Domestic Fuel

Most people never heard the word “switchgrass” before it was immortalized by President Bush in his State of the Union address, but someday we could be running our cars on fuel made from the stuff. USDA’s Agricultural Research Service just released a new study on the feasibility of switchgrass for energy production, focusing specifically on the economics of growing the crop and how to get the most yield per acre. According to an ARS report, “two switchgrass plants per square foot the first year ensures a successful bioenergy crop harvest in subsequent years.” The studies were done on farms in Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, since switchgrass is a native prarie grass in those states. Normally the grass is used for conservation purposes or cattle feed. The guy in the picture is Ken Vogel, a geneticist at the ARS Grain, Forage and Bioenergy Research Unit at Lincoln, Neb. who led the study. Here’s a link to the report on “Establishment Stand Thresholds” reported in the January issue of Crop Science magazine, if you’re into that.
A big plus for switchgrass is that as a perennial plant, switchgrass has the advantage of not needing annual planting and tillage. Skipping these can save soil and energy. It can also reduce sediment and other pollutant losses to waterways.
By the way, research into switchgrass for energy production has been going on for at least a decade. I know that because I remember doing a story about it when I still worked at Brownfield Network – and I left there in 1997!

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman spoke to the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce today. According to this KC AP article, Bodman echoed the adminstration theme that we need to make ethanol from other sources besides corn. Bodman said the ethanol industry now consumes roughly 14 percent of the country’s corn crop. The crop’s regular purpose as human and animal feed will eventually compete with the demand for ethanol, driving up prices. “We’re beginning to run into a limit of how much ethanol we can get from corn,” Bodman said, He also told the AP that he expects the oil industry to “come around” and start using and selling more ethanol.

The biggest biodiesel plant in the world is being built in Claypool, Indiana, according to this article from IndyStar.com. The project, which was announced last year, combines a soybean processing plant with a biodiesel production plant. The facility will crush nearly 50 million bushels of soybeans a year, producing more than 1 million tons of soybean meal for animal feed and 80 million gallons of biodiesel. The plant is being bulit by global agribusiness giant Louis Dreyfus, a French conglomerate that is into just about everything from citrus to coffee to cotton, real estate and manufacturing to telecommunications – you name it. They have offices in Asia, Argentina, Canada and Kansas City, just to name a few. My question is, why Claypool Indiana? This little burg with a population of 311 according to the 2000 census is located about halfway between Ft. Wayne and Chicago – which might be a reason. During the aforementioned Ag Energy Summit in Washington, DC, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced that the state is providing between somewhere in the neighborhood of $6.5 million in tax credits and other incentives to Louis Dreyfus to build the plant.

According to the press release from this week’s energy summit in Washington, DC, “Energy, enthusiasm and excitement marked the unveiling of 25x’25 to those attending the second National Agriculture and Forestry Renewable Energy Summit.” One of the most interesting news items from the summit was a survey of registered voters that shows overwhelming support for renewable energy initiatives. There is nearly unanimous support for a national goal of having 25% of our domestic energy needs met by renewable resources by the year 2025. Ninety-eight percent of voters see this goal as important for the country, and three out of four (74%) feel that it is “very important.” Ninety percent of voters believe this goal is achievable. The survey, which interviewed 1000 registered voters, can be found in PDF form on this page of the 25 X ’25 website.
This survey does not directly ask this question, but I believe that Americans would support a switch to domestic fuels and energy sources – even if it means they might be a bit more expensive and/or less efficient in the short term. I know I would. I would like to see a survey that asks American if they would be willing to make certain sacrifices to achieve a greater degree of energy independence as a nation. Let me know if there is one.

With a goal of providing 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply from renewable resources by 2025, the Ag Energy Work Group held it’s second National Ag and Forestry Renewabe Energy Summit, in Washington, DC this week. I apologize for having been remiss in doing posts about this group’s activities, especially since good friend Sara Wyant sent us some info about this at least a month ago that got lost in my email filing system.
Anyway, here is a picture of Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns addressing the group on Tuesday. There were numerous other political types on hand, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle. Text of Secretary Johanns speech can be found here and I also downloaded a radio story from USDA’s newsline about his speech – listen to that here. Besides ethanol and biodiesel, Johanns talked about wind power and biomass – and the exciting potential for American agricultural and forest lands to provide our nation’s energy. In the future we may have the opportunity to not only provide for agricultural power needs, but also to provide power back into the grid. Wouldn’t that be a great day for rural America? We’ve always considered our forests and farms to be precious resources. That notion has taken on a new meaning as America embraces renewable energy.

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Researchers at Iowa State University are working to squeeze every available drop of ethanol from a corn kernel. According to this UPI story, “they are working to create chemical catalysts that would increase the yield of fermentable sugars from corn.” The research is supported by grants of $305,000 from the National Science Foundation, $200,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and $162,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Here’s some more pictures to go with the posts we have been receiving from the E85 Cross Country trip. These go with the Day 3 post when the team stopped in their home state of Iowa. They got lots of media attention there and switched out some team members so more students could take advantage of the opportunity to go coast-to-coast on E85 and “see the USA in a Flex-Fuel Chevrolet!”
KCCI Channel 8 News was there to do a live broadcast, as well as the Fort Dodge Messenger, and the Farm Bureau Spokesman. We talked to Van and Bonnie of WHO radio, Doug Cooper on WOI radio news show, and KJAN radio in Atlantic, via cell phone. Sponsors that were in attendance to the fill up in Ankeny were the American Lung Association, National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Representatives from General Motors, and Karl Chevrolet. Senator Beall from Fort Dodge, Iowa paid for the fuel and filled the Avalanche’s tank.
Thanks to Jessica Zopf with the American Lung Association of Iowa for sending the pictures!

The journey continues for the Iowa Central Aggies E85 cross country road trip. Here is the latest post from designated blogger Bradley Westrum.
March 9-06
The road was still closed when we woke up this morning around 5:15, so we took our sweet time getting ready. Leaving the hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming around 7:00 A.M. still knowing that Interstate 80 was closed west of Laramie, Wyoming, which is 5 miles west of Cheyenne. When we pulled into Laramie, we saw a pile up of semis that reached back about 10 miles, filling both sides of the road, the entrance and exit ramps, and all the gas and truck stops in the city. We sat and waited for about an hour for the road to open, but seeing that it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, we decided to take a minor detour. After taking the detour that forced us out of our way about 30 miles, we got back onto our scheduled path. The roads were questionable for the most of the day, but the weather could not decide what it wanted to do. It snowed, rained, the wind blew in some parts, but in others the temp sky rocketed, and the sun was out. We filled up in Draper, Utah and Provo, Utah. Provo is where we were planning on staying the night tonight, but when the weather report came in, it sounded as if there was another storm on its way toward us. So we decided to get as far as we could tonight before it started to storm. We got as far as Cedar City, Utah which is just off Interstate 15 and got a hotel room for the night.
Tomorrow we plan to drive to Las Vegas, and spend some time seeing the sights around the area and then head to Los Angeles where we will spend the remainder of our trip until the flight out of LAX Saturday afternoon.
We found that most of the Ethanol Stations that offer E-85 are in towns that have a Military Base. This is because the stations then can almost put any price up, and the Military Base will be nearly forced to pay the price.
The Students that went on the first part of the trip are, Alex Lundgren, Ashley Heflin, Tami Davis, and Bradley Westrum, as well as the Ag Coordinator Jim Richardson. The students that are currently on the second leg of the trip are Pat Lennon and Nate Marean. Bradley and Jim have been on the whole trip.
Stay tuned for further updates as the Iowa Central Aggies for Renewable Resources travel across the country, supporting 85% Ethanol. You can expect another update tomorrow night.
See the U.S.A in your Flex Fuel Chevrolet!!!
Two of the team’s sponsors are the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition and the American Lung Association of Iowa.

Doesn’t look like much to me, but according to USDA’s Agricultural Research Service this is a picture of a prototype membrane that could be used to conduct ions in a hydrogen fuel cell. In an effort to reduce “American dependence on petroleum-based fuels,” researchers at ARS’ Environmental Management and Byproduct Utilization Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., have conducted preliminary studies which suggest the possibility of replacing the conventional petroleum-based main membrane in hydrogen fuel cells with biological products. Not saying exactly what the membrane is being made from except that it’s bio-based and non-petroleum made from “naturally occuring products.”

The Wisconsin Senate indefinitely postponed action on legislation that would have required that all gasoline sold in the state contain ten percent ethanol, effectively killing it this legislative year.

A press release from the Wisconsin Ethanol Coalition said that they will continue “efforts to promote the ethanol industry and its benefits to Wisconsin.”
Majority Leader Dale Schultz issued a statement expressing his disappointment over the outcome. “While the bill is dead for this session, I’m committed to working with supporters of ethanol, agriculture, the environment, and job creation to ensure we can bring the issue back next year.” Senator Shultz is a Republican from one of the state’s major corn growing areas.

The Capital Times says it was a rare example of bipartisanship in the State Capitol, with 12 Republicans and five Democrats voting to indefinitely postpone the bill, which had already been passed by the Assembly and would have been signed by the governor. The Times also noted Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, recused himself from voting because of business ties to the ethanol industry.
Meanwhile, that “ties to ethanol” issue surfaced this week for some lawmakers in Missouri where they are also considering a ten percent ethanol mandate, according to an AP article .

These pictures of the ICARE Cross Country E85 team – Alex, Bradley, Ashley and Tami – at the Indianapolis Speedway are so adorable I wanted to highlight them in a separate post so they wouldn’t be missed. Photo credits go to Whitney Copeland Cole of Indiana AgriNews who was the only media person at the Indy with the group. Great shots! Thanks again Whitney.
According to team member Bradley Westrum from the Day 2 post – we were only able to go a top speed of about 50 miles per hour. It truly was the opportunity of a life time. We stopped on the second lap to kiss the Brickyard, which is the strip of bricks that lay across the finish line, and is where every winner of a race that is held there, stops and kisses the bricks. After completing the second lap, we went through the pits, and concluded one of the most exciting parts of the trip. When we got back on the road we calculated how many laps we could complete on the track with one tank of E85. We figured that you could complete about 170 laps before running bone dry.

The continuing saga of the Cross Country E85 trip….courtesy of Bradley Westrum, blogging his way across the USA in a flex-fuel Chevrolet….still working on getting some pictures to go with these posts.

March 08-06 – Today we got up around 5:15 to get ready for our big press day in Ankeny, Iowa. Arriving at the gas station around 6:30 we started to take interviews. KCCI Channel 8 News was there to do a live broadcast, as well as the Fort Dodge Messenger, and the Farm Bureau Spokesman. We talked to Van and Bonnie of WHO radio, Doug Cooper on WOI radio news show, and KJAN radio in Atlantic, via cell phone. Sponsors that were in attendance to the fill up in Ankeny were the American Lung Association, National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Representatives from General Motors, and Karl Chevrolet. Senator Beall from Fort Dodge, Iowa paid for the fuel and filled the Avalanche’s tank. After spending a few hours at the Kum&Go doing lots of interviews, we got back on the road. We filled in Council Bluffs, IA then headed for Nebraska where we filled up in North Platte. In North Platte, we found out that the roads were questionable due to a major storm sweeping across the Midwest. After filling the tank, we booked it to Sidney, NE where we would decide whether to keep going on or not.

Bio jet fuel could be the next frontier for domestic fuel.  I had to do some hunting to find the original article on the research being done at the University of North Dakota to make jet fuel from crop oils, but I finally found it in the Grand Forks Herald. According to the story, the military is very interested “because it helps decrease dependence on foreign oil.” One of the next stops for the biojet fuel this spring is Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio to have it inspected at the base’s fuels-testing lab. The last time UND researchers were at Wright-Patterson, Air Force scientists said they were interested in the new biojet fuel because it performed as well as regular JP-8 jet fuel. But they were concerned with its ability to operate in extreme cold temperatures, and it tended to “gum up” after long periods in storage. 

Couple of ethanol news items from Florida.

First, Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson mixed ethanol with strawberries at the annual Strawberry Salute Breakfast Monday, calling on the state’s agricultural community to become a leader in ethanol production.  According to this story in the Lakeland Ledger, Bronson talked up a new biofuels process developed by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) that can make ethanol, a synthetic fuel, from agricultural waste products. I had been saving the press release about that process, which was actually sent out in May of last year, meaning to do a story about it someday.  And I will.  But, meantime, here’s the link so you can read it yourself. 

 Next, there is a reason why the Cross Country kids are heading through the middle of the US rather than going south – there’s no E85 stations in Florida.  The Miami Herald did a feature on ethanol Sunday which noted that E85 is not even approved for sale in Florida yet, but is expected to be soon.  This is interesting because the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – which is run by Commissioner Bronson – is the agency that regulates gasoline sales in the state.  According to the article, Matthew Curran, chief of petroleum inspection for the Florida Department of Agriculture, which oversees fuel standards, said that as early as next month new rules that would allow the sale of E85 in the state could be in place. ”The department is trying to take a proactive stance,” he said.

The E85 Cross Country Tour went through the midwest on Tuesday and got to do some fun things in Indianapolis before landing in Des Moines on Tuesday night. Here is the second installment of their adventures. We will be posting pictures from the trip as soon as we get them. (By the way – I have no idea what “Piddidle!” means – I hope it’s not a bad thing!)
Just added one of the pictures of the group on the track at the Indy – with mega thanks to Whitney Copeland Cole of Indiana AgriNews for sharing a few of her photos. More in a separate post. THANKS WHITNEY!!!

Tuesday, March 7, 2006:Leaving at a nice bright and early time of 7:00 to meet the Ohio Clean Cities Representative Erika Wiggins, a local Columbus radio station, and a NBC TV station affiliate out of Columbus, Ohio, where we filled up the tank. After leaving Hilliard we started the longest day of the trip. Our second stop came about 4 hours into the day in Indianapolis, Indiana, were we filled up at Joe’s Junction, where a very nice man named Gilbert set us up with a very scrumptious meal of fried chicken, pork fritters, potato wedges, and all the fixin’s. Joe’s Junction also footed the bill for the fuel. We were interviewed by a woman named Whitney Cole who is a field editor for AgriNews Publications. After leaving Joe’s Junction, Ms. Cole followed us to the Indianapolis 500 Speedway. We made a call earlier and set up an opportunity of a lifetime. Upon arrival to the Speedway, we entered under the tunnel which went under the speedway. When reaching the other side we were inside the inter oval of the track. The flip of the coin determined the driver, since we could not rotate drivers on the track. We had to follow a lead car carrying Danny Edwards who is in Public Relations for the track, and Ms. Cole rode in there as well. Unfortunately we were only able to go a top speed of about 50 miles per hour. It truly was the opportunity of a life time. We stopped on the second lap to kiss the Brickyard, which is the strip of bricks that lay across the finish line, and is where every winner of a race that is held there, stops and kisses the bricks. After completing the second lap, we went through the pits, and concluded one of the most exciting parts of the trip. When we got back on the road we calculated how many laps we could complete on the track with one tank of E85. We figured that you could complete about 170 laps before running bone dry. We had to put the pedal to the metal to get to the next stop because of how long the day is. The next stop was in Kankakee, IL, were we filled up the tank. This gas station is owned by VeraSun Energy, who is one of our sponsors, and is also the owner of the Ethanol plant in Fort Dodge, IA. Back on the road again, the third stop of the day was in Normal, IL. When we arrived at Normal, IL we were met by 2 local radio stations, the Illinois AgriNews, Illinois Corn Growers, Illinois Farm Bureau and representatives from General Motors. The Illinois Corn Growers purchased our tank of E85. The Illinois Clean Cities purchased snacks and refreshments at the gas station for our long journey ahead. Later that day, we stopped at Hardees and engulfed delicious Angus burgers before we arrived in Des Moines, IA. We arrived at the Heartland Inn at 9:30 p.m. and soon were in a deep slumber. “Piddidle!!!”

“See the USA in your Flex Fuel Chevrolet…”