NAFTC file photo

First Australian Export of Biodiesel Leaves Port
Australia's first export shipment of biodiesel has been loaded on a freighter, bound for Asia and the United States. Natural Fuels Australia produced the inaugural shipment of palm oil biodiesel. The Darwin plant has a capacity of 36.5 million gallons. Natural Fuel has also commenced construction of three biodiesel plants on Jurong Island in Singapore, with a total nameplate capacity of 180 million gallons and has approved the construction of a 60.4-million gallon-per-year plant in Houston, Texas.

BioDiesel Technologies Launching First Commercial Jatropha Biodiesel Project in Brazil
Brazil's first commercial jatropha biodiesel project goes into operation this month following the delivery of BioDiesel Technologies' (BDT) processing unit. BDT will deliver an additional four processing units to increase the plan's annual capacity to about 10 million gallons by the end of 2007. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will officially open the plant in September.

Ontario Planning Initiatives To Reduce Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gases
The Canadian province of Ontario announced recently it is planning to introduce a three-pronged transportation initiative to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. One element of the initiative is a green vehicle program that will rate cars, light trucks, and commercial vehicles based on environmental criteria such as emissions levels. The government will provide incentives for the purchase of green vehicles, identified with a special license plate. The program is expected to launch by spring 2008.

Beijing Olympics To Use Fifty Li-ion Battery Electric Buses
About fifty buses powered solely by Li-ion batteries will be put into service for the Beijing Olympics next year. The buses will be used in three loop lines in the Olympic village, the northern area of the arena, and the press village. The Beijing Organizing Committee has allocated an area of 5,000 square meters of recharge station for the buses and a parking area in southwest Beijing. Research and design on the electric bus began in 2000, led by the Beijing Institute of Technology. A manufacturer has built seven prototypes to date.

Honda Prepares To Sell Civic Hybrid in China
Honda Motor announced recently it will sell its hybrid Civic in China before the end of the year, becoming the second automaker after Toyota Motor Corp. to offer a hybrid car in China. Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., the joint venture of Honda and China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. will begin importing and selling the Civic Hybrids as soon as the government grants permission. Eventually Dongfeng Honda Automobile will manufacture the car locally for the Chinese market. The goal is annual sales of five hundred to one thousand units.

China Developing and Deploying Electric Vehicle Motors
China has developed its own electric vehicle motors after more than a decade of research, according to Wen Xuhui, top researcher of the electric vehicle project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Electrical Engineering. China has proprietary intellectual property rights for the asynchronous drive motors and the permanent magnet synchronous motors for electric vehicles. Scaled production of fuel cell buses, hybrid-electric buses, and battery-electric buses is a key task in China's plan to reduce mobile emissions.

Hydrogen Expected To Fuel India's Transport Sector by 2020
Hydrogen fuel will be a major alternative to fossil fuels for India's transport sector by 2020, according to scientists. Various laboratories in the country are developing different technologies for production, storage, and transportation. "We are sure that by 2020 India will use hydrogen as an alternative fuel," Bhabha Atomic Research Center Director S. Banerjee said.

Japan Plans Preferential Tax in 2008 To Promote Wider Vehicle Biofuel Use
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Saturday it plans to introduce a new preferential tax system in fiscal 2008 aimed at promoting a wider use of biofuels in vehicles. Under the plan, biofuels mixed with gasoline will be exempt from the gasoline tax, currently 46 cents per liter, in proportion to the amount of biofuel included.

Seville Bus Fleet First To Use O2Diesel in Spain
Transportes Urbanos de Sevilla Sociedad Anónima Municipal, the operator of the collective urban transport system in Seville, Spain, yesterday announced it will begin a demonstration program using O2Diesel's ethanol-diesel blend. During the demonstration program a minimum of twenty buses will initially run on O2Diesel and will be monitored for emissions by O2Diesel and Abengoa Bioenergia in collaboration with the University of Castilla-La-Mancha.

Dutch Town Backs Hydrogen Filling Station
The town of Anherm, the Netherlands, announced recently that plans have been made for a hydrogen refueling station the council hopes to open at the end of next year. Recent research by the Arnhem-based hydrogen company Hygear and local authorities shows that a total investment of around $2.7 million is required to build a refueling station and eight vehicles. Arnhem authorities hope that the government will contribute to the costs.