Domestic Fuel

Renewable energy projects in five states and a U.S. territory will share in $141 million in Recovery Act… aka the “stimulus”… funding.

This U.S. Department of Energy press release says that Secretary Steven Chu made the announcement that includes energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Hawaii, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, the Northern Mariana Islands and Texas:

Under DOE’s State Energy Program, states and territories have proposed statewide plans that prioritize energy savings, create or retain jobs, increase the use of renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions…

Activities eligible for State Energy Program funding include energy audits, building retrofits, education and training efforts, transportation programs to increase the use of alternative fuels and hybrid vehicles, and new financing mechanisms to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy investments.

The specifics of how much is going to hybrids and alternatives and how much is going to better light bulbs wasn’t in the press release, but you can be sure that each one of these states will be touting their individual pots of monies. We’ll keep watching to let you know where the money is going.

Dr. Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) is this week’s guest commentator on the Ethanol Minute Radio program, which is a national radio show broadcasting interviews with experts from all walks of life including elected officials, celebrities, energy and environmental experts, and businessmen and women. The Ethanol Minute is sponsored by Ethanol Across America.

Dr. Luft is an internationally recognized authority on strategy, geopolitics, terrorism, Middle East and energy security. He has been a strong advocate for the increased production of domestic fuels like ethanol.The IAGS is a Washington based think tank focused on energy security and he is a co-founder of the Set America Free Coalition, an alliance of national security, environmental, labor and religious groups promoting ways to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. Newsweek Magazine called him a “tireless and independent advocate of energy security,” the business magazine Poder called him “one of the most recognizable figures in modern energy and security issues,” and Esquire Magazine included him in its 2007 list of America’s Best and Brightest.

In this week’s radio message, Dr. Luft challenges recent regulatory efforts by the state of California that blames deforestation on ethanol production while failing to account for the carbon emissions of petroleum production. Furthermore, Dr. Luft calls the failure to account for the military consumption of petroleum while speculating about land use impacts as “intellectually dishonest.”

“Lets not let defenders of the status quo derail us from the cause of achieving energy independence,” said Dr. Luft.

It is with heartfelt sadness that we report that Kathy Bryan, BBI International has passed away. We received the following alert from the Renewable Fuels Association.

On Saturday, July 11, the ethanol industry lost one its true leaders and pioneers. Kathy Bryan, well-known to so many in agriculture and renewable energy, was a true pioneer for the ethanol industry. As a farm girl from Minnesota, she recognized the value-added benefits of ethanol long before it became fashionable. Kathy was ethanol before ethanol was cool.

She and her family operated a small ethanol plant in the early ‘80s. She worked for the creation of the Minnesota Ethanol Commission and became its first Chair, where she helped to shape the state’s aggressive ethanol policy, a program so successful it is now commonly referred to as the “Minnesota Model.” Later, as a board member of the Renewable Fuels Association, she lobbied for ethanol at the national level. And, of course, with her husband Mike she formed BBI, International, a global biofuels consulting and publishing company.
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The Renewable Fuels Association is targeting motorcyclists and increasing its on-line presence with new marketing efforts.

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features an interview with Renewable Fuels Association Director of Market Development Robert White about some new tactics they are using to promote ethanol and answer questions about its use. White talks in particular about one upcoming event that will target thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts, RFA’s new website “Choose Ethanol,” and using social media tools to reach out to the public.

You can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.

Listen to or download here:

Washington State University is set to get $2 million for its algae-biofuels research, thanks to that state’s senior senator.

This press release from U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) says she was able to use her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee to put the money in the fiscal year 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill:

“This funding will support cutting-edge research that will create jobs and continue to position Washington state as a leader in the clean energy economy,” said Senator Patty Murray. “It provides a shot in the arm for Washington state biofuels research, and will help our country move toward cleaner and more efficient energy use.”

The WSU Algae Biofuels project is a partnership between WSU and the Seattle-based Targeted Growth Inc. It will create high-skill jobs in both Pullman and the Puget Sound area and provide researchers with the resources they need to develop new, energy-efficient algal fuel sources. Algae is a particularly promising candidate for fuel use, as its efficiency in capturing solar energy results in higher productivity per unit area than a traditional biofuel energy crop.

The money passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and now goes to the full Appropriations Committee before going to the full Senate for consideration.

Some Texas farmers believe that if Brazil can produce ethanol from sugarcane, they can too.

Jasper County, Texas is located in the southeast part of the state, north of Houston and not too far west of Louisiana. The North Jasper County Renewable Fuel Farmers Cooperative Society is planning to build a 300,000 gallon per year ethanol production plant, using sugarcane for the feedstock. The group is seeking a federal minority business grant for the project and getting support from the county economic development council.

Read more about their plans from the Beaumont Enterprise and KDFM News.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered the forecast for corn expected to be used for ethanol this marketing year in the latest report out on Friday.

Corn for ethanol use in 2008-2009 was lowered by 100 million bushels in USDA’s July World Agricultural Supply and Demand report, to 3.65 billion – which is still up more than 600 million bushels from last year and about 500 million less than they are forecasting for next year.

USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber says the financial situation for ethanol producers is better than it was earlier this year. “We have seen positive margins come back for the ethanol industry, particularly with the lower prices for corn and higher prices for gasoline, those margins have come back very strong,” he said. “But, if we look at ethanol production and gasoline consumption in the U.S., both those have been off a bit.” Which means reduced production of gasoline blends with ethanol in May and June, based on the most recent weekly data.

The prediction for next marketing year is that ethanol production will use 4.1 million bushels of corn – up almost 12 percent from this year.

A new report from the USDA says that farmers and ranchers could turn manure into energy without taking too much of it out of the fertilizer market.

This story from Biomass Magazine says the report, entitled “Manure Use for Fertilizer and for Energy,” points out that turning manure into energy is really underused in this country:

Interest is growing in manure-to-energy systems, but implementation remains scarce in the United States. Anaerobic digestion and combustion are the most common processes used to obtain carbon dioxide and methane for electricity generation, the report says. Most digesters are on-farm systems at dairy and hog farms and combustion can be beneficial to fuel large power plants with poultry litter and fed cattle manure, which have higher energy and lower moisture content. Only one combustion plant operates in the U.S., using litter from 6.6 percent of turkey production. Digestion systems cover less than 3 percent of dairy cows and less than 1 percent of hogs, according to the report.

Using manure for energy won’t impose substantial constraints on manure for fertilizer supplies, the report says, because the technologies do not consume the nutrients that are beneficial for plant growth. In anaerobic digestion, the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium remain in the effluent to be spread on fields. Digestion also eliminates odors and nearly eliminates pathogens, according to the report. Combustion plants do burn nitrogen nutrients, but leave the phosphorous and potassium in concentrated form in the ash residues. In addition, manure-to-energy projects function in markets for fertilizer and energy and will be most economical in those areas where acquisition costs of manure are lowest, the report says. In turn, manure costs will be lowest where manure is in excess supply, with the least value as fertilizer, the report said.

The report goes on to say that economics is still the big stumbling point for wider implementation. Just 91 commercial dairy farms and 17 hogs farms were using digesters to turn the manure into energy, and there are few commercial combustion plants in the U.S. But it does believe that will change if there’s more public support for such ventures.

A California biotechnology company has found a way to turn the waste from microbes eating sugar into biodiesel.

This story from DailyTech.com says that the Amyris Biotechnologies plant is capable of producing 10,000 gallons a year and is being tested in Brazil. In addition, it could make biodiesel even more price competitive:

While biodiesel and biofuels are not exactly a new concept, this is one of the largest test deployments to date of sugar based biodiesel, particularly of a microbial scheme (most biodiesel is formed from plant oils, such as palm oil). The plant aims to produce, with government regulation and carbon taxes, fuel at $60/barrel (approximately $1.43 per gallon). This indicates that their technology may be nearing cost competitiveness with cellulosic ethanol manufacturers — the best of which, Coskata, claims to be on the verge of $1.00 per gallon ethanol.

Advantages of the cellulosic ethanol include being able to come from waste materials unlike the biodiesel that’s formed from sugar crops. However, the biodiesel packs more energy per gallon and the microbes could eventually be genetically engineered to process cellulose as well. It’s hard to tell which solution costs less, given that the target costs for the biodiesel are post-subsidy, while Coskata’s targets are pre-subsidy.

The plant is scheduled to be fully operational by 2011. Right now, it’s probably feasible only in areas of the U.S. that grow sugarcane – Hawaii, Louisiana, Florida… places like that. But the article does point out that a sugarcane-corn hybrid known as corncane might work in more states putting these biodiesel microbes to work in more areas.

The Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing for later this month on the Role of Agriculture and Forestry in Global Warming Legislation that is expected to discuss even more safeguards for farming and biofuels in the Senate’s version of a climate change bill.

Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin told Energy & Environment News in an article published in the New York Times this week that they want to make sure the Senate bill includes all the provisions House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson secured for agriculture in the House bill and more. Harkin says he would like to include an increase in the ethanol blend rate for gasoline to 15 percent in the Senate bill.

Senate leadership decided this week to delay the climate bill until later in September. Under a deal made Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and White House energy and climate policy chief Carol Browner, the deadline for committees to finish work on the bill is now September 28th instead of September 18.

The Senate Ag Committee hearing is scheduled for July 22 at 2:30 pm. No witness list has been released yet.

While producing a green fuel from a green pond scum… turning algae into biodiesel… isn’t anything new, doing it in the nation’s breadbasket, where plenty of soybeans for biodiesel are already being grown, is a bit more of a novel concept.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk to Dr. Richard Sayre, the Director of the Enterprise Rent A Car Institute For Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. He says the future for biodiesel production in the Midwest could be in the form of the common, single-celled organism that out-produces conventional land crops for biodiesel by two to tenfold.

Sayre says cost is one of the biggest issues to overcome as algae biodiesel right now costs about $4 a gallon. But he believes that with some better technology, in the ponds and in the actual algae cells, that cost could be down to just $2 a gallon… comparable to non-renewable petroleum. And Sayre says algae doesn’t have to be grown in the Midwest, where winters are tougher than more algae-traditional areas, such as the desert areas of the American Southwest. The more moderate summers of the Midwest are actually more conducive to algae growth, and the area obviously has more water, vital for algae. Finally, Sayre says there are techniques, such as harvesting the CO2 and heat from coal-powered plants to keep the ponds clear of ice even in the coldest of winters.

He makes some great points, and you can hear more of it here: DFCast-7-10-09.mp3

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

A Connecticut-based hydrogen technology maker has received a patent on a system that will help regulate the purity and pressure of hydrogen gas used to cool large electric generators.

This company press release says Proton Energy Systems’ StableFlow system is considered a real breakthrough because it actively controls purity and dew point, monitors pressure and, enables more efficient power production while also enhancing capacity and generator life:

“We are pleased that the U.S Patent office has recognized the critical importance of the StableFlow hydrogen control system, which provides utilities the opportunity to improve the operating efficiency of their plants, creating major savings in fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions,” said Rob Friedland, President and Chief Executive Officer of Proton Energy Systems. “Our mission at Proton Energy is to apply our advanced hydrogen technology in creative and practical ways to deliver the most reliability, durability and savings for our customers. With this patent, we are committed to sharing this value with additional partners throughout the world.”

With this latest achievement, Proton Energy continues to lead the market in hydrogen innovation. Proton Energy is the world’s leading supplier of onsite hydrogen generators utilizing proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology, and combining Proton’s HOGEN generators with the StableFlow system provides a utility with full control over its hydrogen generating system – maximizing efficiency, cost and safety. Proton’s StableFlow system can save most plants an average of one megawatt per hour in windage losses per generator. A megawatt of power production is equivalent to $50-$100 an hour in electricity revenue to the average power plant and is equivalent to one ton of CO2 reduction per hour in stack emissions. StableFlow provides efficiency improvements to a plant’s power generators that effects both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions providing the plant with a very attractive return on investment.

Proton is working on several Department of Defense projects, developing a system that will provide backup power and an advanced fueling system for a fleet of military vehicles powered by hydrogen.

Renewable Energy Group’s Blackhawk Biofuels has earned BQ-9000 Producer status from the National Biodiesel Board and the National Biodiesel Accreditation Committee.

This press release from the Iowa-based REG says the biodiesel from the Danville, Illinois Blackhawk Biofuels plant meets what is considered the ultimate standard for the green fuel’s production:

“Today the petroleum industry is demanding biodiesel from BQ-9000 Producers,” said REG’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Gary Haer. “This certification distinguishes this strategically-located, multiple feedstock facility as a high quality fuel provider for petroleum distributors in Illinois, the greater Midwest region and distributors across the country.”

“Upon completion of construction, this facility almost immediately began producing biodiesel which met REG-9000TM biodiesel product quality specifications which exceed ASTM specifications. This BQ-9000 Producer status is the ultimate reward for the staff who operate this facility and the technology team who brought recent manufacturing upgrades to completion,” explained Haer. “Most importantly, we know that BQ-9000 accreditation means consistent, efficient production of large volumes of high quality fuel to help address the nation’s renewable energy demands.”

The press release goes on to say this is the seventh plant for which REG sells the fuel that meets the BQ-9000 Producer status.

Plans to build the world’s largest wind farm have been put on hold, as billionaire oil man T. Boone Pickens cites a lack of capital and infrastructure.

CNN reports that Pickens has announced that his 4,000 megawatt Pampa Wind Project planned for the Texas panhandle is on hold:

“I had hoped that Pampa would be the starting point, but transmission issues and the problem with the capital markets make that unfeasible at this point,” Pickens told CNN’s Ali Velshi. “I expect to continue development of the Pampa project, but not at the pace that I originally expected.”

“The capital markets have dealt us all a setback, and I’m less aggressive with the Panhandle project than I have been,” Pickens said.

Pickens says he is still committed to 667 wind turbines that he has already ordered and would find homes for them.

Growth Energy announced today that the California Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (CEVC) will join the group as part of the acquisition of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) by Growth Energy. The additional resources in California will bolster Growth Energy’s aggressive goals to proliferate blender pumps across the country.

“The California Ethanol Vehicle Coalition serves as a driving force for building an ethanol infrastructure and promoting flexible fuel vehicles, while introducing Californians to a new choice in cleaner transportation,” said CEVC Executive Director Joe Irvin. “By expanding the use of biofuels like ethanol in California, and increasing support for domestically grown and produced renewable fuels, we can truly provide today’s energy for tomorrow’s needs.”

The California Ethanol Vehicle Coalition is a state chapter of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) which announced its union with Growth Energy last month and became Growth Energy’s Market Development arm.

“The State of California deserves credit for understanding that they need a new approach to energy. That’s why the members of Growth Energy are pleased to come together with the California Ethanol Vehicle Coalition and promote the use of cleaner, greener ethanol-based fuels,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “An increased use of ethanol will not only help decrease our dependence on foreign oil, but create more jobs here at home and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, providing future generations with a better environment. We have a stake in California and California has a stake in us.”