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Raw materials and utilities cost Biodiesel is the product obtained when a vegetable oil or an animal fat reacts chemically with an alcohol to produce fatty acid alkyl esters. A catalyst such as sodium or potassium hydroxide is required. Glycerol is produced as a co-product (Van Gerpen et al., 2004). The most common stoichiometries description of the reaction is: 1000 kg of oil þ 110 kg of methanol/1000 kg of biodiesel þ 110 kg of glycerol

Mecca, which hosts millions of pilgrims a year visiting Islam's most holy shrine, is working toward becoming the first city in Saudi Arabia to operate a utility-scale plant generating electricity from renewables. See it on Scoop.it, via Sustaina...

You've purchased a new energy-efficient washing machine and refrigerator. So, will your utility bill reflect a huge savings?The easy answer is: It depends. It depends on the size and age of the appliance you're replacing, as well as your definiti...

FirstFuel, inverse modeling and speeding up the U.S. utility energy efficiency mandate market. "In the time it takes that entire lifecycle to happen for one building, we're doing 100 buildings, identifying 100 times more opportunities, doing 100 ...

While most US residents say they're concerned about their home energy costs, only a small number are willing to pay upfront to gain access to real-time and detailed information about their energy consumption, according to a new survey released today by Oracle.

I sympathise with these consumers. In Europe, I would guess the average utility bill not to be far from 200 euro per month, or 6-7 euro per day, and relatively stable. As a consumer, information on expenditure for food, transport and telecommunication might be as relevant, if not more.

Assume for the moment that Congress will not pass a carbon cap-and-trade scheme this year but that it does pass an energy bill that streamlines the siting of new transmission lines and requires utilities to get a certain minimum percentage of their electricity from clean sources. What opportunities would this open for AEP? On the efficiency side it would allow me to put capital to work on GridSmart [AEP's smart-grid initiative]. And instead of being a net buyer of renewable energy from third-party generators, I'd begin to be a net builder of renewables. It's the same issue as always: I'm satisfying a state or federal renewable requirement, and my customers' rates are going to go up anyways, so why shouldn't my shareholders get the benefit of our building that new generating capacity rather than buying the electricity on the market? If I'm just a net buyer in the market, I'm forced to buy solar power at 30 cents, and that goes through to my customers, and I don't think that's fair. I want to make sure my shareholders and my customers get a pretty good shake out of this.

I have a story today on Enbridge Gas Distribution and its early investigation of biogas-injection into its natural gas pipelines. It's already being done in several European countries and some U.S. states, and is even mandated in countries such as Germany. Enbridge, and Terasen Gas in British Columbia, are among a number of gas utilities in North America that are trying to prepare themselves for the day when "bio-methane" will become a common component of natural gas pipeline infrastructure. Will the biogas quality affect the pipeline? Can it be used in all natural gas appliances without problem? How much does it cost to scrub out impurities? What's the best source: landfills, sewage treatment plants, biodigesters? All questions that are being asked and answered. Indeed, the Gas Technology Institute is in the middle of a $1.6 million (U.S.) study aimed as answering these questions.

"In Chile, solar energy project developer Solarpack Corporación Tecnológica and state-owned Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco), the world's leading copper producer, say they will build the country's first utility-scale solar power plant in northern Chile, an area with high potential for solar energy generation."

What if this was implemented in Europe?
who would have the power to put such a scheme in place?