U.S.; European Biofuel Makers Blast Anti-ethanol Report

John Davis

RFA-ebioA paper critical of world ethanol production, written by the chair of the Round Table on Sustainable Development at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)… but not officially the view of the OECD… has been blasted by the leaders of the European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBio) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). Those biofuels leaders are asking the OECD to disavow the paper issued last week. Part of the criticism centers on the media’s portrayal of the paper as the official position of the OECD.

In a letter to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, eBio Secretary General Rob Vierhout and RFA President Bob [Dinneen] wrote:

dineen11.jpg“Specifically and just as disturbingly, this potentially unauthorized document fails to make its case, is highly one-sided and seemingly conflicts with previous OECD positions supporting biofuels as a component in reducing CO2 gases. In short, whether deliberate or not, the OECD’s imprimatur is on this document and it is the OECD that must now be accountable for what is a biased assessment of expanding the worldwide production and consumption of renewable biofuels. We respectfully, but urgently, request that OECD specifically disavow this report as not reflecting the official policy of the organization.”

The paper released last week by a third-party, anti-ethanol website runs counter to statements made in official OECD publications. Two years ago, the OECD Observer published an article stating, “increasing the use of biofuels can improve energy security, greatly reduce greenhouse gases and many pollutant emissions, and improve vehicle performance. Their production can also enhance rural economic development.”

The groups go on to blast the document’s scare scenario of “food shortages”… without recognizing the significant increases in productivity per acre. For example, U.S. corn yields per acre have doubled over the last 30 years with lower inputs per acre.

Ethanol, News

Buff Buses Burning Biodiesel

John Davis

buff_bus.jpgUniversity of Colorado officials have been experimenting with burning biodiesel in their campus mass transit system buses… the Buff Buses… and the results have been pretty “buff” in their own right.

This article in the school’s online newspaper, the Campuspress.com, says it has been out performing other “clean”… but still petroleum-based… fuels:

In 2003, students passed a referendum to increase student fees by 50 cents per semester for four years; a portion of this money was used to switch the Buff Buses to biodiesel.

“I think the big thing was the environmental impact,” said Bryan Flansburg, CU’s director of transportation.

Other transportation services in the Boulder area are experimenting with alternative fuels.

All buses run by Denver’s RTD now use ultra-low sulfur diesel. RTD has also been running a pilot program which is testing the efficiency of four hybrid buses.

“The intent was to see if the operating cost reduction offset the additional cost of purchasing the hybrid vehicles,” said Scott Reed, the RTD general manager of public affairs.

A regular RTD bus costs around $290,000, while the hybrid buses cost around $490,000.

“So far we have not seen the cost savings that would justify the additional expense,” Reed said.

Biodiesel

USDA Hands Out $18.2 mil in Renewable Energy Grants & Loans

John Davis

usdaruraldev.jpgUSDA Rural Development officials have announced that 345 proposals in 37 states have been tapped to get about $18.2 million for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

This release from the Ag Department says the $13.4 million in grants and $4.8 million in loan guarantee/grant combinations are being awarded through USDA’s Section 9006 Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements program:

dorr.jpg“These funds will help create economic opportunity and reduce energy costs for farmers, ranchers and small businesses in rural communities,” [Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas] Dorr said. “Our renewable energy programs have a significant impact on creating jobs and investment opportunities and maintaining financially viable communities.”

Here are a few examples of where the money will go:

In Orangeville, Ill., for example, USDA Rural Development selected James Briggs for a $12,375 grant to help him replace a 20-year-old grain dryer with a new continuous flow dryer that is expected to reduce annual energy costs by 53 percent.

Healy Biodiesel, Inc., Sedgwick, Kan., was selected to receive a $32,375 grant to purchase and install biodiesel processors and equipment to create a biodiesel facility that is expected to produce an estimated 150,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel per year.

The S&D Farm Wind Turbine Project, Lisbon, Conn., was selected to receive a $49,751 grant to purchase and install a 50 kilowatt wind turbine to produce electricity and save energy costs. The project is expected to save an estimated $12,740 in annual energy costs.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Wind

Biodiesel Featured at Wisconsin Farm Tech Days

John Davis

wiftd.gifBiodiesel was one of the stars at this year’s Wisconsin Farm Tech Days as the state’s biodiesel industry also pushes the green fuel as the source of energy for this year’s harvest.

This story on Wisconsin Ag Connection has more details:
Jeff Pieterick, president of the Wisconsin Biodiesel Association, acknowledges that Wisconsin farmers are already among the biggest advocates of the renewable fuel, but more and more producers are learning about the product as time goes on.

wibiodiesel1.JPG“Promoting the use of biodiesel to Wisconsin farmers is a bit like taking coal to Newcastle,” says Pieterick. “The Wisconsin Soybean Association and others in the state ag industry understand biodiesel and have historically promoted the home grown fuel as a value-added agricultural product that supports this nation’s energy independence.”

The association’s ‘Biodiesel Harvest’ promotional effort at event asks farmers to fill up on biodiesel for this fall’s harvest.

Biodiesel

North Dakota Ethanol Plant will Limit Fresh Water Usage

John Davis

One of the big knocks against ethanol is that it uses too much water. But an ethanol plant in North Dakota is finding a way to limit its use of freshwater.

This AP story on the KXMC-TV (Minot, ND) web site says what could have been a one-million-gallon-a-day drain on the local freshwater source has been significantly reduced:

Duaine Espegard is the lead director for the Newman Group. He says taking water from the Spiritwood aquifer would hurt others that use the aquifer.

Espegard says the aquifer already is being drawn down. Cargill Malt uses nearly 4 million gallons of water each day from it.

Espegard says the Spiritwood Ethanol plant needs only about 140,000 gallons of fresh water a day to make ethanol. He says the plant could get that from other sources and the rest of the water can come from Cargill after it’s been used in the malting process.

Officials expect to break ground and start construction of the plant next spring.

Ethanol, News

Verenium to Present at Big Apple Conferences

John Davis

VereniumCellulosic ethanol leader Verenium will present at two upcoming conferences… one on biofuels and one on life sciences… next week in New York City.

This article on CNNMoney.com has more details:

John A. McCarthy, Jr., Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Verenium, will be presenting at the ISI Biofuels Conference. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 and will take place at the University Club in New York City.

Carlos RivaCarlos A. Riva, President and Chief Executive Officer of Verenium, will be presenting at the UBS Global Life Sciences Conference. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, September 27, 2007 and will take place at the Grand Hyatt in New York City.

More information is available at Verenium web site, www.celunol.com.

Ethanol, News

Ethanol at the EC

Cindy Zimmerman

Leaders of the biofuels industry in both Europe and the United States are calling on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to disavow a paper issued last week critical of world ethanol production.

Michael MannEurope is well behind the United States in biofuels production and use, but the European Commission is moving ahead with its plans to have biofuels make up ten percent of transport fuels by the year 2020, according to the Commission’s spokesman for agriculture and rural development Michael Mann who says this is a fairly modest. “We’ve also set that some of that will have to come from imports and we will also favor in the long term second generation biofuels,” Mann told ag journalists in Brussels last week on a trip sponsored by BASF Ag Products. “We don’t want too much of our agricultural land to be diverted away from food and feed production. So, its a balance between the importance of biofuels for environmental reasons and to lower our reliance on imported oil, but at the same time not upsetting our food and commodity markets too much.”

European Commission According to Mann, the EU has incentives for rural development of biofuels refineries in place, which are actually grants. “Developing biofuels plants is something you can receive a grant for from rural development funding.” In addition, there is a tariff in place for ethanol imports to the EU and there are incentive payments for farmers to produce crops for biofuels production which was introduced in 2003. “If you have a contract with a biofuel producer to produce the raw materials for biofuel, you can get an extra 45 euros per hectare on that land.”

Mann says they are reconsidering that incentive, in light of the OECD criticism of biofuels subsidies and also because there is now a market because the target is in place.

Listen to Mann’s remarks about biofuels in the EU here (5:50 MP3 File): [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/mann-biofuels.mp3]

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, International, News

Hydrogen Gives Boost to Biodiesel Bus

John Davis

TARTABuses in Toledo could get a dash more power with a dash of hydrogen along with the biodiesel they’re burning.

This story on the Emerging Current web site says a test is being done to see if hydrogen will boost the biodiesel’s performance:

H2 Engine Systems’ Executive Vice President David Macpherson claimed he could feel a surge in the engine power when the hydrogen kicked in during a test drive of the hydrogen-biodiesel blend on a race track in Toledo, Ohio.

The Toledo authority has assigned a minibus H2 Engine to test the effectiveness of supplementing biodiesel fuel blends with hydrogen to improve engine performance. H2 Engine ran a series of three-minute tests, twice each at 30 mph, 40 mph and 47 mph, without and then with the hydrogen to quantify the added engine boost.

The bus was fitted with a tank and connections to introduce the hydrogen into the fuel system. While pure hydrogen gas is explosive, once mixed with biodiesel its concentration is four percent or less, eliminating “any fears of a Hindenburg disaster” with the bus, H2 Engine said.

Biodiesel, Hydrogen

Biodiesel Changing Attitudes About Diesel Vehicles

John Davis

For years, diesel powered vehicles got a bad rap as being too noisy and smelly for the average consumer. But now, with the advent of cleaner burning biodiesel (compared to the smell of french fries), Americans are buying more diesel burners.

This story on the Driving.ca web site has more details:

Americans generally have regarded diesels as too noisy and polluting, and have tended to avoid them except in some special cases, such as large pickups, where diesel engines rule.

But those perceptions are changing as the era of the “clean diesel” arrives.

Annual registration of diesel passenger vehicles in the United States reached nearly 550,000 vehicles in 2005, up from just 301,000 in 2000, according to figures from R.L. Polk and Co. reported by the Diesel Technology Forum (www.dieselforum.org), a non-profit consortium of companies that are developing diesel engine technology. The group says “31 per cent of this growth came in the past year alone.”

Besides the diesel pickups offered by Dodge, Chevy, and Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes, and Jeep are offering diesel, make that BIO-diesel, powered vehicles for the average consumer market.

Biodiesel

Ethanol Prices Lower than Regular Gasoline

John Davis

Gas prices all over the country are higher than ever – more than 50 cents a gallon from a year ago – and with the latest spike in crude oil prices hitting record levels of more than $82 a barrell, expect those prices to continue to climb.

But KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota says while regular unleaded is hitting $2.93 in that town, ethanol is considerably cheaper:

Gas with 10 percent ethanol is more than 20 cents a gallon cheaper and drivers are gobbling it up.

Driver Molly Stensaas says, “It’s cheaper and we’re farmers, so we’ve got to support the ethanol.”

Mark Madeja of AAA South Dakota says, “I think especially in Midwestern area where ethanol is so prevalent, you do have more drivers switching over; regardless of what you might hear about how it affects miles per gallon and fuel economy and those sorts of things.”

We couldn’t find anyone at this service station not filing up with an ethanol blend. And that can be really good for the economy because it has people driving more and spending more money.

[T]he expansion of the ethanol businesses is doing exactly what was intended, helping Americans gain some relief from dependency on foreign oil.

Jeff Parker says, “Phenomenal. I don’t know why everybody doesn’t use it.”

Amen to that.

Ethanol, News