Domestic Fuel

The Governator is pushing for the development of alternative fuels in his state. Green Star Products has this release on their website. Visit the website for the full release.

Last Thursday September 29, 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger of California signed into law a proposal authored by State Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) that would allow public agencies and utilities to use vehicles that run off of biodiesel and biodiesel blends.

American Biofuels (ABF), a biodiesel producing company which is 35% owned by Green Star Products, Inc. (OTC: GSPI), has been working with the California Energy Commission for some time now to establish production and usage criteria for the State of California.

We’ve been pointing you to news about how different states are considering or expanding on legislation to mandate the use of ethanol in gasoline. The National Corn Growers Association put out a story today on their “News of the Day” that summarizes some of these efforts.

The United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development just announced a number of grants, some of which will be used for the development and promotion of alternative fuels.

Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns today announced the selection of 171 applications from 42 states to receive over $14.6 million in USDA Rural Development grant assistance under the Value Added Producer Grant program.

Some of the energy-related grants include:

The Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board will receive a grant to determine the viability of marketing bio-diesel fuel made by a producer-owned soybean processing plant. Businesses and producers in California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin will receive grants to assess the feasibility of marketing ethanol and bio-diesel, or other types of renewable energy. A total of 32 energy related grants were awarded this year. A complete list of the grants is available on the USDA web site at: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

The Value-Added Producer Grant program was authorized by the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-224) and the 2002 Farm Bill (P.L. 107-171).

According to a release from the Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance the west coast may become a serious green technology “powerhouse.”

The Sacramento region has the potential to explode into a powerhouse for clean energy research and technology in much the same way that Santa Clara became Silicon Valley.

That’s the conclusion of a report just released by the Clean Energy Business Incubator Project of the McClellan Technology Incubator and the Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA). The report, titled Clean Energy in the Capitol Corridor: Making the Region a Green Powerhouse, details the many benefits that exist for the area when it comes to clean energy technology.

The report defines a number of ways that the development of green technology companies would benefit the region including:

The addition of more than 10,000 high-paying jobs in thriving businesses and research centers
New opportunities for Central Valley farmers to grow high-value crops for fuel, chemicals and medicines
New export trade possibilities, tapping into the $100 billion per year global market for clean energy
A substantial increase in energy efficiency and a huge reduction in dependence on fossil fuels

In order to spart interest in companies so they’ll invest in the area the report is to spark venture capital interest in the area by proposing a $50,000 competition among the region’s high-technology start-up companies to help synergize and leverage the vast capabilities of the area’s clean energy intelligence and research expertise.

The contest, which proposes to offer a $25,000 grand prize, $15,000 second prize and $10,000 people’s choice award will be designed to challenge the Capital Region’s many high-tech companies and entrepreneurs to create business plans designed to bring clean energy technologies to the market.

This is an interesting story in the INQ7.net about a former Miss Universe who is now championing alternative fuels as what they describe “Ms Fuels For Life.” The story was actually published in the Phillipine Daily Inquirer. Margie Moran was Miss Universe in 1973 and is working with her government’s Clean City program and the U. S. Dept. of Energy and the United States Agency for International Development on this project. In the Phillipines they make biodiesel out of coconuts and ethanol out of sugar.

The state of Missouri is re-launching a program that the state’s Treasurer, Sarah Steelman, says will “help finance ethanol production plants in our state to reduce our dependence of foreign oil and expand markets for Missouri farm products.” That’s from a story in today’s St. Louis Business Journal. The program is now called BIG Missouri Linked-Deposit Program.

In Phoenix, AZ gas mixed with ethanol will become available starting this Saturday. A story in the Tuscon Citizen says that the new fuel option is “aimed at reducing particulate emissions.” This should help with the ozone alerts the city has been having.

In Boston car buyers may soon have some huge incentives to buy a hybrid car that will run on alternative fuel like ethanol. In a story on The Daily News Online, the state senate unanimously passed a bill yesterday that would save car buyers by not having to pay tax on the vehicle and a $2,000 income tax break! These are just part of the provisions of the alternative energy plan bill. The bill would also require 50 percent of state-owned vehicles to run on alternative fuel by 2010.

Nothing like having an Oscar-winning actor on your board! Earth Biofuels is a biodiesel company that now has Morgan Freeman on board!

Meadows Springs, Inc. dba Earth Biofuels, Inc. today announced changes to its Board of Directors and the appointment of new executive officers. In addition to the two newly appointed members, Mr. Dennis McLaughlin, current Chairman and CEO of Apollo Resources International, and Mr. Tommy Johnson, CEO of Earth Biofuels, Inc., the Board appointed 3 new members: popular actor Mr. Morgan Freeman, Mr. Bill Luckett, and Mr. Bruce Blackwell. Additionally, Mr. Johnson was elected CEO of the Company.

Mr. Freeman said, “I am pleased to accept the invitation to serve on the Earth Biofuels Board of Directors. I firmly believe that alternative fuel supplies need to be developed to allow the United States to wean itself off of its significant dependence on foreign oil. Moreover, I feel that our development of alternative sources such as biodiesel fuel will help the environment, farmers, and the economy in general. I look forward to participating in the growth of this company as well as the alternative fuels industry.”

A lot of people think ethanol is only made from corn and here in the United States that seems to be the case. However, there are other commodities than can be used in the production of ethanol and one of those is sugar cane. A story in today’s Planet Ark out of Sao Paulo, Brazil talks about how ethanol itself is becoming a world traded commodity spurred on by the introduction of flex-fueled vehicles. According to the story, “Brazilian sugar cane mills say they are getting better deals to sell ethanol fuel abroad by extending what used to be only spot market sales into longer-term contracts with flexible pricing, especially with the rise in world oil prices.”

The story says that now people are wondering how much sugar cane will be diverted from sugar production to the production of fuel (ethanol).

With all the ways people are trying to help hurricane victims it was great to see how a "home-grown" renewable fuel is helping out. Yep, biodiesel in the news again. This story comes from the National Biodiesel Board.

Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort Fueled with Biodiesel

“This was the first area hit and it has received little emergency aid or attention,” said Josh Tickell, biodiesel advocate and founder of the Veggie Van Organization. “Thanks to the biodiesel fuel donated by West Central and the donations we received online, we'll be able to help people who need it most and document the work on our website. A second biodiesel tanker truck will meet us in Louisiana.” Tickell, who is going on the voyage, grew up in Louisiana and has been promoting biodiesel since 1997, when he toured the United States in his biodiesel powered “Veggie Van.”

What's really interesting about the Veggie Van Organization is that Josh has a blog hosted within his website so you can read about his experiences! He's even using audio so you can listen to him, although when I tried to download the files they were unavailable.

We’re not only about ethanol here at DomesticFuel. How about biodiesel? All these renewable, alternative fuels are getting more and more attention these days. I caught this story in the Gainesville Sun. Hey, I went to college there!

It looks like a group has been formed to promote the use of biofuels and the story starts out describing a lady who is putting homemade biodiesel in her truck. Apparently the biodiesel supply hasn’t developed way down south yet. It’s only a matter of time though.

How about this story in today’s Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette about the local community school system planning to convert their 300 buses to biodiesel? They’re applying for a state grant to pay for the conversion. High fuel prices are helping people realize the common sense in developing and moving to these alternative fuel choices.

When there are so many reasons why it makes sense to use domestically produced fuel you have to wonder why anyone would object but people do. Part of the reason is a lack of facts and common sense. In Wisconsin there’s an effort to mandate a 10percent blend of ethanol and gas but according to a story today in the GazetteXtra this is being fought hard by an unlikely coalition of environmental and oil-interest groups. The story makes it sound like there’s more emotion involved than fact.

A number of states already have this type of legislation like Missesota, Montana and Hawaii. Others are considering it like Iowa according to a story today on WOI-TV that says that Iowa Representative Jim Nussle has introduced a bill that would make 20 percent of Iowa’s energy come from renewable sources by 2010.

Legislation is pending in Missouri to mandate a 10% blend of ethanol in that state.

In just a few short months the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has done a tremendous job to bring good information to consumers who want to know about putting it in their cars. The man behind EPIC is Tom Slunecka, executive director. I interviewed Tom for a weekly program on our sister website, AgWired.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.7MB)

It’s off to Watkins Glen tomorrow for the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix! Why do we care? Because these cars will be powered by ethanol by 2007. That’s why. That’s because ethanol is a high performance fuel and it’s got to be if these guys are going to put in in their cars and cruise at 220mph plus.

Although he’s not in this race you need to be following team Hemelgarn’s #91, currently driven by Jimmy Kite. You may remember how he stepped in for the injured Paul Dana at the Indy 500. You can see quite a bit of that race experience by visiting our sister site, AgWired, which was around before DomesticFuel. Anyway, it’s Ron Hemelgarn and Paul Dana who have had a lot to do with helping convince the IRL to make the switch to ethanol. That’s why #91 is the “ethanol car.”

Update to this post: Scott Dixon won the race today and Dan Wheldon won the IRL title.

You’ve really got to sit up and take notice when a company like Archer Daniels Midland decides to invest so heavily in a project like the one they announced yesterday. This is a very successful company and they see that the future growth of the ethanol business is a positive one. I say let’s keep turning that corn into ethanol. I’d much rather put that in my car than something imported from another country!!

Archer Daniels Midland Company announced plans to expand ethanol capacity by 500 million gallons through the construction of two new dry corn milling facilities. The facilities will be located adjacent to the Company’s existing ethanol plants. “We are pleased to leverage our extensive experience in the ethanol market to help meet increased demands for ethanol,” stated Edward A. Harjehausen, ADM Senior Vice President. “Ethanol demand is growing rapidly as the world’s energy requirements are being met increasingly from renewable agricultural sources such as corn.” Construction, expected to be complete in early 2008, is dependent on final engineering and permit approval.

I know we’re all about “domestic” fuel here so all I’m trying to do is show you that this is big time stuff. I think the regular media sometimes tries to make people think this ethanol thing is just something dreamed up by a bunch of corn farmers. Not!

Anyway, the folks at BBI International put on some great conferences if you want to learn about ethanol. This one’s in China of all places. It’s the World BioFuels Symposium and it’ll be held in Beijing.

It gets started with a tour of what they claim is the world’s largest ethanol plant – the Jilin Fuel Ethanol Company in Jilin, China November 11. This is one of two plant tours they have arranged. Apparently China is facing a big fuel shortage and with severe air pollution problems they’re looking to renewable fuels like ethanol.

Doesn’t that just make sense?