TOFTE, Norway (AFP) − Norway unveiled the world´s first osmotic power plant on Tuesday, harnessing the energy− unleashing encounter of freshwater and seawater to make clean electricity.

"While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an important part of the global energy portfolio," the head of state−owned power group Statkraft, Baard Mikkelsen, told reporters.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) — A plant that converts cow dung into energy for homes opened in the Netherlands Friday.

Manure from cows at a nearby dairy farm will be fermented along with grass and food industry residues, and the biogas released during the process will be used as fuel for the thermal plant's gas turbines.

Bio−plastics estimated to capture 30% of the total plastics market within the next decade

HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA − (BUSINESS WIRE) November 11, 2009 Cereplast, Inc. (OTCBB: CERP), a leading manufacturer of proprietary bio−based, sustainable plastics, announced today that it expects the U.S. bio−plastics market to top $10 billion in sales by 2020. As of 2007, the U.S. bio−plastics market accounted for approximately $1 billion in sales. Some estimates point to bio−plastics capturing up to 30% of the total plastics market within ten years.

New ´Green´ initiatives by the Obama administration and increasing consumer demand for compostable and renewable plastics are pushing the market. "We believe that breakthrough products like our Cereplast Compostables® and Cereplast Hybrids® are enabling manufacturers to make the switch to environmentally responsible, sustainable packaging," stated Mr. Frederic Scheer, Founder and CEO of Cereplast. "Our algae−based bio−plastics, currently under development, will soon open up a whole new source of feedstock and result in a broad range of new applications."

GREELEY, Colo. — The smell of manure hangs over Greeley as it has for half a century.

These days it's more than just a potent reminder of the region's agricultural roots and the hundreds of thousands of cattle raised on the city's outskirts.

The stench smells like an opportunity.

Investors are lining up to support a planned clean energy park that eventually will convert some of the methane gas released from the manure piles into power for a cheese factory and other businesses. JBS, which runs two of the largest feed yards and the local slaughterhouse, is testing a new technology that heats the cattle excrement and turns it into energy...(more)

Plastic soda bottles, Big Gulp cups and empty sour cream containers get fed into the top of the three-story machine. About 10 minutes later, out the other side comes a light—brown synthetic oil that can be converted into fuel for a truck or a jet airplane.

The Envion Oil Generator, scheduled for an official unveiling at Montgomery County's Solid Waste Transfer Station on Wednesday, represents a local company's decade—long effort to fight rising fuel costs and help protect the environment. As part of a pilot program, the company recently assembled the first of its fuel—producing generators at the Derwood waste facility...(more)

Brewing a certain type of biofuel with a mutant bacteria and polyester could double the fuel's production, researchers have found.

The biofuel, butanol, is a type of alcohol that is mainly used as a solvent, or in industrial processes that make other chemicals. But researchers think it has potential as a biofuel that could one day replace gasoline.

Butanol would produce more energy than another type of alcohol alternative fuel, ethanol. ..(more)

By Brooke Borel Posted 06.30.2009 at 9:10 am

Among the hot new ideas afloat in the world of geoengineering is biochar, a form of charcoal that some say could significantly help in carbon sequestration in the future. Re:char, a fledgling company working out of a corner of a cluttered warehouse in a shared artist loft in Brooklyn, New York, is experimenting with biochar production on a very small scale.

The re:char team is developing a low-cost mobile pyrolyzer to burn agricultural biomass waste and turn it into biochar, which acts as a fertilizer, in addition to sequestering carbon dioxide. The unit also produces bio-oil, a hydrocarbon fuel that can be used as heating oil, run a diesel engine, or burned to power a microturbine and generate electricity. Technology like re:char's may soon help small, remote farms increase crop growth, generate energy and survive off the grid in one fell swoop. Sounds great. But what does this mean and how does it work? And what is biochar?