(Oxford, N.C.) Environmental policy veteran Steve Wall joined the Biofuels Center staff as its Director of Policy & Environmental Issues, bringing with him over a decade of experience working on environmental policy issues at the state and federal levels.  Most recently, Wall served as a Policy Analyst in the Secretary’s Office of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) where he was involved in developing and implementing policy initiatives in a variety of areas, including renewable energy.  In this capacity, Wall was a member of the state’s Energy Policy Council and acted as the primary staff person for the Environmental Management Commission’s Renewable Energy Committee. (more…)

(Oxford, N.C.) HCL CleanTech, a U.S.-Israeli biofuels technology development company, has chosen North Carolina as the site for its administrative headquarters and first pilot plant. The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has assisted the company and will provide office space in Oxford in its Biofuels Accelerator on North Carolina’s Biofuels Campus.  The pilot plant will be located at Southern Research Institute’s Advanced Energy and Transportation Technologies Center in Durham.  The strengths and partnership of two interactive and leading North Carolina biofuels entities was compelling to the company, and a factor in its decision. (more…)

(Asheville, N.C.) In connection with Ford’s announcement today concerning the advantages of a Ford Transit Connect natural gas Taxi, Altech-Eco Corporation of Asheville, North Carolina separately announced today that they have obtained the world’s first and only Certificate of Conformity (COC) from the EPA for their BI-FUEL 2010 Ford Transit Connect compressed natural gas (CNG) conversion system. The “bi-fueled” system means that the Transit Connect can operate on either natural gas, or on gasoline, with just the simple press of a dashboard button to instantly switch the fuels, with a driving range over 700 miles on a single fill-up. (more…)

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) NCTechNews, North Carolina’s technology news source, is accepting nominations from businesses and organizations for its “Biotech Story of the Year” top ten list for 2009. The list of stories will provide NCTechNews readers with detailed information about each top ten nominee and their newsworthy milestones contributing to the life sciences community in North Carolina. Every qualifying organization or business submitting a nomination will appear on the final list compilation to be published on NCTechNews, along with a hot link to their individual websites, with the top ten headlining a feature article and press release announcing the final list. (more…)

(Oxford, N.C.) The Biofuels Center of North Carolina showed off more than a dozen biofuels crops at the height of their summer growth in a public illustration of its North Carolina Grows Biofuels project on Monday (31 August 2009) at North Carolina’s Biofuels Campus in Oxford.   The North Carolina Grows Biofuels event displayed the unique 4-acre plot of energy crops and fast-growth trees that are part of a statewide project to provide agronomic data ensuring renewable biomass for biofuels production in coming years.  (more…)