Domestic Fuel

Security has been really tight here for the Renewable Energy Conference, especially for speakers and media. They won’t let anyone through this restricted area unless they have a media badge and only staff are permitted to escort any other attendees to the media room for interviews. There were about 100 media registered for the conference itself, and several more local and national reporters are coming in today just for the president. This has gotten amazing coverage.

The registration fee for this event was pretty high – about $500 per person – but I can tell you it has been very well done. Not overdone, just well done. Okay, maybe the press security is a bit overdone, and the head-banging heavy metal transition music between speakers is annoying – but I have heard nothing but positive comments about the value of this conference to both attendees and the media. As several people noted, even a year ago an event like this would have barely gotten half the attendance and coverage it has recieved. And the main reason for the increased interest will be here today to repeat the line that set this industry on fire less than ten months ago – “America is addicted to oil.” I guess you could call this event group therapy to cure that addiction.

The line was long to go through security at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference in St. Louis. President Bush is scheduled to address the crowd of more than 1500 about lunchtime. We have been informed that we will all be in “lock down” here at the convention center between 11:00 am and 1:30 pm – no one in or out.

Meanwhile, the city was also preparing for the president’s arrival this morning, setting up gates and barriers around the convention center to shut down roads for the presidential motorcade. Fun stuff.

First up on the program this morning is former CIA Director James Woolsey, talking about the importance of renewable energy for the nation’s security.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns did a little walk through of the trade show at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference in St. Louis on Wednesday and stopped in front of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council display with the Indy Car show vehicle.

The flashy green and blue Indy Car continues to generate lots of attention wherever it goes, more so as the IRL prepares to move into full ethanol power next year for all races.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns mentioned this mighty machine in his remarks to the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference on Wednesday.

It’s called the BioMax and it is a prototype combined heat and power system developed through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and USDA Forest Products Laboratory. The machine is “transportable, fully automated, and environmentally friendly” suitable for small businesses, rural homes and schools.

The process gasifies wood chips, or other biomass, and produces 15 kW of electricity.

The president of the National Corn Growers Association says the interest in renewable energy across the nation is really a renewed interest in agriculture.

Ken McCauley, a corn grower from White Cloud, Kansas, says “it elevates agriculture to a whole new level” and he notes that ethanol and biodiesel are giving young people a new future in agriculture and helping to revitalize rural America. “Not just because of an ethanol plant, but also side businesses, support industry, builds your roads, builds your tax base, all kinds of good things for our local communities.”

Regarding food versus fuel – which I always ask about – McCauley says “We don’t feel there is a debate. As the industry grows, there’s going to be enough.”

As to the “naysayers,” McCauley says it’s simply “a failure to recognize change.”

McCauley is pictured here next to the brightly-colored “Live Green, Go Yellow” corn-wrapped Tahoe on display in the trade show – hoping to someday soon have one of his own just like it!

Listen to my interview with McCauley here: McCauley (6 min MP3)

Coverage of the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

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Despite the government’s best efforts to be all-inclusive with the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference, it’s all too obvious that liquid fuels are the main attraction. That was evidenced by the attendance at the afternoon break-out sessions – one on heat and electricity and one on liquid fuels. The liquid fuels session was SRO, probably around 600-700 people, if not more. I’m not good at judging that stuff – I just know it was full – and they were actually scanning our name badges at the doors to get an accurate count, so I should know that at some point.

Anyway, point being, the heat and electricity session was half empty, as you can see by the picture. The room was also laid out differently, with tables and chairs, instead of just chairs – so I would estimate the attendance was maybe a quarter of what the fuels session was, at the most. Not that there are not exciting things going on with renewables in heat and electricity – just that the big money and interest is obviously in the fuel field.

The US Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy are the hosts of the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference in St. Louis this week. Both addressed the crowd, estimated at upwards of 1500 people, showing the huge interest in renewable energy nationwide.

Both Secretaries talked about the great need for cellulosic ethanol – in fact, just about every speaker today has at least touched on the topic. Secretary Johanns had the pleasure of announcing $17.5 million dollars in biofuels research and development grants, funded jointly by USDA and DOE. “Developing renewable energy is a priority for the Bush administration,” said Johanns. The 17 projects to be funded by this grant money include projects such as development of commercial corn hybrids for cellulosic biomass to ethanol, willow biomass crop management, waste biomass feedstocks for ethanol production, and doubling switchgrass yield by 2020 for cellulosic ethanol.

Johanns took on a few of the arguments of the (mostly ethanol) “naysayers,” starting with the claim that ethanol costs too much to be competitive with oil without subsidies.
“It costs about $1.10 to produce a gallon of ethanol,” said Johanns. “In fact, ethanol will continue to be competitive with gasoline as long as oil prices don’t drop below $30 per barrel.”

Regarding whether we can produce enough corn to meet the demand, Johanns said people who say that, “haven’t met the same farmers I have.” Johanns added that USDA economists estimate that ethanol production “could nearly double in the next five years, without forcing us to choose between corn for food or for fuel,” and he added that research into new varieties, biomass and new technology will make that happen.

Secretary Bodman noted some of the exciting research the Department of Energy is doing in rapid DNA sequencing and advanced light sources which are making “energy from biomass more promising than any time before.”

Bodman says the goal of the administration is to make cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive by 2012, but that their efforts “are not confined exclusively to cellulosic ethanol. We are also sponsoring promising research on other biofuels from biomass, inlcuding bidiesel, biofuels for aviation, and biologically produced or inspired hydrogen and other fuels from sunlight.”

Listen to a segment of Johanns’ remarks here: Johanns (5 min MP3)

Listen to a segment of Bodman’s remarks here: Bodman (3 min MP3)

Coverage of the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

There’s a huge crowd at the America’s Center in St. Louis for the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference. First main speaker up was Pat Woertz, CEO for ADM, who gave an impressive address on how we can and must meet the energy and food needs of the world.

Coming up shortly will be the US Secretaries of Energy and Agriculture. More to come with coverage sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

President Bush is now confirmed to be the grand finale for the Renewable Energy Conference this week in St. Louis. He will make the final address on Thursday to attendees at the event, who will be hearing from other top administration officials on Wednesday, including Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.

Just about everybody who is anybody in the renewable energy business will be in St. Louis this week. The conference includes liquid fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, as well as other bioproducts and renewable sources for electricity and heat. See the whole conference agenda here.

I will be bringing you as much of this event as possible, courtesy of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, which is sponsoring coverage of the conference.

See you in St. Louis!

The newest breed of Dodge Ram comes factory-fueled with biodiesel.

Under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis Tuesday, representatives from the National Biodiesel Board and Daimler-Chrysler announced that every 2007 Dodge Ram diesel coming off the assembly line at the company’s Fenton, Missouri north plant will be fueled with B5, a blend containing 5 percent biodiesel made from soybeans grown in the U.S. (read full release)

According to Reginald Modlin, Director of Environmental Affairs for Daimler Chrysler, delivering their diesel vehicles fueled with biodiesel is a first step in educating customers about the advantages of the fuel.

“We want to have our diesel products seen as environmentally-responsible products, which they are,” said Modlin. “We have also seen the public taking a great interest in renewable fuels, so we see a great opportunity here for manufacturers to get the word out that biofuels help reduce greenhouse gases and emissions over all. In addition, the natural lubricity of biodiesel actually helps us with engine maintenance. So, it’s an all around win for our customers.”

“What Chrysler is doing is advocating biodiesel blends in this advanced diesel technology,”said Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, the industry’s nonprofit trade association. “They were the first to promote the use of B20 for fleets in the Dodge Ram. They are really leading the way in terms of promoting energy conservation and renewable energy.”

Listen to my interview with Reg Modlin here: Reg Modlin (5 min MP3)

Listen to my interview with Joe Jobe here: Joe Jobe (5 min MP3)

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