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All Soymet biofuel products have zero petroleum toxins and lower emissions. Primary byproducts are carbon dioxide and water vapor. These biodiesel fuels burn cleanly and produce the same amount of energy as conventional diesel fuels.

How can we get oil from algae? It's like getting juice from an orange -- with an additional chemical reaction thrown in

Biofuels are basically any fuel that can be burned in air to produce heat that is produced by biological means, normally by plant growth. Currently the most prominant biofuels are ethanol and bio-deisel because these can be burned in existing internal combustion engines and are thus a direct replacement for oil. The most important biofuel historically is wood with oth

Biofuels are currently cheaper than oil although this is only because we are seeing very high oil prices at the moment. Under what might be termed more 'normal' market conditions, biofuels lack any meaningful price advantage. Biofuel production is very labor intensive and very land intensive. Production of ethanol from sugar cane was pioneered by the Brazilians in the 1970's as a solution to an oil import bill they could ill afford. It worked for them as they have plenty of land they can convert to growing sugar cane and at the time, plenty of cheap labor with which to harvest it.

he simple truth is the world does not have enough land to produce anywhere near the quantity of biofuels we need to make any dent in our oil consumption. They are only in fashion now oil prices are high and it is cost effective to produce them. Sooner or later food prices will rise to such a point that biofuel production will cease to be economic.

For hundreds of years mankind has been making use of the energy and power generated by wind. Whether it has been to travel the world, manufacture products, or in the modern age to generate electricity, wind has provided the means. And while there have been dozens of different methods over the years, new technology is still being invented to make even further use of this ancient power source.

Windmills were one of the second most widespread uses of wind energy. The variety of uses that windmills were put to included grinding grain, as well as pumping water, up until the industrial revolution where the windmill was mostly replaced by the steam engine.

Even normal

gasoline vehicles can operate on a 10 percent ethanol blend with no problems. Diesel cars and trucks can run on biodiesel, though older models may need to have their fuel lines and gaskets replaced with modern synthetic materials, since biodiesel is a solvent

The most noticeable impact a wind turbine places upon the environment is noise pollution.

This is down to the noise, and many people compare the sound output of a wind turbine to a small jet engine.

Another disadvantage regarding a wind turbine and it's impact on the surrounding environment can be expressed with the term "visual impact" or "visual pollution".

Biofuels have been around as long as cars have. At the start of the 20th century, Henry Ford planned to fuel his Model Ts with ethanol, and early diesel engines were shown to run on peanut oil.

As of October 2009, Fortune magazine estimated the cost of producing the Honda Clarity at $300,000 per car

by 2010, the Department of Energy estimated that the cost had fallen 80% and that such fuel cells could be manufactured for $51/kW,

When compared to ICE vehicles using gasoline, however, fuel cell vehicles using hydrogen produced from natural gas reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60%

Fuel cell system costs have decreased significantly over the past several years but are still nearly twice as high as those for internal combustion engines. Likewise, onboard hydrogen storage costs are currently $15–$18/kWh for high-pressure gaseous storage, while the commercialization target is $2/kWh. There is potential to reduce this cost using lower-cost carbon fiber tanks or materials-based storage technologies, such as metal hydrides.

FCVs will have to offer consumers a viable alternative, especially in terms of performance, durability, and cost, to survive in this ultra-competitive market.

One of the first applications for fuel cells based on their advantageous properties was in the US space program.

Compared to IC engines, fuel cells have practically no polluting exhaust like NOx and sulphides.

It is generally acknowledged that the feasibility and durability of fuel cells in automobiles has been proven. The major focus now is on cost reduction

The best known early fuel cell experiments were performed in 1842 by the British physicist and lawyer, Sir William R. Grove (1811-1896)

Due to easily accessible and large amounts of oil and the invention of the combustion engine (Carl Friedrich Benz and Gottlieb Daimler), fuel cells were forgotten until the middle of the 20th century. In the US Apollo space programme, fuel cells exhibited their first renaissance in the 1960’s. 

Fuel cell development has been slowed down by a fear of hydrogen as a fuel. It is commonly believed that hydrogen is an extremely explosive and dangerous gas. Most of this belief was founded in 1937, when the hydrogen-filled zeppelin “Hindenburg” caught fire and crashed in Lakehurst, USA.

How much will Hydrogen fuel cost? The U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program is working to achieve the following goals: By 2005, the technology will be available to produce hydrogen at the pump for $3.00 per gallon gasoline equivalent, and DOE wants to validate this technology by 2008.  By 2010, the price goal is $1.50 per gallon of gasoline equivalent (untaxed) at the station. Even $3 a gallon would save most of us money, since FCVs will be two to three times more efficient than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.  If all the goals are met, FCVs offer the promise of energy at $1 a gallon - or less! 

Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals (microorganisms). Biomass contains stored energy from the sun. Plants absorb the sun's energy in a process called photosynthesis. The chemical energy in plants gets passed on to animals and people that eat them. Biomass is a renewable energy source because we can always grow more trees and crops, and waste will always exist. Some examples of biomass fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage. When burned, the chemical energy in biomass is released as heat. If you have a fireplace, the wood you burn in it is a biomass fuel. Wood waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making electricity, or to provide heat to industries and homes.

Crops like corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.

Ethanol and biodiesel were the fuels used in the first automobile and diesel engines, but lower cost gasoline and diesel fuel made from crude oil became the dominant vehicle fuels. The Federal government has promoted ethanol use in vehicles to help reduce oil imports since the mid-1970s.

Tidal energy use harnesses the water flow created primarily by the moon orbiting the Earth. As water is pulled toward the gravity of the moon, currents are created that can turn generator turbines.

Tidal energy use involving dams creates many of the same environmental concerns as damming rivers. Tidal dams restrict fish migration and cause silt build up which affects tidal basin ecosystems in negative ways. Systems that take advantage of natural narrow channels with high tidal flow rates have less negative environmental impact than dammed systems. But they are not without environmental problems. Both systems use turbines that can cause fish kills. But these are being replaced by new, more fish friendly turbines. The art and science of environmentally friendly hydro engineering is well advanced and will certainly be applied to any tidal energy project.

Because of intermittency and variable flow problems of tidal energy, it is a very limited resource. The DOE Tidal Energy link, above, states that there are only about 40 really good sites on Earth with high enough flows to be considered economically practical

Engineered geothermal systems (EGS) are based on a related principle, but they work even in parts of the world that are not volcanically active, by drilling thousands of metres underground to mimic the design of natural steam or hot-water reservoirs. Wells are bored and pathways are created inside hot rocks, into which cold water is injected. The water heats up as it circulates and is then brought back to the surface, where the heat is extracted to generate electricity. Because the Earth gets hotter the deeper you drill, EGS could expand the reach of geothermal power enormously and provide access to a virtually inexhaustible energy resource.

Method Cents/kW-h Limitations and Externalities WindCurrently supplies approximately 1.4% of the global electricity demand. Wind is considered to be about 30% reliable. 4.0 - 6.0 Cents/kW-h Wind is currently the only cost-effective alternative energy method, but has a number of problems. Wind farms are highly subject to lightning strikes, have high mechanical fatigue failure, are limited in size by hub stress, do not function well, if at all, under conditions of heavy rain, icing conditions or very cold climates, and are noisy and cannot be insulated for sound reduction due to their size and subsequent loss of wind velocity and power. GeothermalCurrently supplies approximately 0.23% of the global electricity demand. Geothermal is considered 90-95% reliable. 4.5 - 30 Cents/kW-h New low temperature conversion of heat to electricity is likely to make geothermal substantially more plausible (more shallow drilling possible) and less expensive. Generally, the bigger the plant, the less the cost and cost also depends upon the depth to be drilled and the temperature at the depth. The higher the temperature, the lower the cost per kwh. Cost may also be affect by where the drilling is to take place as concerns distance from the grid and another factor may be the permeability of the rock. HydroCurrently supplies around 19.9% of the global electricity demand. Hydro is considered to be 60% reliable. 5.1 - 11.3 Cents/kW-h Hydro is currently the only source of renewable energy making substantive contributions to global energy demand. Hydro plants, however, can (obviously) only be built in a limited number of places, and can significantly damage aquatic ecosystems. SolarCurrently supplies approximately 0.8% of the global electricity demand. 15 - 30 Cents/kW-h Solar power has been expensive, but soon is expected to drop to as low as 3.5 cents/kW-h. Once the silicon shortage is remedied through alternative materials, a solar energy revolution is expected.

Tide 2 - 5 Cents/kW-h Blue Energy's tidal fence, engineered and ready for implementation, would provide a land bridge (road) while also generating electricity. Environmental impact is low. Tides are highly predictable.

Method Cents/kW-h Limitations and Externalities GasCurrently supplies around 15% of the global electricity demand. 3.9 - 4.4 Cents/kW-h Gas-fired plants and generally quicker and less expensive to build than coal or nuclear, but a relatively high percentage of the cost/KWh is derived from the cost of the fuel. Due to the current (and projected future) upwards trend in gas prices, there is uncertainty around the cost / KWh over the lifetime of plants. Gas burns more cleanly than coal, but the gas itself (largely methane) is a potent greenhouse gas. Some energy conversions to calculate your cost of natural gas per kwh. 100 cubic feet (CCF)~ 1 Therm = 100,000 btu ~ 29.3 kwh. CoalCurrently supplies around 38% of the global electricity demand. 4.8 - 5.5 Cents/kW-h Increasingly difficult to build new coal plants in the developed world, due to environmental requirements governing the plants. Growing concern about coal fired plants in the developing world (China, for instance, imposes less environmental overhead, and has large supplies of high sulphur content coal). The supply of coal is plentiful, but the coal generation method is perceived to make a larger contribution to air pollution than the rest of the methods combined.

Motions in nature, for example ocean waves, can play a significant role in tomorrow's electricity production, but the constructions require adaptations to its media. Engineers planning hydropower plants have always taken natural conditions, such as fall height, speed of flow, and geometry, as basic design parameters and constraints in the design

Extensive simulations of the wave energy concept are presented, along with results from the experimental setup of a multisided permanent magnet linear generator. The prototype is designed through systematic electromagnetic field calculations. The experimental results are used for the verification of measurements in the design process of future full-scale direct wave energy converters. The present paper, describes the energy conversion concept from a system perspective, and also discusses the economical and some environmental considerations for the project.

Wind Energy The answer is blowin’ in the wind How is man going to keep up with increasing energy demand while the amount of available fossil fuel diminishes? The answer could be wind power, the capturing of the energy contained in gusts of wind. What is wind Energy?

Man has been using wind energy for thousands of years. Windmills, sails and even kites are all devices designed to harness the awesome power produced when the wind blows. Even modern aircraft benefit from wind power. Pilots flying westward usually expend much effort trying to make sure they place themselves in the jet stream, the hundred mile per hour wind caused by the earth spinning. Now engineers are able to convert such power into electricity, pump it into grids and provide energy for homes.