Domestic Fuel

By the end of this year, the Ukraine will be home to what is believed to be the largest solar power plant in Europe. The solar power farm is expected to produce up to 100,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, or 80 MW and makes it not only the largest in Europe but one of the largest in the world. The project is part of the country’s national Natural Energy project that was launched in 2010. Ultimately the country’s goal is to produce 2,000 MW of electricity from wind and solar energy or nearly 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.

Once the construction is entirely completed, the area of the power station will equal 207 football fields. The solar power produced should be enough to power 20,000 average sized households.

Austrian-based Activ Solar is in charge of the project, and company CEO Kavel Ertefai said, “A project of this scale means a radical change of solar energy development in Europe, while securing Ukraine’s position as renewable energy provider.”

The country funds its energy saving projects by the profits the government receives from selling CO2 under the Kyoto protocol. In 2009, revenues from CO2 sales to Japan alone were nearly $400 million U.S. dollars. Today, Ukraine ranks 12th in energy rankings with installed renewable energy capacity of 54 GW.

Ten new government-funded research projects were announced today to help accelerate bioenergy feedstock production.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a waste-to-energy bioprocessing facility under construction in Florida today to announce that the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Energy (DOE) have awarded 10 grants totaling $12.2 million to spur research into improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy crops. The grants are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to develop domestic renewable energy and advanced biofuels, providing a more secure future for America’s energy needs and creating new opportunities for the American farming industry.

“USDA is helping our nation develop the next generation of biofuels to grow jobs and generate energy from new, homegrown sources,” said Vilsack. “Combining DOE’s leadership in genome-scale technologies with USDA’s experience in crop improvement will accelerate the efficient production of biofuels.”

The 10 projects are located in California, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.

Vilsack made the announcement at the INEOS New Planet BioEnergy facility in Vero Beach, Fla., which was granted a conditional USDA loan guarantee earlier this year to help build and operate a biorefinery capable of producing 8 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol and 6 megawatts of electricity.

Today’s USDA and DOE joint announcement will also benefit Florida by providing grant funding to the University of Florida in Gainesville to improve energy production from cane biomass. The project will produce a range of foundational genetic resources and genetic makers for energy cane breeders to efficiently develop energy cane cultivars with increased biomass production and reduced input requirement.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has concluded its Billion Ton Study that was first conducted in 2005. This new version of the report confirms that America has ample biomass resources including grasses, ag wastes, and wood wastes among others to meet America’s national renewable fuel goals. One goal of the study was to assess the amount of biomass available that would not impact U.S. farms and forest products such as food, feed and fiber crops.

“Developing the next generation of American biofuels and bioenergy will help diversify our energy portfolio, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and produce new clean energy jobs,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “This study identifies resources here at home that can help grow America’s bioenergy industry and support new economic opportunities for rural America.”

The study confirms that there are ample volumes of biomass feedstocks available for conversion into ethanol and other biofuels that would meet the requirements as set forth in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The RFS sets out a goal of producing 21 billion gallons of fuel by 2022 from advanced or cellulosic biofuels – in other words, biofuels produced from non-starch crops. The DOE study states, “This potential resource is more than sufficient to provide feedstock to produce the required 20 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels. The high-yield scenario demonstrates potential at the $60 price that far exceeds the RFS mandate.”

Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council said of the study, “America has both the resources and the know-how to break our addiction to foreign oil. What is lacking is the political will to stand up to oil special interests and level the playing field for all biofuels, including next generation ethanol, to compete. Scores of promising technologies are ready for commercial deployment, but are being held up by an unstable and unpredictable policy climate.”

He concluded, “In order to deploy these technologies to harness the potential of America’s vast biomass resources, and to compete in the global race to produce next generation fuels, consistent and stable policy relating to biofuels is essential. That means continuing investment in new technologies, expanding refueling opportunities for domestically produced, non-petroleum fuels like ethanol, and protecting the integrity and the intent of the RFS.”

The Traveling Wall by AVTT was on display at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This wall contains names of those who have lost their life in service to our country, defending our freedom. I met Charlie Weatherly and John Barron both of whom work for AVTT and travel with the exhibit. Outside of the interview with them which you can listen to below John told me that he’s been using ethanol mixed fuel in his motorcycle for years and has never had any problems with it.

AVTT (www.avtt.org) is a veteran-owned project that travels the USA to provide a forum for communities to HONOR-RESPECT-REMEMBER all who have sacrificed their lives for our country’s freedom. In so doing, AVTT also honors all Veterans and those currently serving, by letting them know they will never be forgotten. AVTT is funded through sponsorship fees, donations, and sale of merchandise at events. Donations to support AVTT’s mission are qualified charitable tax deductions through The Traveling Wall Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.

Learn more about the Traveling Wall in my interview: Traveling Wall Interview

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album

U.S. Senator Harkin (D-IA) will be speaking at the 24th Annual Ethanol Conference hosted by the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). The event will be taking place on August 22-24 in Des Moines with Harkin presenting on Wednesday, August 24th.

“We are honored that Senator Harkin will be joining us for our 24th annual ethanol conference,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of ACE. “He has been a champion for ethanol in the Senate, particularly when it comes to consumer fuel choice with his legislation calling for the deployment of more Flexible Fuel Vehicles and blender pumps.”

Senator Harkin was elected to Congress in 1974. After serving ten years in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was elected to the Senate in 1984. He has been re-elected in 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2008. During his time in Congress, Harkin has been a strong supporter of ethanol in his capacity as a senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Recently, the Senator introduced the Biofuels Market Expansion Act of 2011. The legislation mandates that a large majority of vehicles sold in the US be flex-fuel, requires major fuel distributors to install blender pumps and offers federal loan guarantees for ethanol pipelines.

“The ethanol industry is making history by challenging the decades-old dominance of petroleum-based fuels in our transportation systems,” said Harkin. “Supplying 10 percent of our gasoline demand is a huge accomplishment, but the byproduct of this success is critical market infrastructure needs. We need actions to enable ethanol and other biofuels to increase that to 20 percent, and then to 30 percent and beyond. Those levels of domestic biofuel supplies, coupled with increasing vehicle efficiencies, truly can eliminate our need for oil imports as well as the insecurities that come with those imports.”

For more information about the conference and to register visit ACE’s website.

The power of the sun wins tractor pulls.

Tractors fueled by SunPower Biodiesel took both first and second place in Northern Wisconsin Tractor Pull event, part of Almena Fun Days, and first in the Turtle Lake Fair Tractor Pull, also in Wisconsin. The winning tractors were running on B99 – a 99% biodiesel blend.

The winners were from DRM Farms and Schep’s Dairy, which also use SunPower Biodiesel in their off-road and on-road equipment and vehicles. SunPower Biodiesel, LLC produces premium cold flow biodiesel made mostly of canola.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is scheduled to pay a visit to a Florida advanced biofuel plant on Thursday afternoon.

Vilsack will tour the INEOS New Planet BioEnergy facility in Vero Beach. The company received a $75 million USDA loan guarantee earlier this year to help build and operate a biorefinery capable of producing eight million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol and six megawatts of electricity from waste. The plant broke ground in February and is expected to be complete by spring of 2012.

At INEOS, Vilsack will announce a series of joint USDA and Department of Energy grants to spur research into improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy crops.

The Andersons has an ethanol division that operates three ethanol plants in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio that are collectively capable of producing 300 million gallons of ethanol, but that is just a small part of the 60-year-old company’s diverse business interests

I learned a lot about The Andersons this week on the Conservation Technology Information Center 2011 Conservation in Action Tour in northwest Ohio. The diversified company, which was started in the late 1940′s by Harold Anderson, has various business divisions including the grain and ethanol, plant nutrients, railcar leasing and repair, turf products production, and consumer retailing industries.

Al Bensch, vice president of northern operations for The Andersons Plant Nutrient Group, spoke on one of the three tour buses as we drove past much of the company’s Maumee, Ohio operations. “We’re basic in commodity markets, grain and fertilizer,” he said. The Grain Division operates grain terminals in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Nebraska with storage capacity of 107 million bushels.

They got into the ethanol business as a natural extension of the grain division back in 2005, starting with a joint venture in Michigan, then adding the Clymers, Indiana plant and finally the one in Greenville, Ohio. “We are not the majority owner of those (plants), we’re a minority,” said Bensch. “Marathon is a partner in one and I think that was the first time a major oil company got involved in the ethanol business.” (See our post from November 2006)

Listen to some of Al’s comments here: Al Bensch, The Andersons

Here’s Lori Visker, Mrs. South Dakota, with two of the guys on the team that’s promoting Ethanol, Fueled with Pride, at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I met Lori last night during an industry partners reception and we chatted about her participation in the rally and ethanol. Like me Lori is a first timer at Sturgis and she brought her own bike to ride.

When it comes to ethanol she knows that it is important to the economy, especially in rural America. She says it helps us take care of ourselves and the environment.

Listen to my interview with Lori here: Interview with Mrs. South Dakota

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album

The owner of the Buffalo Chip Campground is Rod “Woody” Woodruff, seen here at a press conference during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The focus of the concerts and events is The Chip as it’s called.

I visited with Woody in his office and learned how he got this event started out here on the property that’s just three miles outside the city of Sturgis. Woody was born in South Dakota but had moved to San Francisco. He came back and wound up staying. He says the city fathers were kind of fed up with the Rally and he thought it would be “just like throwing a keg party in high school,” so he started one just outside of town.

Woody says the relationship with the Renewable Fuels Association as a sponsor of the Rally was a natural fit. He says that a long time ago a local co-op told him he should use the fuel. “I’ve been using it in my own vehicles for however long that’s been and exclusively.” He says he even notices getting better fuel economy!

Listen to my interview with Woody here: Interview with Woody at The Chip

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album

His name is Rupert Boneham but everyone knows him as Rupert, winner of Survivor. Rupert is one of the folks I’ve had the pleasure to meet here at the 2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. In the photo he’s being interviewed on the street before the Legends Ride. I ran into him again out here where I’m staying at the Buffalo Chip Campground.

Rupert has a charitable organization called, “Rupert’s Kids” which is “dedicated to serving an easily overlooked population of youth: those that have become too old for the youth social service system, but are not old enough for the adult social service system. We teach these youth valuable skills and trades, while also empowering them to discover their inner strengths, passions and interests.” I heard him speak about the work his organization is doing and the fact that they’ve never taken any government money. That message alone was well worth bringing to your attention. With donations lagging due to the economy he’s turned to some very creative ways to create funding that includes his own branded video games.

Rupert is from Indiana and is also a big supporter of home grown fuel like ethanol!

Listen to my interview with Rupert here: Interview with Rupert

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What do you think the biggest safety issue is at a biorefinery?” Here’s what you said. 43% said interaction with chemicals, 34% said, slips, grips and falls, 14% chose equipment and 9% other. We’ll be delving into this issue more in a series of stories that are in production now. Thanks for your input!

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What do you like best about farm radio?” Your input and thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

Butamax has been granted another patent - number 7,993,889. This patent protects foundational methods for low-cost production of biobutanol. Currently, Butamax has over a hundred patent applications pending in addition to those already granted and several of the applications are under accelerated review in the USPTO Green Technology Pilot Program. The company says its intellectual property encompasses advances in technology across the renewables value chain including the production, purification and use of biobutanol as a renewable fuel component.

“The strength of Butamax’s patent portfolio is a testament to our company’s innovation capability and is a critical asset as we commercialize the most significant new fuel molecule since ethanol,” said Paul Beckwith, CEO of Butamax.

Peter Matrai, COO of Butamax added, “Butamax’s comprehensive intellectual property estate offers licensees a unique commercial opportunity underpinned by a fully proprietary technology package.”

In other Butamax news, they announced the filing of a second patent infringement against Gevo, Inc. for its unlawful use of Butamax biobutanol technology. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S District Court in the District of Delaware and is based on Gevo’s infringement of U.S. patent no. 7,993,889 that was granted to Butamax just this week.

Beckwith said of the patent infringement, “The success of any new technology start-up is dependent on protection of innovation. It is our obligation to assert our intellectual property rights in order to defend value for our partners and to protect the viability of this emerging industry.”

Each year at the Legends Ride, now in its 4th year, photographer Michael Lichter, takes a photo of the participants in front of the famous Franklin Hotel in Deadwood, SD. He gets a little higher angle than I did but these are the folks that were about to take off on their bikes for the ride yesterday.

Rfa’s Robert White has his bike here and took part in the ride. At the end of this video clip you’ll see him wave as he rides by me on the street.

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album

During the Legends Ride activities here at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally a press conference was held. The lineup of speakers included personalities like Rupert, one of the winners of Survivor. Also on the list was Robert White, Renewable Fuels Association.

I recorded Robert speaking to the standing room only filled room of media. You can listen to Robert’s statement here: Robert White Press Conference

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album