FuelClub Discount

World-renowned Lotus Engineering has entered into a collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast and Jaguar Cars to develop an engine which maximizes fuel efficiency when running on renewable fuels. The OMNIVORE concept will employ novel engine architecture to achieve a high thermal efficiency when fuelled on any alcohols or gasoline.

The project is sponsored by Defra (Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs) and the DOE NI (Department of the Environment Northern Ireland) through the Renewable Materials LINK Programme. Lotus Engineering is currently undertaking a design study and the build of a single cylinder research engine for completion in January 2009. Vehicle modelling will validate the reduction in vehicle CO2 emissions Green-Business-Travel . Queen’s University of Belfast’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering will be adding its world leading expertise in engine simulation, with Jaguar Cars Ltd a consultative partner at all stages of development.

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Last month the Wall Street Journal accused me of advocating subsidies for food-based ethanol. I ought to “take a vow of embarrassed silence,” it said, for claiming that ethanol’s contribution to the food crisis is “overblown.” The Journal’s claims would be laughable if the stakes were not so high.

Cellulosic biofuels offer a chance to have an environmentally meaningful impact on petroleum use while benefiting farmers, entrepreneurs and consumers. I have many investments in biofuels companies. Some say I believe in biofuels because I have invested in them. The truth is that I invest in biofuels because I believe they can help our environment, economy and national security.

Just as the word “drug” can refer to aspirin or cocaine, “biofuel” refers to a variety of products that vary dramatically in their environmental impact and effects on food prices. For instance, biodiesel from food oils such as soybean or palm oil has traditionally created environmental negatives. But corn ethanol has been a stepping stone to cellulosic ethanol, a preferred alternative that is likely to achieve unsubsidized market competitiveness with oil within a few years.
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AS we all know, the Government will be reducing or revamping the fuel subsidies in Malaysia. I do have a few questions and suggestions in areas which they might want to look into.

> Alternative fuel: What are our options or do we have an option? I feel that perhaps Malaysia should look at Brazil and other countries that are less dependent on petrol and diesel.

There are plenty of alternatives around but I do not see our Government doing anything to promote them.
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A controversial plan backed by Indonesia’s president to turn water into cheap and limitless energy has run aground, with tests showing the wonder fuel is just plain diesel, a report said Tuesday.

Government scientists have revealed that tests on the so-called “Blue Energy,” purportedly made from water, showed it was diesel from state oil company Pertamina, the Jakarta Post reported.

“Blue Energy is nothing extraordinary as it is just a form of hydrocarbon or fossil fuel,” Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman was quoted as saying.
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Bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD), a high-quality biodiesel suitable for blending to create a greener alternative fuel for vehicles, would be launched commercially after tests prove successful, said PTT Plc president Prasert Bunsumpun.

Testing of the hydrogenation process to produce BHD from vegetable oil would be completed next year.

BHD can be mixed in a 10:90 ratio with diesel fuel, compared with the 5:95 ratio of the existing B100 biodiesel to diesel fuel.

PTT, the state-run oil and gas conglomerate, signed an agreement on Friday to collaborate with Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and two of the Japanese automaker’s local units to research BHD. Toyota would supply Hilux Vigo pickup trucks and diesel engines to PTT for the tests.
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Maryland’s attempt to produce greener energy took a dangerous turn after a bio-diesel plant exploded killing one man and injuring another.

Adam May reports, the explosion happened at the Greenlight Biofuels plant around noon Sunday in Somerset County. The plant just opened last year.

Emergency crews rushed to the Greenlight Biofuels plant on the Eastern Shore in Princess Anne after the deadly afternoon explosion.
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