{"id":7124,"date":"2012-10-30T10:28:33","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T17:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=7124"},"modified":"2013-03-12T10:40:53","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T17:40:53","slug":"carbon-free-or-carbon-neutral-%e2%80%93-could-new-fuels-save-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/carbon-free-or-carbon-neutral-%e2%80%93-could-new-fuels-save-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon Free or Carbon Neutral \u2013 Could New Fuels Save Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three companies \u2013 Air Fuel Synthesis, Cool Planet Energy Systems, and Joule Unlimited \u2013 are generating comment and controversy for their approaches to creating different kinds of biofuels. They all promise extreme reductions in carbon emissions and lower prices at the pump. Their output could use existing infrastructure for delivery, making them all desire able commodities if their promise can be achieved.<\/p>\n

Cool Planet<\/strong>
\n\u00a0Cool Planet Energy Systems <\/a>claims to be, \u201cThe only company producing carbon negative fuels using plant photosynthesis to remove CO2 from our atmosphere.\u201d Its now patented approach recycles its solid products back into the soil, and using more of the liquid fuel products cleans the air more quickly, according to the firm\u2019s web site.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s process divides its output from plant-based sources into liquid fuel and bio-char, an activated carbon that can be used as a coal substitute or fertilizer and soil conditioner, in which instance it acts as a carbon sequestration material, reducing the carbon footprint of the process by 150 percent. Used as a coal substitute, it is carbon neutral, according to Cool Planet, based on GREET (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation) model calculations from the U. S. Department of Energy\u2019s Argonne National Laboratory.<\/p>\n