By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now

As passionate as his father was about civil rights, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is equally so about the environment.

In a lecture in Fort Worth on Wednesday, the 56-year-old son of the late Senator, advocated for moving the nation to green energy, which he doesn’t see as encompassing nuclear power.

Coal is not the only power-producing industry that needs scrubbing, said the longtime environmentalist, nuclear energy is simply not safe. “Nuclear energy is the most catastrophic form of energy. No bank will finance it…[and] no insurance company will insure it,” he said.

“It’s not just a bunch of hippies saying it’s unsafe. There are spills all the time into the Hudson,” says Kennedy, who serves as chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper, whose mission is the restoration of that waterway. Three Mile Island was not the last accident despite what nuclear advocates say.

He made it clear that lobbyists for fossil fuel and polluting energy industries are powerful and dangerous. The nuclear industry, for example, managed to find a way to get a Congressional exemption that leaves them free from damage. “All homeowners’ policies in the U.S. exclude radiation from the nuclear industry,” he said.

Kennedy believes greed has taken over the utility companies as well. “Utility companies make money by selling more energy – even if the energy is green. We need to change the rules,” he says. “Don’t reward bad behavior.”

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From Green Right Now Reports

Enterprise Holdings today announced that it will convert its entire fleet of more than 600 Alamo Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental airport shuttle buses  in 50 North American markets to begin using at least 5 percent biodiesel (B5). The company said it will immediately convert buses in nine markets to 20 percent biodiesel (B20) as a first step toward the company’s goal of converting its entire bus fleet to B20 over the next five years.

Joe Jobe, CEO of NBB; Dr. Richard Sayre, Director of Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels; and Lee Broughton, director of corporate identity and sustainability for Enterprise Holdings. (Photo: National Biodiesel Board)

Enterprise Holdings expects to complete the conversion to all B5 by spring of this year, with at least 50 percent converted to B20 by the end of next year. Buses in nine markets are immediately being converted to run on B20 where the fuel is centrally stored and available: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Raleigh/Durham, San Antonio and San Diego.

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From Green Right Now Reports

GM announced today that its new lineup of heavy-duty diesel pickups will run on B20 biodiesel, which is a blend of 20-percent biodiesel and 80-percent conventional diesel that produces lower carbon dioxide emissions.

The announcement was made at the National Biodiesel Conference in Grapevine, Texas.

GM said its new Duramax 6.6L turbo diesel engine has been substantially revised to include B20 capability, as well as meet strict new emissions standards effective this year. The Duramax will power the redesigned 2011 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups, as well as the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. Chevrolet plans to unveil the 2011 Silverado heavy-duty trucks at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 10.

“B20 capability in our new heavy-duty trucks is the latest addition to a growing number of alternate fuel options offered by General Motors,” Mike Robinson, GM’s vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy, said in a statement. “We are seeking different paths to fuel solutions in order to maximize efficiency, reduce emissions and minimize the dependence on petroleum.”

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Some of the nation’s best-known and critically acclaimed celebrities, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton, Jason Bateman, Felicity Huffman and Forest Whitaker, along with rising stars Chace Crawford, Emmy Rossum and Justin Long, are leading a campaign to help citizens sound the call for clean energy in Washington.

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From Green Right Now Reports

They may not be able to unclog the freeways or make much of the smog blow away, but the Port of Los Angeles does what it can. Working with Los Angeles-based Vision Industries, the Port is in negotiations to purchase and evaluate hydrogen fuel cell hybrid-electric trucks for short and medium cargo-hauling (or “drayage”) operations.

Vision trucks are powered by a combination of a hydrogen fuel cell and lithium batteries and have a potential range of up to 400 miles. The real issue: Will they hold up against the rigors of the port trucking environment?

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From Green Right Now Reports

Pennsylvania is investing $5 million in federal recovery money in eight alternative energy projects that use bio materials such as sewage, animal and food processing waste to generate enough energy to power more than 80,000 homes.

Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will support the commonwealth’s Green Energy Works! Biogas initiative. The projects will leverage an additional $22 million in private investments, the state announced today.

The eight projects receiving grants are expected to generate more than 470,000 megawatt hours of electricity over their lifetimes — enough energy to power more than 47,000 average homes in Pennsylvania for one year. The projects will also generate the equivalent of 3,183 million cubic feet of natural gas — enough to heat more than 37,000 average homes that use about 85,000 cubic feet of gas per year. The projects also will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by 237,000 tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of taking more than 41,000 passenger vehicles off the roads.

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from Green Right Now Reports

Biofuels for jet planes aren’t quite ready for take off. Synthetic fuels and biofuels for use in jet engines are still being refined and scaled up.

Japan Airlines test flight of Camelina jet fuel (Photo: AltAir Fuels.)

But production capacity is growing and today the largest American airline trade group announced that several airlines have reached agreements with two alternative jet fuel producers.

The airlines signed memorandums of understanding, essentially saying that as these greener fuels become available, they stand ready to buy them.

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(Photo: Geothermal Energy Association)

From Green Right Now Reports

The Geothermal Energy Association said today that state and federal policies in 2009 resulted in significant growth that places geothermal at the forefront of renewable energy.

In its year-end report, the association found that despite the recession, geothermal energy grew at a robust pace in 2009. The emerging industry added 750 full time jobs and 2,827 construction-related jobs. About $800 million was invested in the technology, six new geothermal plants went online in the United States and power capacity rose 6 percent during the year.

Currently, 144 new geothermal plants are under development in the United States, which could bring the nation 7,000 megawatts of new baseload geothermal power in the next few years. The report said the U.S. could see 10 gigawatts of geothermal power in the next few years — enough power to satisfy the needs of more than 10 million people.

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From Green Right Now Reports

San Francisco Bay Area-based Eco-Fuel Global this week signed an agreement with the Government of Rwanda to produce bio-fuels from Jatropha Curcas. The deal, estimated to be worth in excess of $250 million, would replace up to 20 percent of the Rwandan fossil fuel requirement with low emission bio-fuels.

Jatropha Curcas is a poisonous shrub whose seeds contain oil that is used to produce biodiesel fuel that is usable in a standard diesel engine.

“This marks the beginning of one of the largest sustainable biofuel projects in the world,” Mark O’Brien, CEO of Eco-Fuel Global, said in a statement. “Rwanda is leading the world in a new generation of environmentally friendly and economically responsible energy production.”

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From Green Right Now Reports

The City of Houston and Reliant Energy are launching a program to bring plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to the streets of Houston, to demonstrate the important role that electric cars can play in the city’s clean energy future.

Under the program, called the “Power of the Plug-In,” 10 city-owned Toyota Prius cars will be converted to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 10 vehicle-charging stations will be installed to power them. The Power of the Plug-In is designed to raise consumer awareness and education about plug-in electric cars and to promote Houston and Texas as an electric vehicle center. Seven of the 10 stations will be available to the public, representing the largest public charging infrastructure in Texas, the city said.

“We’re committed to making Houston the nation’s green energy capital,” Houston Mayor Bill White said in a statement. “That commitment begins at City Hall and these clean-running electric cars and the charging stations that will be available to all Houstonians will get us farther down that road.”

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By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

Farm Power, a Washington-based renewable energy company, and Washington utility company Puget Sound Energy (PSE) are giving new meaning to making something new out of something old. Farm Power says it has developed a “manure digester” — a system that turns cow manure into electricity — in Skagit County, Wash.

The manure digester captures the methane biogas from the waste, and holds it in an air tight tank, which then heats the manure to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The harvested methane becomes an alternative fuel and is sold to PSE. The leftover processed manure is then taken to other farms and used as an organic fertilizer.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Ocean waves near Freeport, Texas (Photo: National Weather Service)

Ocean waves off the coast of Texas may soon provide the first commercial wave power in the US to generate electricity and desalinate water.

Renew Blue Inc. said today that the Texas General Land Office has granted it the first-ever state off-shore wave energy lease. The company said it will use ocean water and waves to produce desalinated water; the first 100 percent fossil-fuel-free bottled water.

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