Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

October 8, 2008 2:57:07 AM CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

Stories related to: alternative fuels

Stories

12 Stories

  • September 2008

    • India's Effort to Boost Biofuel Encounters Growing Pains

      Economist  |  Sep 22, 08 12:36 PM CDT

      India's Effort to Boost Biofuel Encounters Growing Pains

      (Newser) - Just months after India’s finance minister called converting food crops to biofuels “a crime against humanity,” the government has launched a program that aims to get 20% of India’s diesel from plants by 2017, relying heavily on hardy plants that won’t keep rob needed land. But the biofuel crops take years longer to yield much of value, making it a tough sell, the Economist reports. More »

      Tags

      India  • biofuel  • fossil fuel  • alternative fuels  • biodiesel  • oil crisis

    • Biodiesel Gains Converts on Home Front

      Wired  |  Sep 15, 08 1:03 PM CDT

      Biodiesel Gains Converts on Home Front

      (Newser) - Half a billion gallons of it were brewed at home last year, and we're not talking beer. Homemade biodiesel is expanding from the days of hippies converting old electric water heaters to mainstream retailers offering safer, reliable processors, Wired reports. Anyone with the equipment, ranging from $3,000 to $13,500, can turn used veggie oil into the eco-friendly fuel. More »

      Tags

      alternative fuels  • biodiesel  • clean fuel  • eco-friendly  • home brewing

  • August 2008

    • As Oil Costs Bubble, Alternative Heating Gets Hot

      Wall Street Journal  |  Aug 13, 08 9:35 AM CDT

      As Oil Costs Bubble, Alternative Heating Gets Hot

      (Newser) - Northeasterners expecting the price of heating oil to hit $4.35 a gallon are creating an avalanche of new business for heating and cooling contractors as they increasingly look to convert from oil heat to natural gas, reports the Wall Street Journal . A conversion to natural gas heat can cost up to $8,000, but can pay for itself in 4 to 6 years—and contractors are reporting months-long backlogs. More »

      Tags

      oil prices  • natural gas  • energy prices  • alternative fuels  • heating oil

  • July 2008

    • Let Innovators Light Way Out of Energy Crisis

      New York Times  |  Jul 27, 08 9:28 AM CDT

      Let Innovators Light Way Out of Energy Crisis

      (Newser) - As oil-addicted America looks to its energy future, the nation would be wise to follow in the footsteps of two innovators offering straightforward solutions to the crisis, writes Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times . “The Jewish Henry Ford” has a plan to turn Israel on to electric cars, while an 80-year-old oilman is creating the largest wind farm on the planet. More »

      Tags

      electric cars  • Thomas Friedman  • wind power  • alternative fuels  • T. Boone Pickens  • wind farm  • clean fuel  • Shai Agassi

    • Gas From Garbage Finally Gets Momentum

      New York Times  |  Jul 24, 08 9:18 AM CDT

      Gas From Garbage Finally Gets Momentum

      (Newser) - After decades of dreaming, schemes to turn waste into fuel are finally getting traction in the US, with some 28 plants in the works and a handful even up and running, the New York Times reports. They consume everything from wood chips to garbage, as once-prohibitively expensive processes become competitive with $4-a-gallon gasoline. “American innovation is going to come up with the solution,” one researcher tells the Times. More »

      Tags

      biofuel  • ethanol  • alternative fuels  • energy dependence  • algae biofuel

    • Admit It: Carter Was 100% Right

      Atlanta Journal-Constitution  |  Jul 15, 08 4:41 PM CDT

      Admit It: Carter Was 100% Right

      (Newser) - “Misunderstood, mocked and maligned” though he was, Jimmy Carter was exactly right about our energy problems and their solutions, Joseph Wheelan writes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Way back in 1979, "Carter outlined a program for achieving energy independence." In 2008, "It turns out that Carter was right after all." More »

      Tags

      Jimmy Carter  • alternative fuels  • energy dependence  • fuel economy standards

  • June 2008
  • April 2008

    • Fill 'Er Up— In Your Own Back Yard

      New York Times  |  Apr 27, 08 1:56 PM CDT

      Fill 'Er Up— In Your Own Back Yard

      (Newser) - Backyard brew may soon ease the pain at the gas pump if two entrepreneurs pushing a home ethanol system have their way, reports the New York Times. E-Fuel Corporation's device is roughly the size of a stackable washer-dryer and will sell for about $10,000 . Using sugar or feedstock and a specially designed yeast, it creates ethanol for as little as a dollar a gallon, which produces one-eighth the carbon of gasoline. More »

      Tags

      gas  • ethanol  • alternative fuels  • green home  • sugar  • auto technology

    • A Plane That Runs on Hydrogen

      BBC  |  Apr 4, 08 3:28 PM CDT

      A Plane That Runs on Hydrogen

      (Newser) - Boeing has successfully tested the world’s first manned, hydrogen-powered plane, the BBC reports, with one executive calling the three flights in Spain “a historical technological success.” The propeller-driven two-seater runs on a hydrogen fuel cell that emits only heat and water. Boeing engineers say they doubt the cells alone could power full-scale passenger planes. More »

      Tags

      Boeing  • clean energy  • aerospace  • alternative fuels  • hydrogen fuel cells

  • January 2008

    • Brits Debate Eco-Wisdom of Biofuels

      Guardian (UK)  |  Jan 20, 08 11:03 AM CST

      Brits Debate Eco-Wisdom of Biofuels

      (Newser) - Biofuels may actually exacerbate the environmental problems they were meant to allay, reports the Observer, and a UK Parliamentary committee has released a report examining the possible effects. Using fuel made from crops like tallow and rapeseed may actually worsen greenhouse gas emissions, kill rainforests, and drive up food prices due to land competition. More »

      Tags

      environment  • United Kingdom  • oil  • greenhouse gases  • gas  • biofuel  • alternative fuels  • British Parliament

  • October 2007

    • GM Road-Tests Hydrogen Fuel

      Los Angeles Times  |  Oct 20, 07 11:29 AM CDT

      GM Road-Tests Hydrogen Fuel

      (Newser) - GM is lending vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells to drivers in LA and New York to see if the alternative technology works in the real world, the LA Times reports. In the largest such road test of its kind, GM will loan more than 100 of its expensive Chevy Equinox SUV's to drivers in exchange for feedback. More »

      Tags

      alternative fuels  • Chevrolet  • hydrogen fuel cells

12 Stories

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »