Domestic Fuel

Biodiesel is gaining traction in California. This week Propel Fuels began selling B20 biodiesel at two of its Sacramento area fuel stations. Propel says its B20 is a blend of 20 percent American made biodiesel and 80 percent petro-diesel, and provides motorists increased performance, longer engine life and reduced emissions. Next, Propel added B20 to its Roseville stations as well as its station in Sacramento on Folsom Boulevard in response to customer demand. In addition to biodiesel, Propel also sells E85 and you can find their biodiesel and E85 stations in its biofuel station locator.

“As high fuel prices force drivers to think about what they put in their tanks, we are proud to offer a higher blend of biodiesel that provides premium performance and guaranteed quality at no additional cost,” said Matt Horton, CEO of Propel. “By providing a new choice at the pump, we are enabling Sacramento’s drivers to be part of the solution, making progress towards reducing carbon emissions and our nation’s dependence on imported oil.”

Propel is using biodiesel sourced from recycled vegetable oils. Biodiesel is safe to use in current diesel vehicles and serves to reduce harmful tailpipe emissions while improving performance and efficiency. While not all vehicles are manufactured to use B20 blends, more and more auto companies are producing diesel vehicles designed to operate using B20 including all 2011 GM and Ford diesel vehicles and Cummins engines.

In addition to offering B20 in ares of California, Propel has sold B20 in Washington State since 2007, with a very positive response from consumers. More information on Propel’s B20 can be found here.

Gas powered tractors can get free ethanol blended fuel from the Nebraska Ethanol Board at an antique tractor show this weekend.

The Nebraska Ethanol Board is offering three gallons of free E10 to the first 25 registered gas powered tractors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Larsen Tractor Museum’s open house Saturday, June 4th from 10 am to 2 pm. Registered entrants can pick up their coupon for three free gallons of E10 from the Nebraska Ethanol Board at the 1920 Model T Ford on display at the Museum.

The promotion calls attention to the fact that many older vehicles, including the Model-T and several antique tractors, were originally designed to run on ethanol fuels.

The President of Marquis Energy is Mark Marquis, seen here introducing NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace to the crowd attending yesterday’s event held at the Hennepin ethanol plant. I spoke with Mark and learned that Marquis Energy is a real family type business that he had built after growing up on a family farm in this area and branching out into the grain business. In my interview with him you’ll hear him talk about plans to double the size of the Hennepin plant.

Mark is a Growth Energy board member. He says the organization saw the long term agreement with NASCAR as a great opportunity to help get in front of American consumers who will feel more confident about putting higher blends of ethanol in their cars after seeing how well it performs in the race cars. They’ve accomplished that through American Ethanol, a partnership with the National Corn Growers Association. The local NASCAR Nationwide Series STP 300 race on Saturday provided his company with an opportunity to make a special contribution to the effort. He says NASCAR is very popular with his employees and the farmers who send in about 150 trucks of corn a day to the plant. Mark Marquis Interview

You can hear Mark’s introduction of Kenny and Kenny’s remarks in this video clip:

Marquis Energy Appreciation Day Photos

Domestic Fuel goes NASCAR this weekend. I’ll start things off with the Nationwide Series STP 300 at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday with support from the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. Then Cindy will pick up at the Sprint Cup Series STP 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday with support from the National Corn Growers Association. It is going to be fun. So why are we doing this? Because these speed machines are running on a fifteen percent blend of ethanol thanks to a long term sponsorship deal between NASCAR and American Ethanol.

I got my trip started off today at Marquis Energy in Hennepin, IL. The company is a major sponsor of the #09 car that Kenny Wallace will be driving in Joliet, IL on Saturday. Kenny and the actual car he’ll be driving (pictured) made an appearance today at Marquis Energy’s Appreciation Day festivities. I’ll have some interviews to share with you later from that event. In the meantime you can see photos, including more of the car and Kenny online: Marquis Energy Appreciation Day Photos.

While one biofuels group has expressed concern about Open Fuel Standard legislation, the three main ethanol organizations in the country are in favor of it.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen says they endorse the Open Fuel Standard Act introduced by Representatives John Shimkus and Elliot Engel. Additionally, the RFA has endorsed similar legislation offered by Senators Tom Harkin and Richard Lugar. “Ethanol remains the only proven, widely available alternative to gasoline today and will so for the foreseeable future,” Dinneen said. “Investments in vehicle technologies that can accommodate a wide range of ethanol blends will necessarily expand the market for ethanol and create new opportunities for developing and nearly commercial ethanol technologies. More ethanol-ready vehicles are a critical component to the nation’s strategy to end our addiction to oil.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Executive Vice President Brian Jennings says the legislation offers a wide range of fuel choices for both consumers and energy independence advocates. “ACE strongly supports the Open Fuels Standard because it provides consumers with meaningful fuel choices, including American-made ethanol. With gas prices hovering at four dollars a gallon, and with oil companies unapologetic about massive profits, and refusing to even consider changes to their favored tax status, it is time for us to create real competition in the fuel marketplace, and this legislation does just that,” he said.

“Each additional Flex Fuel vehicle on the road gives consumers a choice in their fuels, while lowering the price at the pump and strengthening our energy security,” said Growth Energy President Jim Nussle. “Our nation’s dependence on foreign oil is unsustainable and is hurting our economy and national security. It’s time to invest in smart policies like these that will create competition in the fuels market and break the stronghold that oil companies and Middle East cartels have on our nation.”

H.R. 1687, the Open Fuel Standard Act of 2011, would require that 50 percent of new automobiles in 2014, 80 percent in 2016, and 95 percent in 2017 would be warranted to operate on non-petroleum fuels in addition to, or instead of, petroleum based fuels.

The Open Fuel Standard is not the only piece of fuel legislation that has been proposed recently. On May 27, 2011, the Propane Green Autogas Solutions Act was introduced to the House of Representatives and Senate by House Republican Conference Secretary Representative John Carter (R-TX) along with Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD). The bill aims to extend existing propane autogas tax credits through 2016 for the purchase of propane-powered vehicles as well as to the refueling infrastructure and fuel itself.

Other legislators sponsoring the Propane GAS Act include Representatives Dan Boren (D-OK) and Mike Rogers (R-AL), as well as Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

“Providing more incentives for vehicles using propane autogas can play a key role in infusing competition into the U.S. transportation fuel market, stimulating job growth and reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” said U.S. Congressman John Carter (R-TX). “Propane is a proven and cleaner-burning alternative fuel. This bill puts into motion the necessary steps to help solidify a place for propane autogas on the nation’s menu of fuels that insures a more cost-effective, domestically produced fuel option exists for American drivers.”

According to organizations such as CleanFUEL USA, propane autogas is the most widely used alternative fuel in the world and the third most used fuel after gasoline and diesel. Today, it is primarily used in the transportation sector in fleet vehicles. More than 90 percent of the propane used in the states is produced in North America and a national infrastructure is already in place.

Curtis Donaldson, founder and CEO of CleanFUEL USA said of the proposed bill, “Our nation’s supply and demand issues for transportation fuel is teetering on a tipping point of no return – one where all viable options should be on the table. Propane autogas is the ‘right here, right now’ fuel, and we applaud Congressman Carter in initiating the Propane GAS Act. As a U.S. Representative for Texas (a global leader in the energy industry), Carter truly understands both the needs and opportunities to diversify our energy mix and his efforts on this bill is a clear indication of that.”

A new analysis done by Advanced Biofuels USA finds that the Open Fuel Standard (OFS) is “bad for advanced biofuels and will add to environmental damage if passed and implemented.”

The Open Fuel Standard Act was introduced recently in the House and a similar bill in the Senate. The bills mandate that specific percentages of vehicles be built to operate on alternative fuels. However, Robert Kozak with Advanced Biofuels USA says while on the surface that may seem to benefit the biofuel industry, “there is a very significant part of the “alternative fuels” definition that should give all biofuel, and especially advanced biofuel producers pause.”

Of main concern to Kozak is the inclusion of “methanol produced from non-renewable natural gas … on equal grounds with renewable biofuels.”

“For the biofuels market, implementation of the OFS would immediately mean that gasoline blenders could use a 10% natural gas (NG) methanol to meet EPA oxygenate requirements. Depending on the price charged by a large methanol producer such as Methanex for the initial sale of NG-methanol, existing ethanol sales could plummet,” according to Kozak.

Read the analysis here.

Congressman Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) this week introduced legislation that would require all gasoline sold in the U.S. to carry country-of-origin labeling (COOL).

“I am introducing legislation in the House that would require a label that clearly states the nation of origin for the fuel you’re pumping,” Braley said in a Huffington Post op-ed yesterday, penned with retired General Wesley Clark of Growth Energy. “The legislation, dubbed “COOL for Fuels,” will require the Department of Energy to conduct a study and implement its recommendations to ensure American consumers have the ability to decide at the gas pump whether they want to purchase domestic fuel products or gas produced by potentially hostile oil-producing nations.”

Clark urged the public to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of Congressman Braley’s country-of-origin labeling legislation. “Americans need to know what this addiction is costing us in real terms, and country-of-origin labeling is a commonsense way to get that message across,” said Clark.

Growth Energy president Jim Nussle says the law would create more market transparency for American consumers of foreign petroleum. “Congressman Braley’s bill would let U.S. drivers know where they are sending their dollars when they fill up at the pump. American motorists should know where their money is going – whether it is staying here or being sent overseas to the coffers of foreign nations,” said Nussle.

Growth Energy first introduced the concept of country of origin labeling for fuel during a press conference at the 2009 Farm Progress Show.

Typically flex fuel vehicles are a combination of ethanol and gasoline or diesel and biodiesel. But inroads have been made to create flex fuel vehicles that use a combination of ethanol and diesel fuels. Iveco, FPT Industrial and Bosch officially debuted the Iveco Trakker Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel vehicle at Agrishow last week in Ribeirão Preto, the country’s largest agricultural show.

The Takker contains an FPT Industrial Cursor 9 engine that can run on an ethanol and diesel mixture and is geared toward sugarcane and ethanol producers in the country. In early tests, the vehicle has successfully been using a 40 percent ethanol / 60 percent diesel blend and providing a 6 percent reduction in fuel costs. Development of the bi-flex vehicle began in 2010 with support from UNICA, the Brazilian Association of Sugarcane Producers and part of an ethanol industry “green policies” program.

The next step is for the prototype to be tested by Raizen, a joint venture company between Cosan and Shell during the 2011 harvest.

“We are still at the early stages of development and certainly we expect to reach a higher Ethanol-Diesel substitution rate bringing even lower operational costs,” said Renato Mastrobuono, Product Development Director for Iveco Latin America.

The Iveco Trakker Bi-Fuel prototype is a 6×4 truck used for 63 ton GCM that can be used in several applications on the sugar-cane plantations, such as articulated liquid tank transport. It uses a 360CvCommon Rail Cursor 9 engine. The truck has two tanks – one for ethanol and one for diesel- as well as an electronic control unit for each fuel, a pressure pump for the ethanol system and a lambda sensor for the exhaust manifold.

The ethanol is injected directly into the intake manifold during the admission stage. After the compression stage, the diesel is injected to promote combustion, and the system does not need any anti-knock additives.

“Another plus of the Bi-Fuel technology is that the engine can be fully reversed to diesel only application, which will make it easier to resell the vehicle after its use in the sugar-cane environment,” added Mastrobuono.

Global Wind Day is around the corner on June 15, 2011. Organized by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the groups hope to use the day to educate people about the benefits of wind energy through fun activities. Last year there were 220 events in 29 countries that took place from Austria to Australia, to Japan and Germany to Canada, Uruguay and the Ukraine, citizens will be able to participate in various activities including parachuting from wind turbines, watch open air theater, build kites for kite surfing and visit wind farms. In addition, there will be wind industry job fairs throughout the world.

“With wind, we can achieve a genuine energy revolution, and on 15 June, people on all continents celebrate the promises that wind power holds for our planet,” said GWEC’s Chairman Klaus Rave.

Event highlights include the German Technology Museum in Berlin opening its doors for a wind energy exhibition and an announcement in New York City of WindMade – an initiative to develop a consumer label for companies and products using wind power.

EWEA President Arthouros Zervos added, “Fukushima, the Arab spring and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have created enormous public interest in the future of energy. Global Wind Day encourages citizens to find out for themselves how wind can make our energy supply more secure and environmentally friendly.”

To learn more about events near you visit www.globalwindday.org.

Two renewable energy programs designed to help make America more energy independent were slashed in the spending bill passed Tuesday night by the House Appropriations Committee.

The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) which provides grants and loan guarantees to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to help purchase renewable energy systems, including ethanol blender pumps, was cut from the current $75 million to just $1.3 million, but that was at least a slight victory since the program was slated for elimination. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) sponsored the amendment which salvaged the small amount that will allow USDA to continue to operate the program for the time being. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack just announced in April that the program could be used to install blender pumps, with a goal of installing 10,000 pumps nationwide in the next five years. Last week, he was in Tennessee promoting the program.

At the same time, the committee provided no funding for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) in the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill, despite pleas from a variety of agriculture, biofuels and even environmental organizations. “BCAP is just beginning to take shape in transforming rural America’s contribution to the nation’s renewable energy supply,” the groups wrote in a letter to committee leadership. “BCAP provides critical assistance to help farmers and foresters plant and collect next generation, purpose grown energy crops and other biomass that are key to ensuring the near‐term commercialization of low‐carbon advanced biofuels, power, and products. Failing to strongly fund BCAP in FY 2012 will severely stunt the development of these new dedicated energy crops just at a time when they are needed to further develop domestic sources of energy.”

The bill now goes to the full House for a vote but is likely to change substantially in the Senate.

A new report, “Growing a Better Future,” has the ethanol industry up in arms over its accusation that U.S. biofuel policy is leading to world hunger. The report kicked off a new worldwide GROW campaign spearheaded by the organization. The report covers the symptoms of today’s broken food system: growing hunger, flat-lining yields, a scramble for fertile land and water, and rising food prices while the GROW campaign attempts to overcome these issues.

The report predicts that the price of food, already at a record high, will more than double in the next 20 years. In addition, by 2050, demand for food will rise 70 percent, yet the report says the world’s capacity to increase food production is declining. A contributor to these issues: global climate change and pro biofuel policies throughout the world.

“Our world is capable of feeding all of humanity yet one in seven of us are hungry today,” said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam. “In this new age of crisis, as climate change impacts become increasingly severe and fertile land and fresh water supplies become increasingly scarce, feeding the world will get harder still. Millions more men, women and children will go hungry unless we transform our broken food system.”

Both Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association acknowledge that Oxfam is partially correct in their identifying the role that high oil prices and international trade have on the price of corn. However, they diverge with the report on biofuels being a cause of starving “millions of people” as the report purports.

“Oxfam is wrong to propose ending the Renewable Fuel Standard or the biofuels tax credit, as these are the most effective policies we have to displace oil – a primary driver of rising grocery prices,” said Jim Nussle, Growth Energy President. “It is unfair and erroneous to single out ethanol for high food prices, especially because the U.S. ethanol industry uses just three percent of the global grain supply on a net basis.”

RFA President Bob Dinneen highlighted the significant improvements in agriculture over the past few decades and called for more widespread adoption of improved agricultural practices worldwide. “The same opportunities at varying scales are available to farm communities in developing nations. Together with improved farming technologies, local biofuel production can provide developing rural economies with the kind of economic prosperity needed to become more food secure,” concluded Dinneen.

Memorial Day may be over but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think about our veterans for another year. This past holiday, Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC) and the FlexFuel Vehicle Awareness Campaign partnered with the Volunteers of Underage Military Service (VUMS) with a procession of ethanol and hybrid electric vehicles in a Memorial Day parade in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the event was to showcase the role ethanol has in the country’s quest for national security and domestic clean energy.

One of the participants of the event was Marine Lt. Col. (ret) William C. Holmberg, a VUM and board member of American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). “Our slogan is There is no National Security without Energy Security,” said Holmberg. “Groups like CFDC, Ethanol Across America, the Flexible Fuel Vehicle Awareness Campaign and ACORE work every day to increase that awareness. Marching together in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the memorials helps people get the connection that much of the unrest around the globe has links to oil. Increasing our supply of domestic fuels makes our nation safer and more secure, plain and simple.”

The procession included the CFDC/Ethanol Across America FlexFuel Chevy Avalanche and Novozymes’ FlexFuel Vehicle promoting biomass to ethanol. Today there are more than 9 million flex fuel vehicles on the road. Doug Durante, director of the Ethanol Across America program noted that if these vehicles ran on fuels such as ethanol the country could immediately reduce its reliance on foreign sources of oil and military costs associated with protecting oil interests.

“It is an honor for us to be part of the salute to all those who have served. Our generation sees the loss of jobs, wealth, and military cost of importing more than 60% of our oil, and we have an opportunity to do something about it,” said Durante. “If reducing our dependence on oil keeps us out of one less conflict, and keeps young Americans from having to be memorialized, then we should all be working toward that goal.”

Col. Holmberg concluded by adding, “Alternative fuel, high-mileage vehicles and ethanol are our front lines in securing a more secure energy future for America, and, by the way, major artillery in our climate change battles.”

Principal Solar, Inc. (PSI) has announced its acquisition of Capstone Solar, a news and networking site geared to solar professionals. Terms were not disclosed but Principal Solar said the deal fits within their unique company solar strategy. Capstone Co-Founder Dan Bedell said it is great to find a group of people so committed to the advancement of solar power as the PSI team and he believes the company has the wherewithal to bring its vision to fruition.

“We look forward to combining Capstone’s interactive web conferences and dynamic communities with the existing resource base of PSI’s Definitive Solar Library—an online library that is under development and dedicated exclusively to the solar industry,” said Rick Borry, co-founder of Capstone and chief technology officer at PSI.

Michael Gorton, CEO and Chairman of PSI added that with the favorable and competitive cost of photovoltaics he has complete confidence that his company’s model will be a “unifying force” for making solar energy available worldwide.

New data shows that responsible harvesting of biomass for ethanol can be part of good soil management efforts for farmland.

Iowa State University has completed analysis on data from the third year of an ongoing study for POET’s “Project LIBERTY” near Emmetsburg, Iowa to monitor how soil health is affected when crop residue is removed. The planned 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant will use corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk to produce renewable fuel.

According to POET, the latest data shows that “removing about 1 bone-dry ton per acre (which is about 25 percent of the area’s above-ground crop residue) will not cause significant nutrient loss. In fact, corn yields continued to show no yield loss or moderate increases in fields with this rate of biomass removal.”

“Based on this study, we conclude that 1½ to 2 tons/acre of corn stover can safely be harvested” from fields similar to those used in the study, according to the research summary prepared by Dr. Douglas L. Karlen with USDA-Agricultural Research Service and Dr. Stuart Birrell with Iowa State University. Appropriate removal rates will vary depending on how productive the soil is in a specific area.

Project LIBERTY Director Jim Sturdevant said POET is committed to a conservative approach to biomass harvesting. “We’re contracting for fewer tons per acre to ensure good soil management even in years when yields are lower. Also, our farmers have moved away from traditional methods of stover removal: of chopping, raking, baling and leaving the field black,” he said.

Farmers harvesting for POET typically turn off the chopper on their combines and leave windrows behind during grain harvest. Farmers do not rake the biomass before the baler gathers it. Last fall, 85 farmers harvested 56,000 tons of biomass, and they are almost finished delivering it to Project LIBERTY’s 22-acre stackyard.