Interesting news last week was the introduction of the House of Representatives 2454 bill - the American Clean Energy and Security Act,
by Waxman and Markey. This is the bill where the controversial
cap-and-trade program is being proposed. Several news reports indicate
that several environmental groups are not satisfied by this bill, and
energy-intensive industries of course, are not happy either.
The bill is expected to be voted on this week before Memorial Day weekend starts. We'll see how it will goes. For now, here are last week's news roundup:
Michigan's electric vehicle plant
Ford invests $550 million to transform Michigan Assembly Plant (formerly Michigan Truck Plant) from a large SUV factory into a modern, flexible small car plant. Production for the North American market of the new global Ford Focus begins next year followed by production in 2011 of a battery-electric Focus.
Engineering waste reduction
Water engineering and services company Ecosphere signed a deal with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to jointly market Ecosphere's technology to the oil & gas industry where it can treat and recycle their wastewater, reduce completion costs, reduce CO2 and methane emissions, and preserve vital water resources.
The bill is expected to be voted on this week before Memorial Day weekend starts. We'll see how it will goes. For now, here are last week's news roundup:
Michigan's electric vehicle plant
Ford invests $550 million to transform Michigan Assembly Plant (formerly Michigan Truck Plant) from a large SUV factory into a modern, flexible small car plant. Production for the North American market of the new global Ford Focus begins next year followed by production in 2011 of a battery-electric Focus.
Engineering waste reduction
Water engineering and services company Ecosphere signed a deal with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to jointly market Ecosphere's technology to the oil & gas industry where it can treat and recycle their wastewater, reduce completion costs, reduce CO2 and methane emissions, and preserve vital water resources.
New green power plant
Rentech plans to build a plant in Rialto, California for the production of ultra-clean synthetic fuels and electric power from renewable waste biomass feedstocks. The Rialto Renewable Energy Center (Rialto Project) is designed to produce approximately 600 barrels per day of pure renewable synthetic fuels.
Chicago restricts BPA
Chicago city council members voted last week to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups. Chicago is said to be the first U.S. city to adopt such a ban, which is slated to take effect Jan. 31, 2010.
Sustainable packaging demo
Dow Chemical's adhesives business and Nordmeccanica NA hosted a day-long series of trial demonstrations for package converters last week at Nordmeccanica's Long Island, New York, facilities. The demo showcased various film laminates, water-based inks and Dow Mor-Free™ solventless adhesives for sustainability solutions for many food packagers.
And in ICIS news (requires subscription):
Commodities trader Louis Dreyfus has acquired a 200,000 tonne/year refinery for biodiesel and pharmaglycerin in Wittenberg, in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Mitsubishi Chemical Co., plans to build a pilot plant producing biodegradable polycarbonate (PC) at its Kurosaki facility in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.
The Obama administration said last week that it will spend $2.4bn in part to advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) applications at chemical plants, utilities and other industrial facilities that burn coal.
Rentech plans to build a plant in Rialto, California for the production of ultra-clean synthetic fuels and electric power from renewable waste biomass feedstocks. The Rialto Renewable Energy Center (Rialto Project) is designed to produce approximately 600 barrels per day of pure renewable synthetic fuels.
Chicago restricts BPA
Chicago city council members voted last week to ban bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and sippy cups. Chicago is said to be the first U.S. city to adopt such a ban, which is slated to take effect Jan. 31, 2010.
Sustainable packaging demo
Dow Chemical's adhesives business and Nordmeccanica NA hosted a day-long series of trial demonstrations for package converters last week at Nordmeccanica's Long Island, New York, facilities. The demo showcased various film laminates, water-based inks and Dow Mor-Free™ solventless adhesives for sustainability solutions for many food packagers.
And in ICIS news (requires subscription):
Commodities trader Louis Dreyfus has acquired a 200,000 tonne/year refinery for biodiesel and pharmaglycerin in Wittenberg, in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Mitsubishi Chemical Co., plans to build a pilot plant producing biodegradable polycarbonate (PC) at its Kurosaki facility in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan.
The Obama administration said last week that it will spend $2.4bn in part to advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) applications at chemical plants, utilities and other industrial facilities that burn coal.
The Mitsubishi PC is derived in part from biomass, but is not biodegradable.
Thanks for clearing that out! I wonder how much is the biomass part though?