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Articles on Future Fuels-General

• Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies
  Jan 16, 2014 - Philipp Tagwerker - worldwatch.org
  
  Efforts to quantify global support for fossil fuels by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a variety of nongovernmental organizations have generated a wide range of estimates. The amounts identified range from $523 billion to over $1.9 trillion, depending on the calculation and what measures are included. What is clear is that the level of support has rebounded to 2008 levels following a dip in 2009–10 during the global financial crisis.
  
  
• Global fossil fuel subsidies dwarf renewables aid

  Bill Opalka - renewablesbiz.com

  Renewable energy received about $66bn in subsidies in 2010, which is one-twelfth of what fossil fuel got in government aid in 2012, according to a new report.
  Global fossil fuel subsidies are estimated at between $775bn and more than $1tn in 2012, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) for its Vital Signs Online service.
  

• EU report questions conventional biofuels' sustainability
  April 11, 2012 - euractiv.com
  
  The study ‘EU Transport GHG [greenhouse gases]: Routes to 2050’ estimates that before indirect effects are counted, the abatement cost of reducing Europe’s emissions with biofuels is between €100-€300 per tonne of carbon.
  
  
• Green power holds promise to replace fossil fuel as world's primary electricity source
  Mar 1, 2012 - Scott Simpson - www.vancouversun.com
  
  Large-scale green energy systems can affordably replace fossil fuel as the world's primary source of electricity within 20 years, new research from the United States weather office suggests.
  
  
• Rwanda aims to turn a threat into a power supply
  Mar 1, 2012 - Aimable Twahirwa - www.trust.org
  
  RUTSIRO, Rwanda (AlertNet) - The deep waters of Lake Kivu harbour a silent and invisible threat. Vast and growing quantities of methane and carbon dioxide, generated by volcanic activity, are trapped at the bottom of the lake. If they were to escape, the results could be deadly for the millions who live and work around Kivu’s shores.
  
  
• Coal-fired power plants in Canada must use CCS
  Nov 28, 2011 - power-eng.com
  
  The Canadian government proposed rules August 19 that could phase out coal-fired power plants that do not use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
  
  
• Subsidies for Renewables, Biofuels Dwarfed by Supports for Fossil Fuels
  Nov 4, 2011 - businesswire.com
  
  NEW YORK--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--New research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance reveals that despite many platitudes and pledges, governments of the world are spending substantially more on subsidizing dirty forms of energy than on renewables and biofuels. In fact, support for cleaner sources is dwarfed by the help the oil, coal, and other fossil fuel sectors receive.
  
  
• Utility Shelves Ambitious Plan to Limit Carbon
  Aug 19, 2011 - MATTHEW L. WALD and JOHN M. BRODER - nytimes.com
  
  WASHINGTON — A major American utility is shelving the nation’s most prominent effort to capture carbon dioxide from an existing coal-burning power plant, dealing a severe blow to efforts to rein in emissions responsible for global warming.
  
  
• U.N. Panel Calls for Offsets to New Coal-Fired Plants to Be Suspended
  Aug 11, 2011 - Nathanial Gronewold - scientificamerican.com
  
  Carbon credits to projects in India and China that emit enormous quantities of greenhouse gases could be denied immediately
  
  
• From King Coal to Carbon Tax: A Historical Perspective on the Energy and Climate-Change Debate
  Aug 9, 2011 - Paul Sabin - thesolutionsjournal.com
  
  Current climate and energy policy debates in the United States rarely involve historians. If you search the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 synthesis report, you will not find the words history or historical. Even so, history pervades climate and energy policy discussions. History guides policy choices, inspires proposals for action, and structures institutional development.
  
  
• The Good News About Coal
  Aug 5, 2011 - Lester R. Brown - earth-policy.org
  
  During the years when governments and the media were focused on preparations for the 2009 Copenhagen climate negotiations, a powerful climate movement was emerging in the United States: the movement opposing the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
  
  
• Biofuels from the Sea: Seaweed May Prove a Viable Future Biofuel, Especially If Harvested in Summer
  Aug 4, 2011 - sciencedaily.com
  
  Seaweed may prove a viable future biofuel -- especially if harvested in summer. The use of kelp (Laminaria digitata) could provide an important alternative to terrestrial grown biofuels; however the suitability of its chemical composition varies on a seasonal basis. Harvesting the kelp in July when carbohydrate levels are at their highest would ensure optimal sugar release for biofuel production.
  
  
• Airlines Win Approval to Use Plant-Based Biofuels on Commercial Flights
  Aug 3, 2011 - Louise Downing - bloomberg.com
  
  Airlines won final approval from a U.S.-based technical-standards group to power their planes with a blend made from traditional kerosene and biofuels
  derived from inedible plants and organic waste.
  
  
• IEEE: Solar could challenge fossil fuel in 10 years
  Jul 20, 2011 - cnet.com
  
  Solar photovoltaics have the potential to be the most cost-effective electricity source and could even challenge fossil fuels within 10 years.
  
  
• Biochar looks promising in climate change fight, NW geochemist says
  May 08, 2011 - Phil Carson - intelligentutility.com
  
  Scientists are probing the limits of how high-grade charcoal, dubbed biochar, can be formed from plant and animal waste to squirrel away the atmosphere’s carbon for centuries, or even millennia. Inspired by ancient Amazonian soils, researchers have found that buried charcoal resists bacteria’s attempts to break it down. And thanks to its porous geometry, it has a knack for improving land in ways still being revealed.
  
  
• Integrating renewable energy
  May 08, 2011 - Phil Carson - intelligentutility.com
  
  NREL effort seeks to convert wind and sun to hydrogen
  
  
• Stepping on the Gas
  Mar 30, 2011 - Daniel Yergin - wsj.com
  
  With the nuclear industry in crisis and oil prices on the rise, could the solution to our energy problems be in the ground at home? Daniel Yergin on the promise of shale gas.
  
  
• Mass. company making diesel with sun, water, CO2
  Feb 06, 2011 - Jay Lindsay - Associated Press
  
  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A Massachusetts biotechnology company says it can produce the fuel that runs Jaguars and jet engines using the same ingredients that make grass grow.
  
  
• Concerns Spread over Environmental Costs of Producing Shale Gas
  Jul 14, 2010 - Joel Kirkland - scientificamerican.com
  
  The extent to which utilities will burn natural gas to slash carbon dioxide emissions tied to global warming is a national issue. But on the ground, where it's being produced, the issues become very local
  
  
• British Airways To Develop Waste-to-Fuel Facility
  Feb 16, 2010 - RenewableEnergyWorld.com
  
  British Airways and the Solena Group plan to develop Europe's first bio-based jet-fuel production facility. British Airways plans to use the fuel to power part of its fleet starting in 2014.
  
  
• Farming Fuel in Middle Eastern Salt Marshes
  Jan 19, 2010 - Jenny Mandel - Scientific American
  
  A new biofuels project at Abu Dhabi's Masdar Institute of Science and Technology will unite Boeing, Honeywell and others in search of a system to produce fuel and other useful products from biomass and seawater.
  
  
• Look, It's the Green Hornet! Navy to Test Biofuels in F-18 Fighter Jet
  Aug 18, 2009 - Matthew McDermott - Alternative Energy
  
  By this time next year, the US Navy will have commenced biofuel tests on one of its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets. A request for proposal for some 40,000 gallons of JP-5 aviation biofuel was just issued. No word on what feedstocks will be used in that fuel yet, other than the stipulation that no food crops are used:
  
  

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