Archive for the 'biofuels' Category

Tri-Rail Switches to Biodiesel

Published
by
JM Palacios
on October 29, 2008
in Tri-Rail and biofuels
. 0 Comments

Starting today, Tri-Rail is now using biodiesel fuel in all their conventional trains. The Diesel Multiple Units (DMU’s) will continue to use regular diesel because of their warranty, but the rest of the trains will now be reducing their impact to the environment. Of course, I’m sure cost was the main issue here, with biodiesel costing enough less than regular diesel to offset the reduction in efficiency. Read Tri-Rail’s press release here.

I, for one, can’t wait until next week when I get to ride a train that smells like french fries. It’s got to be better than the diesel fumes that assaulted ones nose every time a train pulled in to a station before.

Thursday News

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on December 13, 2007
in Climate Change, Marlins, News, Obesity, Port Tunnel and biofuels
. 0 Comments


Streetsblog: London street closings a resounding success

Huffington Post: Fighting fat and climate change

George Monbiot: The western appetite for biofuels is causing starvation in the poor world

Miami Herald: Push for Miami port tunnel funding begins

Miami Today News: Soccer may join Marlins on Orange Bowl land

Is Corn-Based Ethanol a Sham?

Published
by
Ryan Sharp
on September 17, 2007
in Alternative fuels, Energy, Ethanol, biofuels and corn
. 2 Comments

Politicians are hyping corn-based ethanol as a major industry that South Florida should embrace. In June, the Senate all but announced that America’s future is going to be powered by biofuels, mandating the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022. According to ethanol boosters, this is the beginning of a much larger revolution that could entirely replace our 21-million-barrel-a-day oil addiction. In light of these developments, I thought it was necessary to take a closer look at corn-based ethanol.

So, is it really the magic bullet that will provide clean fuel, allow us to sever ties with oil-rich terrorist nations, and save American farmers, all while not asking anyone to even think about changing their driving habits?

Of course not.

While there are several sources that outline the limitations of of corn-based ethanol, I think a recent article by Jeff Goodell does a particularly thorough job articulating the issue. Click here to check out his article, “The Ethanol Scam: One of America’s Biggest Political Boondoggles”.

A second source that I like is Robert Rapier’s energy blog, R-Squared. The information here can get rather technical, but it nonetheless serves as an alternative voice to Big Corn insiders, who are the ones doing most of the studies and making most of the claims regarding corn-based ethanol’s “merits” (reminds me of the oil industry).

It’s critical that as citizens, we don’t allow Big Corn and its crony politicians to conspire to swindle us with another “magic bullet” energy fix that won’t even require use to alter our driving/consumption habits.