Domestic Fuel

Osage Bio Energy has a barley business partner and a winning bin builder.

The Virginia-based company just announced an agreement with Perdue AgriBusiness to source barley to operate its first barley-to-ethanol bioprocessing facility. Perdue, a leading grain supplier in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, is committed to working with local farmers to supply Osage Bio Energy with its barley needs for the Appomattox Bio Energy plant in Hopewell, Va., the first of its kind on the East Coast.

Osage Bio Energy, with co-sponsors Perdue AgriBusiness, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and General Motors, also announced the overall grand prize winner of the 2009 Barley Bin Builder Yield Contest. Bobby Hutchison of Hutchison Brothers Farms in Cordova, MD, won the grand prize of a brand new GM Flex Fuel pickup truck with his yield of 130 bushels per acre. Cash prizes of between $500 and $1000 were also awarded to the top-yielding farmers in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.

“We are thrilled to reward these leading farmers for their outstanding barley yields in what was a tough year for small grains in the Mid-Atlantic,” said Craig Shealy, president and CEO of Osage Bio Energy. “The average yield per acre among all entrants to the yield contest was over 100 bushels an acre, with an average yield in Virginia of approximately 109 bushels an acre. These are nice results, especially considering the weather prior to harvest.”

Osage Bio Energy plans to sponsor another yield contest next year. Details will be available this fall through the company’s Web site, www.osagebioenergy.com, and through local extension agents.

Efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are paying off for AT&T.

This story posted on EnvironmentalLeader.com says the telephone behemoth’s conversion of some of its fleet vehicles in California to alternative fuels are part of a bigger plan that also includes solar panels and recycling scrap metals:

AT&T also introduced a new fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles that will lower its vehicle operating costs while reducing emissions. In 2008, the roll out of more that 105 alternative-fuel vehicles saved the company nearly 34,395 gallons of fuel, and reduced emissions by more than 300 metric tons.

The communications company expects to roll out 43 alternative-fuel vehicles in 14 California cities in 2009. This is part of a company-wide plan announced in March, to invest up to $565 million nationally over the next 10 years on alternative-fuel vehicles, reaching more than 15,000 by 2019.

AT&T is also planning to install and operate a 1-megawatt solar power system at its San Ramon campus, producing power equal up to 25 percent of peak power and 5.5 percent of the facility’s annual electricity consumption… about the same amount of energy to power more than 165 California homes each year.

Reducing our dependence on foreign oil means looking at alternatives for all kinds of products that use oil as an ingredient – like tires, for example.

Wood science researchers at Oregon State University have found that microcrystalline cellulose, which can be made easily from almost any type of plant fibers, could replace silica as a reinforcing filler in the manufacture of rubber tires.

Cellulose fiber has been used for some time as reinforcement in some types of rubber and automotive products, such as belts, hoses and insulation – but never in tires, where the preferred fillers are carbon black and silica. Carbon black, however, is made from increasingly expensive oil, and the processing of silica is energy-intensive. Both products are very dense and reduce the fuel efficiency of automobiles.

Traction is always a key issue with tire performance, and the study showed that the traction of the new product was comparable to existing rubber tire technology in a wet, rainy environment. However, at high temperatures such as in summer, the partial replacement of silica decreased the rolling resistance of the product, which would improve fuel efficiency of rubber tires made with the new approach.

A maker of sustainable biodiesel in Colorado has inked a deal to supply biodiesel to a distributor for three years.

This press release from Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises says the company will supply up to 4.5 million gallons of biodiesel a year for the next three years to fuel distributor Gray Oil Company, Inc.:

The biodiesel will be supplied from RMSE’s Colorado bioXchange refinery, a $5 million plant that breaks ground this fall and will be the state’s only producer of premium biodiesel from sustainable resources, producing fuel that meets federal ASTM standards.

“The fact that RMSE is deploying state of the art biodiesel production technology that can produce the fuel from recycled feedstocks such as used cooking oil while maintaining the highest quality and fuel performance specifications, allows us to deliver a premium biodiesel fuel product to our customers at price points much more competitive with petroleum diesel,” said Tom Gray, CFO of Gray Oil.

The press release goes on to say that RSME will be using a European multi-feedstock technology at its Colorado bioXchange plant.

Drivers now can take a popular tool on the road thanks to the staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The Mobile Alternative Fueling Station Locator (MAFSL) helps on-the-go drivers find the five closest biodiesel, electricity, E85 (ethanol), hydrogen, natural gas, and propane fueling sites using any mobile device with Internet access.

Before launching the device, NREL said that their Alternative Fueling Station Locator was among the top five applications used on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center (AFDC) website. The station locator was developed by NREL which manages AFDC.

The mobile station locator works through well-known, easy to use applications such as Google Maps, which generates maps to fueling sites. In addition to the location, the locator will also give the user the contact information, including phone number and business hours for the station.

NREL says that it is taking some changes into consideration due to consumer feedback. In the past, private fueling stations were not included but they have been added. In addition, they are considering adding automatic location detetection using GPS installed in the device, a special applicaton for the iPhone and creating a similar application for truck stop electrification sites. In addition, the database will be updated continously.

The Cash for Clunker’s program is in full swing yet keeps hitting potholes. Less than one week after it was launched, it ran out of money and the Senate/Congress passed another $2 billion for the program but to get the money, took it from current biofuels programs that were designated as part of the Recovery & Reinvestment Act. Now, the latest issue: researchers are saying that it is a very expensive way to cut carbon emissions.

A new UC Davis study, “The Implied Cost of Carbon Dioxide Under the Cash for Clunkers Program,” estimates that the Cash for Clunkers program is paying at least 10 times the ‘sticker price’ to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases including CO2. With carbon credit programs still under development, they are currently predicted to sell for about $28 per ton. However, in the best-case scenario, the calculated per ton cost of the rebate (either $3,500 or $4,500) would be around $237 per ton, this according to UC Davis transportation economist Christopher Knittel.

“When burned, a gallon of gasoline creates roughly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. I combined that known value with an average rebate of $4,200 and a range of assumptions about the fuel economy of the new vehicles purchased and how long the clunkers would have been on the road if not for the program,” Knittel said. “I even assumed drivers didn’t change their habits, although some analysts have suggested that the owners of new vehicles will drive more than they would have with their old cars.”

Apparently, the researcher was being generous, as Knittel notes that more likely scenarios would produce a cost of more than $500 per ton. Ouch. Can we say not an economical way to reduce CO2? But hey – everyone knows that while the “public” agenda was to help the environment, we all know if was really to help the bankrupt auto industry move cars. I think the government needs to get a speeding ticket for this program.

The first ever Land Use Conference is fast approaching and you don’t want to miss it. Hosted by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), the conference will be in St. Louis on August 25-26th. This is perfect for those people in agriculture who are interested to learn how indirect land use policy will affect their businesses. In addition, academics and people in the biofuels industry should attend.

I had the opportunity to chat with Darrin Ihnen, who will be the NCGA president on October 1, 2009, about why there is such a need for this conference.

“We want to make sure that EPA and CARB and others are using sound science to develop their models, and today we don’t think they’re doing that,” said Ihnen. “They’re using people that don’t necessarily have the expertise that are just writing comments that are kind of what I call out there that aren’t factual so we want to bring them back in line with what the science says and what can be proven instead of using methodology and go about it that way.”

If you haven’t registered already, it’s not too late.  You can register online at NCGA’s website. The cost is $250 per person.

You can listen to my interview with Darrin here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.4MB)

This weekend’s Green Music Fest in Chicago will be running on a green fuel… biodiesel.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the inaugural event will combine earth-friendly practices, such as using biodiesel to help pump up the jams, with some great music:

In its ambitious first year, the local festival, staged Saturday and Sunday in West Town’s Eckhart Park, aspires to be a must-see, high-quality musical event produced through means as eco-friendly as possible. Food vendors, retailers, energy, everything at Green Music Fest must meet strict requirements set forth by the West Town Chicago Chamber of Commerce, which partnered with the Chicago Center for Green Technology to keep things legit. Biodiesel fuel-operated generators power the amps; eco-friendly food vendors provide the eats; composting and recycling stations absorb the trash; and a bike valet station fosters environmentally responsible transportation. Even the fest’s signs and banners will be recycled as accessories.

Organizers characterize the music as “more hip than hippie,” with art-rockers London’s Art Brut and Memphis country-rockers Lucero heading the line-up. Check out the Green Music Fest Web site for more information.

A new hydrogen plant at the Yeager Airport near Charleston, West Virginia.

This story from West Virginia Public Broadcasting says the facility isn’t very big… just the size of a shed. But when it is up and running, it will help provide a corridor of the ultimately green fuel all the way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Kim Redlein is a technical consultant for Parsons Engineering, the firm that’s building the plant. He says the concept behind the structure is simple.

“They were interested in the airport for two reasons,” Yeager Airport director Rick Atkinson said. “One is that we are co-located with a military base, so there’re military applications. They’re working with the Air National Guard with some different equipment to test its viability in a military setting for clean fuels and alternative fuels.”

While hydrogen-powered airplanes are still a ways off in the future, airport officials plan to use hydrogen is several ground support vehicles, including some that will be provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Colorado’s latest biodiesel production facility is open for business.

Rocky Mountain Biodiesel, Colorado’s only licensed advanced biofuel producer, has opened its Parker, Colorado biodiesel plant. This company press release says for $20 a year, Rocky Mountain Biodiesel club memberships allow customers to buy B99.9 biodiesel for $2.30 per gallon, as well as supplying the green fuel to regional fuel distributors:

“Biodiesel isn’t a pipe dream in Colorado anymore. Rocky Mountain Biodiesel is meeting the demand for quality biofuels with our ASTM specification fuel,” said Randall Lichner, Rocky Mountain Biodiesel Chief Operations Officer. “We already help fuel distributors meet their customer demand and help our club members reduce pollution from diesel emissions.”

“We selected the Denver market for our biofuel facility because we knew that there were no other plants operating in the state, and that any plans by competition would take months or years to get off the ground due to instability in the financial markets,” said Lichner. “It’s really a win-win situation. As the only producer in Colorado, we can dominate the market for locally-produced advanced biofuel, priced competitively with petroleum diesel and consumers in the region can save money and reduce pollution at the same time.”

The Rocky Mountain Biodiesel plant makes biodiesel from waste vegetable oil.

Some students from Rhode Island have certainly been getting quite the education when it comes to renewable energy… and they’re passing their knowledge along.

Students in Ponaganset High School teacher Ross McCurdy’s class have taken their fuel-celled powered Model T and a biodiesel-powered pickup truck that they drove 3,000 miles cross-country last summer to GovEnergy 2009, the premier energy training workshop and tradeshow for Federal agencies, going on now in Providence, Rhode Island.

Through e-mail, McCurdy tells Domestic Fuel that the Fuel Cell Model T project vehicle is a replica of a 1923 Ford Model T Roadster.

“The project is being done in two phases. First we converted it from a roaring Chevy 350 V8 gas engine to electric power, and for the second phase we are integrating a 12 kilowatt Hydrogenics fuel cell, fueled by twin Lincoln composite transportation grade hydrogen cylinders,” McCurdy says.

He adds that with fuel cells, the only emissions are clean water and even the hydrogen that runs the fuel cell can be derived from water, while providing no harmful emissions.

The school district has several other hands-on, clean energy projects, including the world’s first fuel cell powered band, Protium. They use instruments, microphones, amplifiers, speakers, even the “portable earthquake” subwoofers, that run on electricity generated by fuel cells.

“Kids love rock and roll and hot rods – and with these projects we’ve been able to demonstrate renewable energy technology with projects they can relate to.”

Student Zane Lewis, McCurdy’s right hand man on the fuel cell projects as well as a participant in the coast-to-coast biodiesel pickup road trip and the sound man for the band Protium, says it’s been a group effort.

“The Model T project has been a great learning experience, and we did the whole thing from scratch. We came up with the idea in class, and then took it out of the classroom to the garage to implement it. Whenever we had a problem to solve we would go back to the classroom and get a bunch of brains to figure it out – it was a huge group activity.”

Lewis says that after giving up many weekends and putting in hundreds of hours, they were able to turn the Model T from a gas guzzler to an electric-powered green machine… perfect for trips to the ice cream shop or to the Rhode Island State House to lobby for renewable energy.

Cigar-chomping, irreverent, and always entertaining professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, Barry Flinchbaugh, is now the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Farm Foundation. It seems only fitting that Flinchbaugh, known for his direct style and usually correct stances (even when conventional wisdom might say something else) is leading an organization that is known for thinking outside the box to come up with public policy solutions for the ag sector, including the biofuels industries.

Farm Foundation included some biographical information about Flinchbaugh in its announcement… and that information certainly explains why he has been picked for the position:

Flinchbaugh has taught at Kansas State since 1971, focusing on national agricultural and economic policy. He is much sought after as a speaker, and has authored more than 100 publications, including an agricultural policy textbook. On three occasions students of the KSU College of Agriculture have given him the Outstanding Teacher Award. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. at Purdue University.

Flinchbaugh chaired the Commission on 21st Century Production Agriculture authorized in the 1996 Farm Bill. He has led Kansas Agricultural People-to-People tours to the Soviet Union, China, the South Pacific and Africa. Flinchbaugh is a member of Rotary International, serves on the Board of the Kansas City Board of Trade and KARL Inc. He is a recipient of the prestigious Hildreth Award for career achievement in public policy education, as well as distinguished service awards from the American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Agricultural Editors Association.

As you might remember from our coverage of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress/Ag Media Summit on Domestic Fuel and AgWired.com, Flinchbaugh was involved in the “Great Debate” with former Texas congressman Charlie Stenholm. You can also check out some pics from that summit on Flickr.

Governor Mitch Daniels highlighted a bill at a ceremonial signing recently that revises the current corn marketing program to include a $500,000 ethanol program, funded by Indiana’s corn farmers.

Starting on July 1, 2009, the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) — the state’s corn checkoff organization – will annually transfer funds into the Retail Merchant E85 Deduction Reimbursement Fund to ensure a balance of $500,000 to be used for the E85 sales tax deduction in the months of January, February and March each year. This program is part of House Bill 1398 which was passed earlier this year and signed into law.

“These funds will encourage fuel retailers to offer E85 and consumers to use E85 in their flex-fuel vehicles,” said Mike Shuter, ICMC president and a Frankton, Indiana farmer. “The ethanol industry is a major market for our corn and this program allows us to use our corn checkoff funds to help grow demand for ethanol, which grows demand for corn. “We want corn farmers contributing our state corn checkoff to know that they are putting a sizable amount of their dollars into this new ethanol program and that we should be able to measure its effectiveness for moving ethanol into the market because of the timeline the tax deduction will be available to retailers.”

Currently, 128 stations offer E85 in the state of Indiana.

I spent the last few days with old friends and making new acquaintances here in Milwaukee during the 22nd Ethanol Conference & Trade Show hosted by the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). While it was slightly disheartening to see the trend of low attendance at ethanol conferences, such as the Fuel Ethanol Workshop, during the past year, it was heartening to see the new faces and to learn about all the great things that are happening in the industry.

Brian Jennings, Executive Director of ACE, noted that there are seven major opportunities for the ethanol industry:

1. 1.  Policy Makers actually do get it.
2. 2.  Support for RFS2 and tax incentives are not going away.
3. 3.  The Age of Easy Oil is over.
4. 4.  The days of corn ethanol are only going to get better while the days of oil gets worse.
5. 5.  The President supports ethanol.
6. 6.  The science & politics support moving beyond the blend wall (above E10) is not a matter of if but when.
7. 7.  Blender pumps represent the future of pumps in this country. We’re not afraid of choice.

Jennings is correct in his assessment of the opportunities in the ethanol industry and on Tuesday, ACE, in conjunction with the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) along with several state corn groups, announced BYOethanol, a three-year initiative to install 5,000 blender pumps across the country.

I had a great time and learned a lot and was re-energized about the future of the ethanol industry. I’ll see you in Kansas City next year! You can see photos from the conference in my Flickr photo album.

So you’re reading my blog post so you’ve made a step in the right direction to get the news on ethanol, but did you know that you’re only scratching the surface of knowledge? You can get more involved than ever in the ethanol industry without ever leaving your couch. You can “Join the Conversation” with all of the great tools that the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) offers.

Here is a peak at what you might be missing:

• •    Become a fan on Facebook
  •    Follow them on Twitter @blend_ethanol
  •    Check out their YouTube Channel
  •    Read Ethanol Today
  •    Play Barrel Blaster
  •    Calculate your emissions with the Ethanol Calculator
  •    Read their Blog
  •    Join the discussions at the Ethanol Collective
  •    Get ethanol information on their Website

You may notice a “Social Media” theme here which is still new to many in the biofuels industry. One of the sessions, “Strategic, Advocacy and PR in the Era of New Media” was a great first step for attendees to learn how to get into the game. The panel included Kristin Brekke and Shannon Gustafson, with ACE along with Jeremy Bird, Organizing for America and Greg Veerman, Astronaut Studios. If you missed the session, check out ACE’s YouTube channel where they have several of the conference presentations or you can reach out to anyone of the speakers, or even our very own team here at DomesticFuel. And if this isn’t enough to keep you busy, check out my Flicker photo album from the conference.