John Hofmeister to Headline #RFANEC

Joanna Schroeder

John Hofmeister will be headlining the 21st Annual National Ethanol Conference (NEC) next February 15-17, 2016 in New Orleans. Hosted by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Hofmeister is the founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, former president of Shell Oil Company and author of “Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an Energy Insider. The NEC …

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

SolarCity and Temecula Valley Unified School District are together installing a six megawatt solar and energy storage project across 19 schools and the district’s administrative office. The project, which includes energy storage systems at five sites, required no upfront investment and is expected to save the district more than $520,000 within the first year of operation alone, and $35 million …

Bioenergy Bytes

Ethanol Production with Enogen Tops 1B Gallons

Joanna Schroeder

There are now 16 ethanol plants using Enogen corn according to Syngenta. When combined, the plants have a production capacity of more than 1 billion gallons of ethanol per year. In addition, Syngenta says there are also in talks with a number of other plants to begin using the only biotech corn designed specifically to improve ethanol production. Last year, …

corn, Enogen, Ethanol, Renewable Energy, Syngenta

Alliance BioEnergy Converts Coastal Hay to Sugar

Joanna Schroeder

Ek Laboratories, located in Longwood, Florida, has achieved a 63 percent conversion of Coastal Hay, at commercial scale, into fermentable sugars in less than 30 minutes. The Alliance BioEnergy Plus subsidiary used it licensed and patented mechanical/chemical CTS (Cellulose to Sugar) process. According to Ek Laboratories, unlike most cellulose to sugar technologies, their CTS process does not use liquid acids, …

advanced biofuels, biochemicals, Biodiesel, biomass, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Renewable Energy

Gravity Renewables + St. Lawrence U Ink Hydro Deal

Joanna Schroeder

Gravity Renewables is going to connect St. Lawrence University, located in Canton, New York, to around 4.3 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean hydropower per year with a new agreement. The renewable, clean energy source will provide St. Lawrence University with reliably prices clean power that will help them get nearly 100 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. “Several years …

Hydro, Renewable Energy

Will Steger Wilderness Center Renewable Showcase

Joanna Schroeder

Will Steger, a globally renowned climate expert, has announced a major milestone toward the completion of the Will Steger Wilderness Center, that will be used as a leadership retreat center. The facility now features a stand-alone, carbon free power system that will provide electricity to buildings and workshops throughout the site located outside of Ely, Minnesota near the protected Boundary …

Climate Change, Electricity, Energy, Environment, Renewable Energy, Solar

BNEF: Wind, Solar Competing with Fossil Fuels

Joanna Schroeder

According to a new analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), this year has seen a shift in the generating cost comparison between renewable energy and fossil fuels. The report, “Levelised Cost of Electricity Update,” for the second half of 2015 based on extensive data and global projects shows that onshore wind and crystalline silicon photovoltaics – the two most …

Electricity, Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

Renewable Energy Group (REG) has announced that one of its subsidiaries has received approval from a Mississippi court to purchase certain equipment at the KiOR Columbus, LLC production facility. Under the approved asset purchase agreement, REG Synthetic Fuels, LLC paid $1.5 million, plus certain expenses related to equipment preparation, to acquire various physical assets at the Columbus, MS plant, including …

Bioenergy Bytes

New York Most Energy Efficient State

Joanna Schroeder

October is National Energy Awareness Month and a great time for families and businesses to find ways to reduce their energy use. On average, a household spend nearly $2,000 a year on energy bills. To bring awareness of the impact of energy on American’s wallets, WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of the 2015’s Most and Least Energy Efficient States with …

Clean Energy, Electricity, energy efficiency

Aemetis Harvests Record Sorghum Crop in Cali

Joanna Schroeder

Aemetis has announced the harvest of sorghum grown in Central California that grew between 12-15 feet tall. The 20 acre demonstration crop was grown using proprietary Nexsteppe seed genetics and harvested in 90 days by Aemetis. The water supply for the sorghum was lower quality pump water containing salts that typically damage crops in western San Joaquin Valley, an area …

advanced biofuels, biomass, Cellulosic, Ethanol, sorghum