The modern definition of a hybrid vehicle is any single machine with multiple sources of power. Usually, this means one internal combustion engine and one electric motor with batteries. This is again the case with the Biohazard Jet Bike, though its internal combustion engine happens to be a propane-fed turbine engine which spins at up to 112,000 revolutions per minute and produces forty-five pounds of thrust. The electric motor is powered by twenty-four volts of juice and is said to be good for eighteen miles per hour for up to twenty miles.

The bike also has pedals, though they are non-functional. From the looks of things, much of the cycle comes from the pedal-powered world, with a front fork and wheels cribbed from the bike world for sure. Still, this machine looks like lots of fun, and jet engines have been known to run on nearly any combustible fuel, including our personal favorite: biodiesel.

Related:

• Inventive minds attach a jet engine to a Honda Ruckus

[Source: eBay Motors]

Click above on the Ego concept for more images of VW's 2028 concepts

Apparently, Volkswagen thinks its time for another weird and wacky look into the future. This time, the German automaker is gazing just twenty years ahead. The results of its future look are three virtual concept cars. Yes, all three are capable of driving themselves, as you would likely imagine. As would be expected of any self-respecting gaze into the future, petroleum is not part of the picture. In its place are biofuels for those who simply must have liquid fuels and, of course, electricity. We feel pretty confident that these projections are possible, but that's right about where any semblance to reality ends.

After taking a leisurely stroll through the über clean park, a father and his son are reminded that it is time to leave by a hologram. What car to have delivered? The VW One wouldn't do, as it only seats a single occupant. The VW Room is overkill, as it is intended for an entire family. So, the son chooses to summon an Ego, a two-seater sportscar concept complete with user-defined green flames.

[Source: Volkswagen 2028]

Maybe it's a good thing that American biofuel plants are filing for bankruptcy protection. According to a previously secret report conducted by the World Bank and obtained by the Guardian newspaper, biofuel production is hugely responsible for the food price crisis. How much? The report - the "most detailed analysis of the crisis so far," in the Guardian's words - says that biofuels caused global food prices to rise by 75 percent. This is much higher than previous estimates. Food Before Fuel estimated a 30 percent influence, and the Guardian says the U.S. government claims that biofuels were responsible for just a three percent rise.

The kicker? The report was finished in April but has been kept secret "to avoid embarrassing President George Bush," the Guardian writes. We wouldn't want that, now, would we?

Requiring ethanol and biodiesel in national fuel supplies helped push costs up, but sugarcane ethanol from Brazil did not play as big a role. All the more reason to bring out the second-gen biofuels as soon as feasible. Read more here.

[Source: Guardian]

Over the past year, the price of diesel fuel has climbed up above the cost of gasoline and stayed there consistently. Unfortunately for diesel drivers, that price differential also applies to biodiesel to an even larger degree. Nonetheless, the extra 10 cents a gallon for B20 over straight petroleum diesel hasn't stopped people at one station in Fort Collins, Colorado. Sales of Blue Sun B20 at the Team Petroleum have continued to climb this year even at the higher prices although some other stations have discontinued selling B20. It's possible that drivers who are only marginally interested in using a greener fuel have given up on the more expensive option. With the reduced availability, other more environmentally conscious drivers have probably switched over to the Team station as a result. The city of Fort Collins is still using B20 in city vehicles as well although they may have to reconsider if prices continue to climb.

[Source: The Coloradoan]

Photo by Martin Pettitt. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

It was not an easy journey. Following a tragic first attempt, the crew of the biodiesel-powered Earthrace boat set out a second time to break the record for motorized circumnavigation. On the second trip, a biodiesel flood and a lost engine were serious setbacks, but this past weekend, the Earthrace pulled into Sagunto, Sapin, two months after setting forth. The 61-day journey means that the Earthrace can now claim to be the best at circling the globe with an engine: the previous such record took two weeks longer to go the distance.

The Guardian UK has a nice story about the crew's victory, the many troubles they faced along the way, and the well-deserved parties in their future. As tipster Sayyad wrote in to AutoblogGreen, "I think congratulations are in order, especially considering all they've been through." True, but let's not forget that the record for sailing around the world using nothing but wind and human power is just over 50 days. Sails beat biofuels on the open seas. h/t to Sayyad!


[Source: Guardian UK]

Earlier this year, Gushan Environmental Energy Limited reached an annual biodiesel production capacity of 240,000 tons with a new plant in Beijing. At the time, Gushan said they hoped to reach an annual capacity of 400,000 tons by the end of 2008. They are now getting 50,000 tons closer.

Gushan started building a new biodiesel facility in Shanghai yesterday, and the 50,000-ton plant will help cement Gushan's place as China's largest biodiesel producer (by annual production capacity). Two more plants (30,000 tons each) are scheduled to open later this year, and the Beijing plant will be expanded by 50,000 tons. Gushan biodiesel's main feedstocks are "vegetable oil offal and used cooking oil." That's how the press release reads. Since offal usually means waste animal parts (or a delicacy, depending on where you live), I'm not sure if there is a comma missing or if the company is using the word to mean waste veggie oil. We'll see what Gushan's PR people can tell me.

[Source: Gushan Environmental Energy Limited]

In 2007, the EU used 7.7m tons of oil equivalent (TOE), which accounted for 2.6 percent of all fuels used for road transport that year. This is half of the 2010 target of 5.75 percent usage of biofuels, which means that Europeans will need more imports and to increase production if this target isn't changed.

Europe's leader in biofuel use is Germany, burning more than 4 million TOEs, followed by France (1.4 million), Austria (0.4 million) and Spain (0.35 million). EurObserv'ER published a report on EU biofuel use under sponsorship of the European Commission as well as the European Agency for Environment and Energy Control. Get it here.

[Source: Eurobserver]

Bloomfield Hills, MI-based Sequest LLC is contemplating building a pilot algae biodiesel plant in Holland (on Michigan's west side). Holland has a number of attributes that make it a good location for this particular project. Sequest wants the plant to use waste water for growing the algae and carbon-dioxide to feed it. A coal-fired power plant is in close proximity to the local water treatment plant. Michigan State University also has a research lab nearby.

The intention is to pipe the CO₂ from the power plant through the waste water but it must be separated from other pollutants, like mercury. MSU, which has tremendous expertise in agricultural research, is expected to provide assistance with developing new strains of algae that would be more amenable to the biofuel production. The state of Michigan is currently in the process of passing legislation that would provide $18 million for biofuel projects including $7 million for the Holland algae plant.

[Source: MLive.com]

Fans of biodiesel have reason for a small celebration as this week as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) voted to approve a standard for B20 biodiesel. ASTM controls the standards for commercially available fuels (among many other things) to ensure that what is sold at the pump meets certain minimum requirements for performance and content. Automakers test all of their vehicles with ASTM standard fuels validate, performance efficiency and durability of the components. Until now, there was only a standard for commercial biodiesel blends up to 5 percent. Chrysler, among others, has been shipping diesel-powered vehicles from the factory filled with B5 for several years and warranties engines when used with B5.

Now that the B20 standard has been ratified most carmakers, including Chrysler and Volkswagen, have indicated that they will test their diesel engines and modify them if necessary so that they can be covered by the warranty when operated with B20. ASTM also approved standards for the use of up to 5 percent biodiesel in standard diesel fuels. Those of you choosing to run on the cast-offs from fast food joints and Chinese restaurants are still on your own for now.

[Source: National Biodiesel Board]

By the middle of the next decade Mercedes-Benz wants its entire lineup to be able to operate entirely free of petroleum. The German giant is working on a variety of technologies that will help provide crude oil free transport such as battery electrics, fuel cells and highly efficient internal combustion engines that can operate on biofuels. Mercedes has recently been letting European journalists sample some of these new powertrains at a test facility in Spain.

The F700 concept that debuted last fall in Frankfurt is powered by a turbocharged DiesOtto engine. The DiesOtto is Mercedes' branding for a combined HCCI and spark ignition engine that provides nearly the same efficiency as a diesel without the need for the expensive after-treatment systems. This and conventional diesel engines can run on biofuels and Mercedes hopes to launch the DiesOtto in production by 2010. Mercedes is also currently field testing electrically-driven vehicles with both batteries alone and fuel cells each of which they also plan to launch at the beginning of the decade. While it may well be that all Mercedes models in 2015 will be capable of running petroleum free, the reality is that many - if not most - will still be using fossil fuels much of the time. That may come in the form of coal for electricity, natural gas reformed into hydrogen, or petroleum fuels blended with biofuels. But you have to start somewhere.

[Source: The Sun]

Inventure Chemical and Seambiotic have announced a joint venture to create a pilot commercial plant which will use algae to produce an array of chemicals and biofuels. The plant uses CO₂ as feedstock for the algae. Inventure Chemicals comes into the partnership with knowledge about second-generation biofuel manufacturing, as it has facilities in operation in Seattle, and Seambiotic brings its newly developed strains of microalgae.

These microalgae were developed a process that they call "algae CO₂ sequestering" in which the strains were fed with exhaust fumes from their power generator's fumes, giving important yields in algae rich in carbohydrates and fatty acids. The carbs can be used to produce ethanol while the fatty acids can be made into biodiesel. This allows Seambiotic to state that their process not only produces biofuels but also can help coal-fired power generators to meet CO₂ reduction mandates. This method could potentially use the self-generated biofuel to make these generators work, closing the loop.

[Source: Seambiotic]

Neste Oil has announced plans to build a new biomass-to-liquid diesel plant in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The plant will produce what the company calls NExBTL renewable diesel fuel at the rate of 800,000 tonnes per year after it begins operating in 2011. Neste will spend about €670 million (a little over $1 billion at current exchange rates) on the facility which will use Neste's processes to convert a mix of palm and rapeseed oils and animal fat into a high-quality diesel fuel. Neste already has a smaller plant in Finland using this process with another one the same size as the Dutch plant that was announced for Singapore last fall. The NExBTL fule is claimed to reduce total life cycle CO₂ emissions by 40-60 percent compared to petroleum diesel. Neste also has a variety of ongoing research projects to use non-food vegetable oils, wood waste and algae for diesel fuel production.

[Source: Neste Oil]

Remember all those back and forths in the fight between Porsche and the city of London over laws regarding dirty vehicles in the city? Turns out Porsche might have been on to something with their poll that found 75 percent of Londoners thought the £25 congestion charge was too high. Maybe.

Research conducted by New Car Net (through its website, with over 1,400 participants) found that motorists in Londoners were among the least likely in the UK to think about buying a vehicle that wasn't powered by something other than diesel or petrol. New Car Net asked potential car buyers this question: "When you buy a new car, would you consider an alternative fuel (ie. other than regular petrol or diesel)?" and found Londoners answered yes 65.5 percent of the time. While that's well over half, only one section of the country (NE England) had a lower response rate. While there are a lot of people who said they'd consider an alternative, only one in 140 actually bought such a vehicle (for example, a hybrid, or a biofuel- or LPG-powered vehicle) in the UK last year, New Car Net discovered. Let's remember that there simply aren't that many vehicles powered by say, batteries or - ha! - hydrogen fuel cells available these days. More details after the jump.

If you belong to the group that thinks that we shouldn't use food as fuel, you might be interested in this. The "Food Before Fuel" group, a partnership of more than 20 environmental, retail, hunger, Hispanic and food industry groups that has launched a campaign to encourage Congress to rethink the U. S. food-to-fuel policies. According to their sources, these policies are responsible to up to 30 percent of the world's food price inflation.

The campaign wants to revisit and restructure policies that have increased our reliance on feedstock-based biofuels as an energy source, and to carefully address the development of alternative fuels that guarantee food and environmental sustainability. Food Before Fuel's biggest target is corn-based ethanol subsidies and tariffs, which divert this grain from food uses. As a consequence, corn is more expensive for food producers and food ends up being more expensive for consumers.

[Source: Food Before Fuel]

The rumors seem to be confirmed: Citroën could be preparing a small minivan based on the new platform that will be used for the upcoming C3. This minivan has a lot of company; witness the Renault Modus (based on the Renault Clio), the Opel Meriva (based on the Corsa), the Fiat Idea (based on the Punto) and the Nissan Note. Citroën has already four other minivan models: the Xsara Picasso based on the old Xsara, the C4 Picasso, the Grand C4 Picasso and the C8. While minivans might not be the first vehicles you think of when it comes to greener driving, one good thing about these people movers (especially the European-sized versions) is that they offer lots of room to carry children without burning too much fuel. It's not impossible to find models that produce fewer than 120 g/km CO₂.

[Source: Autoexpress]