Vilsack Comments on RFS and Biodiesel Tax Credit

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack supports the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2), but thinks strategies to build demand are more important to biofuels than tax credits.

afbf annual hawaiiVilsack made multiple appearances in Hawaii this week, including at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) annual meeting where he addressed the membership and met with the media and had the opportunity to comment on biofuels policy.

During a press conference at AFBF on Monday, Vilsack said he believes it is important to keep the RFS2 in place for multiple reasons. “One, it provides consumer choice. We know that because we have a healthy biofuels industry that consumers are paying 90 cents to a dollar less for gas,” he said. “It’s a job creator in rural America and an opportunity to increase the bottom line for farmers, ranchers and producers. And it has helped us reduce our reliance on foreign oil, going from 60% imports to 52% in the last couple of years.” Audio from Vilsack on RFS2

A day later at the Pearl Harbor memorial to tout the increasing use of biodiesel by the military, Vilsack was asked about the expiration of the biodiesel tax credit at the end of 2011 and whether it will hurt the industry again as it did in 2010 if Congress fails to renew it. “First and foremost, our approach is to figure out ways to build demand for the product,” Vilsack responded, noting that they can use loan programs to produce more biodiesel while the commitment by the Navy to increase use of biofuel will help increase demand. “So, I don’t think that we need to rely solely on tax credits.” Audio from Vilsack on Biodiesel Tax Credit

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

Pacific Biodiesel Continues Growth

Cindy Zimmerman

hawaiiDuring a visit to highlight renewable energy use by the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also spotlighted the Hawaii-based biodiesel producer that supplies much of the fuel used there.

Pacific Biodiesel “is the oldest biodiesel producer and refinery in the country, started in 1996,” said Vilsack during his remarks on Tuesday at the memorial, noting that USDA has provided assistance to help that company grow. “We provided recently a $5 million business and industry loan to Pacific Biodiesel to allow it to continue to expand its capacity.”

hawaiiThat loan, announced in February 2010, is being used to construct a $10 million, 5.5 million gallon per year biodiesel production plant in Kea’au on the Big Island. Pacific Biodiesel vice president and co-founder Kelly King says Big Island Biodiesel will be the companies 13th biodiesel plant. “We’ll be owning and operating five of them, the other ones we built for clients throughout the mainland, from the east coast to the west coast,” she says, with capacity ranging from a half million to six million gallons.

“We started in Maui, where we actually had the first available biodiesel pump for the public,” said King. “Back then, most of our customers were environmental hippies who would come and pay 70 cents a gallon more for fuel and thank us and tell us to keep the change!”

King says Pacific Biodiesel operates on a community-based sustainable model set up locally to benefit local communities. While all the plants can use any type of oil feedstocks, much of them operate on used cooking oil. “It can use the most degraded oils up to the purest oils,” she said. “The degraded oils make the best feedstock because it’s the cheapest!”

King and two of her Pacific Biodiesel team members were excited to be part of the secretary’s appearance at Pearl Harbor and to have him recognize the importance of renewable fuels in the Aloha State.

Listen to an interview with Kelly King here: Pacific Biodiesel VP Kelly King
Photos from Secretary’s visit to Pearl Harbor memorial to promote biofuels

Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Government, USDA

Rural Broadband Internet Access Trumps GPS Services

Chuck Zimmerman

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “What do you think of the LightSquared broadband internet proposal?” This controversial issue has pitted GPS services and hardware manufacturers against those who want better broadband internet service in their area and agriculture is only one of the industries that could be impacted. Interestingly, our poll results were mostly against the proposal until one afternoon when almost all of the “positive” results were posted. That suggests that there was a concerted effort to impact the results. So here they are. We had 73% say that the proposal would be Good for ag/rural America and 23% say it would be Bad for ag/rural America. What do you think about that?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “Do you think there’s currently an “Ag Bubble”?” Let us know what you think.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

ZimmPoll

Industry Says Cellulosic Ethanol Progress is Being Made

Cindy Zimmerman

In response to recent media reports about cellulosic ethanol shortfalls, including a story in the New York Times, the advanced ethanol industry is stressing that progress is being made.

RFA AEC“In a very difficult financial and policy environment, the first wave of commercial advanced ethanol production facilities are under construction in a number of states across the country,” said Advanced Ethanol Council Executive Director Brooke Coleman. “Diversifying America’s fuel supply with increasing amounts of clean, domestically produced renewable fuel requires us to keep our eyes on the prize and not be distracted by the noise and misdirection coming from naysayers protecting the status quo.”

Coleman acknowledges that targets for cellulosic ethanol under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) have had to be revised downward from initial expectations, but says the RFS is working to help diversify the nation’s fuel supply.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required by Congress to adjust the RFS cellulosic biofuel blending volumes based on forecasted future available supplies. For both 2011 and 2012, EPA reduced those volumes by over 90 percent to provide relief for regulated parties and simultaneously implement the very type of credit system the oil industry requested to address the inherent market uncertainties of deploying new fuel technologies in the marketplace.

advanced biofuels, AEC, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ag Secretary Highlights Biodiesel at Pearl Harbor

Cindy Zimmerman

hawaiiWith the Pearl Harbor memorial as a backdrop and a Pacific Biodiesel hat on the podium, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Tuesday highlighted the use of biodiesel by the U.S. Navy.

Pearl Harbor naval base was the first Hawaii military marine fleet to use biodiesel, replacing the Department of Navy-operated tour boats that shuttled visitors to and from the USS Arizona Memorial with five new boats capable of running on 100% biodiesel.

hawaii“The military in the way they are approaching the future as it relates to energy is reminding us that this country has the capacity not just to think big but also to act big,” said Vilsack. “They understand and appreciate that energy security is important for the future of this country and are dedicated to making sure that the Navy provide a good example to the country on how to go about doing this.”

The secretary noted that the Pearl Harbor navel base is also “utilizing and will continue to expand E85 and B20 opportunities for their vehicle fleet” which consists of roughly 2000 vehicles, 75% of which are capable of using either E85 or B20.

Vilsack noted that much of the biodiesel used at Pearl Harbor purchased by the Navy is produced in Hawaii by Pacific Biodiesel, “which is the oldest biodiesel producer and refinery in the country, started in 1996.”

Listen to Secretary Vilsack’s comments about biofuels at Pearl Harbor: Tom Vilsack at Pearl Harbor memorial

Photos from Secretary’s visit to Pearl Harbor memorial to promote biofuels

Audio, Biodiesel, E85, Ethanol, USDA

Sunn Hemp Shows Promise as Biofuel Source

USDA researchers say the tropical legume sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) is a fast-growing annual that farmers in the Southeast could incorporate into their crop rotations and it could be used as a biofuel source.
USDA
A study, conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Florence, S.C., supports the USDA priority of finding new sources of bioenergy. Results from the study were published in 2010 in Biomass and Bioenergy.

ARS agricultural engineer Keri Cantrell, agronomist Philip Bauer, and environmental engineer Kyoung Ro all work at the ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center in Florence. They compared the energy content of sunn hemp with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), another common regional summer cover crop, in 2004 and 2006.

Both crops were grown in experimental plots near Florence and were harvested on the same day three times in each study year. The last harvest for both years was conducted right after the first killing freeze of the season. The scientists measured potential energy production of both feedstocks via direct combustion. This provided the feedstocks’ higher heating value (HHV), which indicates how much energy is released via combustion.

In 2004, when there was ample rainfall, the resulting sunn hemp biomass yield totaled more than 4.5 tons per acre. This is equivalent to 82.4 gigajoules of energy per acre, close to the energy contained in 620 gallons of gasoline and well in the ballpark of other bioenergy crops, which have yields of anywhere from 30 to 150 gigajoules per acre.

The HHV for sunn hemp biomass exceeded the HHV for switchgrass, bermudagrass, reed canarygrass and alfalfa. Although reduced rainfall resulted in lower hemp biomass yields in 2006, sunn hemp’s HHV for both study years was 4 to 5 percent greater than the HHV of cowpeas.

Read more about this research in the January 2012 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

biofuels, Research

Biodiesel Blends Prove their Worth in Winter

Biodiesel blends operate trouble-free all winter in cold climates in vehicles, buildings and even homes. All you need to be successful is high-quality fuel and good fuel management, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

The largest municipal user of biodiesel, New York City, uses biodiesel blends in snow removal equipment. The New York City Parks & Recreation Department was the first city agency to pilot biodiesel in 2005 and still uses B20.

The 850-vehicle strong diesel fleet helps to maintain more than 29,000 acres in New York City. The fleet includes more than 40 different types of vehicles and equipment – handling everything from snow removal to landscape and parks maintenance to road construction and waste management.

The New York City Sanitation Department also uses biodiesel blends in vehicles used to fight winter weather, such as salt spreaders and plows.

“We can’t afford for our garbage trucks not to run,” said Supervisor of Mechanics Spiro Kattan. “Our trucks don’t only pick up garbage, they are also equipped with snowplow hitches. We’re a part of the city’s snow emergency plans and the residents of New York City would not be too happy if our vehicles went down during a snow storm.”

Further, JFK International Airport uses B20 to keep runways clear even in the worst of snowstorms.

In addition, New York City enacted a groundbreaking law requiring that all heating oil sold in the city contain at least two percent biodiesel beginning in October 2012. Bioheat® is already keeping many homes and offices warm this winter, including New York City Parks’ buildings.

Biodiesel, Fleet, NBB, Utilities

USDA to Highlight Biodiesel at Pearl Harbor

Cindy Zimmerman

hawaiiAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is in Hawaii this week to address the annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation and highlight the Obama Administration’s commitment to renewable energy at the Pearl Harbor memorial center.

Vilsack will be at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument’s Pearl Harbor Visitor Center on Tuesday to talk about how USDA is working with the U.S. Navy to promote the use of renewable fuels in its operations. In April 2009, the Pearl Harbor naval base was the first Hawaii military marine fleet to use biodiesel, replacing U.S. Navy-operated tour boats that shuttled visitors to and from the USS Arizona Memorial with five new boats capable of running on 100% biodiesel. Secretary Vilsack will highlight these efforts as well as other Administration efforts to advance renewable energy as part of the Navy fleet.

Biodiesel, USDA

Register for Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

The 6th annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit on January 24 in Des Moines is free and open to all who want to attend, but they want to know if you are going to be there.

irfa summit2011“Registration is required and can be done on-line at iowarfa.org,” said Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Managing Director Lucy Norton. The registration deadline for the event is January 19.

Norton says they are very excited about the event this year, which has a focus on the national security aspect of renewable fuels. “This is an opportunity for people to learn more about the impact that domestic fuels have on our energy security, our economy and the environment and the advantages of using something that we produce here,” she said. “That’s keeping our money at home instead of sending it over to countries that really don’t like us that much.”

Speakers include General Paul J. Kern (U.S. Army Ret.); Former National Security Advisory Robert McFarlane, and Dr. Gal Luft, Institute for Analysis of Global Security. The summit will also feature an update on biodiesel and the plans for implementing E15 for consumer fuel choice.

The summit on January 24 will be held at a new location in the Veterans Memorial/Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. Registration is easy and fast on-line and there is also more information on program details and hotel availability.

Listen to an interview with Lucy Norton about the summit here: Lucy Norton on Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit

Audio, Biodiesel, conferences, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA

Final Weekly Ethanol Production Report for 2011

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol plants continued to crank up production right through the end of 2011, setting yet another record for the last week of the year after already setting new records for the two weeks prior.

According to the Energy Information Administration, ethanol production averaged 963,000 barrels per day – or 40.45 million gallons daily – for the week ending 12/30/2011. That’s 1,000 barrels more than the record set the previous week.

No doubt that ethanol production this year will be a record, although it will be a couple of months before the actual, official total is calculated. But, based on the weekly reports, production will be around 13.78 billion gallons, which beats the 2010 total of 13.23 billion. However, official monthly data tends to deviate slightly from the weekly data and those numbers for November and December have not yet been released.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA