1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 1743)

Nova Energy Launches Biodiesel Fuel Company

Nova Energy Holding, Inc. (NVAO.OB) has launched a biodiesel company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company’s business strategy involves the design, engineering and construction of wholly owned biodiesel refineries in the United States, and the production and marketing of biodiesel fuel and glycerin. Nova Energy currently has two full-scale production facilities under construction, with a combined production capacity of more than 30 million gallons per year. Nova has $20 million under contract for the build out of these two facilities. “The propriety, patented processing technology Nova will employ to produce biodiesel gives the company a significant competitive advantage compared to biodiesel industry standards. We can produce a cleaner, higher-quality fuel at a lower cost, from a broader variety of commonly available feedstocks,” said Ken Hern, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Nova. “Our team includes former presidents and CEOs from the world’s biggest oil companies. More importantly, we have the strongest technical staff in the industry. This high quality group of engineers is led by Dick Talley, a recognized expert in biodiesel. It’s a team of partners, not employees.” In addition, the company has entered into agreements with several large food processing companies with commitments for the supply of large […]

Read More

New Fuel Economy Rules Save Two Weeks of Gas a Year

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a miniscule change in fuel economy standards for light trucks. According to a Union of Concerned Scientists analysis of the plan, the new standards will save less than two weeks of gasoline each year over the next two decades. The standards require SUVs, pickups and minivans (so-called light trucks) to increase fuel economy by 1.8 mpg by 2011 (i.e. to 24.0 mpg in 2011), beginning with model year 2008, essentially a repackaged version of the August fuel economy proposal. The rule includes heavier SUVs and vans (medium duty passenger vehicles?MDPV) for the first time but ignores heavier pickups. Including heavier pickups like the Ford F-350 and Chevrolet Silverado 3500, would have saved four times as much. The Union of Concerned Scientists analysis shows the administration could have saved one million barrels of oil per day in 2025 if it had simply raised the new standards to 26 mpg by 2011 and applied the standards to all light trucks. This would have met 20 percent of the president’s target of cutting oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by 2025. “After the Bush administration acknowledged our oil addiction, one might have […]

Read More

No Oomph in LA Dept of Water and Power Green Power Program

As the new leadership of the Department of Water and Power makes clean energy a top priority, one of the utility’s earliest and most prominent green-power programs is languishing in limbo. Participation in the DWP’s Green Power Program, in which customers voluntarily pay extra to fund environmentally sound energy, plummeted for the third consecutive year in 2005, records show. Participants totaled 24,320, down from a peak of 31,543 in 2002. Revenue from the program, meanwhile, sank to $1.8 million from a peak of $2.8 million. Some environmentalists say the declining Green Power Program symbolizes a lack of commitment to move toward clean energy. “They don’t let the people do their part, and the department’s not doing its part,” said John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies. “Nothing is happening.” Tensions surrounding the clean-power efforts boiled over last week when DWP commissioners lashed out at department managers for moving too slowly toward renewable energy. While Commission President Mary Nichols joined her colleagues in expressing frustration, she said in an interview that, although reaching clean-energy goals will take time, the crucial first steps are being taken. “There are a lot of things to work on, and […]

Read More

DaimlerChrysler Testing Plug-in Hybrids

40 Dodge Sprinter Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) will be placed in operation with customers in California, Kansas City and New York among other locations in the US as part of a test fleet program. Plug-in technology lends itself to commercial applications in which the vehicle returns to base after each shift to be plugged into the power grid but also works well in urban traffic situations for daily commuters. Battery development is one of the keys to the success of hybrid transportation and PHEV’s yield valuable information through durability tests. Based on Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle technology, The Dodge Sprinter PHEV has the ability to drive up to 20 miles on electric only power. It accomplishes this with a switch on the dashboard giving the operator the ability to manually switch between modes as needed or automatically by the vehicle control system. Two different combustion engines are being mated to the PHEV system, a five cylinder diesel and a V6 gasoline. The diesel version will yield the highest fuel economy benefit and is the first fleet test of a diesel plug-in hybrid system.

Read More

Bids Received to Host FutureGen 'Clean Coal' Plant

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance reported that offerors in nine states (totaling 22 sites) have expressed an interest in hosting the FutureGen Project – the coal-fueled “zero emissions” power plant that generates electricity and hydrogen while capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide deep underground. FutureGen has an aggressive schedule to site the plant and begin construction within three years. The project is expected to accelerate the commercialization of the technology so that a fleet of plants based on the FutureGen design can be sited and developed worldwide. The FutureGen Alliance is a coalition consisting of the world’s largest coal companies and electric utilities including: American Electric Power; Anglo American; BHP Billiton; the China Huaneng Group; CONSOL Energy Inc., Foundation Coal; Kennecott Energy, a member of the Rio Tinto group; Peabody Energy; and Southern Company. Website: [sorry this link is no longer available]     

Read More

COSTCO Removes SEAL Products From Shelves

Costco is taking a stand against the Canadian annual seal slaughter by removing seal oil capsules from its Canadian stores. Says the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whch is behind the move, “By removing this despicable product, Costco has sent a message that they will not participate in the promotion of products obtained through the world’s largest slaughter of marine wildlife: the annual Canadian harp seal hunt, where more than 325,000 seal pups between the ages of 2 weeks to 3 months are killed each year.” Canada has spent millions of dollars searching for and creating new products and markets for seals. Some of these products have been perverse and ridiculous, such as the dried seal penises sold to Asian markets to be used as aphrodisiacs during the mid to late 1990’s. With seal products banned in the United States due to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Omega-3 seal oil capsule product was developed for the Canadian market to sell as some sort of health benefit. Still acting like snake oil salesmen, Canadian government civil servants working as seal product promotional salesmen began pushing Omega-3 as a cure for everything from warts to a remedy to prevent heart […]

Read More

Beacon Announces Loss for Q4, Full Year 2005

Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ:BCON), a development stage company that designs and develops flywheels, reported a loss for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ending December 31, 2005. For 2005, Beacon reported a net loss of $9.3 million, or ($0.20) per share, compared with a $5.3 million, or ($0.12) per share in 2004. The company attributes the higher loss in 2005 to a non-recurring gain on the sale of equity investments in Evergreen Solar, Inc., of $3.6 million in 2004, as well as higher spending in 2005 on several research and development contracts and nonrecurring expenses of $1.3 million relating to a proposed acquisition that was terminated. For the fourth quarter of 2005, the Company reported a net loss of $3.2 million, or ($0.07) per share, compared to net income of $0.9 million, or $0.02 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2004. This result is also primarily attributable to the nonrecurring gain on the sale of equity investments in Evergreen Solar, Inc., which were reported in the fourth quarter of 2004. At December 31, 2005, the Company had $13.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to $5.1 million at December 31, 2004. The Company’s working capital was $13.2 million. […]

Read More