Domestic Fuel

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is expanding to Grand Rapids, Michigan. ACE announced today that the new advocacy office will be spearheaded by Lacey Dixon, the organization’s Director of Member & Industry Relations.

“When Lacey indicated her family would be relocating to Michigan, we saw it as an opportunity to more effectively serve our members in the eastern Corn Belt and to reach out to new ethanol producers, parts and service providers, and prospective members outside of our original office location,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of ACE.  “Lacey has been a talented and valuable member of the ACE team for nearly five years and since 2008 has successfully led our industry relations and member development initiatives. We are pleased and grateful she’ll be able to continue that important work on our behalf based at the Michigan location.”

In addition to ACE’s ongoing policy, market development, and communications efforts across the country, the Michigan location will provide ACE the opportunity to more readily reach out to petroleum marketers in the area.

“Lacey has been involved in the ACE Market Development Program, and in the Blend Your Own Ethanol campaign since its inception,” said Ron Lamberty, Vice President / Market Development for ACE.  “She is well-versed in the programs available for marketers who want to install blender pumps and market ethanol and mid-level blends, and she will be a great resource to petroleum marketers in that part of the country.”

Jennings added, “Establishing this expanded geographic location in addition to our primary office setting and DC presence will enable ACE to stay close to our grassroots members as we improve upon our efforts to speak on their behalf, expand markets for ethanol use, and pursue policies to help strengthen the industry.”

If you want to help the biodiesel industry, a California company says you should take health food supplements, particularly Omega-3s.

SmartPlanet.com reports biofuel maker Aurora Algae says the algae it grows for its biodiesel production can also be made into a high-value food supplement:

It intends to use algae to produce high-concentration Omega-3 fatty acids for use in pharmaceutical and health supplement products, use algae protein extracts as a food supplement, and to sell its remaining biomass as fish meal.

The company intends to expand its business by leverage algae as a commodity like soy to expand its business to enter the biofuel market within the next five to ten years, Bafalis explained. “Having those higher value products gives us the margins we need to go out where the costs and yields are in this industries now, and then build mass facilities and get costs down.”

The shift by the biofuel company to its pharmaceutical line is reflected in its name change last month. It used to be known as Aurora Biofuels.

I’ll never get tired of talking about the biodiesel tax credit – or should I say lack thereof. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Lisa Mortenson, the Co-Founder & CEO of Encinitas, California-based Community Fuels during my San Diego Algae Tour and I took the opportunity to ask her her thoughts about the biodiesel tax credit.

“The tax credit is frustrating because I think the damage that has been done to the industry is not due to the tax credit being there or not being there, it has to do with the uncertainty associated with the tax credit,” answered Mortenson.

She continued by explaining that there are mechanisms in the market that can adjust to compensate for the lack of the tax credit and one of those key items is the RIN associated with the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2). However, with the uncertainty of tax credit, the industry hasn’t seen a full adjustment in the market.

Mortenson hopes, like most in the industry, that the tax credit comes back retroactive to January 1, 2010 and continues through 2011. However, she said that if it doesn’t come back, she doesn’t believe the industry is dead. It will go through an adjustment period and the industry will need to look at different opportunities to compensate for the lack of credit.

I asked Mortenson about the current lawsuit the petroleum industry has filed against the EPA claiming that they cannot be forced to meet RFS2 standards for this year and last. “The industry has to rely on truth and information,” answered Mortenson.

She goes into detail about the situation and offers suggestions on how the industry can fight back. She also has some very insightful comments on the current ASTM standards and the need to revise them to improve the quality of biodiesel.

You can view photos from my trip in my San Diego Algae Tour Photo Album.

Listen to my interview with Lisa for all the scoop and special thanks to Editor, Louise Parker of Ethanol & Biofuels News for kicking off the interview. CleanTech San Diego A Global Top 10 Clean Tech Cluster

We hear a lot about the celebrities who walk on the red carpet during Hollywood award ceremonies, but our friend biodiesel was recently featured on the GREEN carpet.

This article from Reuters says the environmentally friendly fuel was part of the reason why Fox Filmed Entertainment was honored during the recent 20th Annual Environmental Media Association Awards, paying tribute to the entertainment industry’s environmental efforts. The blockbuster hit movie “Avatar” and an episode of the TV show “Bones” were among Fox’s many honorees:

Fox said a dozen other of its productions received EMA Green Seal awards for environmentally responsible filmmaking.

The films are “Love & Other Drugs,” “Water for Elephants,” “127 Hours,” “Black Swan,” “The Big Year,” “Knight and Day,” “Marmaduke,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “The Descendants,” “Just Wright,” “Cedar Rapids” and “Win Win.”

Part of those environmentally responsible filmmaking efforts include using biodiesel as a fuel for on-scene generators.

You may remember Robert Bryce from his book, “Gusher of Lies,” Bryce is back with his new book, “Power Hungry.” I shouldn’t have liked this book – his last one made me angry. I should have stopped reading after the introduction – he made his point of the book very clear. But I read the entire book and believe it or not, there are a few issues with which I actually agreed with him.

Bryce has four imperatives that he has created to measure the value of a particular form of energy. The four imperatives include power density, energy density, cost, and scale. Let me quickly tell you what forms of alternative energy don’t make the grade: biofuels, wind, solar or electric vehicles. What does make the grade? Natural gas to nuclear and Bryce lays out his N2N plan to support the growth of both of these forms of energy.

He writes, “It may be fashionable to promote wind, solar, and biofuels, but those sources fail when it comes to power density. We want energy sources that produce lots of power from small amounts of real estate. And that’s the key problem with wind, solar, and biofuels. They require huge amounts of land to generate meaningful amounts of power. And although the farm lobby loves biofuels such as corn ethanol, that fuel fails on two counts: power density and energy density. Corn ethanol production requires vast swathes of land, and the fuel that it produces is inferior to gasoline because it is corrosive, it is hydrophilic, and it contains just two-thirds of gasoline’s heat content.”

In an entire section of the book, Byrce lays out the reasons why renewable energy is not in America’s best interest. However, prior to that he does at least dismiss coal as an option for the future, and he does portray carbon sequestration as a farce.

At the end of the book, Byrce “rethinks green” and offers a few suggestions for the future. He also lays out the steps of his N2N Plan:

1. 1) Promote natural gas and nuclear power through targeted use of tax incentives.
2. 2) Encourage oil and gas production in the United States.
3. 3) Continue Promoting energy efficiency.
4. 4) Continue working on renewables and energy storage technologies such as batteries and compressed-air energy storage.

I’ll let Bryce’s N2N plan speak for itself and with that my friends, if you’ll learn one thing from this book, is that you’ll understand, in great detail, all the cards being played by the anti-renewable energy movement.

CleanTech San Diego has been ranked in the top 10 of global clean tech clusters. Pretty amazing considering that the organization was only founded in 2007 through an initiative of the mayor’s office and several local businesses. The organization that created the ranking, Sustainable World Capital, has created a global clean tech organization of which CleanTech San Diego is a part. In November, the European component of the cluster will be launching in Finland, followed by the North American cluster in mid-to late November.

I asked Jason Anderson, Vice President of CleanTech San Diego during my San Diego Algae Tour, why the city felt that developing not only a clean tech cluster, but an algae cluster was so important. I should mention that San Diego has the largest algae cluster in the world – nearly 30 companies strong. Anderson responded that the city saw a clean tech cluster as a new opportunity for San Diego in terms of job creation and job growth for the region. Anderson noted that the cluster continues to grow and it has already had a positive impact on the region’s economy.

There have been folks in the region doing algal research for more than 20 years, said Anderson in response to my question, why an algae cluster? He said with the country’s interest in the price of fuel and energy security playing a big role, having a focus on algal fuels made sense.

So how did CleanTech San Diego come to be so successful in so short a time? Anderson said there were three reasons.

1. 1) The strength of the research institutions in their region including University of California, San Diego, San Diego State and Univeristy of San Diego.
2. 2) The people in San Diego are very collaborative and work together well.
3. 3) The leadership of Mayor Jerry Sanders and his region wanting to develop this and working hard with the business community and others to grow the industry.

You can view photos from my trip in my San Diego Algae Tour Photo Album.

You can listen to my interview with Jason Anderson and learn in more detail why CleanTech San Diego continues to be so successful.CleanTech San Diego A Global Top 10 Clean Tech Cluster

There is a surge of new diesel vehicles entering the U.S. market place in response to the need for better fuel economy along with lower fuel emissions. The diesel industry has been promoting low diesel fuels, and in some cases, diesel fuel has been labeled an “advanced fuel.”

For example, Rentech has created a diesel fuel called RenDiesel that can be produced using a variety of sources ranging from biomass to natural gas. The company has proposed building a renewable energy center in Rialto, Calif., that could produce approximately 640 barrels a day of synthetic fuels and 35 MW of renewable electric power from urban green waste diverted from landfills. According to RenTech, RenDiesel would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 97 percent when compared to conventional clean diesel fuel as well boast greater emission reductions over electric vehicles.

The company also claims that RenDiesel produces emissions lower in particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) and carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as fewer volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions than ethanol or traditional clean diesel. The fuel meets California Low Carbon Fuel Standards, and it is already being used as an ultra-clean synthetic jet fuel. It has the potential be twice as fuel efficient as a car running on ethanol.

“Diesel vehicles such as the Audi A3 TDI and synthetic drop-in fuels such as renewable RenDiesel provide powerful solutions to reducing tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions as well as the need for domestically produced fuels,” said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, President and CEO of Rentech in a company press release. “These solutions are magnified when renewable RenDiesel powers an A3 TDI, making it one of the most viable and near-term means for emissions reductions,” Mr. Ramsbottom added.

Another company producing clean diesel is Advanced Refining Concepts that has created a product called GDiesel. The fuel combines conventional ultra-low sulfur diesel with natural gas and is developed through the company’s proprietary process called ClearRefining. GDiesel can be used in diesel vehicles with no modifications.
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Waste Management flipped the switch this week on Southwestern Ontario’s first-ever private landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) facility. Located at Waste Management’s Petrolia Landfill, the facility will use methane gas – created from the natural decomposition of waste – to power up to 2,500 homes in the surrounding area. The gas is collected through wells that are strategically placed throughout the site, which powers four large engines and generates approximately 3.2 megawatts of power. The resulting electricity will be provided to homes using Bluewater Power’s distribution system. A second LFGTE facility is planned for the company’s Twin Creeks Landfill in Watford, Ontario.

This LFGTE facility is only the third private facility in Canada but it is the first in Southwestern Ontario. Waste Management has an initiative to power two million homes by 2020 with waste-based energy.

A little closer to home, Ameresco, Inc., along with San Antonio Water System (SAWS) hosted a grand opening of their new biogas facility located at the Dos Rios Water Recycling Center. According to Ameresco, this project is the first of its kind in the U.S. designed to capture biogas generated during the sewage treatment process and selling it through a commercial gas pipeline.

“SAWS is constantly improving its operations to become more sustainable, and this project is a sound investment for our environment and our community,” said Robert R. Puente, SAWS President/CEO. “By reusing biogas instead of burning it off, we are helping protect the city’s air quality and developing a renewable energy resource.”

During the sewage treatment process, biosolids generate methane gas. Rather than burn off the gas using flares, the company will now treat and transfer at least 900,000 cubic feet of gas to a nearby commercial gas pipeline. From there, Ameresco will sell the methane on the open market. In return, SAWS ratepayers will receive a royalty payment on the sale of the gas estimated yearly to be $200,000.

“At Ameresco, we are driven to help our customers find renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions to achieve their goals,” said Michael T. Bakas, Ameresco’s senior vice president of renewable energy. “Whether those goals are a sustainable environment, reducing costs or reusing a resource, our energy engineers, project managers and plant specialists can make these goals a reality. Ameresco is proud to be a part of this team and groundbreaking project.”

Today, the USDA has released an updated version of its report, “Effects of Increased Biofuels on the U.S. Economy in 2022,” The report examines how meeting the RFS2 would affect various key components of the U.S. economy. What is not debated is that the rise in biofuel production using cost-savings technologies, along with petroleum price increases, will bring about benefits for the economy. However, the report notes that actual benefits (or costs) to the U.S. economy very much depends on future oil prices and the future of tax credits. Should oil prices stabilize, or even decrease from current levels and should the tax credits continue, then benefits to the economy would diminish.

More specifically the study examines the potential effects of the RFS-2 on the U.S. economy as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), household income and consumption, price and quantity of energy fuels, and agricultural production and trade. The researches compare the U.S. economy in 2022 with and without the RFS2.

Overall the study findings were positive. The report concludes, “If biofuel production technology advances and petroleum prices continue to rise as projected, the RFS-2 could benefit the U.S. economy. U.S. household consumption would rise because of higher real wages, increased household income, and lower import prices. By substituting domestic biofuels for imported petroleum, the United States would pay less for imports overall and receive higher prices for exports, providing a gain for the economy from favorable terms of trade. Improved technology and increased investment would enhance the ability of the U.S. economy to expand.”

Click here to download a full copy of the report.

According to an article on BrighterEnergy.org, TradeWind Energy, based in Lenexa, Kansas, has negotiated a contract to provide wind power to Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC). Customers in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico will be the first recipients of the wind power that will be generated from a 125-megawatt wind farm in Oklahoma and should generate enough electricity to power 40,000 homes.

The first phase of the Rocky Ridge Wind Project, which is expected to begin in construction within the next six months, will be comprised of around 75 wind turbines located on 11,000 acres in Kiowa and Washita Counties in Oklahoma. Nearly 100 landowners are hosting the turbines and will receive rent payments. Later phases could add another 300MW. TradeWind Energy anticipates that the project will begin generating wind energy by January 2012.

Once the project begins, the developers believe approximately 150 construction jobs will be generated. However, once the wind farm is up and running, only 9-10 full time jobs will be needed.

“Rocky Ridge is one of the most energetic sites in our portfolio and its location allows us to take advantage of existing transmission lines to deliver power to WFEC’s customers at a reduced cost,” said Frank Costanza, TradeWind’s executive vice president of corporate development in the article.

Costanza also noted that the Rocky Ridge wind farm would help meet Oklahoma’s growing demand for energy through an “inexhaustible Oklahoma resource.”

Mr Costanza said:

The fifth solar project to occur on public lands has been approved by Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. The Calico Solar Project, located in San Bernardino County, California was proposed by Tessera Solar of Texas, and when completed could produce over 663.5 megawatts of renewable energy or enough to annually power between 200,000 – 500,000 homes. The solar project will use Stirling Energy System‘s SunCatcher technology, and project planners are anticipating the need for 500 new jobs.

“The Calico Solar Project is one of several projects in the pipeline that will help California and this nation build a renewable energy economy,” Secretary Salazar said in signing the Record of Decision. “With each project, we are helping to create new jobs for American workers, reduce carbon emissions, promote energy independence and strengthen our national security.”

October has been the month for public land approvals. Prior to the Calico Solar Project getting the go ahead, Salazar also approved four renewable energy projects on public lands with three located in California and one in Nevada. The projects include Imperial Valley Solar Project, Chevron Lucerne Valley Solar Project, Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, and Silver State North Solar Project. Should all five solar projects come to fruition, they could generate over 1,800 megawatts of renewable energy, or enough to power 550,000 to 1.4 million homes.

The Secretary’s decision authorizes the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to offer Tessera Solar a right-of-way grant to use these public lands for 30 years if all rents and other conditions are met. The site is on 4,604 acres of public lands in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, 37 miles east of Barstow. In addition, Tessera Solar is eligible to apply for significant funding through the Department of Energy’s Recovery Act conditional loan guarantee program.

“This marks the fifth solar energy project approved on public lands in the last two weeks,” said BLM Director Bob Abbey. “Through these approvals, along with recent approvals for transmission lines and other renewable energy infrastructure, we are continuing to make significant contributions to this nation’s renewable energy generation capabilities.”

Tourists who visit Pelican Bay, one of Florida’s premier beachfront communities, will now be transported via solar trams. The Pelican Bay Foundation, which owns 43 acres of parks, recreation areas, beachfront facilities and boardwalks, has officially converted their resident transportation trams system to solar/electric vehicles provided by Eco Trans Alliance of Sarasota, Florida. Per year, an annual tram logs 25,000 miles and give more than 800,000 rides.

“We look forward to effectively using the sun to power our transportation system and continue our ongoing initiative to reduce impact on, and preserve the tranquility and beauty of, Pelican Bay,” said Pelican Bay Foundation Chairman Bill Carpenter. “Eco Trans Alliance provided a comprehensive solution and migration plan and made a clear and compelling rationale for our conversion to solar.”

The new solar/electric tram system features a 460 watt on-board solar charging system that will produce over 400 kWh of electricity. According to a company release, each tram will reduce Pelican Bay’s carbon footprint by more than 500 pounds of CO2 per year and with an entire fleet replacement (40 trams) the result will be a reduction of 22,000 pounds of CO2 yearly.

“We applaud Pelican Bay Foundation for its demonstrated leadership in sustainability practices. Pelican Bay has always been ahead of the curve with its approach to environmental affairs so there is no surprise that they would utilize the sun’s natural energy to power their Tram System. We are pleased to have had our solar charging systems evaluated and chosen for this important implementation,” remarked Greg Hyde, Special Projects Manager for Eco Trans Alliance.

The ethanol industry praised USDA Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack today and expressed gratitude for his department’s commitment to fulfill the administration’s goal of transitioning to renewable energy. This morning at the Press Club in DC, Vilsack announced a series of measures aimed at supporting the rural economy and reducing dependence on foreign oil that include support for corn-based ethanol.

“The Obama Administration has shown strong leadership on the issue of domestic biofuels, putting forward a vision that recognizes the importance of the existing industry and the potential of new technologies. Domestic ethanol production is one of the few bright spots in a gloomy economic forecast, providing tens of thousands of jobs in hundreds of rural communities all across the country,” said Renewable Fuels President and CEO, Bob Dinneen. “By expanding the scope of American ethanol production to include new feedstocks from grasses to wood waste to algae, the industry can extend the benefits seen in rural America to every corner of the country.

As part of the announcement, Vilsack said the USDA would reinstate the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. Another important initiative would encourage the installation of blender pumps.

“If we truly want to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and improve our environment, we need to ensure that our entire vehicle fleet and fuel infrastructure are ready to use expanded U.S. ethanol production. Each additional flex fuel vehicle and blender pump gives consumers the option of filling up with clean, renewable ethanol to create a more secure energy future for this country,” remarked Tom Buis, the CEO of Growth Energy.

While the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) support all the initiatives laid out in USDA’s plan, they also called for the passage of the soon to expire tax credit.
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As part of the Obama Administration’s effort to promote production of fuel from renewable sources, create jobs and mitigate the effects of climate change, Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a series of measures during a speech to the National Press Club in Washington.

“Domestic production of renewable energy, including biofuels, is a national imperative and that’s why USDA is working to assist in developing a biofuels industry in every corner of the nation,” said Vilsack. “By producing more biofuels in America, we will create jobs, combat global warming, replace our dependence on foreign oil and build a stronger foundation for the 21st century economy.”

The Secretary announced several measures, including the publication of a final rule to implement the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Under the BCAP final rule, USDA will resume making payments to eligible producers. The program had operated as a pilot, pending publication of the final rule. Authorized in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, BCAP is designed to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new, non-food, non-feed biomass crops is established in anticipation of future demand for renewable energy consumption.

The nation’s largest ethanol producer, POET, welcomed finalization of rules for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), saying it will help launch the biomass market near the site of their planned cellulosic ethanol plant. “The 85 farmers we have contracted with to deliver 56,000 tons of biomass this fall are nearly finished harvesting, so the final BCAP rule comes not a day too soon,” said Jim Sturdevant, Director of Project LIBERTY for POET. “We will now apply for our cellulosic ethanol plant to become an approved Biomass Conversion Facility (BCF) so that local farmers can become eligible for matching payments for the biomass they will soon deliver.”

POET is in the midst of the world’s largest commercial harvest of biomass for cellulosic ethanol. Farmers around Emmetsburg, Iowa are baling corn cobs and light stover for delivery to POET. In order to store the bales, POET recently completed construction of a multi-million dollar stack yard next to where the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant will be built.

Read more about Vilsack’s announcement here.

A group that develops national security and defense policies says the American military needs to be ready for a future without petroleum. If recent tests … and testing to come … are any indication, our warfighters are already preparing for that contingency through the use of biofuels.

This article from EV World says the Center for New American Security’s (CNAS) 36-page study entitled “Fueling the Future Force: Preparing the Department of Defense for a Post-Petroleum Era” should be alarming:

Prepared in close consultation with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as well as the major branches of U.S. Armed Forces and other government agencies, the key authors — Christine Pathemore and John Nagl — conclude that the military has three decades to dramatically reduce its dependence on petroleum, the fuel that powers 77 percent of the America’s fighting machinery.

Parthemore and Nagl state in the introduction to their paper…

To ready America’s armed forces for tomorrow’s challenges, DOD should ensure that it can operate all of its systems on non-petroleum fuels by 2040. This 30-year timeframe reflects market indicators pointing toward both higher demand for petroleum and increasing international competition to acquire it.

The report goes on to say that the DoD needs to also take into account the economic costs of petroleum: every $1 increase in the price of a barrel of oil costs the Department of Defense an additional $130 million.

It looks like military planners are already preparing for the petroleum-less future. If you might remember from my post last March 25, 2010, the U.S. Air Force has flown the first A-10 … aka the Warthog … on a blend of biomass jet fuel. And Joanna’s article from yesterday points out the Navy will be testing a biofueled boat on Friday.