Domestic Fuel

The Philadelphia Eagles color is green, and officials with the organization also want to make it a way of life. According to a press release on the team’s web site, owner Christina Lurie says employees living in the Philadelphia area and New Jersey will be reimbursed for buying wind energy. The announcement came during the NFL’s Business Summit being held in Philadelphia:

“As representatives of the 32 NFL teams convene here in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Eagles will have the opportunity to share its best practices that can make a difference to our planet and to the future of our children,” Lurie said. “We hope to serve as an example for NFL teams and the corporate sector.”

The team estimates that if each employee purchased 300 KW of wind energy, that would equal planting 268 trees every year or not driving 3,600 miles.

It’s part of the Eagles’ Go Green program started in 2003.

Recently, I told you about an upcoming episode of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” where a 1965 Chevy Impala is souped up with a biodiesel engine and blows away a Lamborghini in the quarter mile.

Now, I’ve had a chance to talk to the man behind that Impala, Johnathan Goodwin, co-partner of SAE Energy… a company that specializes in converting gas-guzzlers into lean, green, fuel-efficient biodiesel burners.

When Goodwin met with the producers of Pimp My Ride, they didn’t think the conversion could be done. “I ensured them that I didn’t have any problems whatsoever, and they were kind of taken aback.”

More of a shock would come when Goodwin’s converted 850 horsepower hot rod would face off with a Lamborghini in a quarter-mile race. “Actually, we had to kind of let off the throttle half track, and wait for (the Lamborghini) to catch up so it wouldn’t look bad for TV,” says Goodwin.

And the surprises would continue with how clean the Impala ran. Goodwin says, “at this kind of horsepower level, you’d expect a lot of black smoke out of a diesel engine, but it was very clean. The only black smoke was from the tires.”

Goodwin builds more than just classic muscle cars. He’s also converted a Hummer (pictured above) to run on biodiesel, ethanol, propane, or hydrogen. He’s even working on converting a Jeep for The Terminator himself, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The MTV Pimp My Ride special featuring the biodiesel Impala-Lamborghini will air on Earth Day, April 22nd.

Listen to the entire Johnathan Goodwin interview here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.4MB)

While animal feed products from the production of ethanol have caught most of the attention, researchers are looking at finding more uses for the by-products of biodiesel.

According to this article posted on posted on ThePoultrySite.com, Iowa State University and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Services are looking at using glycerin in poultry and swine feed:

“With an increase in biodiesel production comes a surplus of crude glycerin,” said Mark Honeyman, animal science professor and coordinator of Iowa State’s Research Farms. “And with an increase in ethanol comes higher corn prices. Since corn is fed to pigs primarily for its energy value, we’re studying the possibility of replacing corn with glycerin in swine feed.”

The USDA’s research has shown that the glycerin has a similar food-energy value to corn… and the pigs will readily eat it.

And the news looks good for chickens as well:

Kristjan Bregendahl, assistant professor of poultry nutrition, conducted a metabolism experiment with 48 laying hens. Typical feed rations that included corn, soybean meal, meat and bone meal, and four levels of crude glycerin – 0, 5, 10, or 15 percent – were fed to the hens to determine the energy value of the glycerin.

“We found the energy in crude glycerin was used with high efficiency by the hens,” Bregendahl said. “And we saw no adverse effects on egg production, egg weight, egg mass or feed consumption in this short experiment.”

The article goes on to say that there are issues in getting the glycerin through the dry self-feeders, as well as problems with methanol in the glycerin, but researchers promise more work will be done.

City buses in Victoria, British Columbia are now running on 5% biodiesel. The Victoria Times Colonist reports the move will save green in two ways… in the environment and the city budget:

No mechanical modifications are required to the fleet, said transit senior vice-president Ron Drolet.

“You can do it without any capital outlay. You get a supply that will certify the product’s quality and, bang, it happens.”

The change is expected to save about $650,000 a year for the city and will greatly reduce the amount of sulphur oxides and sulphates.

A new, hydrogen-powered bus has hit the streets of Hartford, Connecticut as a test of the technology that emits nothing but water vapor.

The Hartford (CT) Courant reports the 30-passenger bus will be checked for fuel economy, maintenance costs and reliability and compared to three other fuel cell buses in California:

The Greater Hartford Transit District signed a contract with UTC Power, a unit of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., to build the bus last year.

“The people who live and work in Hartford and the people who visit the city are not only going to enjoy riding this quiet bus, but also will like the fact it emits nothing but water vapor, making for cleaner air for all of us to breathe,” said Jan van Dokkum, president of UTC Power.

A $2.9 million federal grant helped fund the bus’s development.

Wisconsin’s first commercial biodiesel plant has started producing the renewable fuel… and a second refinery will open in about a week.

According to this story in the Wisconsin State Journal, the Sanimax plant in DeForest began testing the production of beef tallow-based biodiesel:

The first batch of biodiesel is expected to be ready in one week. Plant manager Russ Read said the production time will be cut to 12 hours once the testing phase is done. “We’ll be going at a slow speed and making sure all the pumps and level sensors work.”

Read said the plant, with a capacity of 20 million gallons per year, will be fully operational by the end of June.

Another 10-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant run by Midwest Biofuel that uses soybeans as its raw material is expected to start production near Clinton in Southeast Wisconsin by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

The hit MTV show “Pimp My Ride” will feature a 1965 Chevy Impala coverted to run on biodiesel for its Earth Day show on April 22nd. According to this story posted on CNET News, as part of the show, the converted Impala goes up against a Lamborghini in a quarter-mile drag race. And the Impala wins!

“You don’t have to sacrifice the fun aspects of a car. All you have to do is change your fuel,” said Martin Tobias, CEO of Imperium Renewables, a biodiesel refiner that developed the Pimp My Ride biodiesel experiment with MTV. “It completely blew away the Lamborghini. It was only two-thirds down the track when the Impala crossed the finish line.”

The man behind the conversion is Jonathon Goodwin, a biodiesel conversion specialist and founder of alternative energy start-up SAE Energy. He’s also converted about 60 Hummers which increases the SUV’s mileage from 10 miles a gallon to nearly 24!

Mechanical giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build a wind turbine model bigger than anything else in the industry in Europe by the year 2010 and establish more solar panel manufacturing bases overseas.

According to this article in Forbes, the move is part of Mitsubishi’s change in focus from the U.S. to European markets:

The wind turbine for the European market will feature output of 5 megawatts, compared with the 2-3 mw models currently available. A single unit will be capable of generating enough power for 4,000 households.

The firm plans to expand production of photovoltaic panels to 10 sites. The Netherlands and Spain are among four candidate countries in Europe, with California and Pennsylvania under consideration in the US.

This heavy industry branch of Mitsubishi has annual sales of about 700 billion yen (about $5.8 billion US), mostly from fossil-fuel plants. This possible expansion into renewable energy could boost that number to one trillion yen (about $8.3 billion US) in the next few years.

Interesting little article for a vet like me popped up in the International Herald-Tribune. According to the story, Richard Gross, a chemistry professor at Polytechnic University in New York is working on making plastics out of plant oils… and that plastic packaging would be used by the military and then converted to biodiesel out in the field:

The process does not yet work well enough to be commercial, but the Pentagon was impressed enough to provide $2.34 million for more research. The technique could reduce the amount of material the military has to ship to soldiers at remote bases, because the plastic would do double duty, first as packaging and then as fuel.

Defense officials say it would also reduce trash… which can add up to seven pounds a day for each military member.

Trust me, if you’ve ever had to do trash detail, you’d be happy that some of that waste would at least go to a good cause.

As New Hampshire’s state legislature moves forward a proposal to study biodiesel production, distribution, and promotion in the state, the first commercial biodiesel plant is proposed.

According to an AP story posted on the WHDH-TV (Boston, MA) web site, freshman lawmaker Rep. David Borden’s bill to establish a biodiesel committee has passed the state House and now goes to the Senate:

The committee would be made of legislators, a University of New Hampshire faculty member and experts in energy, the environment, agriculture and transportation.

“The state has a tremendous opportunity to find ways for the state to be more energy independent,” Borden said. “We probably can’t do more than 20 percent, but that would make an enormous difference.”

Meanwhile, the Andover (MA) Eagle-Tribune reports a pair of Salem businessmen want to put in New Hampshire’s first biodiesel plant:

Dan Espinal and Tim Hickey will go before the Salem Planning Board on Tuesday with plans for a manufacturing facility at 51 Northwestern Drive, located in one of Salem’s industrial strips off Interstate 93. If approved, the pair hope their company, Atlantic Biodiesel, will spark a cottage industry for local farmers willing to grow oil-seed crops to create fuel.

The plant is expected to produce three million gallons of biodiesel a year to start… eventually moving up to 10 million gallons a year.

North Country School, just outside of Lake Placid in upstate New York, is switching its heating source to biodiesel.

According to this story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the school has always been pretty progressive… organically farming and composting food scraps to make 150,000 pounds of compost material each year. Now, they want their energy sources to be good for the environment, too. That’s why they’re switching their 27,000 gallons of heating fuel used a year to biodiesel:

“Our goal has been being environmental stewards since we started,” [said facilities manager John Culpepper.] “It’s a natural fit for us.”

And a more natural source, too. Unlike fossil fuels like fuel oil, diesel, gasoline and kerosene, biofuel is a renewable fuel made from vegetables products like soybeans.

The school started with 5% biodiesel and has moved up to 20%… and would eventually like to use a 100% blend.

Many of the city buses in Dallas, Texas are already running on biodiesel. Now, the city will put in an additive that will reduce NOx emissions even further. According to a press release, Dallas will be the first fleet in the nation to use the additive, ORYXE LED for Biodiesel, recently received approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ):

“The City of Dallas is constantly striving to be at the forefront of clean technology, and we hope our example will lead to other large diesel fleets using this cleaner fuel blend,” says Ramiro Lopez, who oversees fuel and environmental services for the Department of Equipment and Building Services. “With NOx being such a big issue in the Metroplex, we waited for this technology to become available so we could reintroduce biodiesel into our fleet.”

B20 fuel treated with the ORYXE additive showed equivalent NOx levels to Texas Low Emission Diesel (TxLED) fuel (5.7% lower than standard EPA petroleum diesel). In addition to reducing NOx, the biodiesel blend with ORYXE Energy technology also reduced particulate matter (PM) by 28.8%, total hydrocarbons (THC) by 17.5% and carbon monoxide (CO) by 19% beyond the required TxLED levels.

The release goes on to point out that the additive is available for just pennies, making it not only good for the environment but easy on taxpayers’ pocketbooks as well.

The folks at the American Wind Energy Association remind you that Monday, April 9th is the deadline to sign up for early registration for the Wind Power 2007 Conference and Exhibition, June 3-6 in Los Angeles, CA.

Organizers promise the latest industry trends and information with more than 50 educational sessions featuring the new Scientific Track:

WINDPOWER 2007 Highlights:

- First Time Attendee Orientation – New! For those of you who have never attended WINDPOWER before, a new orientation session on Sunday afternoon will help you make the most out of your experience plus meet the AWEA Staff and Board of Directors.

More than 350 exhibitors are already confirmed and more are expected by the June conference.

Click here for registration and more information.

In what could be seen as a cautionary tale that you’ve got to have more than good intentions to make it in the biodiesel business, the company that had rights to Willie Nelson’s brand of biodiesel… BioWillie… will delay the filing of its 2006 financial results because of “circumstances surrounding the auditor review of our financial information.”

In this story in the Kansas City Star, Earth Biofuels, Inc. had to notify the Security and Exchange Commission of the delay:

Robert Anderson of Kansas City joined the company in October to help with its expansion into the Midwest. Initially enthusiastic about the company, he soon became disenchanted with its inability to follow through on its plans. Now working for another biodiesel company, Anderson worries that Earth Biofuels’ mounting difficulties could unfairly taint the biodiesel industry.

Forbes also raised questions about Dennis McLaughlin, the company’s chief executive officer, and his previous dealings, including his role at another company, Aurora Natural Gas, which filed for bankruptcy shortly after he left.

Some employees, including those selling BioWillie, have been laid off.

A brief report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) points out that biodiesel is a substance that needs to handled carefully.

The article points out an incident in Colorado where a biodiesel homebrewer accidently left the heating element on while he left for the weekend. The resulting fire released biodiesel, recycled restaurant cooking oil, smaller amounts of glycerin and sodium hydroxide, and 1-gallon containers of sulfuric and phosphoric acid that seeped into the ground. There were no injuries or evacuations, but JAMA says that biodiesel should come from commercial sources:

Biodiesel usually is produced commercially; however, some persons in the United States and elsewhere produce biodiesel in their homes for personal use. Those who produce homemade biodiesel should be aware of the substantial risk for injury. Substances used in biodiesel production can be highly explosive (i.e., methanol) or corrosive (i.e., sodium hydroxide). If improperly handled, these substances can cause severe eye, skin, and upper respiratory irritation; chemical burns; and other serious injuries. During the preceding 10 years, almost all fires and injuries caused by home production of biodiesel of which the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is aware were caused by improper handling of methanol during production.

Sounds like the old advice from Hill Street Blues… “Let’s be careful out there.”