Milk and biofuel might seem an odd combination, but a Phoenix-based company is planning to produce both at a proposed dairy/biorefinery in western Arizona.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - President Bush sees the new agreement with Brazil on ethanol as a way to boost alternative fuels production in the Americas and get more cars running on something other than gasoline.

Scottsdale will begin using biofuels in many of its municipal vehicles in an effort to make its fleet operation more environment-friendly and energy-efficient.

The federal government intends to jump-start the fledgling biofuels industry in the name of national security.

DEXTER, MO. - Jerry Bagby is typical of the oil men who are prospecting for a fortune in the Midwestern biofuels boom. He’s convinced there’s oil in these hills — and he’s found a well that no one else is using.

CHICAGO - The future of energy is bright in Said Al-Hallaj’s invention lab at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and not just because of the solar window that lies in development on a table.

WASHINGTON - Plane maker Airbus and aerospace manufacturer Honeywell International on Thursday said they are developing a biofuel that by 2030 could satisfy nearly a third of the worldwide demand from commercial aircraft, without affecting food supplies.

In an effort to reduce air pollution and sewage waste, Gilbert will work with REV Biodiesel to collect used cooking grease at fire stations now through Jan. 5.

Mayor John Lewis dropped the first doggie bag into eTURD, the dog waste digester at Cosmo Dog Park, in Gilbert Saturday.

The town’s annual tree recycling program received 91 tons of trees in 2010-11, nearly double last year’s 47 tons. A total of 4,600 trees were recycled this year, compared with 2,868 trees in 2009-10.

The 14th annual Energy, Utility & Environment Conference will be held from Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

It is not often that we agree with any agency of the United Nations, inasmuch as such agencies typically prescribe larger and more intrusive government as the solution for whatever problem attracts their attention. But the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, which hosted a world summit on the current world food crisis this week in Rome, has issued a mostly sensible report on the current crisis and how governments around the world should respond to it.

The ethanol craze just might set a record for fads that fizzled before they got fully under way. The sooner the better, in our view.

DES MOINES, IOWA - With new ethanol and biodiesel plants going online monthly and increasing demand for the homegrown fuel additives, transportation companies are scurrying to provide the needed trains, trucks and storage tanks to keep up with the rapidly growing industry.

Arizona Public Service and a Massachusetts-based company called GreenFuel Technologies Corp. have launched a project they hope will solve two problems at once — reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants while creating domestic fuel for motor vehicles.

AZ BioDiesel is collecting turkey fryer grease and other food byproducts at Gilbert fire stations through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend for conversion into environmentallyfriendly fuel at its local factory.

Pinal Energy has earned our respect for launching Arizona’s first ethanol production plant in the right way.

CASA GRANDE - Take a little Arizona sunshine and mix in water and some cow manure.

NEW YORK - Corn prices jumped to a record $6 a bushel Thursday, driven up by an expected supply shortfall that will only add to Americans' growing grocery bill and further squeeze struggling ethanol producers.

Earth Day never comes once a year for Philip Beere and Kevin Stumpff.

Tempe has discovered a potentially lucrative source of alternative energy in the ickiest of places: restaurant grease traps.

Many in Arizona's aviation industry support the concept of the Arizona Aerospace Institute, saying it could encourage collaboration in research among the industry, private labs and academia.