Henry Daniell, a scientist from the University of Central Florida has developed a method of using household waste materials to produce ethanol.
Sources claim his approach could be greener and less expensive than current methods used to fuel vehicles which are powered by the substance.

The Engineer reports Daniell’s method has been used on products such as orange peel and newspaper, but can also be applied to products such as sugarcane, straw and switchgrass.

The method uses plant-derived enzymes to break down materials into sugar which can then be fermented into ethanol. Currently corn starch is used in the fermentation process and conversion into ethanol but this method is believed to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than petrol.

200 million gallons of ethanol could be produced from the discarded orange peels of Florida state alone, said Daniell.

British Airways have revealed a plan to create Europe’s first sustainable jet fuel plant which will convert household waste into environmentally-friendly aviation fuel.

In a partnership with US bioenergy group solena, British Airways will set up the new plant in east London claims eTravel and hope to be able to power part of its fleet by 2014 with the greener, low-carbon fuel.

The plant will convert roughly 500,000 tonnes of waste materials from households into some 16 million gallons of green jet fuel via a process that offers lifecycle greenhouse gas savings of up to 95 per cent compared to fossil-fuel derived jet kerosene.

The environmental savings would see the equivalent of 48,000 cars being removed from the roads each year.

In addition to the fuel conversion, using household waste would also lessen the impact on the volume of waste sent to landfill sites, as well as cutting down on the production of methane. The project will also see 20MW of electricity generated each year.

Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, said: “This unique partnership with Solena will pave the way for realising our ambitious goal of reducing net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene. We are absolutely determined to reduce our impact on climate change and are proud to lead the way on aviation’s environmental initiatives.”

Harry Potter star Emma Watson – Hermione Grainger in the films based on the books by JK Rowling – has launched a fashion range in collaboration with People Tree, a sustainable fashion label to produce environmentally friendly clothes and accessories reports Edie.

The range is scheduled to launch next week (February 8th) and Emma acted as creative advisor on the designs which includes jerseys, t-shirts, dresses and trousers among others. The range will be available to both men and women.

Emma previously also fronted advertising campaigns for Burberry.

The People Tree line will use 100% organic and fair-trade cotton, and will be made entirely by hand by fair-trade groups in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Edie.net reports that a Peterhead firm have been fined following an explosion in May 2008, which sent cement powder into the air and falling onto homes and businesses up to two kilometres away.

The firm, CEBO UK, has pled guilty to a charge of breaching its Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit and ordered by Peterhead Sheriff Court to pay court costs plus a fine of £14,000.

The explosion was caused when a silo broke due to poor maintenance. It was found that the silo’s hatch lid retaining brackets were badly corroded during a SEPA investigation. It also found silo maintenance records weren’t up to date and the silo should not have been in use.

Cement, although in common use, is an abrasive powder which can cause damage and harm to the environment, human health and property, said SEPA’s investigating officer Martyn Howie.

Despite man’s ability to put a man on the moon and send satellites into the far reaches of space, the deepest parts of earth’s own ocean are still shrouded in mystery; indeed it’s probably true that scientists’ maps of Mar’s surface is more detailed that any map they possess of the ocean floor.

Scientists attribute this to the inherent difficulty of communicating with robots and submarines beneath the sea, due to the intense pressure, currents and even marine life that form part of the ocean’s deeper reaches.

However, in order to address this problem, scientists developed the new NEPTUNE network, which went online Wednesday 8^th December.  The deep-sea network will stream data collated from hundreds of undersea instruments, sensors and probes and stream them direct to the internet direct from the ocean floor.

The network consists of a 497-mile ring of fibre-optic cable, situated off the Canadian coast and features five nodes which act as routers to transmit data to the internet.  Each node is encased in a 6.5 ton cage to protect it from fishing trawlers, sea vessels and giant squids.

The network is expected to produce around 50 terabytes of data each year, all of which will inform scientists about everything from earthquake dynamics to the effects of climate change on the water column, and from deep-sea ecosystems to salmon migration.  It will also study gas hydrate deposits which are found along the continental margin and the effects deep-sea fishing can have on benthic communities and marine life as fishermen cast their nets wider and deeper.

The government has given the green light to a scheme which will see smart meters being installed into all of the UK’s 26 million homes. Although touted for some time, the approved plan will see British Gas and other energy suppliers given responsibility for installing the meters, which will allow consumers to monitor their own energy use, as well as allow the energy companies to read consumption levels remotely.

The ability to read meters remotely will forego the use of estimated bills, while the consumers’ ability to monitor their gas and electricity usage will help in their efforts to adopt a greener lifestyle.

But the estimated £8.5bn outlay threatened to usurp the announcement, with critics warning that energy companies may pocket the benefits rather than passing them back to the consumer by way of cheaper fuel. The Department of Energy and Climate change believes the expected savings to be in the region of £14.5bn – dwarfing the outlay costs – due to reduced administrative costs.

While the plans were welcomed by power companies and industry bodies, consumer groups and energy consultants voiced concerns that the smart meter rollout was being placed into the hands of a sector that had already come in for fierce criticism over high charges, and allegedly not passing on previous benefits to customers.

“We’re concerned that consumers could be saddled with the entire multibillion pound bill for a project that’s going to save the industry hundreds of millions of pounds a year,” said Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? magazine.

British Gas, however, believe that the government estimate of 2% saving on energy per household was conservative and the actual saving could be considerably higher after research in the United States suggested that customers’ energy use could be cut by as much as 20% by using smart metering technology.

The company also believes the roll-out of smart meters could create up to 2,600 additional jobs by 2012.

Watermelons could become the latest source of biofuel according to a report in the Telegraph online.

The report claims that scientists in the United States have discovered that around 50 percent of the fruit contained enough natural sugar for distilling into ethanol, which could provide valuable biofuel.

Retailers in the United States alone reject some 360,000 tonnes of ‘substandard’ fruit each year – fruit that is misshapen or blemished – which researchers suggest could produce nearly two million gallons of biofuel each year.

Currently, imperfect watermelons are ploughed back into the soil but a study into the potential of the fruit’s juice as a source of potential fuel by the US Department of Agriculture suggested the fruit could overtake chip fat, rapeseed oil and other sources of biofuel. Almost one fifth of the United States’ annual watermelon crop is left in the field due to imperfections and around twenty gallons of fuel could be produced per acre of fruit, according to the report published in the Biotechnology for Biofuels journal.

“We’ve shown that the juice of these melons is a source of readily fermentable sugars, representing a heretofore untapped feedstock for ethanol biofuel production,” said Dr Wayne Fish, the leader of the research team.

The riots of Birmingham UK in the last few days have become some of the most watched videos on YouTube. The videos show the tension between the crowds and the police.

The following videos are from YouTube user jabbott376 who’s done a good job moderation or disabling comments once/if the videos have become a platform for hate speech. Jabbott376’s also disabled embedding on some videos and so apologies in advance if these embeds are disabled retroactively on us.

Do you know anyone who was at the anti-BNP protests in Birminghan. You? What was it like?

Thought you might enjoy this video of a flash mob style dance organised by the climate change group Power Shift. Hundreds of Australian youths lined up to perform in a stunt that’s likely to grab some attention.

If you want to discover more about Power Shift then you can do so from their website.

The UK arm of the World Wildlife Fund has a very helpful walk through of The Power of Scotland Renewed Report. They explain that Scotland could be 100% renewable in only 20 years.

If accurate it means that through renewable energy could be the complete solution for climate change and the future for some parts of the world.

The report was commissioned by Friends of the Earth Scotland, WWF Scotland, RSPB Scotland and the World Development Movement and so comes from pro-renewable founding but was based on research by Garrad Hassaan who remains independent.

There’s a whole bunch of quotes from the green charities that do a good job at summing up this side of the debate.

The CEO of Friends of the Earth Scotland, Duncan McLaren, said; “This report shows how Scotland’s energy sector can make these targets a reality. It is vital that we grasp the new economic and job opportunities that would come with a sustainable energy future.”

Head of Scottish Campaigns for the World Development Movement, Liz Murry said; “Developing countries need to see rich countries not only committing to reduce emissions, but also bringing in policies now to ensure those emissions reductions happen. Our report shows that the Scottish Government can do this by ruling out coal in Scotland and embracing energy efficiency and renewables.”

Director of WWF Scotland, Dr Richard Dixon, said; “”Scotland has the best renewable energy potential of any country in Europe and we should be aiming high. This new report provides us with a clear description of how to set ourselves on the path to 100% renewable power.”

Head of Planning and Development, RSPB Scotland, Aedan Smith, said; “Given the importance of addressing climate change, which is the largest threat to biodiversity and sustainable development, we welcome the findings of this report that demonstrates that the Government’s targets for emissions reductions and renewable energy can be met without environmental harm.”