Domestic Fuel

San Francisco-based Solazyme, Inc., a producer of algae-based fuels, has been recognized as the best in the Sustainable Biofuels Technology category at the 2nd Annual Sustainable Biofuels Awards.

This Solazyme press release says the award was handed out in Amsterdam at the World Biofuels Markets conference:

“Solazyme is honored to be nominated among some of the top biofuel technology companies in the world for this award,” said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme. “We are grateful to accept this top spot as our team has worked tirelessly to establish Solazyme’s technology platform as a viable alternative to traditional oil production methods.”

The World Biofuels Market selected a panel of independent judges to evaluate and analyze the nominations for these awards. Taken into consideration were sustainability benefits as measured by GHG savings, environmental impact and further societal benefits from each nomination’s operational or technological advances. Solazyme’s technology shows exponential benefits over petroleum in all of these categories.

In the seven years since its inception, Solayzme produced the world’s first algal-based renewable diesel, the world’s first 100 percent algal-based jet fuel, and road-tested the first algae-derived biodiesel. In addition, the company is supplying the U.S. Department of Defense with 21,500 gallons of fuel for Navy compatibility testing, making Solazyme the largest commercial algae fuel contractor to date.

OK, maybe it’s not the drink of choice, but biodiesel is truly a fitting symbol for the 152nd birthday of Rudolf Diesel. Tomorrow, Thursday, March 18th, is the inventor’s birthday, and since he designed that first diesel engine to run on vegetable oil, the National Biodiesel Board is taking the day to recognize the role the clean-burning fuel has played in the past and will play in the future by designating the day as National Biodiesel Day:

“Biodiesel is currently the only advanced biofuel that is commercially available in the US; it’s the next generation of fuel, here now,” said National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. “Rudolf Diesel originally designed diesel engines to use sustainable fuels. Today’s biodiesel is a modern application of his innovation.”

From the early diesel engine, there have been many improvements made to help improve fuel economy, power and performance but one of the most effective improvements comes in the form of biodiesel fuel. Biodiesel is a cleaner burning, advanced biofuel made from readily available renewable resources. National Biodiesel Day is celebrated annually on March 18th, Rudolf Diesel’s birthday.
Biodiesel users range from school districts to television studios and can be found in every corner of the country. Enterprise Holdings, which operates Alamo Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and National Car Rental, announced earlier this year that it will be converting its airport shuttle buses to run on biodiesel as part of its overall sustainability initiatives. The company is moving its entire fleet of more than 600 airport shuttle buses across 50 North American markets to at least 5 percent biodiesel (B5). The conversion to 20 percent biodiesel (B20) is happening immediately in nine markets, including Boston; Chicago; Denver; Detroit; Los Angeles; Miami; Raleigh/Durham; San Antonio and San Diego.

More information about Rudolf Diesel, biodiesel, and National Biodiesel Day is available at biodiesel.org.

Solar Power Inc. (SPI) has been selected by Temescal Canyon RV to build the largest elevated solar recreational vehicle (RV) parking structure in the world. The RV park, located in Riverside County adjacent to the City of Corona, will incorporate a 1.75 megawatt DC solar system utilizing SPI’s solar modules. The system will provide both power generation as well as covered parking. The project is scheduled to begin later this month and will be completed by July.

“This is going to be a great project for our client and for us,” said Bradley Ferrell, President of Business Development for Solar Power, Inc. “It is especially rewarding because it is the result of our success with the first project we executed for them. It’s also a milestone as the largest photovoltaic solar structure of its kind anywhere. We look forward to working with them again in the future as they continue to include solar energy in their projects.”

The Temescal Canyon RV storage facility will be comprised of 400 stalls of which 280 will offer covered parking by the elevated solar system SPI is developing. While this is their largest project of its kind, SPI has worked with the property group overseeing the project. In 2008, they developed a 160 kw system for the Temescal Canyon Storage Center which is adjacent to the soon to be completed solar elevated RV parking structure.

“Solar Power, Inc. executed a cost-competitive, high-quality system installation at our self-storage facility. They were very easy to work with and we couldn’t be happier with the finished result. Their products and their design and installation teams are world-class,” concluded Sean McCoy, General Manager, Temescal Canyon RV, LLC. “We look forward to working with their team once again on this project.”

According to a recent article in Ethanol Producer Magazine, Canada’s largest ethanol company, GreenField Ethanol located in Varennes, Quebec, will be receiving up to $79.75 million from the Canadian government. The funds are being distributed as part of the ecoENERGY for Biofuels program. The funds will be used to help the plant engage in future research and invest in additional investment projects.

The ecoENERGY program was a result of monitoring similar programs in the United States that support the development of biofuels. “By investing in this project,” said Steven Blaney, a Canadian member of parliament, “we are helping to create and sustain local jobs and economic opportunities while encouraging a healthier environment for all Canadians.”

Greenfield Ethanol has three additional corn-to-ethanol plants located in Chatham, Johnstown and Tiverton, Ontario with a fifth plant under construction. Once the plants are complete the company will have nearly 660 million gallons per year of production.

Last April, the Greenfield Ethanol plant received funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada and the Johnston plant was awarded $117.5 million last June.

“Biodiesel is a great fuel. It’s a great success story,” said Rob Joslin, the President of the American Soybean Association when I asked him during an interview (see below for audio) why biodiesel is so important to our country. While the biodiesel has had great success, it is currently facing a challenge – the $1 per gallon tax credit expired at the end of 2009 and has yet to be extended, although it is close.

Joslin explained to me that biodiesel is not just important for farmers and the industry itself, but also for consumers. A recent Department of Energy study showed that the biodiesel tax incentive saves consumers 35 cents per gallon at the pump. The biodiesel industry contributes $4 billion dollars to the country’s gross domestic product and generated over $866 million in direct tax revenue back into the tax coffers. In addition the industry provides 29,000 direct jobs and the number exceeds 50,000 when you factor in the indirect jobs associated with the production of biodiesel.

However, with the tax credit off the table, more than 23,000 workers have been idled. “The majority of the industry is idled because you can’t run a business on the hope that Congress will pass a bill in a future point in time,” said Joslin. “So the economies didn’t work the plant managers had to put those people in unemployment.”

Anther conundrum the industry is facing is the lack of synergies between current pieces of legislation. The RFS mandates biodiesel use and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard recognizes its low-carbon benefit; yet, our government hasn’t put into place the mechanisms for the industry to produce competitively priced fuel while it matures.
Read the rest of this post…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.8MB)

The first annual leadership conference for Growth Energy, the ethanol industry organization that was formed just 16 months ago, was held this week in Phoenix to focus on the future.

The conference included roundtable discussions on a number of topics, including navigating policy in Congress during an election year. A bipartisan panel moderated by Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis featured former Republican Congressman Jim Nussle; Melissa Shannon who served as a legislative advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Josh Gottheimer, former advisor to President Bill Clinton; and Karen Hughes, a former advisor to President George W. Bush.

“We had the opportunity to bring our membership together, sit down and have a very open and honest conversation about where we are in the policy making arena today, what our goals are moving forward, and how we envision the pathway to get there,” said Growth Energy board member Steve McNinch, CEO of Western Plains Energy in Kansas, during an interview after the conference concluded on Tuesday.

McNinch says there are two primary policy issues that the organization will be focused on this year – the joint lawsuit that filed in California with the Renewable Fuels Association and expiration of the VEETC and the Brazilian tariff issue coming up at the end of the year. “These are not easy issues to get through,” said McNinch, and when it comes to Congress this year, “until health care debate gets out of the way, you’re not really going to see much movement on anything.”

Listen to or download my interview with Steve McNinch here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.9MB)

The site for the largest wind farm in Idaho has been picked by the two companies that will construct the project.

KIFI-TV in Idaho Falls says Ridgeline Energy, LLC, and BP Wind Energy will soon start building the Goshen North wind farm, a facility that is expected to generate 124.5 megawatts:

“We are excited about commencing Goshen North construction and furthering our commitment to wind energy development in Idaho,” said Steve Voorhess, Ridgeline Energy CEO. “Goshen North and our other Idaho wind energy projects will help diversify the region’s energy supply while continuing Idaho’s tradition of clean energy generation.”

“The investment that BP and Ridgeline Energy are making will create new jobs during construction, deliver an additional revenue stream to rural communities without impacting traditional farming and ranching, and provide clean, affordable power,” said John Graham, BP Wind Energy President.

The Goshen North wind farm will power about 37,000 homes.

Biodiesel is making it where the old saying goes, “Will it play in Peoria?” That certainly is the case for the Illinois town’s transit system, CityLink.

This story from the Peoria Journal Star says the city has been so pleased with the past performance of lower biodiesel blends, they decided to become the first fleet in the state to go to B20 to help extend the life of their aging buses:

“Biodiesel has been good for us. The engine makes more power (using biodiesel) and there’s less smoke out of the exhaust,” said CityLink maintenance director John Anderson of a B-20 program that involves 58 buses and 21 paratransit vehicles.

“(Assistant manager) Rick Tieken and I sat down last year to see what we could do. We’ve gone green as a facility on just about everything,” he said, referring to environmentally friendly products such as degreasers and soaps now used by CityLink.

Peoria is even buying the soybean-based biodiesel from a local supplier to help keep the money close to home.

Forty degrees below zero can be pretty common across the northern tier of states in the U.S. and Canada, especially this past winter. Those extremes can wreak havoc on biodiesel, and, for that matter, any diesel product.

But this article from Biodiesel Magazine says Thermex Engineered Systems Inc. has come up with a way to heat biodiesel during transit that can be retrofitted to upgrade existing uninsulated fuel tankers:

The biodiesel is heated by multiple HeatProbes, a patent-pending immersion heater that takes advantage of waste heat from the truck engine’s coolant, which is installed through a two-inch tank port. The supply and return lines are joined to the vehicle’s coolant lines, allowing the heat from the running engine to be transferred to the biodiesel in the tanker—negating the use of steam hook-ups or other limited-use heating alternatives.

A HeatProbe system can be installed on any tanker truck or trailer, according to Thermex Engineered Systems, and multiple probes and tanks can be plumbed up in parallel sequence. Trailers can also be equipped with a stand-alone heating package that includes an onboard coolant heater mounted on the tanker service rail. This is useful for extended layovers and will also accommodate towing by any tractor with or without quick-coupler connections.

Thermex says the system is good for any equipment or vehicle powered by biodiesel that runs in cold weather can use the HeatProbe system, because the fuel is heated “in-tank” to overcome any cold filter plug point issues and to prevent product clouding.

Renault has introduced an FFV in France. Renault has focused on electric powered vehicles to lessen gasoline use in the past, but now the Romania based Dacia Logan MCV, now offers a vehicle that can use 100 percent gasoline up to 85 percent ethanol fuel.

The moderately priced 1.6-liter four cylinder FFV Renault replaces the former 1.6 MPI 90 version and, in France, purchase of the vehicle will be tax free. Renault reports that the CO2 emissions are much less so it will qualify for the badging for a low emissions vehicle.

The Logan MCV is available with either a five- or seven-seat configuration. The vehicle is manufactured by the brand’s ISO 14001-certified plant in Pitesti, Romania. It is available now in France.

I have a question for you. Is the debate over global warming over? The next logical question is: Should it be over?

According to authors Patrick J. Michaels and Robert C. Balling Jr., human-induced climate change is indeed real, but this will not necessarily lead to an environmental apocalypse. This is the premise of their book, A Climate of Extremes. They write, “The data lead us to conclude that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is indeed real, but relatively modest. We’re not arguing against AGW, but rather against DAGW (dangerous anthropogenic global warming).”

A Climate of Extremes is about data – the data that proves (or disproves) the existence of global warming and the potential effects that it could have. The authors spend the majority of the book debunking the science that leads us to believe that the polar bears will go extinct, the icebergs are melting and those on the coasts will endure catastrophic damage, and that hurricanes, floods and fires are somehow tied to climate change. Well folks, there is no data to back up these far-fetched claims argue the authors.

The entire time I was reading the book, this famous quote kept running through my mind, lies, damned lies and statistics, a sentiment used to describe the power of numbers. The authors featured a lot of content that has been used by famous global warming advocates, such as Al Gore to prove the danger we face if we don’t curb greenhouse gas emissions, is taken out of context. In other words, the data is fiddled and faddled with to meet a person’s particular needs.

We all know this happens and it is good that people continue to “out” the bad science. However, the biggest irony I found in the book was when they discussed the pervasive bias inherent in global warming research. Shortly thereafter, they offer up why corn-ethanol will cause, rather than curb global warming, and they point to Timothy Searchinger’s original paper  – a paper which has not only been criticized by the scientific community but also new research has been presented. My point: maybe the authors should take some of their own advice.

While I am a proponent of offering up various scientific viewpoints, it should never be taken at face value and neither should the data presented in A Climate of Extremes. It is in everyone’s best interest to delve into the issue, farther than what is presented in a few books.

Growth Energy held a series of roundtable discussions on the ethanol industry during an Executive Leadership Conference this week in Phoenix.

The conference kicked off on Monday with a discussion on the national security implications of continuing America’s dependence on foreign oil. The panel featured Gen. Wesley Clark, Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, and Dr. Gal Luft, Executive Director for the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

“Today, oil is the most strategic commodity in the world and it controls the world’s economy,” said Dr. Luft. “If we want to preserve the future of this country we need to give consumers a choice at the filling station. Giving consumers a choice means that oil can no longer control prices and we will begin to grow a competitive market for ethanol.”

The final discussion on Tuesday included a detailed presentation about the future market outlook for grain, ethanol and distillers from industry experts, including Randy Ives, Senior Vice President of Distillers Grains, Hawkeye Gold, LLC; Tom Dorr, President and CEO of U.S. Grains Council; and Bob Casper, President of POET Ethanol Products.

Dorr noted the important role that international trade plays in the ethanol industry. “As producers build out their industry they have to expand their focus to incorporate international trade policies,” Dorr said. “These policies are not easy but there are huge opportunities just waiting to be tapped.”

Ives said the industry needs to continue promoting and educating the public about the value of DDGs. “Distillers grains are not just a byproduct, they are a co-product and we need to start running our businesses under that assumption,” he said.

The goal of Growth Energy’s Executive Leadership Conference was to bring members together to assess the organization and the state of the ethanol industry.

Today, about 1/3 of the sorghum crop goes into ethanol production. An interesting little piece of information I picked up when I spoke with Gerald Simonsen, the Chairman of the National Sorghum Producers during Commodity Classic. Sorghum is a good feedstock for ethanol production for several reasons. First, it uses half the amount of water used in corn production and second, the sugar-based sorghums, like sweet sorghum and energy sorghums produce more ethanol per acre than other starch-based feedstocks.

Simonsen told me that his organization is very focused on the ethanol industry not only from a research, development and marketing standpoint, but also policy. The RFS2 rules were recently announced and Simonsen said that while they were happy to be included, they do have a few issues with some of the things said about sorghum. Therefore, his organization is working with the USDA and EPA to “iron out some of the rough edges and make sure sorghum has a viable future in ethanol.”

Currently, you can produce the same amount of ethanol from a bushel of corn or ethanol. However, Simonsen noted, you can also make sugar-based ethanol out of sweet sorghum and in terms of cellulosic ethanol, energy sorghum and forage sorghum are feedstocks that the US Department of Energy is excited about. These types of feedstocks produce more ethanol from a bushel of sorghum than what we’re seeing today.

“We have a three-way punch. We’ve got the whole ethanol thing surrounded. We just have to bring it together and move forward,” concluded Simonsen.

You can listen to my interview with Gerald below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.8MB)

The winner for the Renewable Fuels Association’s (RFA) E85 Flex-Fuel Challenge Cutest Kid Photo Contest is in – Latisha Martinex of Virgina Beach. Ms. Martinex will receive free ethanol for one year and her photo was selected by the judges based on creativity and quality.

More than 1,000 photos were submitted and of those, “Amira and her Snow Love,” submitted by Megan Pomeroy of Le Mars, Iowa, is the winner of a $500 ethanol fuel card after receiving the Most Voted award from daily votes on the E85 Challenge website.

“The Cutest Kid contest is the E85 Flex Fuel Challenge’s most successful marketing effort to date, reaching more than 1,000 families nationwide, said RFA Market Development Director, Robert White. “Contests such as this allow us to reach out to non traditional groups, like mothers, to introduce ourselves and better educate them on the value of renewable fuels. Congratulations to all the winners.”

The first 1,000 entrants for the Cutest Kid Photo Contest received a free eco-friendly reusable shopping bag filled with consumer information about Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs), ethanol facts and a reusable bag fact sheet. The Cutest Kid Photo Contest was the 4th E85 Flex-Fuel Challenge Contest.

“It is clear that Congress must pass a strong federal renewable electricity standard so that investors, developers and state policy makers are working together to achieve a common goal,” said Iowa Governor Chet Culver today during a press call to release the findings of a new wind energy report: Great Expectations: U.S. Wind Energy Development, the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition’s 2010 Recommendations. This comprehensive report is the first ever to be submitted to Congress by a national group of governors, and today representatives of the organization including Governor Culver and Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri met with President Obama, Senator Reed, Speaker Pelosi and the minority leadership in both the House and Senate to present their findings.

Governor Carcieri noted that Congressional action on the energy bill appears to have stalled and he hoped that these bipartisan recommendations will advance the energy deliberations currently underway. He stressed, “In order to achieve energy independence in the United States, we must increase the role of wind. Why is that? Wind energy is clean, it’s cost effective and it’s abundant.”

While the main recommendations were centered around passing a Renewable Electricity Standard, developing a new interstate electric transmission system infrastructure and reducing the time it takes to permit both offshore and on-shore wind projects, there were several other recommendations of note:

• • Fully Support Coastal, Deep Water, and Offshore Wind Energy Technology and Transmission Research and Development
• • Expand the U.S. Department of Energy’s Work with the States and the Wind Industry to Accelerate Innovation
• • Extend the Treasury Department Grant Program in Lieu of the Investment Tax Credit, and Adopt a Long-Term Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit With Provisions to Broaden the Pool of Eligible Investors

Both governors highlighted the importance of creating green collar jobs through the increase of wind power. A national 25 percent renewable electricity standard by 2025 could create more than 300,000 new green collar jobs.

Governor Culver also put out a call to action to keep the wind manufacturing here in the States. “If Congress fails to pass a strong national goal on renewable energy and transmission upgrades, the continued uncertainty will cause the nation to potentially surrender wind manufacturing to other countries.”

You can click here to download a copy of the full report.