Domestic Fuel

Shell is touting its Eco-Marathon Americas race as a success in developing breakthroughs in fuel efficiency. The race also demonstrated the fuel-saving capabilities of alternative fuels, with hydrogen- and solar-powered cars making the top five.

“Ladies and gentlemen, start your fuel-efficient engines” were the words that kicked off the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon(TM) Americas; and that’s exactly what more than 300 students from Canada, Mexico, and the United States did.

The Purdue Solar Racing team from West Lafayette, Ind., took first place with its solar vehicle Pulsar, which achieved 2,861.8 mpg (1,216.4 kilometers per liter).

Parducci Wine Cellars is harnessing all sorts of alternative energy to produce its wine. The carbon neutral vintner now uses solar power, wind power and biodiesel tractors.

Parducci effectively transferred all of its energy needs to non-polluting, renewable sources by supplementing its on-site solar power with Green-E(R) certified wind energy purchased from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. The annual positive environmental impact of the winery’s 100% green power use is equivalent to:

In 2007 Parducci received the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award, California’s highest environmental honor, for the company’s efforts to combat climate change. In addition to buying grapes from local family farmers, Parducci uses sustainable farming practices including bio-diesel tractors in the vineyards and 100% green power as well as earth friendly packaging at the winery. Parducci’s respect for the land yields quality wines as evident by recent 90+ point scores in several national wine publications.

A trio of bills before the South Carolina legislature are designed to promote renewable energy in the state, as well as conservation by consumers.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell’s (R-Charleston) three bills were presented to a state Senate Finance Committee this week. This story from television station WFMY says the first bill dealt with tax breaks for making home improvements for energy savings. And that’s just the beginning:

A second bill would give a sales tax break to companies buying machinery, tools or parts to produce electricity from alternative sources, including solar, wind, tides and biomass.

The tax break makes the cost of putting in solar panels more reasonable while shortening the time it takes for the systems to pay for themselves with reduced energy bills. A solar hot water system that costs $6,000 comes with an $1,800 federal tax credit and $1,500 from the state. That means the system will be paying for itself in less than six years, instead of the 12 years it would take without the break, Wood said.

For those who argue that this is just another government handout, officials point out the economic benefit of programs like these. They say the state is poised to add more than 22,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector… if the right incentives are there.

As the summer rock concert series are about to start across the country, Billboard Magazine is releasing its top 10 list of the greenest artists.

Some of the more notables include major acts, such as Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson, the Dave Matthews Band, and Pearl Jam.

According to Billboard’s article (advance copy posted on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s blog), at the top of the list is Johnson who has a solar-powered recording studio:

In addition, the tour’s trucks and coaches will run on biodiesel, while catering will emphasize locally grown and organic foods.

2. Willie Nelson:

Willie Nelson’s BioWillie biodiesel fuel, which is already sold in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, California and Tennessee, will add a key location when Willie’s Place at Carl’s Corner, Texas, opens this summer. The truck stop, built on the site of the first outlet to carry BioWillie, is located just off busy truck route I-35, which runs from the Mexican to the Canadian border. Billed as the biggest green truck stop in the United States, the facility will include 13 islands and 26 pumps, and all fuel sold there will have some percentage of biofuel, ranging from 5% to 85%.

Other bands are using biodiesel-powered buses and generators, as well as trying to make their shows as ecologically-friendly as possible.

So if you’re wondering who to go see on tour this year, keep the green artists in mind.

An Oregon teenager has been honored for his work on making solar cells more efficiently.

Brian McCarthy of Liberty High School from Hillsboro, Oregon placed third and won a $50,000 scholarship in the 2008 Intel Science Talent Search:

In his research, Brian McCarthy, 18, from Hillsboro, Oregon, investigated the viability of plastic solar cells as a new option in solar energy technology. Using interfacially polymerized combinations of porphyrins and phthalocyanines – plant-like photosynthetic materials found in nature that are photoactive and photoconducting (both properties of functioning solar cells) – he synthesized extremely thin, fragile films for potential use as solar cells and tested them using scanning electron microscopy techniques. Brian’s novel polymer films responded electrically to light, indicating that they could act as solar cells and offer a less expensive option to current silicon-based solar cell technology.

At last week’s Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) 2008, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced that USDA will accept almost $221 million in loan and grant applications within USDA’s Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program.

“As demand for energy rises, these renewable energy loans and grants help farms and rural small businesses increase their investment in renewable energy initiatives,” said Schafer.

Eligible applicants may seek loan guarantees to cover up to 50 percent of a project’s cost up $10 million and grants are available for up to 25 percent of a project’s cost, not to exceed $250,000 for energy efficiency improvements and $500,000 for renewable energy systems. USDA Rural Development has invested $674 million in more than 1,763 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects since 2001 including ethanol, biodiesel, wind, solar, geothermal, methane gas recovery systems and biomass.

Schafer also announced the award of $4 million to help 17 small businesses and community groups find more innovative uses of woody biomass from national forests in new products and renewable energy. The grants will help create markets for small-diameter woody material, damaged and other low-valued trees removed to reduce the risk of fire hazard, insect infestation or disease.

Coming up this week in Omaha is the National 25x’25 Renewable Energy Summit.

The conference will feature leading renewable energy experts from across the nation. More than two dozen pre-eminent authorities on biofuels, biomass, wind, solar and other land-based renewable energy sources will address the summit.

Presenters will include Dr. Steven Chu, Nobel laureate and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Dr. Lowell Catlett, a Regents Professor at New Mexico State University and renowned futurist; Charles Zimmerman, Wal-Mart Vice President; Doug Berven, Director of Corporate Affairs for POET; Susan Sloan, communications specialist with the American Wind Energy Association; Melinda Kimble, Senior Vice President, United Nations Foundation; Former Rep. Charlie Stenholm, 26-year veteran of the House of Representatives; Jay Wolf, past president of Nebraska Cattlemen and a current member of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association board, and Terry Francl, senior economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The conference will be held March 11-13.

What’s being billed as “the premier technical conference for solar energy and energy efficiency professionals in the U.S.,” SOLAR 2008 is set for May 3rd-8th in, appropriately enough, sunny San Diego, California.

This conference is in its 37th year and offers people in the solar industry information on emerging trends, technological breakthroughs, industry insight, and connections needed to stay ahead:

With the energy industry changing at an unprecedented pace, this conference helps you understand the changes and uncover the opportunities. It examines the most timely topics of the day, and introduces you to the industry leaders, innovators, and exhibitors who are shaping the industry.

SOLAR 2008 explores the theme “Catch the Clean Energy Wave”. Sessions will address the growing movement towards sustainable energy – as a key component in climate recovery, a healthy economy, a secure energy future – and the trillion-dollar opportunity it brings. Don’t get left behind. Attend SOLAR 2008 and discover where the industry is headed.

Who should attend:

* Researchers and scientists
* Dealers and installers
* Architects and green builders
* Academics
* Policy-makers and utility representatives
* Investors, entrepreneurs, and analysts
* Industry professionals, career-changers, and students who want to position themselves for the future

To get more information and to register click here.

As crude oil jumped to new record highs on the New York mercantile exchange due to falling oil inventories, trading over $104 a barrel, President Bush renewed his support for ethanol as a means toward energy independence.

Speaking at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008 (WIREC) Wednesday, Bush said, “America has got to change its habits. We’ve got to get off oil.”

To do that, he mentioned just about every alternative, domestic energy source possible – from ethanol and biodiesel to wind and solar, hydrogen and nuclear. He discussed the need for vehicles that run on alternative fuels, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and he visited with manufacturers of those types of vehicles at the WIREC trade show.

He also stressed the administration’s commitment to research and development of cellulosic ethanol.

“I look forward to the day when Texas ranchers can grow switchgrass on their country, and then have that switchgrass be converted to fuel,” he said. “I look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel. And those days are coming.”

The president called biodiesel “the most promising” of the renewable fuels. “Biodiesel refineries can produce fuel from soybeans, and vegetable oils, and recycled cooking grease, from waste materials,” Bush noted. “All you out there with waste, you may be in business before you know it as this new technology kicks in. Most Americans — or, more Americans are beginning to realize the benefits of biodiesel every year.”

Read the president’s entire address to WIREC here.

A new report says Ohio could be home to 174,000 advanced, renewable energy jobs by 2030.

The report by the American Solar Energy Society, funded by the non-profit Ohio Business Development Coalition, says the Buckeye State is pioneering efforts to increase the number of skilled professionals in the renewable energy field:

According to the Ohio Business Development Coalition (OBDC), the nonprofit organization that markets the state for capital investment, Ohio’s universities and colleges are gearing up to meet the need for skilled green collar workers through new programs, degrees and training specific to the advanced energy industry.

Ohio’s direct market access to renewable energy consumers and state-sponsored programs are helping companies develop and launch the next generation of advanced energy technologies and compete even more effectively in a global economy. Through initiatives such as Ohio Governor Ted Strickland’s Energy, Jobs and Progress plan, announced in 2007, Ohio is modernizing its energy infrastructure, ensuring affordable and stable energy prices and attracting renewable energy jobs of the future through an Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard. Ohio also is a driving force behind initiatives to increase the production of ethanol, biodiesel fuels and cellulosic ethanol, a fuel produced from farm waste and plants.

Ohio’s Third Frontier Project is also part of that effort to increase those green collar jobs. It’s a 10-year, $1.6 billion initiative to help build relationships between companies and higher education. It marks the largest commitment by Ohio to expand high-tech research capabilities, promote innovation, company formation and create high-paying jobs.

Arizona is being touted as becoming the “Persian Gulf of solar energy,” as a Spanish company unveils plans to build a three-square-mile sized solar power plant in the desert.

This story on CNN says when it is done, it will be one of the largest solar plants in the world:

Abengoa Solar, which has plants in Spain, northern Africa and other parts of the U.S., could begin construction as early as next year on the 280-megawatt plant in Gila Bend — a small, dusty town 50 miles southeast of Phoenix.

Solana will be enough to supply up to 70,000 homes at full capacity.

What makes this plant unique is that it relies on the sun’s heat… not the rays… to produce electricity. And with temperatures that soar to 120 degrees, there will be no shortage of a “feedstock” for this renewable energy source.

BT is getting a new solar power system for its Americas’ Headquarters in California. The new system will utilize a sun tracking system that’s meant to maximize the production of renewable energy.

BT has announced it has entered into an agreement to begin construction next month (March) of an approximately 500 kW-AC solar photovoltaic system for its North American corporate headquarters site, located in the City of El Segundo, California. Once the system is fully operational by late summer, BT expects to reduce carbon emissions by 642,000 pounds (291.2 metric tons) annually as well as decrease its overall power costs for the site in future years.

According to Environmental Protection Agency figures, the solar power system is expected to reduce carbon emissions equivalent to removing 63 automobiles from operation for one year or planting 243 acres of trees or powering more than 150 average-sized California homes for 12 months.

With oil prices more than $100 a barrel, the big winners (besides the oil companies) from the price spike could be alternative energies… as people look for something other than pricey petroleum to meet their energy needs.

This story on CNBC.com features hedge fund and private equity consultant John D’Agostino’s thoughts on the issue:

The next wave of oil wealth will go probably go into alternative energy, says D’Agostino. Middle East investors are comfortable with longer time frames and can weather the volatility of this sector. Specifically, solar & wind names are most likely to benefit. In fact, I helped facilitate 3 deals between Abu Dhabi and alternative energy companies recently.

While D’Agostino believes the $100-plus oil prices won’t stay that long forever, prices will stay high enough long enough to help the alternatives, even in the long run.

A bill before the Utah legislature that will encourage utilities to use renewable energy has received a boost from that state’s governor.

This story in the Salt Lake Tribune says despite the support from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., it doesn’t mean he’s giving up his own push for more solar, wind and geothermal resources into the state’s electricity mix:

During a legislative committee hearing on Monday, Huntsman’s energy policy advisor, Dianne Nielson, spoke in favor of SB202, which urges public and regulated utilities to pursue renewable energy sources to the extent it is cost-effective to do so.

“The governor wants to find a way to work with all the parties to diversify the energy supply and meet the targets,” Nielson said. “That’s everybody’s goal here.”

The article goes on to say that Huntsman is stopping short of mandating the increase in renewable fuel use.

San Francisco will play host to more than 800 investors, entrepreneurs and leading renewable energy experts at the international Cleantech Forum XVI convening next week. This year’s forum is highlighting 2008 as ‘The Defining Year for Cleantech Globalization.’

Investors, entrepreneurs, industry influencers and corporate leaders at the forefront of the rapidly developing cleantech investment and business category from North American, Europe, the Gulf States and Asia will convene in San Francisco for Cleantech Forum(R) XVI, to be held at the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel from February 25-27, 2008.

U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner will highlight the Department’s transformational public-private sector work intended to accelerate the development, deployment and commercialization of cutting-edge, clean energy technologies from the Agency’s national laboratories into the global marketplace.
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