Ethanol-to-jet is one pathway to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Until recently, this pathway was out of reach for commercial production. That changed this year when LanzaJet opened the world's first ethanol-to-SAF plant, the Freedom Pines Fuels Plant, in Soperton, Georgia. LanzaJet projects that the plant will produce nine million gallons of SAF in its first year in operation. In our third installment of our sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) series, we sat down with LanzaJet's Vice President of Commercial, Stéphane Thion. Tune in to hear from Stéphane about drop-in fuel standards, SAF ..read more

Aviation accounts for 12% of CO2 emissions from transportation and 2% of all CO2 emissions globally. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is fuel made not from petroleum hydrocarbons, but from other sources of carbon and hydrogen. These non-fossil hydrocarbons include waste oils, plant-derived oils, and more complex sources like woody biomass and municipal solid waste; even CO2 can serve as a source of carbon to make hydrocarbons. Derived from all of these sources and more, approximately 160 million gallons of SAF were consumed in 2023 - a drop in the bucket of the 90 billion gallons of convention ..read more

Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, and Darren Hau begin this episode with a discussion of the latest extreme weather events, including Hurricane Beryl and record-breaking heat over the last year. Up next, James, Darren, and Julio discuss developments in the EV industry like Tesla's market share falling below 50 percent and falling battery prices. Later, Darren and James discuss a copper deposit discovered with the help of AI. To round out this week's headlines, the team covers a report predicting that oil demand will ..read more

Sustainable aviation fuel can use a variety of feedstocks, from used cooking oils to oily seeds. When those feedstocks are heated under high pressure with a catalyst, the process produces hydrocarbons - the essential component in fuel. This process is called HEFA, Hydro-processed Esters and Fatty Acids. One company using this process to produce sustainable aviation fuel is Montana Renewables, based out of Great Falls, Montana, where they reconfigured equipment previously used in petroleum refining.  In part two of four, we'll be sitting down with Bruce Fleming, who serves as Executive Vi ..read more

In the latest installment of Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Dina Cappiello (RMI) discuss a variety of stories on climate, sustainability, and technology. Dina and James cover a breaking story out of the Supreme Court: the ruling that ended Chevron deference and slashed the power of regulatory agencies. Later, James and Dina analyze the Economist's special report on solar and a tax on methane emissions from gassy cows and pigs. Also covered this week: a new angle on climate-related insurance impacts, climate washing lawsuits' success, and Mexico's over-burdened grid. Follow us on Twitter ..read more

Aviation accounts for 12% of CO2 emissions from transportation and 2% of all CO2 emissions globally. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is fuel made not from petroleum hydrocarbons, but from other sources of carbon and hydrogen. These non-fossil hydrocarbons include waste oils, plant-derived oils, and more complex sources like woody biomass and municipal solid waste; even CO2 can serve as a source of carbon to make hydrocarbons. Derived from all of these sources and more, approximately 160 million gallons of SAF were consumed in 2023 - a drop in the bucket of the 90 billion gallons of convention ..read more

Climate News Weekly is back to cover the week’s biggest stories in climate news. Host James Lawler, joined by Julio Friedmann (Carbon Direct), begins this episode with follow-up coverage of heat-related fatalities at the Hajj pilgrimage. Up next, James and Julio discuss two tales of climate risk- one relating to critical infrastructure and the other relating to the insurance industry. Later, the team covers a recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court and pushback against the UN's biodiversity treaty. Rounding out this week's stories, James and Julio discuss a G7 debate on who bears responsibility ..read more

On this week's Climate News Weekly, James Lawler and Julio Friedmann discuss the latest in global climate news. Up first, James and Julio cover the latest developments in Europe; namely, green parties suffering losses in the latest elections as EU steelmakers risk missing their climate targets despite billions in subsidies.  Our hosts also discuss climate impacts around the world, from record temperatures making the Hajj pilgrimage particularly perilous to a deluge in Florida. James and Julio round out this week's news with discussion of the New York congestion pricing pause and what it m ..read more

The US Department of Energy (DOE) was established in 1977 with two key missions: to carry out defense responsibilities relating to nuclear weapons, and to bring together under one department the "loosely knit amalgamation" of various energy projects which were, at the time, scattered across the United States government. The Department of Energy Organization Act created the Department to better coordinate national energy strategy in the face of new challenges – namely, two OPEC energy crises and the growing nuclear energy industry. Since then, the DOE's responsibilities have evolved with the ch ..read more

Climate Now is back to tackle six of the biggest stories in recent climate news. James Lawler, Julio Friedmann, Dina Cappiello, and Darren Hau discuss recent developments in the U.S., from electric grid planning and finance to the Department of Energy's list of 10 national interest energy corridors. The team also digs into BHP's bid for Anglo American with one metal at the center of it all: copper. Our hosts round out this week's news by discussing the biggest year over year jump in CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory, climate action collaboration between the U.S. and China, and Climeworks' record-br ..read more