Nebraska Breaks Ground on State’s Largest Wind Farm

John Davis

State and local officials were on hand this week for the groundbreaking of what will become Nebraska’s largest wind farm.

This story from the North Platte (NE) Bulletin says the wind farm, near the Northeast Nebraska town of Bloomfield will be the state’s first community-based wind project:

When completed, the Elkhorn Ridge Wind Facility will have 27 wind turbines and generate enough electricity to power 25,000 homes.

heineman.jpg“Today, we celebrate the official start of the largest wind energy project to date in Nebraska,” Gov. [Dave] Heineman said at the groundbreaking. “I want to offer my thanks and appreciation to everyone involved with this project, which will more than double Nebraska’s wind power capacity.

The wind power industry is in the infant stage in Nebraska but holds real promise, Heineman said.

“Some of Nebraska’s emerging and fastest growing industries are those in the field of renewable energy,” he said. “Nebraska is building a comprehensive renewable portfolio thanks to recent investments in expanded ethanol research and production, new investments in biodiesel production, the construction of methane digesters, and new opportunities to harness the wind in powering our homes and businesses.”

The facility is the first project to be developed using provisions enacted during the 2007 legislative session, allowing Nebraska’s publicly-owned utilities to purchase electricity generated by wind turbines owned by community partnerships.

Nebraska produces just 73 megawatts of wind-produced electricity. This project will more than double that amount as it will crank out 80 megawatts when fully operational.

Wind

NBB Helping Develop Soybean Oil Enhancement

John Davis

danforthnbb.jpgWorking with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is granting $1.2 million to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo. for a three-year project to enhance oil production from soybeans.

This NBB press release says it’s just another step the group has taken to free this country from foreign oil dependence:

rogerbeachy1.jpg“This grant is yet another of the Danforth Center’s unique partnerships for supporting basic plant science research. In this case, the partnership will address the pressing needs for more efficient methods to produce fuels from renewable plant sources,” said Danforth Center President Dr. Roger N. Beachy. “We greatly appreciate the support of Senator Kit Bond and his staff in facilitating the relationship between the Danforth Center and the National Biodiesel Board in an effort to increase the oil feedstock for biodiesel production.”

joe-jobethumbnail1.jpg“We are proud to support the Danforth Center as researchers there look for ways to get more bang for the buck from each soybean seed,” said NBB CEO Joe Jobe. “Increasing the oil feedstock supply is vital to the rapidly expanding biodiesel industry. Soybean oil is one of the primary feedstock sources used in the production of biodiesel, and we hope this research will increase the soy oil supply. Plus, whatever advances are made on beans will have a high likelihood of being transferred to other oilseed crops – other biodiesel sources.”

Danforth Center Principal Investigator Dr. Jan Jaworski will lead the research project which will be focused on increasing the oil produced in soybean seeds by altering specific biochemical pathways that are embedded within the soybean plant. “We will undertake a new approach to enhancing the production of soy oil with a goal of increasing the percentage of oil produced in each seed,” Dr. Jaworski explained. “While this approach is new, we are confident our results will lead to increased oil production without reducing the amount of protein in the seeds: soy protein is an important source of food and feed.”

Biodiesel

Canadians Support Biofuels

John Davis

crf.jpgThe U.S. isn’t the only country in North America that’s trying to fuel change in fuel standards. The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association says a new poll suggests Canadians are just as bio-conscious…

A new nationwide poll shows that Canadians overwhelmingly support the national renewable fuels strategy to blend biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel in Canada’s fuel supply.

The national Praxicus Public Strategies Inc. poll conducted April 23-27 shows that 74% support the 5% national standard for ethanol and the 2% national standard for biodiesel, and a further 67% support increasing the national renewable fuel blend to 10% and 5% respectively.

The poll also shows that 69% of Canadians strongly believe that we need to grow beyond oil by developing environmentally friendly and viable alternatives to fossil fuels. Indeed, according to a recent report from Merrill Lynch if not for biofuels, crude oil would be trading 15% higher and gasoline would be as much as 25% more expensive.

Currently in Canada we are able to produce roughly one billion litres of ethanol and 100 million litres of biodiesel. By no later than 2012 that is expected to increase to more than 2.5 billion litres of ethanol and more than 500 million litres of biodiesel. The renewable fuels industry is investing more than $1.5 billion in building production capacity in Canada and is helping to create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs and generating $600 million in annual economic activity.

Agribusiness, Biodiesel, Energy, Ethanol, News

Food Price Increase Facts – Updated

Chuck Zimmerman

RFA Press ConferenceUpdated with recorded video

Hello from Washington, DC and the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Washington Watch program. I’m covering their conference on our sister site, AgWired. Today at 1pm eastern time, I’ll be attending a press conference at the National Press Club being hosted by the Renewable Fuels Association. In attendance will be:

The Honorable John Block, former Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Buis, President, National Farmers Union (NFU)
Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA)
Rick Tolman, CEO, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA

The topic will be: “Farmers and Ethanol Industry to Present the Facts On Food Price Increases.” This topic just won’t go away and it’s at least in part due to the immense amount of misinformation being spread in the media, most notably this week, the Washington Post with their irresponsible series called, Global Food Crisis.

I’m hoping to be able to stream the press conference live this afternoon and you’ll be able to watch it here with the following player. Basically, starting at 1pm or within a few moments of that, you should be able to click on the player and see the live stream. A lot depends on the internet connection I’ll have there. In any case, I’ll also be recording it to post on Domestic Fuel as well.


Update: The live stream worked! Here is a recording of the first 20 minutes or so:

Here is some additional footage of today’s press conference:

Listen to the entire one hour plus press conference here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/food-price-press-conf.mp3]

You can see an online photo album from the press conference here: RFA Press Conference Photo Album

Audio, corn, Ethanol, Food prices, News, RFA, Video

Missing 500,000 Barrels a Day

John Davis

geesman.jpgAn opinion piece in GreenEnergyWar.com asks an interesting question: Wouldn’t we miss the 500,000 barrels of oil that biofuels replace every day?

Check out what former California Energy Commissioner John Geesman (who, by the way, has also been following California politics for more than 40 years) has to say:

As debate continues to rage over the role which biofuels policies have played in the extraordinary inflation in world food prices, a sobering awareness may spread. Crop-based fuels like ethanol and biodiesel may have already become an indispensable element of global supplies of liquid fuels. Their absence could have a significant impact on the price of oil.

That’s the gist of some recent cautionary remarks coming from the International Energy Agency, generally considered the analytic watchdog for the energy consuming interests of the developed world. By IEA’s estimate, biofuels make up about half the new fuel coming to market this year from outside the OPEC cartel.

In the words of William Ramsey, deputy executive director of the IEA, “If we didn’t have those barrels, I’m not certain where we would be getting those half a million barrels,” adding that OPEC has indicated that it will not increase supply.

What would be the impact on oil prices without those barrels? Using a slightly different analysis, focused on an annual increase in global production of biofuels of about 300,000 barrels-of-oil-a-day equivalent, Merrill Lynch commodity strategist told the Wall Street Journal that oil and gasoline prices would be about 15% higher if biofuel producers weren’t increasing their output.

Significantly, that 300,000 barrels-a-day amount represents one-third of the world’s growth in the demand for oil last year, which was about 900,000 barrels-a-day.

Now, I don’t know about you, but 15 percent more for my gas would push it over $4-a-gallon… and I know I’m not paying as much as some people are paying. I’m just glad we’ve got some folks outside of OPEC doing what they can to make it a little better for folks like you and me… and some floks who are writing opinion pieces like Geesman is doing.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Opinion

New Biodiesel Production Method Lands Student on GMA and Before Congress

John Davis

krohngma.jpgA student from Augsburg College in Minnesota has come up with a new method of biodiesel that has landed his story on Good Morning America and before the Senate Agriculture Committee.

This story from TwinCities.com says Brian Krohn, along with chemistry professor Arlin Gyberg, Krohn’s college adviser, are making biodiesel from non-food stocks like algae:

Their research is drawing attention as prices for soybeans, corn and other commodities climb beyond the reach of some of the world’s poorest inhabitants, partly because of their value in making fuels like biodiesel and ethanol.

“Good Morning America,” the ABC morning news show, taped a segment with Krohn Monday for airing today. On various days this week, he and Gyberg will be in Washington, D.C., to brief U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and the staffs of U.S. Reps. James Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Keith Ellison, all Minnesota Democrats.

Krohn’s research led to the creation of a process of making biodiesel that can use vegetable oils and animal fats that are high in free fatty acids, which usually interferes with biodiesel production, said Gyberg, his adviser.

Soybeans have almost none of these fatty acids, which is why they’ve been favored in fuel production, Gyberg said.

The new process can use oils squeezed from a wide range of sources — from animal fat to common algae to corn mash left over from ethanol production — all with fatty acid content that normally rules them out as sources of biodiesel, the professor said.

In addition to using non-food stocks, the process is faster and cheaper than using soybeans, helping settle part of that food-versus-fuel debate.

Biodiesel

Ceres First to Brand Seeds for Bioengery Crops

John Davis

ceres.pngAs technology unleashes more and more energy possibilities from more and more crops, it can get a little confusing as to which plants can do what. Ceres, Inc. plans to clarify bio-friendly seeds with its new bioenergy seed brand.

Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. plans to market its agricultural seeds and traits under the trade name Blade Energy Crops in the United States. Company president and CEO Richard Hamilton unveiled the new brand at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Chicago earlier today.

“Blade will be the first multi-crop seed brand supplying the new market for non-food, low-carbon biofuel feedstocks,” Hamilton said. These biomass-dense crops will be grown as raw materials for next-generation biofuels and biopower. One of the great appeals of energy crops is that they can thrive on agricultural lands that are ill-suited to food production.

“Supported by the latest technology in genomics-based breeding, trait development and compositional analysis, we are positioning Blade as a premium seed brand for biofuel and biopower feedstocks. For growers, that means high yields and greater yield stability. Downstream, it means easier processing, and ultimately, more energy per ton of biomass,” said Hamilton. “From both an economic and environmental perspective, if we are going to turn plant matter into fuel, we should use feedstocks that give us the maximum fuel yield per acre.”

The company says the Blade name was inspired by its first crops, switchgrass, sorghum and canes, which are from a category of closely related grass species, known as C4 grasses. C4 grasses are the natural world’s most efficient engines of photosynthesis, the process by which plants store solar energy in the form of carbohydrates. New technologies have made it possible to convert the most abundant form of these energy-rich molecules, called cellulose, into renewable fuels.

Agribusiness, corn, Distribution, Energy, Farming, News

President Talks Ethanol in Press Briefing

Cindy Zimmerman

President Bush talked about the farm bill, higher food and energy costs, expanding domestic oil production, ethanol and other alternative energy sources during a press briefing on Tuesday morning.

The president was critical of Congress blocking efforts to explore in ANWR and to expand capacity and build more refineries, as well as a “massive, bloated farm bill that would do little to solve the problem” of higher food prices. He indicated they were considering a summer moratorium on the federal gas tax to help alleviate pain at the pump and he defended the use of ethanol for economic and energy security.

Bush press conference“The high price of gasoline is going to spur more investment in ethanol as an alternative to gasoline,” Bush said. “And the truth of the matter is it’s in our national interests that our farmers grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us.”

In reaction to the question, why haven’t you put more resources into renewable energy research, Bush responded.

“We’ve put a lot into ethanol. As a matter of fact, the solution to the issue of corn-fed ethanol is cellulosic ethanol, which is a fancy word for saying we’re going to make ethanol out of switchgrasses, or wood chips. And we’re spending a lot of money along those lines.

But energy policy needs to be comprehensive. And we got to understand we’re in a transition period. The problem is there’s been a lot of focus by the Congress in the intermediate steps and in the long-term steps — the long-term steps being hydrogen; the intermediate steps being biofuels, for example, and researching the biofuels, and battery technology — but not enough emphasis on the here and now.”

Regarding food price inflation, Bush said that “85 percent of the world’s food prices are caused by weather, increased demand and energy prices — just the cost of growing product.” The president said the United States is concerned about the scarcity of food in poorer countries and will continue to be generous in food donations abroad.

Read the transcript of the president’s remarks here.

corn, Energy, Ethanol, Food prices, Government, Hydrogen, News

Importance of Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The development of agriculture-based biofuels is critical to revitalizing rural communities, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer.

Schafer NAFBSpeaking to farm broadcasters meeting in Washington, Schafer said managing the blending of energy and agriculture is one of the top priorities for USDA. “If we over the next ten years could convert one-fourth of the four billion barrels of foreign oil that we import into this country into biofuels, not only would it increase the security of our country, it would double farm income,” said Schafer. “You can imagine if we doubled farm income in this country, what a revitalization would take place in rural areas.”

Regarding the concern about food and feed price increases relating to biofuels, “We need to remember that only about 25 percent of the corn crop goes into ethanol today and we have been able to stay ahead of that by yield increases,” Schafer said. “We have heard of this ‘perfect storm’ coming together – increased consumption, energy prices, biofuel generation, weather patterns – all those have come together to form this huge pressure on food and feed costs. I don’t think its a perfect storm.”

He explained, “When you have a storm, and you’re out on the calm sea, the storm comes in and jumbles everything up for awhile and then the storm goes away and the sea becomes flat again. The reality here is consumption and as consumption is increased we are not going to fall back.”

Schafer says corn ethanol will continue to be important in meeting the Renewable Fuels Standard and as a stepping stone towards cellulosic ethanol.

Listen to Schafer’s comments on biofuels here.
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/usda/schafer-biofuels.mp3]

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Government, News

New Gas Detector Can ‘See’ Ethanol

John Davis

se.pngSensor Electronics of Minneapolis has developed a new gas detector that can detect dangerous concentrations of ethanol. The detector is thought to be ideal for protecting biofuel refineries.

It’s designed for applications in biofuel processing plants, pipelines, pumping stations, storage facilities, fuel dumps, distribution networks and the like.

Calibration is quick, easy: The gas detector simply sniffs a whiff of ethanol, then locks itself into ethanol’s chemical “signature.” Thereafter, any significant concentration triggers an immediate warning.

Because this self-contained gas detector uses no mirrors or beam-splitters, it shrugs off rain, snow, fog, smog. It also ignores temperature/pressure/humidity extremes, as well as interference (false signals) from other gases.

The cylindrical unit measures 8 inches high overall, 2.5 inches diameter. The stainless-steel housing cannot rust or corrode, meaning exceptional operating life.

Ethanol, Facilities, News