious development of renewable energy.” Saudi […]

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Solar Rebound Beating Dot-Com Recovery as Demand Surges

Solar industry manufacturers are rebounding from a two-year slump faster than technology companies recovered from the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. The benchmark BI Global Large Solar Energy Index of 15 manufacturers, which slumped 87 percent from a February 2011 peak through November 2012, has regained 55 percent of its value in the past year. The technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite (CCMP) index reached its post-bubble low in October 2002 and regained 37 percent of its March 2000 peak value in the next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Suppliers including California ’s SunPower Corp. (SPWR) , which has gained more than fivefold this year, and China ’s Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (YGE) are driving the rally as panel prices stabilize. Installations at power plants and on roofs will swell 40 percent this year from a 6.1 percent pace last year. “The worst is probably behind us,” Jenny […]

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US ethanol stocks, days of supply plunge to lowest recorded level: EIA – Agriculture

Biofuelscan Houston (Platts)–30Oct2013/1251 pm EDT/1651 GMT US overall ethanol stocks and days of supply for the reporting week ended last Friday both fell to their lowest recorded levels by the Energy Information Administration, agency data showed Wednesday. Specifically, US overall weekly ethanol stocks plunged 538,000 barrels to 14.961 million barrels. The previous record low was at 15.39 million barrels for the reporting week ended October 4. The EIA first started tracking ethanol stocks in the reporting week ended June 4, 2010. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Biofuelscan Platts Biofuelscan is a daily report, covering the latest worldwide biofuel news and prices. It provides a daily summary of market events and developments, along with closing market price assessments from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Platts Biofuelscan includes prices assessmenst for ethanol, ETBE, renewal indentification number (RIN) biofuels (US market0 and biodiesel. It also includes graphs depicting historic […]

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US senators unveil federal 25% renewable power bill – Electric Power

Washington (Platts)–29Oct2013/327 pm EDT/1927 GMT Two US Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a bill requiring utilities to generate 25% of their electricity from renewable energy sources, including wind and solar, by 2025. The bill, introduced by Senators Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico, is similar to the Colorado Renewable Energy Standard, a ballot initiative approved by that state’s voters in 2004 that requires investor-owned utilities to generate 30% of their electricity from renewables by 2020, the senators said. The senators plan to attach the bill as an amendment to an energy efficiency bill, which is expected to be voted on sometime this year. A similar bill, the Renewable Electricity Promotion Act, was introduced in 2010, but never made it out of committee. –Brian Scheid, [email protected] –Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, [email protected]

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Peak Energy: New Tubes Using Hydraulic Pistons Could Harness Ocean Waves for Energy

Inhabitat has a post on a new wave power design – New Tubes Using Hydraulic Pistons Could Harness Ocean Waves for Energy . The cylinders ride the peaks and troughs of waves, which spins concentric shafts working in pairs to push and pull hydraulic fluid (similar way to how a piston works). This double action then creates pressure which is stored in accumulators and released at a capped limit into a hydraulic motor. Etherington, who is an engineering graduate from Brunel University in London, got his inspiration for the device when he was kite surfing off the coast of Cumbria and he noticed that the waves rarely moved in a predictable fashion. Replicating the unpredictable conditions of the ocean was one of the main challenges when testing the device. Etherington had to use data from buoys moored in the Orkney Islands which were used to create suitable waves in […]

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Ethanol Tumbles Against Gasoline as Corn Declines

Ethanol tumbled, widening the discount to gasoline, as cheaper corn enabled distillers to boost production of the biofuel. The spread widened 7.38 cents to 79.99 cents a gallon, the biggest one-day expansion since Oct. 4. Pratt Energy said Oct. 24 that it restarted operations at a plant that was idle for more than five years. “There’s been news of plants coming back online,” said Will Babler, a broker at Atten Babler Risk Management in Galena, Illinois . “It seems like production is trending higher.” Denatured ethanol for November delivery fell 3 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $1.831 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. Futures are down 16 percent this year. Gasoline for November delivery rose 4.38 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $2.6309 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange . The contract covers reformulated gasoline, made to be blended with ethanol before delivery to filling stations. […]

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Scottish wind farm expansion to result in 102 megawatts of power

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Oct. 25 (UPI) — The Scottish government said Friday it has agreed to plans to expand a wind farm so it will generate more than 100 megawatts of power for consumers. “The proposed extension to the wind farm, which will be developed by Mid Hill Wind Limited, is to have nine turbines, bringing the total number of turbines to 34 and have a maximum generating capacity of 102 megawatts,” the government said. “The farm could power the equivalent of more than 48,000 homes in the area.” The government said 52 of the 56 applications under consideration for new energy projects are for onshore wind developments. Scotland has one of the most ambitious renewable energy targets in the world. It set a goal of generating 100 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020. “Wind farms, like Mid Hill, provide considerable benefits to their local community and […]

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Irish energy chief Pat Rabbitte attends launch of Tipperary wind farm

DUBLIN, Ireland, Oct. 25 (UPI) — A 40-megawatt wind farm now under construction in central Ireland will help the country move closer to its renewable energy targets, a government minister said. “Ireland has a challenging European Union renewable energy target to meet by 2020, which includes meeting 40 percent of electricity demand from renewable sources,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Pat Rabbitte said Thursday at the launch of the wind farm in central Brukhana country in Tipperary. “We are making progress towards this target, however, and development of renewable generation of the scale we will see at Bruckhana is crucial for maintaining the rate of build necessary to achieve our EU target.” State utility company Bord na Mona is in charge of construction of the wind farm. No date for completion was given. The Irish government said it’s committed to meeting 40 percent of electricity demand through renewable resources […]

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