Tag Archives: alternative
PropertyInvest.sg Launches Its Brand New Property Website For Property Investment In Singapore
PropertyInvest.sg launches its very own brand new website providing useful information on the residential and commercial properties ready for use or the newly launched projects looking to develop in the near future on property investment in Singapore . Besides property information, the website is certainly a useful resource for anyone seeking information on buying and selling properties in Singapore. The all-encompassing website is a boon for investors far and wide who are looking to derive the latest information on the residential properties in Singapore, one among the most lucrative destinations for investment in property. Some of these residential properties can be categorised as newly launched condominiums, cluster houses, semi-detached and bungalows. Another feature of propertyinvest.sg that is bound to grab the eyeballs of real estate news enthusiasts is its interesting news-ticker that provides the latest updates on property for interested readers. Viewers can read the latest news making headlines on the real estate sector. “Property investors in Singapore require a need to compare properties in great detail before they actually make their first enquiry.” said Shirley Bok, founder of Propertyinvest.sg. “With Propertyinvest.sg, buyers or sellers in Singapore will be able to gain valuable knowledge on the properties in Singapore.” she added. Propertyinvest.sg focuses on residential, commercial, industrial and overseas properties, and offers property comparison services in Singapore. Owing to factors such as convenience of use, quick access of property listings and astute comparison mechanism, the property website has everything to become the one-stop portal for property buyers and sellers in Singapore. Read more: http://www.digitaljo…4#ixzz2cJWk3Xs3 Continue reading
Genetically Engineering Jatropha Plants for Large Scale Production
By Futurity | Thu, 18 July 2013 Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more. Scientists have identified the first step toward engineering a more drought-resistant variety of Jatropha, a potential biofuel plant. Jatropha has seeds with high oil content. But the oil’s potential as a biofuel is limited because, for large-scale production, this shrub-like plant needs the same amount of care and resources as crop plants. “It is thought that Jatropha‘s future lies in further improvement of Jatropha for large-scale production on marginal, non-food croplands through breeding and/or biotechnology,” says John E. Carlson, professor of molecular genetics at Penn State. “The more that is known about the genetic basis of Jatropha‘s key attributes such as drought tolerance, the more readily Jatropha improvement will progress.” According to Carlson, Jatropha currently grows best in tropical countries and is already being cultivated as a biofuel on a small scale in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Breeding a strain that could do well in arid, barren conditions could enable mass cultivation, but large-scale production may still be decades away. Researchers looked at a little known gene—JcPIP1—because a similar gene in the model plant Arabidopsis is known to play a role in drought response. They also examined JcPIP2, a potential drought response gene in Jatropha identified in 2007 by researchers at Sichuan University. They reported their findings today in the Journal of Plant Physiology. The JcPIP genes code for membrane channels called aquaporins, which are responsible for transporting and balancing water throughout the plant, though exactly how each gene affects aquaporin behavior under environmental stress remains unclear. However, researchers have found that JcPIP1 and JcPIP2 are expressed at different times during a stressful situation, which hints at what roles they play in response and recovery. By growing unmodified Jatropha samples in conditions simulating high soil salinity and low water availability, the researchers showed that Jatropha was normally more vulnerable and slower to recover from high salinity than from drought conditions. Using a tobacco mosaic virus to transiently transform Jatropha, the researchers created plants in which JcPIP2 or JcPIP1 was temporarily disabled. They subjected the modified samples to six days of stress and six days of recovery. To gauge the plants’ stress responses, they noted physical changes and measured root damage, leaf growth, electrolyte leakage in the leaves, and sap flow and volume. The researchers found that these stress responses were about the same between the two variants under drought conditions. However, plants with JcPIP1 disabled were slower to recover from salt damage. Analysis of plant parts during the stress and recovery stages showed that JcPIP2 was mostly active in the early stages of stress while JcPIP1 exp ression was greater during recovery. The timing indicates that JcPIP1 may be crucial in helping Jatropha recover from damage while JcPIP2 may play a role in prevention. How the two genes affect other plant functions remains unknown, and how large a part they play in the entire network of drought resistance relies on further study. “Plants have complex genetic and biochemical pathways for environmental stress resistance, that includes (multiple) genes and pathways,” says Carlson. “This inherent redundancy in stress responses ensures survival under varying environmental conditions, and provides many possible approaches to improving resistance.” According to the research team, the next step is to find how the JcPIP genes work at the cellular level, which can provide more detailed profiles of each gene’s exact function. Other researchers on this project contributed from Chonnam National University in Korea, University of Copenhagen, and Wonkwang University in Korea. The Korea Rural Development Agency, National Research Foundation of Korea, and the Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology funded this study. By. A’ndrea Elyse Messer Continue reading
Sky’s The Limit – Aviation Biofuels About To Take Off?
By John Daly | Sun, 11 August 2013 Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more. Click here to find out more. For the past decade, commercial production of jet biofuel has become of major interest to international airlines. Renewable Jet A-1 biofuel has two alluring aspects. First, it is a “drop in” fuel – blended 50-50 with conventional Jet A-1 kerosene derived from hydrocarbons, it requires no special engine modifications. Secondly, as the world prepares to institute carbon emissions penalties, biofuel Jet A-1 can reduce commercial airliners’ carbon emissions by 80-85 percent. The eye of the needle for this sunny renewable biofuel future has been twofold. First, the cost – no one has yet been able to produce renewable Jet A-1 at a cost comparable to hydrocarbon Jet A-1. The second problem derives from the first, in that no one has yet been able to produce renewable Jet A-1 in commercial quantities at a competitive rate. But this might all be about to change. AltAir, a major player in the burgeoning biofuels market, has unveiled ambitious plans to provide United Airlines with at 15 million gallons over the next three years of renewable jet fuel from a retooled Los Angeles-based refinery . Needless to say, the development is being closely watched, as the AltAir project will be the first U.S. refinery capable of producing both diesel and drop-in replacements for petroleum-based jet fuels. United has collaborated with AltAir Fuels for the past five years and has agreed not only to the initial purchase, but an option to purchase more. And United scores a march on its competition, as on 5 August Air Transport World magazine named United Airlines the Eco-Aviation “Airline of the Year” Gold Winner by, the top award granted by ATW in its annual Eco-Aviation Awards. United Airlines chairman, president and chief executive officer Jeff Smisek gushed, “This is a great honor for United and I’m proud of the work that my co-workers do every day to be responsible stewards for the environment. Our initiatives are paying off as we reduce United’s environmental footprint and work together toward a sustainable future for our company and our industry. United managing director for global environmental affairs and sustainability Jimmy Samartzis added, “This is a great day for United and the aviation biofuels industry. This agreement underscores United’s efforts to be a leader in alternative fuels as well as our efforts to lead commercial aviation as an environmentally responsible company. We’re excited about what this strategic partnership with AltAir means for United, the industry, the environment, and for our customers.” PR fluff aside, United has solidly put its capital behind its efforts to retool its aircrafts’ fuel consumption. United currently has more than 290 fuel-efficient aircraft on order and was the first U.S. carrier to purchase Boeing’s fuel efficient 787 Dreamliner, which cuts fuel consumption by and estimated 20 percent improvement. Deepening its commitment, United recently increased its order for Boeing 787 Dreamliners to 65 aircraft. Not limiting itself to U.S. domestic aircraft, United has also ordered 35 Airbus A350-1000s, which have reduced fuel consumption rates similar to Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Accordingly, United believes that it will meet its 2013 goal to reduce fuel usage by 85 million gallons and associated carbon emissions by 828,750 metric tons. The attention will now switch to AltAir – can it deliver? Rather than build a new refinery, the company intends to retrofit part of an existing petroleum refinery into an advanced biofuel refinery near Los Angeles. With AltAir’s retrofits, the Los Angeles refinery is set to become the first commercial-scale producer of renewable jet fuel in the world. AltAir CEO Tom Todaro has no doubts about the viability of the project, telling journalists, “United Airlines has been a strategic partner for several years as we work to establish our biofuel facility . We cannot overestimate how important this milestone is for the commercialization of sustainable aviation biofuels, and we at AltAir are proud that United is our first customer.” And AltAir is dreaming big, expecting to expand the refinery’s capacity eventually to produce 30 million gallons of advanced biofuels and chemicals after retrofits are complete. Feedstock for the facility? Non-edible natural oils and agricultural wastes. Can AltAir find sufficient natural oils and agricultural wastes in LA? Can they deliver the promised volumes of fuel? Watch this space. By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com Continue reading
