I felt like an academic when I read this week’s book, “The Powers That Be Global Energy For The Twenty-First Century And Beyond,” although author Scott L. Montgomery wanted the book to be “fun.” I sported my black geek glasses and curled up in a chair at a local coffee shop and attempted to give off the personae that I’m …
This School Year, Transport Your Kids In Cleaner Buses
School is in session. Millions of children across the country have already started or will head back to class after Labor Day weekend. It’s a good time to ask the question, How clean is the air your children are breathing on the bus? With nearly 450,000 school buses transporting more than 24 million students each day and covering more than …
REG Adds Bioheat & Biodiesel Sales Manager
Paul Predaris has joined Renewable Energy Group (REG) as the company’s new Biodiesel Sales Manager. In his role, he will oversee the company’s Bioheat development of the biodiesel market in the Northeastern United States. This part of the country is rapidly adopting Bioheat for home heating and Predaris will closely work with home heating oil and petroleum distributors as well …
UOP Breaks Ground on Hawaii Cellulose Plant
UOP, a honeywell company, has broken ground on a biofuels demonstration plant in Hawaii that will convert forest waste, algae and other cellulosic biomass to fuel. The project is being helped along by a $25 million U.S. Department of Energy grant. The project will help meet federal biofuel mandates as well as help Hawaii reach its clean energy goals of …
Biofuels Production Continues to Climb
According to the Worldwatch Institute, despite a struggling global economy, biofuel use continues to climb. In 2010, global biofuel production increased 17 percent and reached an all-time high of 105 billion liters, up from 90 billion litres in 2009. The increase in biofuel production has been driven by several factors including high oil prices, a global economic rebound and new …
6th Process Optimization Seminar Nears Sell Out
Back by popular demand, the 6th Process Optimization Seminar will take place on September 28-29, 2011 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To date, more than 120 ethanol plants have participated and 300 plus people have been trained. I was able to speak with Tom Slunecka, the VP of Marketing for Phibro Ethanol Performance Group this morning, one of the founders of the …
Clean Green Minnesota Bean Appears at State Fair
The American Lung Association in Minnesota presented “The Clean, Green Minnesota Bean” over the weekend during the Minnesota State Fair. Randy Hilliard with the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) gave a presentation to the fairgoers from the Sustainability Stage of the Eco Experience Building. The topic? Soybeans. Hilliard discussed the market for plastics, fabrics, cleaners and other bio-based materials, all …
Corn for Ethanol Predicted to Stall
According to an article in Agrimoney, growth in U.S. corn ethanol production is expected to stall due to reduced predictions on this year’s corn harvest along with the fact the industry has basically reached the blend wall. Also a factor has been record high corn prices which have already caused a few plants to stop production. Goldman Sachs has estimated …
IRFA Calls for Texas Gov. To Oppose E15 Ban
Last week during the Ethanol Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) was given an award for its work on promoting ethanol. Their work continues this week as the association sent a letter to Texas Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry, to oppose Congressional efforts to ban E15, a blend of 15 percent ethanol and 85 …
US Navy Completes Successful T-45 Biofuel Flight
The U.S. Navy has successfully flown a T-45 training aircraft using biofuels at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Patuxent River, Maryland. The flight was completed by the “Salty Dogs” of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 flying on biofuel mixture of petroleum-based JP-5 jet fuel and plant-based camelina. The T-45 “Goshawk” is a tandem-seat aircraft used by the …