Story Archives of 'Biodiesel'

The race to find alternatives to oil has no clear winner. Corn-derived ethanol competes with food supplies, biodiesel gells up in cold temperatures, and other alcohol fuels provide only half the energy of gasoline.

We’ve spoken before on this program about the promise of biodiesel made from algae. It is easy to grow. It absorbs carbon dioxide and noxious emissions that contribute to air and water pollution. The challenge to date is how to process the useful material from algae in a large scale, cost-effective way.

Right now, a public-private venture is planning a new algae biorefinery to open on Cape Cod next year. The company Plankton Power aims to commercially produce 100 million gallons of algae oil within the next three years. That is, if everything goes to plan. We continued our Next Green Thing series today with Curtis Felix, CEO of Plankton Power.

More information on Plankton Power's project

Low-tech Magazine: Leave the algae alone

Greentech Media: Exaggerated Claims in Algae? 250,000 Gallons an Acre?

(Photo by Akshay Davis via Flickr/Creative Commons)

Biodiesel fuel lowers our transportation costs, and reduces our carbon footprint. But it hasn’t become as popular as some might hope. Some alternative energy experts criticize its reliance on food supplies like corn or vegetable oils. They say, "Why sacrifice food to make fuel?"

But one new refinery in Nashua is avoiding that controversy by creating bio-fuel from something called "brown grease," and it’s hoping to turn that brown grease green, in more ways than one. Word of Mouth correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern visited the Batchelder Biodiesel Refinery in Nashua, and brings us this story as part of our "next green thing" series.

(Photo by Rob E)

For 139 years the steam engines that have chugged up and down Mount Washington have marked their passage with huge clouds of black smoke. But that’s changing. A biodiesel is on the rails. NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.

A State commission is holding meeting around the state to study the feasibility of locally grown and produced bio-diesel fuels.

NHPR Correspondent Roger Wood attended the commission's third meeting, held this week in Portsmouth and he files this report.

Next time you smell French fries or fried chicken, the odor may be coming from an exhaust pipe.

Bio-diesel, a natural fuel generally made from soybeans, is growing in popularity.

Nationwide, use of the biodegradable fuel has grown from a few hundred thousand gallons a year in the early 1990s to over 25 million gallons last year.

And the state's first biodiesel Storage terminal has just opened in North Stratford ready to supply fuel across New Hampshire.

NHPR Correspondent Dianne Finch has the story.