Greening Waste Management

John Davis

While garbage trucks clean up our trash, too many times the trucks themselves have been polluting the environment through their emissions.

According to this Reuters story, a growing number of cities, including New York and San Francisco, are switching their garbage trucks to the greener fuel fleets to cut soot and greenhouse gases… without any extra costs:

“The greening of the waste management is here, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” said Bruce Parker, director of the National Solid Wastes Management Association.

New York, the largest city in the country, is the latest to pump biofuels into garbage trucks.

Starting July 1, the city will fuel its fleet of 4,500 garbage trucks with a blend of 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent regular diesel known as “B5,” according to Rocco DiRico, assistant commissioner for support operations in New York City’s Department of Sanitation.

Officials estimate New York’s garbage trucks will emit 3 percent less particulate pollution. San Francisco, which switched 335 garbage trucks to B20 biodiesel, cut its emissions by about 21%.

These big cities might be considered somewhat as latecomers to the biodiesel game as several other cities such as Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Berkeley, California; and Grand Rapids, Michigan, have been using B20 for several years.

Biodiesel

SunOpta Gains Major Cellulosic Ethanol Investor

John Davis

SunOptaCellulosic ethanol maker SunOpta has received a $30 million investment from international financing firm BlackRock. More details of the plan issuing non-dividend bearing, convertible preferred shares was announced in a company press release:

Murray Burke, President of SunOpta BioProcess Inc. commented, “This financing represents a strong endorsement of our technology and leadership position in cellulosic ethanol. Proceeds will be used to continue development of our leading edge and patented biomass conversion technologies and accelerate efforts to build and operate the world’s first commercial scale facility for the conversion of cellulosic biomass to ethanol.”

Steve Bromley, President and Chief Executive Officer of SunOpta Inc. commented, “We are extremely pleased to have completed this financing and are confident that this positions SunOpta BioProcess Inc. for an exceptionally exciting and prosperous future. SunOpta has been involved in specialized cellulosic biomass solutions for over thirty years, and this represents yet another exciting step in the development of our company.”

Ethanol

Hydrogen-Powered BMW to London Deputy Mayor

John Davis

BMW Hydrogen 7A BMW Hydrogen 7 car… which, of course, runs on hydrogen with its only exhaust being water… was given to Deputy Mayor of London and London Hydrogen Partnership Chair, Nicky Gavron, to raise awareness to what a great alternative energy source hydrogen is.

This article (and the picture shown above) are from a web site called Fuel Cell Works.com. The story says it’s part of BMW’s initiative to promote the role of hydrogen in the economy. UK business leaders and opinion leaders will get similar vehicles to evaluate their performances:

(BMW’s Head of Government and Industrial Affairs,) John Hollis said: “BMW is a pioneer in the development and use of hydrogen as a fuel source and shares the vision of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor that London should be one of the world centres for Hydrogen. In recognition of the work the Mayor’s Office has done in this field, BMW would like it to be the first public organisation in the country to have the use of a Hydrogen 7 car.”

Deputy London Mayor, Nicky Gavron, said: “I am committed to improving the health and quality of life of Londoners through the use of cleaner technologies such as hydrogen vehicles which reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere. I am pleased to have this opportunity to try out the BMW Hydrogen 7 car. As the Chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership, I want to encourage the use of hydrogen vehicles that emit only water vapour and no harmful emissions, but I also want to be able to talk with first hand experience about these vehicles. I am pleased that BMW has given me this opportunity.”

The BMW Hydrogen 7 has a 260 hp, 12-cylinder engine under the hood and accelerates from zero to 62mph in 9.5 seconds. The only thing holding this modern muscle car back is the electronic governor that limits it to a 143-mph top speed.

Government, Hydrogen

County on Long Island Going to Biodiesel

John Davis

Suffolk County, New York is switching all of its 439 public works trucks to run on biodiesel. The move comes as neighboring Nassau, switched its 270 trucks to the biofuel as of the first of this year.

According to this story in Newsday, officials unanimously approved the move for the end of next year. The switch comes after both counties did their own pilot projects for the last couple of years:

“The beauty of biodiesel is that it burns cleaner and you can use the same infrastructure,” said sponsor Legis. Daniel Losquadro (R-Shoreham). The only difficulty in switching to the new fuel — made up of low-sulfur diesel fuel and 20 percent soybean or waste vegetable oil — is that it initially acts as a detergent when placed into diesel tanks, creating the need to change filters more frequently at first to prevent clogging.

Losquadro said Suffolk was using about 100,000 gallons a year during the biodiesel pilot project and will increase fuel use to 400,000 gallons when the switch is complete.

A spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board says the county joins more than 100 cities switching to biodiesel. San Francisco, California, which switched all of its trucks to biodiesel, and Arlington County, Virginia, which is using it in its truck fleet and school buses, afre the two biggest ones to make the change.

Biodiesel, Government

First Ethanol Co-product Report Due Soon

John Davis

USDA NASS logo
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set June 29th as the date for its first-ever report on how livestock producers are using ethanol co-products for cattle and hog feeds.

This from the USDA’s web site:

The report, entitled Ethanol Co-Products Used for Livestock Feed, will highlight results of a survey conducted by NASS with the support of the Nebraska Corn Board. NASS contacted approximately 9,400 livestock operations in 12 states to determine whether they used ethanol co-products – including distillers grains and corn gluten feed – in their feed rations in 2006. NASS collected information regarding the volume and type of co-products fed, how the co-products were procured and used, and what concerns and barriers may have prevented operations from feeding co-products.

USDA will release the results on Friday, June 29th at 3:00 p.m. You will be able to see those results on the National Ag Statistics Service web site.

Ethanol, Government, News

Biodiesel Promotion and Quality Assurance Act Introduced

John Davis

Sen. Richard DurbinU.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) is the sponsor of a new measure designed to ensure that a portion of America’s future diesel fuel supply is renewable.

NBB logoIn a release from the National Biodiesel Board (of course, the NBB heartily endorses this bill), the Biodiesel Promotion and Quality Assurance Act would up the amount of biodiesel and “bio-based replacement diesel” that refiners blend into diesel to 1.25 billion gallons by 2012:

“Biodiesel is a fuel that holds great promise in terms of moving our country toward energy independence,” Durbin said. “This bill will create incentives for producers and consumers alike and will allow this important alternative fuel source the chance to become a mainstream alternative to foreign oil.”

Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) are co-sponsoring the bill. And as mentioned above, the measure has the endorsement of the NBB:

Joe Jobe“This legislation would set a floor for biodiesel demand, which will help ensure that the promising biodiesel industry continues delivering benefits to America,” said Joe Jobe, NBB CEO. “In addition to economic growth and pollution reduction, biodiesel delivers fuel refining capacity, something this nation desperately needs. Having a demand floor in place will help provide needed stability and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, which benefits all Americans.”

If passed, oil refiners would blend 450 million gallons of biodiesel and bio-based replacement diesel starting next year with the 1.25 billion gallon goal by 2012. The biodiesel would also be required to be registered through the Environmental Protection Agency in line with the Clean Air Act, and would have to have an ASTM standard. There would also be a federal inspection program to ensure quality standards set by ASTM.

Biodiesel, Government

US BioEnergy Celebrates Ethanol Plant Ground Breaking

John Davis

US BioEnergyThis Friday, officials with US BioEnergy including CEO Gordon Ommen, along with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Fagen, Inc. CEO Ron Fagen, Minnesota Corn Growers Association Vice President Roger Moore, and local officials will celebrate the groundbreaking of a 100-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant at Janesville, Minnesota. The ceremony starts at 11:00 a.m.

In a release, US BioEnergy explains the importance of this ethanol plant:

The US must look to a long-term solution to lessen its dependence on foreign oil and decrease gasoline’s negative impact on the environment. Ethanol is a home-grown solution that is better for the environment, while creating jobs within the US. All cars that run on gasoline can safely use gas blended with 10% ethanol. Over the coming years, automotive manufacturers are expected to continue increasing the number of flex-fuel vehicles that will run on 85% ethanol. It’s clean, it’s safe and it’s the future.

Here’s some details of the ceremony:

WHEN: Friday, June 15, 2007
11:00-11:45 Groundbreaking Ceremony

WHERE: Trinity Lutheran School Gymnasium
501 North Main Street
Janesville, MN

energy.agwired.com plans to get some photos from the event, so check back to see more.

Ethanol, News

Ford E85 Escape Hybrids

Cindy Zimmerman

The first E85 Escape Hybrids are hitting the streets this week, as Ford Motor Company delivered three of 20 new vehicles Wednesday to the Department of Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition.

RFA HybridRFA president Bob Dinneen was all smiles as he climbed into the driver’s seat of the new vehicle which combines hybrid and flex-fuel vehicle (FFV) technology.

“The combination of hybrid and flex-fuel technology in one vehicle enables increased energy independence and reduced carbon emissions like no automobile before,” said Dinneen. “Ford has introduced a vehicle that runs primarily on ethanol created by our nation’s farmers, and then, with its hybrid power train, travels further on every gallon of that renewable fuel. This is an important achievement in the drive towards sustainable, secure energy.”

The experimental Escape features an electric motor that powers the vehicle at low speeds and a gasoline internal combustion capable of running on fuel blends up to 85 percent ethanol kicks in a higher speeds, according to Sue Cischke, Ford’s senior vice president, Sustainability, Environmental and Safety Engineering.

“Although we currently do not have plans to produce the Escape Hybrid E85, the research from this technology could lead to breakthroughs in even more advanced technologies,” said Cischke.

Bond HybridU.S. Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) joined Ford for a press conference on Capitol Hill to announce the new hybrid and talk about alternative fuels.

“Every gallon of biofuels grown in the Midwest means a gallon of oil we do not need to import from the dangerous Middle East,” said Bond. “We can and should do more to reduce pollution from vehicles. Ford today is showing its leadership in clean and efficient vehicles with a first-ever hybrid SUV that will also run on biofuels.”

(Read more on the Ford E85 Escape Hybrids from Ford, RFA and Senator Bond’s office. Thanks to Matt Hartwig of RFA for the photos.)

Car Makers, E85, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Government, News

Propane Helping Out Dairies

Chuck Zimmerman

Mike Peacock and Kirk MorrowHere’s an interesting application for propane that targets the dairy industry from a company that’s known for making gas fired appliances.

One of the companies that the Propane Education & Research Council is working with on some projects is Rinnai. One thing they’re doing that is real interesting is tankless water heaters.

As you’ll hear in my interview with Mike Peacock (left) and Kirk Morrow, they’re working with PERC on a project with some dairies to showcase how their technology can benefit the farm. Essentially they say it allows the dairy to replace boiler systems that can break down causing the dairy to be without hot water until it gets fixed. Their systems don’t have many moving parts and so they last a long time. Additionally they’re working with the dairies on some other applications like floor heating which would help northern dairies in the winter to keep floors from becoming slick and animals from slipping.

In my interview with Mike and Kirk they also provide some explanation of just how this tankless system works. You can listen to my interview with them here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/propane/propane-days-07-morrow-peacock.mp3]

Audio, Propane

Propane Powered Mowers

Chuck Zimmerman

Manchester TankWe think of propane as a cooking or heating fuel but how about mowers?

I met Chris Row with Manchester Tank here at Propane Days and we talked about mowers. Chris says that his company is working with several OEM’s to bring propane powered mowers to market. I think they’re focusing on mower fleets primarily at this point. He says they want to help build mowers that will run smoothly over rough terrain.

One of the benefits to using propane he says is in theft prevention. That’s not something I think most of us would think of but it’s a lot harder to steal propane than gas. He says that propane is also good from an environmental standpoint since if someone accidentally spills it you don’t have groundwater contamination. Chris also points out that with high gas prices right now propane is an economical alternative.

Chris says that his company is working with the Propane Education & Research Council to promote this idea and they’re hoping to start a project with a national park or university to help showcase what can be done with propane in this application.

You can listen to my interview with Chris here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/propane/propane-days-07-row.mp3]

Audio, Propane