Domestic Fuel

Bike riders at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally are seriously appreciating their ethanol koozies. Here’s market development staff members from the Renewable Fuels Association posing by one of their banners at the Buffalo Chip Campground. Throughout the event they’ll be handing out all kinds of materials to participants. Sounds like rough work but that’s what’s needed to get the ethanol message out directly to the people who will use it.

Robert White, pictured on the left, is uploading photos from the event. Check out his online photo album to see more.

A proposal that would require utilities to buy power from small-scale renewable energy producers could end up being a boon for solar and wind power in America.

The New York Times reports that two Democrats in the U.S. House have introduced a bill to do just that:

Reps. Jay Inslee of Washington and Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts are preparing a bill that would require utilities to purchase small-scale renewable energy from developers at rates equal to the cost of production plus a premium. The so-called feed-in tariffs proposal would set European-style guarantees for investors that many credit for a recent boom in solar energy in Germany.

Proponents say feed-in tariffs can be more effective than renewable-energy standards, such as the one included in the House climate bill by Democrats Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, because they offer staggered rate incentives for each energy source based on current production costs. The initial rate that utilities would pay for solar energy, for example, would be higher than payments for less-expensive wind energy.

Backers of the bill also point to the model in Germany, where, after passing its own Renewable Energy Sources Act in 2000, Germany was able to become the world’s largest market for photovoltaic systems and wind energy and more than doubled its supply of renewable energy between 2000 and 2007.

With more and more blends of biodiesel and ethanol available out there, especially with government tax incentives and regulations based on the percentage of the biofuel, it’s more important than ever for producers and users to know what they are putting in their tanks. Enter the InfraCal Blend Analyzer.

This post on EnvironmentalExpert.com says the analyzers from Connecticut-based Wilks Enterprises are rugged, compact, portable and easy to use by non-technical personnel, while providing readouts of the percentages of biodiesel and ethanol in the blends just about anywhere in less than a minute:

The InfraCal Blend Analyzers are fixed-filter infrared analyzers that, unlike FTIR spectrometers, have no moving parts and an insignificant optical air path making them portable, rugged and suitable for use in a field environment. Weighing less than 5 lbs., they can be operated from a battery pack or a cigarette lighter adapter cable and include an RS 232 interface for data transmission to a PC. For analysis, the fuel sample is placed directly on the exposed ATR sample window, a “run” button is selected and the result is display in 15 seconds. After analysis; the fuel is easily cleaned off with a wipe. Biodiesel has a characteristic infrared absorption band at 5.7 microns (1754 cm-1) and ethanol at 9.6 microns (1045 cm-1).

The analyzers are good up to B100 or 98 percent ethanol.

Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. has restarted their Central City, NE ethanol plant which was recently acquired by VeraSun.

“The Central City plant is on-line and operational after we made some necessary repairs and capital improvements to the plant,” said Todd Becker, Green Plains’ President and Chief Executive Officer. The Central City plant has been idle since November 2008.

The Central City site, along with another in Ord, were purchased from a lending group led by AgStar Financial Services for about $123.5 million. Green Plains took ownership of the plants during the VeraSun bankruptcy.

Based in Omaha, NE, Green Plains owns four ethanol plants in Iowa, Indiana, and Tennessee. It sells its own ethanol and markets ethanol for other producers. The company, founded in 2004, also owns grain storage facilities.

Ford Motor Company will offer four new flexible fuel vehicles (FFVS) to their line-up in 2010 totaling eleven models.

Following will be the 2010 models offered through Ford Motor Company with E85 compatible engines.

3.0L Ford Fusion
3.0L Mercury Milan
3.0L Ford Escape
3.0L Mercury Mariner
4.6L Ford Crown Victoria
5.4L Ford Expedition
5.4L Ford F-150
4.6L and 5.4L Ford E-Series Van/Wagon/Cutaway
4.6L Mercury Grand Marquis
4.6L Lincoln Town Car
5.4L Lincoln Navigator

Ford Motor Company began producing FFVs in 1995 with the Ford Taurus. They have made a commitment to allow half their vehicle line as E85 compatible by the year 2012.

Yesterday during the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress/Ag Media Summit, a “Great Debate” ensued between retired K-State ag economist Barry Flinchbaugh and former Texas congressman Charlie Stenholm. Their topics were ag policy and trade but a lot of the focus was on the new cap and trade legislation, climate change and indirect land use.

I had a chance to speak with Flinchbaugh for a few minutes after the session to have him expand on climate change and renewable fuels.

“Front and center is renewable fuels and climate change and you can’t separate the two. And the question is global warming a hoax is a stupid question because the political system worldwide has decided that its for real and things are going to happen,” said Flinchbaugh. “The Supreme Court gave the EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. So to pretend we can whip this, we being agriculture is ridiculous. We can’t whip this and we need to get inside the tent and help make the decisions.”

Although his comments on how current climate change policy will affect both America and the international communities are insightful, I wanted to know how the cap and trade bill would affect the profitability of farmers in America. To put his answer in perspective, Big Oil receives 2 percent in credits and agriculture receives 7 percent.

“I think we can come out a net winner but we need to refine the current law to do this,” answered Flinchbaugh. But what happens when you add the policy surrounding indirect land use (which has been deferred for five years)?

“No. Absolutely not. And this whole indirect land use issue is an emotional bogus issue. One of the things that Colin really got done was put this off for five years. One of the things we can do in the next five years is prove this is bogus issue.”

Listen here to the joint interview with myself and Kansas Ag Network reporter Greg Akagi.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.9MB)