DF Cast: Recycling Materials to Grab the Sun’s Power

John Davis

Solar energy holds great promise for this nation: it’s practically always there, it doesn’t produce greenhouse gases, and it’s free. But production of the materials used to capture the power of the sun is not always a green proposition … and they’re certainly not free! That’s where BioSolar comes in. The Los Angeles area-based company has found a way to …

Audio, Domestic Fuel Cast, Solar

Growing Biodiesel Crops on the Road

Cindy Zimmerman

Roadsides and median strips may turn out to be the perfect place to grow crops for biodiesel. “It’s a very non-traditional approach to utilizing some public lands that are not being utilized as well as they could be,” says Utah State University researcher Dallas Hanks. It is estimated that there are some 10 million available acres of land in roadsides, …

Audio, Biodiesel, NBB, New Holland

DF Cast: Recycling CO2 into Fuel

John Davis

Big emitters of carbon dioxide are faced with a big problem. Industries and utilities will soon have to capture that CO2 and store it … somewhere. That’s where Carbon Sciences comes in. The California-based company has come up with a way that takes the captured greenhouse gas and turns it into gasoline and diesel … the exact same fuels that …

Audio, Domestic Fuel Cast

RFA: EPA Needs to Avoid Paralysis by Analysis

Joanna Schroeder

The EPA received more than 80,000 comments regarding the E15 waiver and with responses coming in a tidal wave, there may well be another 80,000 more. Yesterday, the EPA submitted a letter to “postpone” making a decision regarding the E15 waiver petition. “This delay from EPA threatens to paralyze the continued growth of the American ethanol industry because of its …

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA

EPA Rules to Not Rule on E15 Waiver Petition

Joanna Schroeder

The deadline was met yesterday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ruling on the E15 waiver, or was it? The EPA, in a letter to Growth Energy, the organization that filed the E15 Waiver, also known as the Green Jobs Waiver, has ruled to not rule. According to the letter the EPA wrote, “we want to make sure we have …

Audio, Ethanol, Government, Growth Energy, News

Farm Bureau Pleased with Climate Bill Delay

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is pleased with a decision by Senate leadership last week to delay consideration of climate change legislation until the spring of 2010. During a recent interview before the delay was announced, AFBF president Bob Stallman said the agricultural organization opposed the climate change bill that was passed by the House, despite provisions included that …

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Farming, Indirect Land Use

DF Cast: Crunching the Renewable Identification Numbers

John Davis

A big issue in the current Renewable Fuels Standard … as well as the new RFS2 under consideration by the EPA … is the Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs). In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we listen in on the conversation from the recent 2nd Annual RINWorld Summit held in Dallas, TX where the EPA’s John Wienrauch, Office of …

Audio, Biodiesel, Domestic Fuel Cast, E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

POET CEO Bullish on Cellulosic Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Cellulosic ethanol pioneers like Jeff Broin of POET are confident about the future of next generation fuels, even if the country fails to reach the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate of 100 million gallons of production next year. “To be honest with you, that number was picked out of thin air, so the chance that we do or don’t make it …

Audio, Cellulosic, Ethanol, POET

RFA Sends Former VP Ethanol Facts

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association wants former Vice President Al Gore to know that he was right the first time about ethanol and other biofuels. RFA CEO Bob Dinneen has written a letter to Gore challenging the chapter about ethanol in his new book “Our Choice.” “Given your attention to science and the facts, I am disappointed by the treatment of …

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

BlueFire Ethanol Awaits Feds $56 Mil Loan Decision

John Davis

Cellulosic ethanol producer BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. has cleared the first hurdle in its quest to get a $56 million government loan guarantee for its Lancaster, California ethanol plant. As you might remember from my Domestic Fuel Cast earlier this month, BlueFire uses a process called Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Technology that can turn many feedstocks into ethanol, including garbage. I …

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, News