LanzaTech’s venture in China to turn steel mill waste gases into biofuel has earned an important sustainability certification. The company’s partnership with Shougang Jingtang Iron and Steel United Company and the Tang Ming Group is now Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) certified as sustainable for biofuels and biomaterials production. When commercially producing biofuels next year, the LanzaTech technology-enabled facility becomes …
DuPont: Lowering RVO Targets Would Be a Mistake
A company with experience successfully commercializing a variety of new technologies says it would be a mistake if government targets for renewable fuels are lowered. During yesterday’s Fuels America conference call on the prospect the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could drop renewable volume obligations (RVOs) next year from the statutory level of 14.4 billion gallons to between 12.36 and 13.18 …
Beetle-Infested Trees to be Turned into Biofuel
Trees lost to beetle infestations might not be a total loss; they could be turned into biofuels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded nearly $10 million in grants to a consortium of academic, industry and government organizations led by Colorado State University (CSU) to see if insect-killed trees in the Rocky Mountains could be a sustainable feedstock for bioenergy. …
Lowering RFS Will Raise Big Oil Profits
Big Oil will reap big profits if the Environmental Protection Agency actually proposes a substantial cut to the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requirement for conventional biofuel blending, according to a new analysis released by the ethanol industry today. The analysis finds that the oil industry stand to make an additional $9-14 billion in 2014 if the EPA were to …
Missouri Governor Voices Support for Ethanol
With the harvest nearing completion in Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon last week joined the Missouri Corn Growers Association at a grain elevator in the northeast part of the state to support the state’s corn growers and ethanol industry. “Each year about 20% of Missouri’s corn crop is turned into about 300 million gallons of ethanol – a renewable, domestic energy …
DOE Announces Rooftop Solar Challenge
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced eight teams that have been selected to participate in the Rooftop Solar Challenge. The teams will receive a combined $12 million, matched by more than $4 million in outside funding. The groups are tasked with moving the solar rooftop industry forward through cutting the red tape surrounding residential and small commercial solar …
BioEnergy Bytes
ZephIR Lidar has signed a new distributor agreement with Chinese firm Beijing New Energy Technologies (BNET). The deal will allow ZephIR, manufacturers of the world’s first commercial wind lidar, to tap further into the Chinese wind market: currently the world’s largest, in terms of installed capacity. The company’s ZephIR 300 is a successful, ground-based, continuous wave (CW) wind lidar system …
How To Make E85 Sales Soar
A bottleneck of too few fuel stations that offer E85 (85% ethanol 15% gasoline), along with price incongruity are two major factors that reduce the ability of E85 to help meet increasing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) biofuel mandates. Iowa State University economists Bruce A Babcock and Sebastien Pouliot state in “How Much E85 Can Be Consumed in the U.S.” that …
Energy Title “Vital” in Farm Bill
More than 40 bipartisan House and Senate members including Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Representatives Dave Loebsack (D-2-IA) and Aaron Schock (R-18-IL), sent “Dear Colleague” letters to Farm Bill Conference leaders stressing the vital importance of the energy title (Title IX). In response, the Agriculture Energy Coalition (AgEC) praised the legislator’s letter of support. “The energy …
UNICA Asks Gov’t to Educate Country About Ethanol
Brazil’s sugar cane growers are asking for some help from that country’s government to educate the public about ethanol. Elizabeth Farina, the President of the Union of the Industry of Cane Sugar Association (UNICA), said the industry needs to overcome prejudices caused by inadequate public policies and interference in the fuel market that hurts ethanol’s competitiveness. To that end, the …