It's been a tough year or so for Imperium Renewable. Imperium, the force behind one of America's largest biodiesel plants, is a Seattle-area company that was hit with a lawsuit from a former employee this spring. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer details the many other problems facing Imperium: a cancelled IPO, layoffs executives leaving. The latest dark spot comes from the sunny tropics (sort of), because cruise giant Royal Caribbean Cruises has canceled a ginormous biodiesel contract with Imperium. The early end of the 18-million-gallon-a-year contract (which was supposed to run through 2011) is "raising questions about the future of the $78 million facility," the Seattle PI writes, refering to the big 100mgpy plant in Grays Harbor County, Washington. The two companies aren't talking about why the contract was canceled, but I'm guessing that the sluggish economy is dampening people's enthusiasm for expensive cruises these days, and Royal Caribbean just plain needs less fuel. Could have something to do with it, right?

[Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Photo Credit: Chethan Shankar | Creative Commons 2.0

The Seattle city government is looking for residents to part ways with their cars via the One Less Car Challenge. The idea's pretty straightforward: interested parties must register (spots are limited) and agree to give up their car for either one month (the "trial separation") or one year (the "break-up"). To soften the blow, this cold-turkey car sacrifice might deal to program participants, the city will provide incentives in the form of Commuter Vouchers that can be used towards public transit or goods and services that dovetail with a car-free lifestyle (like walking gear from REI, etc.). Additionally, One Less Car participants are enrolled in a bicycle club and get access to a variety of resources designed to help ease the transition to carless living. If you live in Seattle (residency in the city is a requirement) and think you can handle your daily routine without a car, you might want to look into the program. Worst case: you try it for a month, miss your car terribly and realize this won't work on a long-term basis. At least the city picks up part of the tab for your commute, and you save a month's worth of gas expenses for your trouble. Not a bad deal. Full details on the program here.

[Source: Seattle.gov via Bus Chick]

Are looking for a project to keep you busy this summer? Have you always wanted to have your own electric car to go along with your solar panels? You don't want to wait for the Volt and the Tesla is too pricey? Perhaps you can build one yourself. What's that? You don't know anything about converting a gas hog to a green dream machine? Well, if you live in the Seattle area perhaps you can take a course.

This summer, a 6-day intensive course on electric car converting will be held at the South Seattle Community College starting June 16th. Classes will be from 8 am to 5 pm. with the mornings devoted to classroom instruction (no spitballs) and the afternoons dedicated to the hands-on conversion of a lucky student's donor car. The finished product will be capable of "highways speeds" and have a range of between 40 and 60 miles, according to an item on the Post-Intelligencer reader blog.

If it isn't your car that gets converted, you still won't walk away empty handed. Every student will receive a copy of the book, "Convert It" written, not coincidentally, by the instructors of the course, Mike Brown and Shari Prange. Since they have written a book on the subject (as well as possessing lots of other experience) you can be assured they have a clue what they are talking about. Supplemental help may also be rendered by various members of the Seattle EV community.

If you want to hear more information and ask questions before committing to any part of the $800 total fee then why not call them about attending the absolutely free informational meeting (signup details after the jump). Have fun and happy gas-free driving!

[Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Erica Barnett, someone with car-sharing experience, writes in The Stranger that the Zipcar takeover merger with Flexcar isn't going quite as smoothly as she'd like. A big Flexcar fan, Barnett says that the more corporate feel of Zipcar has left car sharers in Seattle (Flexcar's home town) paying more for their hourly rentals and, for at least one busy weekend early in the merger, totally without access to the Zipcars. One particular sticking point for Barnett is that Honda Civic hybrids are thrown into Zipcar's "premium" category with BMWs and SUVs. Zipcar told her that cars are made premium based on how much they cost, not on how much the emit. Barnett's not the only one who's frustrated by the changes - she found many who have canceled or will soon cancel their memberships. The fact that Zipcar has yet to turn a profit is driving costs up, while also driving customers away. This could be trouble.

[Source: Erica C. Barnett / The Stranger]

Seattle is a city that seems to have it all. A great nightlife, lots of places to get coffee, amazing weather that Space Needle thing. What it doesn't have is a whole lot of hybrids in its taxi fleet. Sure, it has a few schlepping folks to and from Sea-Tac but that's about it. Mayor Greg Nickels wants to change that and he's proposing that the city help cabbies make the switch with "special cab financing," according to an article at the website of KOMO TV.

So, are the taxi owners jumping for joy over this new scheme? Not exactly. Mangit Singh, a driver interviewed by KOMO, makes the case that it would be too expensive because of increased insurance expenses and the cost of buying new vehicles. He thinks they should get a "subsidized program". Perhaps Seattle's cabbies should call up their buddies at T.C. Transportation Services in Spokane (their taxi is pictured above) and ask how they managed to swing the hybrid ownership expense. Or perhaps increased gas taxes might help persuade them to try it out. Either way, the proposal must be first passed by city council before it can be implemented.

[Source: KOMOTV]

Considering the fact that we just highlighted a report which brought to light just how long each of us tends to sit in traffic each day, using an alternative form of transportation - such as a bus or trolley - is an extremely attractive option. Because of this fact, many urban locations are putting them in service. After going into service, they usually get a cool name; something that rolls of the tongue or can be shortened to something memorable. You know... like SLUT. Perfect, right? You'll never forget the name, and the word-of-mouth advertising is likely to be huge!

Officially known as the South Lake Union Streetcar, the locals really know it as the South Lake Union Trolley. From our source article:

At Kapow! Coffee, a shop in the old Cascade neighborhood, 100 T-shirts bearing the words "Ride the SLUT" sold out in days, and another 100 are on order.

"We're welcoming the SLUT into the neighborhood," said Jerry Johnson, 29, a part-time barista.

I'll bet that Vulcan Inc., the developers of the new and improved neighborhood, love the name as much as you, our readers, do. Dont'cha think? It is a very "Desirable" name, after all.

[Source: The AP via The Kansas City Star]

Planetary Fuels, a Seattle, Washington-based biodiesel startup, has filed to set up their first production facility outside of Seattle which includes the installation of tankage with a combined capacity of 442,000 gallons. The plant should produce around 6 million gallons of biodiesel per annum using crops from local farmers. The company plans to build a series of small scale biodiesel plants that can produce between 2 million and 6 million gallons of biodiesel per year each.

Analysis: I sat down with Planetary Fuels founder, Ophir Ronen, last year to discuss his roll-out strategy. He told me that the plan is to utilise his IT experience from co-founding Internap Network Services plus IT methodologies to the world of biodiesel production. Planetary Fuels will be a company to keep an eye on.

Related:

• NEVs may get more speed in Washington State
• Canola biodiesel crops could damage seed crops in Washington state
• Safeway starts down the slow road to national B20 availability

[Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer]