Domestic Fuel

California’s efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of the state’s transportation fuels are admirable, but the state’s goals, as outlined in the proposed Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS), are unlikely to be achieved because of the policy’s inherent bias against low-carbon biofuels, says the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).

In written comments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in advance of its April 23 hearing, the RFA outlined concerns about the LCFS that are particularly troubling to conventional and next generation ethanol producers.

Among RFA’s concerns are insufficient land use change analysis. According to RFA, the model CARB relies upon, known as GTAP, is not a mature model for estimating land use change because it does not sufficiently account for increased crop yields in the U.S. as a result of new technologies and includes insufficient feed co-product land use credits. RFA charges that the model also results in an overestimation of forest land being converted.

Read RFA’s entire comments here.

It’s appropriately named Independence Station because it’s located in Independence, Oregon. But it could be named for the independence from foreign energy sources, as the “world’s greenest building” will be fueled with biodiesel.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that the $15 million building is halfway finished with completion scheduled early next year. The article says along with the power from biodiesel, the building will feature rainwater collection and reuse, use sunlight, and be built from recycled and reclaimed building materials:

The 57,000 square-foot building is also expected to be awarded the highest rating recorded by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, according to main project developer and owner Aldeia LLC.

The LEED rating system, which is developed by United States Green Building committees, is designed to guide and distinguish high-performance commercial and institutional projects, including office buildings, high-rise residential buildings, government buildings, recreational facilities, manufacturing plants and laboratories. Out of a possible 69 points,
Independence Station is expected to score at least 64.

Besides residential and business space, the building will also house facilities for biofuel production, education and research. Aldeia plans to collect yellow grease from local restaurants in order to produce biodiesel on site, which will fuel seven Cummins Inc. generators. “We have plans to work with the chemical engineering department at Oregon State
University, so our personnel plans are small,” said Steven Ribeiro, Aldeia principal developer. “I will be involved in the production personally, and have purchased a 3,000-gallon retired home heating oil delivery truck that has been logoed up as ‘Energy for Independence’.”

Arrangements have been made to collect local used cooking oil, and B99 will be purchased from SeQuential-Pacific Biofuels in Portland, Oregon.

Many warmer parts of the world, including the American Southeast, have been cultivating the jatropha plant as a source material for biodiesel. But farmers in colder climates would like to look into the warm-loving, non-food feedstock, too. Well, if everything goes well with research at a Pennsylvania school, they might just get the chance.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that assistant biology professor Sairam Rudrabhatla at Penn State-Harrisburg has patented a cold-tolerant gene and will try to alter the jatropha plant to grow in northern fields:

“In the next nine months, we should be able to introduce the gene into the plant and probably in a year we can grow this in greenhouses,” he said. “ItÂ’s very exciting.”

The Milton Hershey School has agreed to provide space for the research, but the researchers hope to build and equip their own laboratory and greenhouse. They made a pitch for federal funding Friday to Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., who chairs a subcommittee looking into alternative energy sources.

Holden is also hoping for a federal biodiesel mandate starting next year.

State senators in Iowa have passed a standard that would require all diesel fuel sold in the state contain 5 percent biodiesel. The measure still needs to clear the State House and gain the governor’s signature to become law. If it does, the Hawkeye State would become the eighth state in the nation to have a biodiesel requirement, joining Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, New Mexico and Massachusetts, which all have biodiesel mandates.

The news was welcomed by the National Biodiesel Board:

“Iowa has been a leader in the helping to establish biodiesel as a reliable and renewable energy alternative,” said Joe Jobe, National Biodiesel Board CEO. “Biodiesel gives all Iowans an opportunity to use a renewable fuel made for, grown by, refined by, and distributed by Iowans. This is empowering the citizens of the state to choose to use less foreign oil.”

Officials say Iowa’s biodiesel requirement will drive demand for 45 million gallons of the green fuel in the state, as well as generating jobs in the local production of the feedstock, primarily soybeans in Iowa, and the biodiesel.

The 2009 Alternative Fuels & Vehicles (AF&V) Conference and Expo has kicked off in Orlando, Florida. The industry event represents all fuels, vehicles and technologies that provide an alternative to petroleum including: natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel, propane, electricity, and hydrogen, and their companion vehicles.

The exhibit hall opened yesterday and showcases booths from a variety of alternative fuel industry groups and automakers. An important workshop was held this afternoon and focused on the untruths of the alternative fuel industry. The session, Eco-Smackdown: Industry Addresses Untruths About Alternative Fuels, included a panel of experts from industries representing propane, compressed natural gas, biodiesel, and ethanol. An overview was given of each fuel and the audience was allowed to ask how to dispel their untruths and negativity, mainly from the media.

Ethanol breakthroughs were discussed mentioning cellulosic, using corn cobs in pilot plants and the efforts to move from E10 to E15. Curtis Donaldson of CleanFUEL USA said, “How great would it be to combine all these alternative fuels and successfully displace 35 billion gallons of gasoline by the year 2025. The group agreed that it will take all the fuels to displace gasoline. Although there are myths and untruths, we are in a transition. This can be done.”

Another concurrent session held today was Declaration of Independence: The Domestically Produced Alternative Fuels Solution. An expert panel presented on biofuel options, cost advantages, job growth, environmental benefits and how fleets can begin today to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil.

The AF&V Conference is hosted by the Alternative Fuel & Vehicle Institute.

The Oregon legislature now is considering five bills that would limit the use of ethanol in the state. The bills are in response to complaints about: the product raising food prices, ethanol mileage reduction vs. gasoline, and the wear of the ethanol on small engines.

Currently most fuel in Oregon contains ten percent ethanol. The Oregon State Marine Board cites caution for using ethanol blended fuel in boats. They say that ethanol can dissolve the inside of certain boat fuel tanks and ethanol absorbs more water.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski is a supporter of the renewable fuel who helped push biofuel tax breaks through the previous Legislature, along with a requirement that Oregon’s gasoline contain 10 percent ethanol. That requirement kicked in statewide Jan. 1.

In 2008, the Legislature created exemptions that allowed the sale of “clear” gasoline without ethanol for boats, power tools, aircraft and other uses. But opponents of the ethanol standard said too few stations provide ethanol-free gasoline to make the exemptions practical.

Looking for an environmentally friendly way to discuss the power of wind? On May 26-27, 2009, Green Energy Web Conferences is hosting a web conference to discuss opportunities, trends and challenges related to community wind energy projects. More than 25 North American experts will be on hand from organizations including American Wind Energy Association, Windustry, the World Wind Energy Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Citibank, and more.

At a time when communities are trying to find new and affordable sources of energy, wind energy projects that are mid-scale, locally owned and designed to maximize benefits at the local level provide a compelling alternative to traditional large scale developments.

Issues to be discussed include costs, funding opportunities, approval process, selling energy, green energy credits, and CO2 emissions rights. Best Practice case studies will also be presented.

“When you include the savings from travel, hotel, and restaurant costs, a web conference costs only 10 percent of attendance at a traditional conference,” says Mathijs Gajentaan, CEO of Green Energy Web Conferences. “We’ve set it up interactively, so you can ask the speaker questions, browse the attendees’ profiles to see what they are doing and looking for, and connect with them. And if you can’t attend any of the live sessions, you can review the presentations at your convenience.”

Visit Green Energy Web Conferences’ website for a full list of speakers and for registration information. Through May 1, the cost of a conference pass ranges from $149 to $199, with discount codes available upon request for professional associations, non-profit organizations and academic institutions to extend to their members.

Visitors to this year’s Earth Day Indiana celebration have the chance to “Live Green & Prosper” as they learn about the benefits of “going green” with biofuels.

The focus of this year’s Earth Day Indiana event is “how to do cool environmental stuff” and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) and Indiana Soybean Alliance will have their Biofuels Mobile Learning Center on display April 25 in Indianapolis to educate the public about the environmental benefits of using biofuels.

“The Biofuels Mobile Learning Center is a fun and exciting, interactive, traveling exhibition focused on teaching its visitors about the many benefits of biodiesel and ethanol as fuel sources,” said Mark Walters, biofuels director for the state’s corn and soybean checkoff organizations. “The learning center is designed to provide an overview of how ethanol and biodiesel are manufactured; how these alternative fuels help both the environment and our rural economies; and how they lessen our dependence on foreign oil.”

The Earth Day Indiana celebration is one of the nation’s largest with an estimated 23,000 people attending the event last year.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is set to vote on the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) on April 23-24, 2009. This first of its kind bill was designed to reduce the carbon intensity of all transportation fuels in California 10 percent by 2020. Many states, as well as the federal government, are watching the outcome very closely as they consider adopting similar bills.

In preparation for the ruling, the ethanol industry has been working with CARB to document ethanol as a proven low carbon fuel. Today, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) sent out a statement declaring that sugarcane ethanol’s carbon intensity is even lower than currently calculated by CARB.

“Sugarcane ethanol has a verifiable reduction in greenhouse gases of 90% compared to gasoline. Sugarcane ethanol will easily meet the LCFS, not just in 2020 but today,” said Marcos Jank, UNICA’s President & CEO. UNICA sent out a public statement following the submission of a 25-page letter to the California regulator.

Within this standard, gasoline will be eligible as a “low carbon fuel” if it reduces its current carbon output from 95 grams of carbon dioxide per megajoule (gCO2/MJ) to 86 gCO2/MJ by 2020. Since all biofuels have a lower carbon intensity, they will be a large factor in the reduction of fuel-based carbon.

However, CARB is still considering incorporating indirect land use calculations into the carbon intensity number assigned toeach type of biofuel. According to UNICA, their letter also addresses the controversial calculations resulting from so-called indirect land use change impacts from sugarcane expansion. Their letter supports numerous comments from stakeholders and mentions specifically a letter by 111 PhD scientists stating that the science used to determine such impacts is quite limited, highly uncertain and open to misuse through selective enforcement of such impacts. UNICA’s letter urges CARB to revisit the methodologies utilized in land use change modeling.

Although UNICA’s letter is specific to sugarcane ethanol produced in Brazil, the American ethanol industry has also submitted documentation about the uncertainty of indirect land use and repeatedly called for more research before finalizing the LCFS.

As we head into the weekend, some of you may be planning a trip to an auto mile to buy a new car. When you drive away in your new vehicle, you’ll be helping the world get one car closer to the two billion mark. Today there are one billion cars on the road and within the next 20 years, there will be two billion cars on the road. And this is the premise of this week’s book, “Two Billion Cars” written by Daniel Sperling and Deborah Gordon.

“Two Billion Cars” details America’s love affair with cars, the rise and fall of the American auto industry and the rise of foreign auto makers, and discusses how the world will survive the environmental impact of two billion cars. According to the authors, “Cars are arguably one of the greatest man-made threats to human society.”  Using past and current California legislation as a guide and current and future technologies, the authors make suggestions on how the world can develop a sustainable transportation industry through “eco-cars”.

Today the typical American household, which owns and drives two cars, is spending over $15,000 per year (and this number was calculated before last summer’s very high gas prices). “…cars are multiplying faster than people in America and almost everywhere else. In the United States, the increase is vehicle registration has outpaced U.S. population growth by more than 50 percent since 1970.” Houston, we have a problem. 
Read the rest of this post…

A lawsuit filed by Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) seeking to prevent use of up to 10% ethanol in each gallon of gasoline sold in California will be dismissed with prejudice following the California Superior Court for the County of Sacramento’s rejection of the company’s bid for an injunction against CARB. California passed a mandate that increased the ethanol blend from 5.7 percent to 10 percent. Oil refiners and blenders have until the end of 2009 to comply with the mandate, and CARB is overseeing its compliance.

The Court had determined that The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) would represent the ethanol industry regarding the case. “The injunction decision by the Court that Tesoro’s lawsuit lacked merit and the settlement to dismiss the case with prejudice clears the way for refiners in California to increase ethanol blending to 10 percent per gallon,” said RFA President Bob Dinneen.

The mandate was put in place to provide flexilibily for refiners to include up to E10 in reformulated gasoline as California continues forward with its legislation to improve air quality standards and reduce toxic emissions from gasoline. The state has also passed a low carbon fuels standard and the ethanol industry has been very active in working with CARB as they develop the standard.

“Tesoro’s claims were without merit and designed to impede open competition from a renewable alternative. The dismissal of this case is critical to a constrained ethanol market that is looking for increased demand. By moving from 5.7 percent to 10 percent ethanol in California gasoline, hundreds of millions of gallons of new demand will be created helping refiners meet federal and state requirements for renewable fuel use and air quality standards,” said Dinneen.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it is seeking public comments on the “Green Jobs Waiver” that was submitted several weeks ago requesting the current ethanol blend be increased from 10 percent ethanol (E10) to 15 percent (E15). Since 1978, the limit has been set at E10 for conventional (non flex-fuel) vehicles. The comment period will be open for 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register which is expected to happen on April 22nd. Last month, the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certified all current dispensers and components for E15.

In a company statement, Jeff Broin, CEO of POET said, “Lifting the arbitrary cap and allowing ethanol blends of up to 15 percent is our nation’s means to achieve commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol, green jobs and a better environment. It is important that Americans use this comment period to let the Environmental Protection Agency know how important homegrown ethanol is to our nation.”

Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers submitted the E15 application to EPA on March 6, 2009. Current statute calls for EPA to make a decision within 270 days of receipt, which is December 1, 2009. It is imperative for the biofuels industry that the blend wall is increased in order for the ethanol industry to achieve the biofuel levels as set out in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Increasing the blend wall will also help ensure that there is a market for cellulosic ethanol when full-scale plants come online.

To learn more about the E15 reques or to submit comments, visit http://www.epa.gov/otaq/additive.htm.

The American Farm Bureau Federation, Growth Energy, National Farmers Union, and National Corn Growers Association joined together today to host a media call to applaud the recently released report from the Congressional Budget Office, “The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions.” The report concluded that from April 2007-April 2008 ethanol did have a slight impact on rising food prices but that other culprits, such as high energy prices, had the most impact on rising food costs. Of the 5.1 percent increase in food prices, expanded ethanol production contributed between 0.5 and 0.8 percent of the increase in food prices measured by the consumer price index.

Bob Stallman, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, began by saying, “The results come as no surprise to us. We have called for hearings to determine why food prices have increased. It’s disingenuous to only look at corn when determining why food prices are increasing. We think they owe us an apology.”

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy expanded on the factors that did have the most impact on rising food prices including the weak dollar, increased exports, unregulated energy markets, and oil speculation.  Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union noted that studies have shown that during the same time food prices and gas prices were on the rise, ethanol saved consumers an average of 34 cents per gallon. This equates to nearly $500 per year for the average family.

The ethanol industry has recently filed a “Green Jobs Waiver” or “E15 Waiver” with the EPA to increase the blend level from 10 percent to 15 percent. It has been argued by ethanol proponents that unless the blend wall is increased the industry won’t be able to achieve the goals set out in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) calling for 36 billion gallons of biofuels blended per year by 2022. “We won’t get there unless we make the ethanol industry profitable again and get through the higher blend wall,” summed up Rick Tolman, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association. “We will provide what we need to get to the next generation of biofuels.”

It was the scene of the “day that would live in infamy.” Now, visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii will be able to pay homage to the more than 1,000 heroes honored with a renewable energy source: biodiesel.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that the shuttle boats running on 20 percent biodiesel from locally owned Pacific Biodiesel, which makes the green fuel from recycled cooking oil, will take passengers to that historic ship:

“Our process accomplishes two important tasks of dire importance, especially for an island community,” explained Pacific Biodiesel President Bob King. “We are recycling waste at a tremendous rate and we are creating a clean renewable fuel.”

Aloha Petroleum currently delivers the biodiesel blend to the Navy’s new clean diesel shuttle fleet. An activation ceremony featuring Hawai’i senior senator Daniel Inouye was held for the first vessel of this new fleet, which arrived in March and is named the John W. Finn in honor of the Medal of Honor recipient and Pearl Harbor attack survivor. The ceremony took place on April 7, 2009 at the Arizona Memorial Visitors Center.

Biodiesel’s ability to biodegrade in water, along with its clean-burning nature, make the fuel perfect for the pristine environment of the blue waters of Pearl Harbor. Maybe one day the only oil around the storied ship will be the drops that still weep from the Arizona in honor of the 1,177 brave Americans who perished on that fateful day.

A 25-member panel of researchers that advises the President and Congress on science and engineering issues is calling for more development of sustainable and clean energy sources to transition the country away from fossil fuels.

The National Science Board has released a draft report entitled “Building a Sustainable Energy Future” for public review and comment:

The NSB recommends that the U.S. government develop and lead a nationally coordinated research, development demonstration, deployment, and education (RD3E) strategy to advance a sustainable energy economy that is significantly less carbon-intensive. A sustainable energy economy values environmental and ecosystem stewardship as well as clean, equitable, reliable, renewable, safe, secure, and economically viable energy strategies and solutions.

The NSB offers priority guidance for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to increase its emphasis on innovation in sustainable energy technologies and education.

“Together, these approaches can help to promote national security by increasing U.S. energy independence, ensure environmental stewardship by reducing energy and carbon intensity, and generate continued economic growth through innovation in energy technologies and increases in green jobs,” said Dan Arvizu, co-chairman of the NSB’s Task Force on Sustainable Energy.

The NSB warns that without concerted international action, there would little change in the global energy mix in the next 25 to 50 years.

You can read the NSB’s report and comment here.