From the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Professor Eckhard Boles and his team have modified, genetically, the Saccharomyces cerevisiaeyeast to be able to produce a newly formed enzyme that can make fermentation of xylose (a 5 chained sugar) as well as the 6-carbon sugar (like glucose). The research and evaluation are included on their journal Applied Environmental Microbiology.
When treated, cellulosic biomass can actually produce a mixture of pentose (5 chained carbon) and hexose (6 chained carbon) sugars, as well as glucose, galactose, D-xylose, mannose and L-arabinose. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is typical industrial yeast that offers high production, fast sugar consumption and ethanol tolerance. The only problem is, it cannot ferment pentose sugars.
The lack of helpful microorganisms that can convert the hexoses and pentoses effectively to ethanol is a major hindrance to the cost-efficient production of cellulosic ethanol through the process of fermentation.
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Posted by admin at 5:51 pm on March 15th, 2009.
Categories: Alternative Fuels, Bio-Ethanol, Butalco, Research.
“Hoping to conquer an untapped market, Lexus follows through a recent research that reveals 60 percent of novice luxury car buyers would purchase a hybrid. There were rumors that the Lexus hybrid will undoubtedly be founded on the Prius, but Lexus spokesman Greg Thome said that the HS 250h more likely connects to the Toyota Avensis that is being sold in Europe.”
This is what Lexus Car Talk says about this somewhat boring-looking, yet very exciting first dedicated Hybrid by Lexus called the Hybrid Lexus HS 250h. 
I’m test-driving one asap!
Posted by admin at 5:42 pm on February 15th, 2009.
Categories: Hybrid Cars, Lexus.
BYD Company from China is open to licensing terms for their ferrous-iron batteries as other car makers from the United States, Europe, and Asia show their interest.
The BYD Group is just considering their available resources for any possible tie ups with other car makers. BYD Auto utilized their expertise to come up with electric vehicles aiming to compete with the production of General Motors and Toyota’s plug-in vehicle hybrids.
The company came to the spotlight after the September endorsement of billionaire Warren Buffett. The company of Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. through MidAmerican Energy bought a 10% share of BYD worth $230 million.
The BYD is developing F60M which is a plug-in hybrid car due for release in Europe and the United States in 2011. The initial sales of these vehicles are targeting fleet services for the government, corporations, or utility companies.
BYD came up with the Dual Mode F3 and closed a deal with the China Construction Bank and the Shenzen local government for 50 units. The Dual Mode is also known as the F3DM which is designed with a gasoline engine to serve as back up.
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Posted by admin at 4:32 pm on January 21st, 2009.
Categories: Batteries, BYD.
Statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal that the sales of new cars dropped by 11.3% in the United Kingdom.
The December 2008 figures were not as bad as expected by business experts. The December registration of new cars reflected a 21.2% decline.
The demand for diesel fueled car remains to be on the optimistic side as it reached a record high of 43.6% at the end of 2008. With respect to this, the new CO2 emissions average also dropped a very significant 4.2% or on an average rating of 158 g/km. The emissions make a notable improvement of 16% from the readings taken in 1997.
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Posted by admin at 3:28 pm on January 8th, 2009.
Categories: Car Industry, Diesel.
After all the news and hype that circulated in the media and the Internet, Nissan will finally bring their Cube to the US with the launch of their new third-generation Cube. The third-gen Cube’s production car had its first official viewing at the Los Angeles auto show. The new Cube is expected to reach dealers next spring. It’s not a true ALTERNATIVE FUELS car, but it’s one of Nissan’s stepping stone models towards their goal of domincating the green cars market in fifteen years…
Not surprisingly, the new Cube did not keep its square appearance to make way for bigger interior space. The A-pillars stayed a bit far out with a wide track and a steep rake, with the tall dimensions making the Cube stay true to its form.
As for the interiors, the rear sliding bench seats are set higher than the front – which is similar to the style of seats you see in theaters. The curve-themed interior also includes a customizable dashboard shelf unit, a floating instrument cluster, and a Magic Rubber Bands door armrest system that can be used to secure small items.
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Posted by admin at 7:23 pm on December 23rd, 2008.
Categories: Nissan.
Keeping an eye on the distress that is looming ahead of us, most car manufacturers are contemplating on using alternative fuel resources and energies to run their cars of the near future. The fuel resources of the plant are dwindling and might just last for a few decades more. Apart from this is the danger that is being caused on the plant due to harmful emissions by the natural fuels that we are using currently and which release
a huge amount of dangerous CO2 gases. Solar Powered Cars are great!
Nature has gifted us with an abundance of sources like wind, water and sunshine, which can be easily harnessed to give us the power we need to drive our cars. While alternative fuels are already being tested and used, more and more car manufacturers are also looking towards solar energy as an alternative to drive cars. Such cars contain a panel of solar cells on their top that uses the light energy of the sun and converts that to electricity that is used to drive the cars.
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Posted by admin at 6:06 am on November 9th, 2008.
Categories: Alternative Fuels, Solar Power, Venturi.
At present the fuel needs of humanity is met mainly by the fossil fuel. Automobiles are run by petroleum products. 
Most of the electric power generation is done by petroleum derivatives. Everyday the demand on petroleum products is going up. One day the petroleum reserve will dry up. Moreover, the gases coming from burning them cause health hazards to mankind. An alternative is hydro-electric power generation. Even though this power is harmless and has renewable source, there is not sufficient water with required pressure head available. Wind energy is another source with no harmful side effects. But that too is limited.
Another source of energy experimented for sometime is burning of hydrogen. It produces only water and hydrogen can be regenerated from water. On the other hand the fossil fuel produces very harmful gases like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. If this trial is successful we can have a never ending source of energy.
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Posted by admin at 7:04 am on October 15th, 2008.
Categories: Alternative Fuels, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen.
There are many people who are facing problems with the increase in cost of oil prices all over the world. They did not think when they had purchased their car that the prices of diesel would increase so much. There is an opportunity for such people and the bets way for them is to switch over to biodiesel car fuel. For those who are finding it hard to believe and have doubts whether this biodiesel car fuel will work with their car or not, here is good news.
Cars that have diesel engines and even trucks that run on diesel will also run on biodiesel car fuel. There are other alternatives too like converting you car so that it runs directly on vegetable oil.
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Posted by admin at 1:42 am on October 4th, 2008.
Categories: Alternative Fuels, Biodiesel.
Steve Ellis, marketing manager for Honda‘s fuel cell program, talks with Green Fuels Forecast about the retail launch of the Clarity. The Hydrogen-powered Honda FCX really is as revolutionary as he’s saying. Hydrogen cars might save the world…
Posted by admin at 11:47 pm on September 18th, 2008.
Categories: Honda, Hydrogen, Video.
The biggest query that people are asking nowadays is what type of vehicles we shall be going to drive in the future? If you are wondering, then you should be aware that this query has stimulated many human minds and their brains as the oil reserves of the world are declining to such a disturbing degree that people are asking questions about how long with the oil reserves of the world last us? These worries are not baseless since the earth has got a limited supply of fuel left and very soon the day will come when there will be no fuel left at all. How can we beat this scenario without causing discomfort to us? There is a simple solution and the answer is to go in for hybrid cars.
Mercedes A-Class Hybrid Car
The technology behind hybrid cars are that they are designed to run on alternative fuels like solar cells or hydrogen gas without emitting any toxic gases in the atmosphere. There are people who ask if these hybrid cars perform as well as their fuel counterparts? If one looks under the bonnet of a hybrid car, they will notice that it has two engines instead of one. One of them runs using electricity and the other uses diesel or petrol. Both these engines work in tandem and give you both better performance and higher mileage at a cheaper cost. You will never be stuck if the fuel finishes. The electric engine will ensure that you reach home.
Posted by admin at 3:37 pm on September 9th, 2008.
Categories: Alternative Fuels, Hybrid Cars, Mercedes.
When treated, cellulosic biomass can actually produce a mixture of pentose (5 chained carbon) and hexose (6 chained carbon) sugars, as well as glucose, galactose, D-xylose, mannose and L-arabinose. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is typical industrial yeast that offers high production, fast sugar consumption and ethanol tolerance. The only problem is, it cannot ferment pentose sugars.
