Willie’s on the Biodiesel Road Again

John Davis

Willie NelsonCountry music legend Willie Nelson has been a longtime advocate of the American farmer and the American biofuels industry. While he’s been using a biodiesel-powered bus for his cross-country tour, one of his recent stops included New York City.

This story on the CNN Money web site says he was there to promote a new, non-profit group that supports biofuels:

Nelson was in town supporting the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance, a non-profit group founded by his wife Annie and actors Daryl Hannah and Woody Harrelson, among others.

The alliance aims to create a certification standard for biodiesel to ensure the feedstocks are grown in an environmentally responsible mannner. With biodiesel use expanding – there were 1,000 pumps in the U.S. last year compared to 350 in 2005 – supporters say its important to ensure the budding industry doesn’t cause environmental problems of its own.

The group recently kicked off its official launch with a concert at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, where Nelson played until well past midnight.

The article goes on to say that Nelson used biodiesel made from New York City cooking grease to fuel up his buses and get back on the road again.

Biodiesel

Wisconsin Lawmakers Getting Calls on Biofuels

John Davis

As legislators in Wisconsin continue their months-long wrangling over what should be in the state budget, biofuels advocates are making sure renewable energy is not left by the wayside.

The Wisconsin Legislature was supposed to have approved a budget starting by July 1st, but that process is not complete… making the state the only one without an approved budget right now. Universal healthcare and some tax increases have been the snagging points.

Wisconsin BiodieselBut backers of biodiesel and ethanol don’t want the lawmakers to leave out their projects when the budget is finally done. This story on Wisconsin Ag Connection says the Wisconsin Soybean Association and the Wisconsin Biodiesel Association have renewed their calls… and are asking farmers to call their lawmakers as well… to support Governor Jim Doyle’s proposed $30 million for renewable energy and a proposal that calls for a new program of incentives to stimulate the biodiesel fuel market in Wisconsin:

WSA Director Bob Karls says his group is asking members to call key legislators and ask them to support three other specific budget items.

Wisconsin Soybean Association“We are supporting infrastructure incentives including wholesale tax credits for in-line blending racks and retail tax credits, grants for soybean crushing facilities with Landmark committed to matching up to $4,000,000, and the income tax credit for biodiesel producers in Wisconsin,” Karls says.

A similar call has been put out by backers of ethanol.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Hyundai Debuts Hydrogen Car

John Davis

i-BlueKorean automaker Hyundai has used the Frankfurt Motor Show to debut its new fuel-cell concept vehicle… the i-Blue. The company touts it as a zero-emissions vehicle built on a car-based platform.

This story on the stuff.co.nz web site has more:

“The i-Blue is Hyundai’s first-ever model designed from the ground up to incorporate fuel-cell technology,” said Dr Hyun-Soon Lee, Hyundai president of research and development.

“Our engineering team has successfully designed a more compact fuel-cell vehicle, while still realising the safety, comfort, convenience and driving range of a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle.”

Mass production could start within the next 10 years.

Hydrogen

Biodiesel from Algae

John Davis

ValcentScience is giving the desert regions of the world the chance to get in on the biodiesel boom. Oil-producing algae could hold more promise than conventional Midwestern crops now primarily used to make the green fuel.

This story in the El Paso (TX) Times says a company called Valcent Products has unveiled to the media its system of 10-foot-long water-filled plastic bags set up like a greenhouse in the West Texas desert that grows the oil-producing algae:

“We expect to produce 100,000 gallons (of vegetable oil) per acre per year,” which is a much higher yield than soybeans and other plants being used for biofuel, (president and CEO of Valcent Products Glenn) Kertz said Wednesday. He was showing off his patented Vertigro algae-growing system to news media, El Paso city officials and others at his company’s 6.2-acre research facility in the Upper Valley.

The article goes on to say the closed-loop system is the key to its success, keeping out foreign particles and maximizing the algae’s growth. Construction of a test algae biodiesel plant will begin later this year.

Biodiesel

The Brotherhood of Biodiesel

John Davis

As naysayers try to bash the promise of biofuels, a man in Washington state is doing his part to spread the word through his brotherhood of biodiesel.

This story in the Othello (WA) Outlook says Bill Riley, the director of Big Bend Economic Development Council, has been making his own biodiesel for several years. He’s taking the approach that every little bit helps:

“It isn’t rocket science,” he said, referring to making biodiesel fuel at home. “It’s easily done.”

Riley opted to start making his own biofuels because it helps lower pollution, is a form of recycling (using restaurant waste oils), means he can save on his own fuel bills and is a way of keeping more money in America. For every gallon of foreign oil coming into the U.S., $2 per gallon goes to the country of origin, he said.

Riley had a $99,000 USDA grant to tout the benefits of biodiesel around the Basin, and gave his last demonstrations last week in Othello and Ritzville and in Lind this week to show people how easy it is to make biodiesel and how inexpensively a processor can be made.

“You can make a processor for a couple hundred bucks — all the guys I’ve met who make their own processors have all used different methods,” he said. “And some guys are making biodiesel fuel for less than a buck a gallon.

Riley admits that making biodiesel is a bit addictive. But he adds the real addictive part is spreading the Gospel of biodiesel to more members of the biodiesel brotherhood.

Biodiesel

Ethanol Stall

Cindy Zimmerman

Business WeekBusiness Week is reporting that Big Oil is trying to put the brakes on ethanol.

In the October 1 edition on-line, the article entitled “Big Oil’s Big Stall On Ethanol” claims that oil companies “seem determined to fight the spread of E85, a fuel that is 85% ethanol and 15% gas.”

At the same time the industry is collecting a 51 cents-per-gallon federal subsidy for each gallon of ethanol it mixes with gas and sells as E10 (10% ethanol and 90% gas), it’s working against the E85 blend with tactics both overt and stealthy. Efforts range from funding studies that bash the spread of ethanol for driving up the price of corn, and therefore some food, to not supporting E85 pumps at gas stations. The tactics infuriate a growing chorus of critics, from the usual suspects—pro-ethanol consumer groups—to the unexpected: the oil industry’s oft-time ally, the auto industry.

Ethanol industry supporters should be pleased that the media has taken an interest in this.

E85, Ethanol, News

Ethanol on the Cob II

Cindy Zimmerman

CitiCitigroup is presenting “Ethanol on the Cob II,” a biofuels conference, October 2 in New York City.

A number of companies with a biofuels interest will be presenting at the event, including Bunge North America. Tim Gallagher, Executive Vice President, Bunge North America and Todd Bastean, Vice President & General Manager, Bunge North America Biofuels, will address the conference and the presentation will be webcast live on Bunge.com.

Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings CFO Ajay Sabherwal will also be presenting at the event and a link to the live webcast presentation will be available on that company’s website as well.

Biodiesel, conferences, Ethanol, News

Check out POET TV

Cindy Zimmerman

POETThe largest dry mill ethanol producer in the United States has now become the first to have its own YouTube site.

POET has introduced POET TV to feature coverage of events, interviews and “anything else that gives you a deeper understanding of our company,” according to a post on POET’s blog Rhapsody in Green.

Our focus for POET TV is not high production values or fancy bells and whistles. We want to use POET TV as another vehicle to bring you the latest news and information about POET, the largest producer of biofuels in the world.

Ethanol, News

Financial Firm ING Purchaes Wind Credits

John Davis

inglogo.gifDutch-based insurer and financier, ING Group, will buy wind energy credits to make up for the power it will use at its American locations.

This article in the Hartford (CT) Courant says the company is having to buy the wind energy credits because it can’t directly buy the wind power for its properties:

Initially, the Dutch financial services firm will purchase enough credits to cover power use this year and next. ING will invest about $600,000 in the credits, according to Philip K. Margolis, an ING spokesman in Hartford.

Like most businesses, ING can’t obtain its electricity directly from renewable energy sources, such as wind. Instead, it is contracting to purchase 70,000 megawatt hours of wind-energy credits. Each credit represents 1 megawatt-hour of electricity from wind energy sources.

Producers of such energy sell the credits through brokers and the money that is raised helps pay for generating electricity by wind, cutting down on energy production by burning fuels such as coal.

Wind

PA Gov. Touts Need for Alternative Fuels

John Davis

Gov. Ed RendellPennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has unveiled his plan to his state legislature to increase the use of renewable fuels in Pennsylvania. Now, to follow up that call, Rendell has made a call to Beaver County, PA at will be the biggest producer of biodiesel in the state.

This story in the Beaver County Times-Allegheny Times has more details about Rendell’s visit to the plant which will provide up to 30 million gallons a year of biodiesel when it is running at its full potential:

Pennsylvania BiodieselRendell used his appearance at the grand opening of Pennsylvania Biodiesel in Potter Township to reiterate the plan he presented in Harrisburg on Monday, one that would set aside money for development of a fund for alternative energy grants and a requirement that will boost the production and sales of alternative fuels in the state.

“This is one of the most important plant openings I have ever attended,” Rendell said. “When this plant reaches capacity, it will be producing about 9 percent of the national supply of biodiesel.”

Rendell’s plan has two components. First, the PennSecurity Fuels Initiative would require that all diesel or gasoline sold in the state have a percentage of ethanol or biodiesel by 2017 and that the state be in a position to produce 1 billion gallons of alternative fuels by the same date.

You can read more about Rendell’s energy initiative by clicking here.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News