Making Biofuels More Accessible in Tennessee

John Davis

Gov. Phil BredesenTennessee Governor Phil Bredesen wants drivers to be able to find ethanol and biodiesel to fill their tanks.

This story on the WKRN-TV web site says stickers at the gas pumps pushing the state’s new BioTenn plan, promoting E85 ethanol and biodiesel, should be popping up in about a month or so:

“What I’m trying to do is get Tennessee in a position of being a leader in adopting these things and being a leader in the technology it takes to produce this,” Governor Bredesen said Thursday. “I think this can have every bit as much, and maybe more impact, that the auto industry has had if we play our cards right.”

Thirty-two stations sell the green fuel in Tennessee right now. More than a dozen more on coming on line in the next month.

BioTennYou can check out Tennessee’s biofuels efforts at BioTenn.org.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Tuscaloosa Latest to Make Biodiesel Switch

John Davis

Tuscaloosa city logoTuscaloosa, Alabama is the latest city to switch its diesel powered fleet to biodiesel.

This story on the WVUA-TV web site says the city is switching nearly 300 vehicles to run on a 20% biodiesel blend:

The fuel comes from a plant in West Alabama called Alabama Biodiesel, located in Moundville. According to the company’s website, they began producing biodiesel in 2005.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox spoke to WVUA about the fuel shift: “By going to biodiesel, the city reduces its dependency on foreign oil. Right now, by going to biodiesel, in a year’s time, we’ll save nearly a hundred thousand gallons of diesel fuel—that’s twenty percent of fuel we use in one year.”

The biodiesel costs a couple of cents more a gallon, but the less diesel that will have to be bought will make up the difference.

Biodiesel

EPA at FEW

Cindy Zimmerman

FEW EPAThe administrator for Region 7 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told participants at the 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis this week that the partnership between EPA and agriculture is helping to find solutions to environmental challenges.

“We’ve had a major role in dealing with one of America’s top priorities – reducing dependency on foreign oil,” said John Askew, whose region includes Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. “We’re addressing our nation’s growing energy demand in a way that supports farmers, rural America, our goal for a clean environment and greater energy security.”

Askew also talked about the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). “Under this program the annual amount of renewable fuel use will increase every year, so by the year 2012 over 7 and a half billion gallons of fuel being pumped in gas tanks across this country will be made from home grown crops and renewable resources,” he said. “But you’ve gone way beyond that and we expect you to keep working hard on that aspect.”

Askew concluded his remarks by presenting EPA’s Energy Star awards to Macon Municipal Utilities in Macon, Missouri and Adkins Energy, LLC in Lena, Illinois.

Listen to Askew’s remarks here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/few-07-epa.mp3]

RFAThanks to the Renewable Fuels Association for sponsoring coverage on Domestic Fuel of the 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

Audio, conferences, Ethanol, FEW, Government, News, RFA

E85 in DC

Cindy Zimmerman

VeraSun DCVeraSun Energy Corporation, in partnership with General Motors, today announced the opening of the first E85 retail fueling location in Washington, D.C.

According to a company release, the VeraSun branded VE85™ is now available at the Georgetown Chevron and at the Navy Exchange station near the Pentagon.

“This partnership exemplifies the efforts being made to improve the availability of E85 in our nation.” said Don Endres, VeraSun’s Chairman and CEO.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car joined VeraSun and GM on this initiative by announcing that it is designating its premier rental location in Washington, D.C., as an official “E85/FlexFuel branch.” Owning the world’s largest fleet of FlexFuel Vehicles, with more than 41,000 cars and trucks, Enterprise is committing to fueling 50 GM FlexFuel vehicles from its location at 1029 Vermont Ave. N.W., at the Georgetown Chevron. The vehicles will also be stocked with materials about VE85™ and directions to the fueling location.

E85, Ethanol, News

Ethanol Powers Porsche Prototypes

Cindy Zimmerman

ALM PorschePorsche will introduce an ethanol-mixed fuel in its Le Mans Prototype 2 RS Spyders for the July 7 American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park.

ALMAccording to an American Le Mans Series release, the four Porsche prototypes, entered by Penske Motorsports and Dyson Racing, now use the same E10 Ethanol fuel mixture as the GT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR race cars also entered in the two-hour and 45-minute contest.

“It is widely reported by the U.S. Department of Energy that the use of ethanol fuel can have huge energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction benefits,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “We are committed to make continuing efforts toward the success of this worthy global cause and encourage our customers to use this fuel when possible. The concerted use of ethanol-mixed fuel in the 911 and other Porsche models is one small, but effective means of protecting the environment.”

EPICThe American Le Mans Series highlighted its transition to alternative fuels with a display Thursday of sports cars and racing machines on the edge of Central Park.

“Energy Independence” was the message at Tavern on the Green as the Series showcased its relevancy – one of the watchwords since its early days.

More than 100 VIPs and media attended the luncheon program highlighted by remarks from legendary driver/team owner Bobby Rahal, Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) Executive Director Tom Slunecka and American Le Mans Series President and CEO Scott Atherton.

EPIC, Ethanol, News, Racing

Familiar Face to Lead Renewable Energy Market

John Davis

Texas flagFor a long time, Texas was known to be a leader in the non-renewable energy fields… in particular, the petroleum market. But it looks like the Lone Star State is now poised to dominate the green fuel picture as well.

This story in the Houston Chronicle says Texas will lead the nation in renewable energy production by 2025, and could gain $22.8 billion in economic activity each year and more than 170,000 jobs overall:

The state’s energy production, which would supply about 4 percent of the U.S. needs in 2025, would come from biofuels, wind and solar power. Texas already leads the nation in wind energy production.

Texas’ projections come from a two-year study by the University of Tennessee Department of Agricultural Economics. The report, which looked at the 48 contiguous states, was commissioned by the National 25x’25 Alliance, a group working toward having 25 percent of the country’s energy come from renewable sources by 2025.

If the report’s estimates pan out, the economic impact nationwide in 2025 will be $700 billion annually and create 5.1 million jobs, mostly in rural areas.

Ironically, Texas Governor Rick Perry and the state legislature are, so far, are unwilling to sign on to that national “25 by 25” effort.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Wind

Ethanol Stocks Enjoying a Rise

John Davis

Buoyed by developments in the U.S. House of Representatives working on an energy bill that calls for more alternative fuel use, stocks in ethanol producers are rising.

This AP story, appearing on the financial web site Forbes.com, says the U.S. Senate has already approved an alternative-fuel rich version last week:

Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Kevin Book expects the full bill to be released Thursday, with a vote coming in early July. He expects the bill will contain $15 billion to $20 billion in tax credits for alternative and renewable energy.

Here are the results from some key stocks in the sector:

Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings (nyse: AVR – news – people ) Inc. gained 94 cents, or 6.5 percent, at $15.45.

VeraSun Energy Corp. (nyse: VSE – news – people ) rose 5 cents to $13.30

Pacific Ethanol (nasdaq: PEIX – news – people ) Inc. lost 2 cents at $12.61.

US BioEnergy Corp., up 39 cents to $11.18.

Andersons Inc. (nasdaq: ANDE – news – people ) moved up 46 cents to $44.85.

Ethanol, News

Two Ethanol Plants Win EPA Awards

John Davis

The Environmental Protection Agency has handed out Energy Star awards to two Midwest ethanol plants… recognizing their efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that equal the amount of pollution from nearly 6,000 cars a year. The awards were presented Wednesday at the 23rd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo in St. Louis.

According to an EPA press release, Macon Municipal Utilities in Macon, Missouri and Adkins Energy, LLC in Lena, Illinois were honored for using what’s called Combined Heat and Power (CHP) to reduce energy usage:

Macon Municipal UtilitiesOne of the award winners, Macon Municipal Utilities reduced their energy use by 25 percent. Macon Municipal Utilities installed a 10 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired combustion turbine CHP system at its 45 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Northeast Missouri. The CHP system will likely reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 28,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 4,500 cars.

Adkins logoAt its 40 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Illinois, Adkins Energy LLC, decreased their energy use by 15 percent with a 5 MW natural gas-fired combustion turbine CHP system. The CHP system reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 8,700 tons per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 1,400 cars.

RFAThanks to the Renewable Fuels Association for sponsoring coverage on Domestic Fuel of the 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

Ethanol, FEW, News, RFA

Royal Riding on Biodiesel

John Davis

Prince CharlesIn an effort to be more friendly to the planet, Prince Charles says he is using biodiesel in a couple of his personal vehicles… and might even use the green fuel on the Royal Train.

This story appeared in the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

The report — printed on recycled paper in vegetable-based ink — said the prince had reduced the number of plane and helicopter journeys he takes, introduced green electricity at Highgrove, and converted his Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to run on biodiesel fuel from used cooking oil. Plans also are being discussed to convert the royal train to biodiesel, said the prince’s principal private secretary, Sir Michael Peat.

The Prince’s office went on to say that Charles has reduced his carbon footprint by reducing the amount of air travel, and when he does have to fly, invests in a company that plants trees to offset that travel.

Biodiesel

Solving the Glycerin Glut

John Davis

Biodiesel is riding the wave of record production that only looks to get bigger as Americans yearn for the greener fuel to help break the addiction on foreign oil. That’s the good news. The bad news is the industry is facing a glut of a biodiesel by-product called glycerin.

But researchers at Rice University have found a way to make ethanol out of that glycerin. This press release from the school explains more:

Ramon Gonzalez“We identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a known strain of E. coli to convert glycerin into ethanol,” said chemical engineer Ramon Gonzalez. “It’s also very efficient. We estimate the operational costs to be about 40 percent less that those of producing ethanol from corn.”

Gonzalez said the biodiesel industry’s rapid growth has created a glycerin glut. The glut has forced glycerin producers like Dow Chemical and Procter and Gamble to shutter plants, and Gonzalez said some biodiesel producers are already unable to sell glycerin and instead must pay to dispose of it.

“One pound of glycerin is produced for every 10 pounds of biodiesel,” said Gonzalez, Rice’s William Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “The biodiesel business has tight margins, and until recently, glycerin was a valuable commodity, one that producers counted on selling to ensure profitability.”

Researchers say the process is greener than other methods that use chemicals… and more economical.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News