20 algae.Tec & Luftansa in Biofuel trial Australia biofuels company Algae.Tec and German airline carrier Lufthansa have agreed to evaluate algae oil produced from Algae.Tec’s bioreactors as a sustainable source of aviation fuel. An MOU has been signed by the companies to seal the initial deal. Algae.Tec grows fast growing algae capable of producing high yields in converted shipping containers to produce an oil that can be turned into fuel. Significantly, the biofuel produced would likely cost a fraction of the cost of jet fuel. Lufthansa launched a 6-month biofuel trial last July on regular scheduled flights. The Lufthansa Airbus A321 is flying on a 50/50 mix of biosynthetic kerosene and regular fuel. ExxonMobil predicts future for hybrid cars One out of every two cars will be either hybrids or an alternative-fuel vehicle by 2040, ExxonMobil have predicted. Hybrids, which rely on both gas and electricity for power, now account for less than 1 percent of all vehicles on the world’s roads. They should move into the mainstream as governments boost fuelefficiency requirements, ExxonMobil said. Power for those hybrids, along with other vehicles and a growing number of households around the world, will increasingly come from natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy sources like wind, ExxonMobil said in its closely watched annual long-term energy outlook. But the largest publicly traded oil company also makes clear that oil will remain king of the energy world for many years. Ev fast chargers at dutch BP sites ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, announced today that it has started installing multiple fast-charging systems for electric vehicles (EVs) at some BP service stations in the Netherlands as part of a nationwide trial. BP has an intention agreement with Dutch EV charging operator The New Motion to operate BP’s chargers as part of a larger network of DC charging stations throughout the Netherlands. ALTERNATIVEFUEL NEws Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Berlin Berlin Airport will take centre stage in the latest market trial of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by General Motors’ European brand, Opel. Its HydroGen4 vehicle will head to Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which Opel Vice President of Government Relations, Volker Hoff, has dubbed an “ideal partner” as it possesses the world’s first carbon dioxide neutral gas station, which offers green hydrogen ToTaL solar powered fuel station A 14-year old fuel station of TOTAL Ethiopia, located on the Djibouti corridor, has been outfitted to operate using solar power. The fuel station is the first of its kind in Ethiopia. TOTAL Ethiopia had approached Tenesol, a subsidiary company of TOTAL World Slovenia opens its first cNG station Slovenia’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station has been opened in Ljubljana co-financed by the European Union under the CIVITAS ELAN project. Ljubljana is one of five cities participating in the CIVI- TAS ELAN project, the others being Ghent (Belgium), Zagreb (Croatia), Brno (Czech Republic) and Porto (Portugal), that joined together in a project “to ‘mobilise’ our citizens by developing with their support clean mobil- Professor creates high-tech fuel cell Once-futuristic green energy sources may become main stream sooner than imagined, as a university engineering professor works to develop a versatile fuel cell. University engineering professor Eric Wachsman has been designing this fuel cell that can use multiple substances, such as natural gas, gasoline and hydrogen, to power cars. Wachsman said the public thinks of fuel cell technology as New liquefied methane gas station Greater Stockholm region’s first refuelling station for liquefied methane gas, LNG/ LBG has opened. The filling station, Statoil Järna, is part of the BiMe Trucks project in which Volvo Trucks is one of the participating companies along with AGA, which supplies the liquefied gas. One of the project’s focus areas is to build the necessary infrastructure LaTEST NEwS, aLTERNaTIvE EvENTS, FUEL JoBS NEwS oNLINE – www.PETRoLPLaza.coM – www.PETRoLPLaza.coM NEwS produced from wind energy. It’s not the first time that Opel has run a market trial on fuel cell vehicles – in fact it started them back in 2008 and has involved a number of companies including the likes of ADAC, Allianz, Axel Springer AG/Bild, Coca-Cola, Hilton, Linde, Pace, Schindler, Veolia and the NH Hotel Friedrichstraße, all of which have tested the Opel HydroGen4. Group, to provide the photovoltaic solar technology. The project, which cost around one million birr, was undertaken by Vera International Business Plc, its local partner established in 2007 with a paid-up capital of 8.5 million birr. ity solutions for vital cities, ensuring health and access for all”. The CNG station was the set up under cooperative agreement between Geoplin d.o.o., the biggest supplier of natural gas in Slovenia, Ljubljanski potniški promet d.o.o. (LPP), a public transportation company that serves the Municipality of Ljubljana and sixteen suburban municipalities and utilities provider Energetika Ljubljana d.o.o., part of Javni Holding Ljubljana (JHL). futuristic because hydrogen fuel cells, the most popular prototype, cannot be widely used until hydrogen filling stations are developed. “They’ve all thought of it as based on hydrogen and because of that they kept thinking of fuel cells as future technology because right now there’s nowhere to get hydrogen, you can’t go out and fill your car with hydrogen today.” for liquefied methane gas in Sweden. In October 2010, Sweden’s first filling station for liquefied methane gas was opened at Stigs Center in Gothenburg. The project also encompasses the establishment of LNG stations in Malmö and Jönköping and there are plans for additional stations to keep pace with the increase in demand.
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