WASHINGTON (AP) - Auburn University has been selected to receive up to $4.9 million of federal grant money for a biofuel project.

U.S. Department of energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Monday that up to $21 million will be available for the selection of five projects that will develop supply systems to

The biofuels revolution that promised to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil is fizzling out.

Two-thirds of U.S. biodiesel production capacity now sits unused, reports the National Biodiesel Board. Biodiesel, a crucial part of government efforts to develop alternative fuels for trucks and factories, has been hit hard by the recession and falling oil prices.

The U.S. Department of energy has handed out $1.6 million to the Alternative Fuel Trade Alliance… a group made up of the Renewable Fuels Association, the National Biodiesel Foundation, the Propane Education & Research Council, the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation and ASG Renaissance… to boost efforts for a targeted educational plan aimed at Clean Cities Coordinators and related stakeholders.

ery often, a broad, general description is used to define biodiesel in a way that is easy to understand by the general public. However, when these broad descriptions are adopted by an authoritative body as a formal definition, they can include a wide range of experimental fuels that are not biodiesel. The term “biodiesel” has a specific, technical definition that has been agreed to through a painstaking process by members of industry and government which has received full approval by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), the premier standard setting organization for fuels and fuel additives. That definition is used for purposes such as alternative fuel designation, EPA registration, or other regulatory purposes. Nonetheless, this specific