U.S. & China Become Wind Power Leaders

John Davis

The world’s superpowers… the current reigning one and the up-and-comer… are also super when it comes to wind power.

This story from CNN says the U.S. and China are leading the world in wind energy development. And as we’ve reported before, the American charge is being led in Texas, which produces more wind energy than any other state:

Several Texan transmission companies announced Monday they were forming a consortium to invest in the $5 billion cost of building new power lines to take advantage of the state’s vast wind power.

The consortium, comprised of existing transmission operators, includes Dallas-based Oncor, the state’s largest power delivery company, Electric Transmission Texas (ETT) and units of American Electric Power Co. among others.

Those new lines, dubbed by Oncor as a “renewable energy superhighway,” will accommodate about 18,500 megawatts of wind generation by 2012– enough energy to power 4 million homes.

And America’s biggest rival is also rivaling it in wind energy development:Read More

Wind

Dynamic Fuels Refinery on Track

John Davis

A planned biodiesel refinery in Louisiana that will make the green fuel from low-grade, inedible fats and greases is on schedule to open at the end of next year.

This press release from WebWire.com says Dynamic Fuels, a joint venture of Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corporation, has gotten final approval from its parent companies to build its first renewable synthetic fuels facility at Geismar, Louisiana:

In conjunction with plant approval, Tyson and Syntroleum have approved the project budget of $138 million. Capital funding includes $100 million in GO Zone Bonds previously approved by the Louisiana State Bond Commission. The balance of $38 million will be funded through equity contributions in the form of cash commitments of $19 million per owner, $13.25 million of which each owner delivered to Dynamic Fuels on July 11.

Construction of Dynamic Fuels initial refinery remains on schedule. Construction is expected to begin in October, and mechanical completion of the plant is expected by year end 2009. Prior to plant sanction, Dynamic Fuels placed orders for long lead time equipment, thereby locking in pricing and securing delivery times consistent with the overall project schedule.

“Approval to construct and fund the Geismar plant is a huge milestone for Dynamic Fuels, reflecting an outstanding effort by the Dynamic Fuels team to complete basic engineering and advance the project,” said Jeff Bigger, senior vice president of business development for Syntroleum. “With this approval we maintain our original project schedule and budget for the Geismar facility.”

The plant is expected to be produce about 75 million gallons of biodiesel a year when it is complete.

Biodiesel

E85 for 85 Cents in Glenville, NY

E85 nozzleE85 sold for 85 cents per gallon as part of a promotion to celebrate the opening of an E85 fueling faclity in Glenville, NY. General Motors and the state of NY sponsored the promotion at the Glenville Mobil Mart at 245 Saratoga Road for 85 minutes on Saturday, July 26.

“With the generous help of General Motors today, we were able to run a promotion E85 for 85 cents for 85 minutes. E85 flex fuel generally sells for a dollar less than gasoline. You get a little less mileage but it is a win win all the way around,” said Glenville Mobil Mart owner Steve Weekes.

The station currently sells regular unleaded gasoline as E10 and diesel. They are open 24 hours and offer a full convenience store and 24 hour Dunkin Donuts. The 5,000 gallon E85 tank supplies four E85 nozzles.

The Glenville Mobil Mart is the 22nd E85 location in the state of New York.

My Capital News 9 video of Glenville Mobil Mart promotion

E85, Facilities, News

Farm Foundation Report Finds Three Reasons for High Food Prices

John Davis

Domestic Fuel CastThere seems to be no end to the rhetoric bouncing around between agricultural experts, critics and media about what’s driving food costs. Biofuels are still one of the most common scapegoats for why we’re paying more for our food than ever before. But the Farm Foundation wants to get to the root of it all. That’s why it sought out three academics from Purdue University to research more than a dozen studies and determine the “truth” behind what the organization calls “one of the most important issues facing agriculture today.” The Farm Foundation hopes the findings of their report will offer policy makers an objective source to refer to when facing the challenges of today’s food system.

Wally Tyner is one of the professors who was a part of the three-man team that conducted the study. The agricultural economics guru says his team found three major driving factors in high food prices:

“The first is global trends in production and consumption of agricultural commodities. The second is has to do with sort of macro economic factors, the depreciation of the dollar. And the third has to do with biofuels. And these are linked in some ways but in some ways its like a perfect storm of all these things coming together at the same time that has led to the huge run-up in prices.”

In this DomesticFuel Cast, we hear from Neal Conklin, President of Farm Foundation and Wally Tyner, Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. Here is the Domestic Fuel Cast #7:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/df-podcast-07.mp3]

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast using the following url/feed link: http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/domestic-fuel-cast.xml.

Audio, corn, Domestic Fuel Cast, Energy, Food prices, News

Highlights of Renewable Energy Conference Posted

John Davis

U.S. government officials are following up on the success of last March’s Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008) with a report of that three-day conference.

This press release from the USDA announces the launch of the WIREC Conference Report at www.WIREC2008.gov, as well as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s release of a preliminary impact assessment of the pledges submitted to the Washington International Action Program at: http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/wirec/pledges_08.html :

The WIREC 2008 Report is a comprehensive overview of the three-day March conference which focused on cross-cutting renewable energy policy issues: research and development; market adoption and finance; agriculture, forestry, and rural development; and involvement of sub-national authorities. “The vast supply of renewable energy resources must be harnessed in ways that are technically feasible, financially viable and socially acceptable,” said Ambassador Reno Harnish, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science. “The United States looks forward to working together with public and private partners, both domestic and international, to make renewable energy a growing reality in the years to come.”

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been authorized by the U.S. government to document the carbon dioxide (CO2) savings from the pledges made at WIREC 2008 . These pledges represent a large number of players and sectors from participating countries demonstrating the wide variety of opportunities that exist to accelerate renewable energy markets around the world. Upon receiving and reviewing comments on their preliminary assessment from the pledging entities, NREL plans to publish a robust impact analysis in August.

Officials say the 145 pledges are the most important outcome from the conference, having the potential to provide thousands of megawatts of renewable electricity capacity through 2030, while eliminating billions of tons of CO2.

Energy, Ethanol, Government, News

Florida Focuses on Farm to Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer will help kick off the third annual Florida Farm to Fuel summit this week in Orlando as keynote speaker Wednesday morning, July 30.

Other speakers include Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Brian Dean with the Interamerican Ethanol Commission, Canadian Renewable Fuels Association president Gordon Quaiattini, and US Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen.

FL Farm to FuelThe summit brings together hundreds of industry leaders in agriculture, petroleum, academia, financial institutions and the government who want to make Florida a leader in the production of renewable energy. Participants will hear about where Florida currently stands with biofuels infrastructure, the latest renewable energy technologies and the growing market for carbon credits.

Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson has been actively promoting the production of renewable energy in Florida, including ethanol made from agriculture waste and other woody products, through this conference and legislative efforts.

“With each increase in the nation’s oil and gas prices, the need for alternative sources of fuel and energy become more critical,” Bronson said. “Florida has the greatest potential for biomass production in the country, and the technology exists to convert natural resources to produce clean, alternative fuel. This conference will bring together all the stakeholders so we can continue working toward the goal of reducing our dependence on foreign oil while at the same time providing another source of income for our struggling farmers.”

The summit is being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek lodge in Orlando and will conclude on August 1.

Biodiesel, Cellulosic, conferences, Ethanol, News, RFA

Company to Use Sugarcane Ethanol for Chemicals

Cindy Zimmerman

A Florida biotech company has created a new subsidiary to use sugarcane ethanol for chemical production.

IBC Renewable Chemicals CorpIndustrial Biotechnology Corporation has formed Renewable Chemicals Corporation to produce chemicals utilizing sugar cane based ethanol as feedstock source material instead of petroleum.

According to an IBC news release, the company “plans to produce these renewable chemicals customized to the specific sustainability and pricing requirements of the consumer packaging, energy, agricultural, pesticides, materials and polymer industries.”

“There is tremendous market interest for plastics derived from renewable, sustainable sources” says Industrial Biotechnology Corporation CEO Andy Badolato. “Major retailers, consumer product companies, and the packaging and plastics industries are working together to implement solutions to lessen our dependence upon foreign oil and to reduce global warming. The utilization of sugar cane ethanol as a chemical feedstock is the next logical step, after its use as an alternative fuel.”

Ethanol, News

Study Credits Ethanol Policy With 25 Percent of Corn Price Hike

Cindy Zimmerman

One of the more significant findings of a Purdue University study released this week on food price drivers is that ethanol policy is only responsible for $1 of the $4 price increase in corn prices since 2004.

Farm Foundation ForumEconomist Wally Tyner says between 2004 and the beginning of 2008, oil went from $40 per barrel to $120 per barrel at the same time corn prices increased from $2.00 a bushel to $6.00. “Of that $4 increase, about $1 is due to the US subsidy and about $3 is due to the higher crude oil price,” Tyner told a Farm Foundation forum on the study earlier this week. “So even if all the subsidies go away tomorrow, corn prices would still be high, unless we chose to ban use of corn for ethanol.”

Farm Foundation Forum Brad LubbenUniversity of Nebraska policy specialist Brad Lubben, who gave his analysis of the study at the forum in terms of public policy, said this is an important point to consider when attempting to change the Renewable Fuels Standard in an effort to lower food prices because it is the “easiest” to manipulate. “It’s an important consequence to realize that the easiest policy to attack may have relatively little significance and little impact on the current supply and demand balance for these ag commodities and for energy,” Lubben said.

Lubben pointed out that while it may seem that changing the RFS is easy, EPA has already had to postpone its decision on the request for a partial waiver of the RFS because of the challenges they are having in analyzing all the comments and data they have on the issue.

Ethanol, Farm Foundation, Food prices

Ethanol Report on Food Price Study

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA PodcastThe Farm Foundation study on food price drivers released this week in Washington DC was the focus of a forum held at the National Press Club.

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features comments from the Farm Foundation forum and report on “What’s Driving Food Prices?” Featured are Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin, Purdue University economist Wally Tyner, and University of Nebraska public policy analyst Brad Lubben.

You can subscribe to the twice-monthly “The Ethanol Report” by following this link.

Or you can listen to it on-line here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/ethanol-report-17.mp3]

Audio, Ethanol, Food prices, News, RFA

CNN Starts Biodiesel-Fueled Road Trip

John Davis

At a time when fuel prices are through the roof, a major American news organization is sponsoring a road trip across the country… running on biodiesel.

CNN.com producer Cody McCloy and web developer Brian Hardy jumped in a 1978 International Harvester Scout and kicked off the two-week trip on Friday, going from San Francisco to Atlanta. Starting Monday morning at 9:40, they’ll be blogging about their adventure on the green fuel on CNN.com Live. This article tells a little bit about what you can expect to see from the trip… and it won’t just be about biodiesel:

During our road trip, we’ll blog and report about what kind of mileage we’re getting with biodiesel fuel and how easy it is to find places that sell it.

Biodiesel is just one of several biofuels powering more and more U.S. cars and trucks. Mesa, Arizona, for example, has switched its fleet of 1,000 municipal vehicles such as fire engines and street sweepers to biodiesel and other green fuels such as ethanol, and compressed natural gas. Video Watch for details on benefits of biodiesel fuel »

Some biofuels are less expensive per gallon than gasoline — cutting the average cost of gas by 20 to 35 cents per gallon, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. An average American family can save up to $300 per year by using ethanol, according to the DOE Web site.

Now while they’re about half right when they say biodiesel is a mixture of diesel and vegetable oil, they do get it right when they point out the green fuel is biodegradable and is cleaner than petroleum-based diesel.

Should be an interesting trip to follow. You can see an interactive map here, and as I mentioned earlier, they’ll be blogging on CNN.com Live starting Monday morning.

Biodiesel