Consumer Fuel Choice Campaign Launched

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol, biodiesel, propane, natural gas, electricity – even regular gasoline – consumers should have choices at the pump and a new campaign is urging lawmakers in Washington to make that happen.

More than 20 worldwide leaders in the effort to commercialize next-generation transportation fuels today announced the new campaign, called FuelChoiceNow. Among the companies that have joined the effort are Abengoa Bioenergy, Battery Ventures, Propel Fuels, and Qteros.

“The purpose behind FuelChoiceNow is to promote consumer choice at the pump,” said Susan Hager, vice president of corporate communications and government affairs for Qteros. “The advocacy group does not promote one alternative fuel over another, we’re here to advocate for consumer choice.”

The group intends to educate and urge lawmakers to enact policies that promote open fuel markets in the United States. “Today in the United States, the transportation fuel market is not an open market, it’s not competitive,” Hager said. “What we’re advocating is room for innovation and new technologies for consumers to choose from.”

FuelChoiceNow has launched a website, along with a Facebook fan page and Twitter account, to encourage a grassroots effort toward expanding fuel choices.

Listen to or download interview with Susan Hager here. Susan Hager of Qteros

AEC, Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Cellulosic, Electric Vehicles, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Natural Gas, Propane

Biodiesel Adds Value to Minnesota Soybeans

Cindy Zimmerman

Fields of soybeans surround the newly re-opened Renewable Energy Group REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant in southern Minnesota, serving as a reminder of where the renewable fuel is rooted.

Chris Hill, a soybean farmer who serves on the board of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the Minnesota Biodiesel Council, is pleased to see the plant re-open because it really adds value to the soybeans he grows. “The National Biodiesel Board did a study taking into account the benefit of biodiesel, it can add approximately $2 to every bushel from the farm,” said Hill. “On a 500 acre farm, that’s roughly $5000 added income.”

Hill, pictured here on the left with REG president Dan Oh, says the economic benefits of biodiesel production in a rural community have a multiplier effect. “From the farmer, to the elevator to the tire salesman, to the people buying the biodiesel to blend it, for trucks and everything else, it just helps everybody,” Hill said, adding that it helps all of agriculture, including livestock producers who benefit because it helps reduce the cost of soybean meal.

Listen to or download interview with Chris Hill here. Minnesota Farmer Chris Hill

REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant photo album

Audio, Biodiesel, NBB, REG, Soybeans

Growth Energy Honors Vilsack for Ethanol Support

Cindy Zimmerman

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addressed members of Growth Energy at their Second Annual Legislative Conference in Washington DC this morning and was honored with the ethanol organization’s “Fueling Growth” award for his dedication and support of domestic, renewable fuels. Vilsack (left) is pictured here receiving the award from Growth Energy Co-Chairman Jeff Broin of POET and CEO Tom Buis.

Vilsack congratulated Growth Energy for the work the organization has done to help the biofuels industry. “Were it not for your advocacy and your work, this industry would be in far worse shape politically than it is today,” Vilsack said. “You want to strengthen America? You want to create jobs? You better be a supporter of biofuels.”

Listen to or download Vilsack’s comments to Growth Energy here. Secretary Tom Vilsack at Growth Energy Conference

Ethanol, Growth Energy, USDA

Canadian Co-op Happy With Corn Demand

Chuck Zimmerman

Last week I attended the 2011 IFAJ Congress in Canada. This is the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists. One of our stops was the Hensall District Co-operative. We were welcomed by CEO, Earl Wagner, who gave us an overview of the various business units of the co-operative.

HDC is a diversified farmer-owned Ontario Agricultural Co-operative. Established in 1937, HDC is the largest independent agricultural co-operative in Ontario with 4000 members who elect 10 Board of Directors. HDC employs 300 staff members with annual sales of 328 million.

One of our group asked him if HDC had gotten into the ethanol production business and he said that they have not. However, they did sell some land a few years ago to GreenField Ethanol who intended to build a plant but to date hasn’t done so. HDC does sell corn and Earl says that the demand for corn for ethanol production has been a good thing. As you can see from the pumps at the home base location, they sell ethanol blended gasoline. You can listen to my interview with Earl here: Interview with Earl Wagner

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, International

Registration Open for 2012 National Ethanol Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

Registration is now open for the Renewable Fuels Association 17th Annual National Ethanol Conference – Accelerating Industry Innovation. The conference will be held February 22-24 in Orlando, Florida at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center.

The program will highlight how the industry has and continues to evolve to meet the demands of a rapidly changing marketplace. With federal policy changing, the global, market-driven environment in which the industry must compete comes with new market challenges. Industry leaders and experts will address how we are meeting these new demands by accelerating innovation in technology, marketing, logistics and feedstocks for the production of advanced ethanol.

More information can be found on the conference website – NationalEthanolConference.com.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

Urbee Car Unveiled At Winnipeg Art Gallery

Joanna Schroeder

What might the future of transportation look like if fossil fuels cease to exist? If mechanical engineer Jim Kor, along with 11 other engineers and designers, is correct it will look like the Urbee Car. This visionary vehicle is an electric-ethanol hybrid that has been under development since 1996 and was finally unveiled at the Winnipeg Art Gallery over the weekend.

This two-passenger, aerodynamic car is ultra-lightweight and requires only one-eighth the energy of a small, conventional car. It features a single-cylinder, eight-horsepower engine. And the body is manufactured with a three-dimensional printer, yet it’s set to last up to three decades. What else is different about this car? It has no trunk.

Kor, president of Kor EcoLogic, believes one day all cars will be shaped like his. “True progress means using less horsepower,” said Kor in the Winnipeg Free Press.

Less power indeed. His car only has eight horsepower whereas even the smallest cars on the market have at least 68 horsepower. Today, Kor and his team are testing the Urbee to ensure that it is safe to drive on the road.

Several hurdles remain before the car can go “mainstream”. The company must raise at least $1 million to build a second prototype and from there they will build the first 12 working cars- one for each member of the team. Kor anticipates when the car comes to market, it will have a price tag between $30,000 – $50,00. He anticipates the price will go down when the car reaches mass production. In addition, the price will also go down because three-dimensional printing is faster and cheaper than moulds.

While it may take quite some time before this car hits the road, the concept of the electric-ethanol hybrid should take off faster.

biofuels, Electric Vehicles, Ethanol

Solar Takes Over St. Louis

Joanna Schroeder

Solar energy has taken over St. Louis. The St. Louis Housing Authority recently completed five solar energy projects that included powering its administrative building along with four affordable housing complexes. The 617 KW combined solar projects were designed, installed and engineered by Real Goods Solar and the energy produced is expected to reduce the complexes’ electricity use by more than 75 percent and reduce electricity use in the admin building by around 15 percent.

“Solar power isn’t just for large corporations or those with large incomes,” said Michael Steinbaum, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Sunwheel Energy Partners who developed the project. “It provides an opportunity for just about anyone to reduce costs and have a positive impact on the environment.”

The total combined systems are comprised of 405 SunPower and 2, 216 Sharp solar panels. The projects were funded through the federal Housing and Urban Development Green Communities stimulus funds along with energy and redevelopment tax credits and all parts of the solar system were manufactured in America. The system includes both roof-mounted and carport canopy solar arrays and are estimated to generate nearly 777,000 hours of energy each year. This is enough electricity to power 81 homes per year.

Tyson Grul, Director of Commercial Solar for Real Goods, added, “The coordination required to install systems on more than 90 buildings – in a wide variety of weather conditions – was no small feat. However, the result is the largest solar initiative in the state so far, and we believe it will open doors for many future projects – putting Missouri on the path to being a national renewable energy leader.”

Electricity, Energy, Solar

Kingman I Wind & Solar Farm Begins Operations

Joanna Schroeder

The Kingman I wind and solar project located in Kingman, Arizona and owned by Western Wind Energy has begun operations. According to the company, the 10.5 MW combined wind/solar energy farm is the first purpose-built wind and solar project in North America. In other words, the combined wind and solar energy facility was designed and built for the power purchase agreement with Unisource Electric Services.

The project consists of five Gamesa G-90 2 MW wind turbine generators with 500 kW of solar panels located on a single axis tracking system. The farm went online on August 30, 2011 and began revenue service on September 16.

“This is a ground breaking, game changing development in the renewable energy industry where two completely separate types of technology and renewable fuel sources are integrated at the very beginning as a combined facility,” said Jeff Ciachurski, CEO of Western Wind Energy. “Integration of multiple renewable fuel sources allows for the maximization of existing transmission infrastructure by having a greater range of time of day availability. Western Wind Energy is excited to be the first owner/operator of this real-time, solution oriented facility.”

Electricity, Energy, Wind

How to Engage Your Employees in Safety

Joanna Schroeder

To have a profitable business you need to operate safely while producing a high quality product. You can produce a high quality product but if your employees are getting hurt while you’re doing this, you’re not going to be in business long. So it’s important that you engage your employees into your safety program from top to bottom. And that’s the topic of Part 3 of the Biorefinery Safety Series.

To learn how to get people involved, I reached out to Joe Korpi with the Renewable Energy Group (REG), the largest biodiesel company in the country. Korpi said that many safety programs are struggling to answer that question.

“One of the things we’ve discovered is that too often the safety program focuses on the what. What happened in the past? What shouldn’t have happened in the past? How did we make mistakes in the past? One of the things we’ve decided to do here at the Renewable Energy Group, and it seems to work very well in all of the different industries that are trying it, instead of focusing on the what, focus on the why,” explained Korpi. “Train the employees on why they need to do the things they need to do, and, focusing on what specific actions, or behaviors the employees need to be able to demonstrate so they can do our safety programs correctly.”

There are several levels of “accidents” at a biorefinery. The first is the near misses or unsafe acts. These don’t actually result in an “accident”.  The next level is where someone is hurt a little bit, say a burn. Then you have your recordables and then your reportables where you have to call OHSA within eight hours. Korpi said the best practice is to focus on those unsafe acts or near misses. In this situation, you identify something that could have happened but didn’t and focus on ensuring an accident doesn’t occur in the future.

Listen to my interview with Joe Korpi here: Biorefinery Safety Series Part 3: How to Engage Your Employees in SafetyRead More

Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, safety

REG Albert Lea Biodiesel Plant Officially Opens

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Energy Group (REG) celebrated the official opening of the REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant in Minnesota on Monday, with representatives of the state and local community and agriculture industry.

REG President and COO Dan Oh says they were involved in the construction and operations of the plant when it originally was built and opened by SoyMor. “We have worked together since 2003,” said Oh. The plant unfortunately got caught up in the economic issues that hit the renewable fuels industry back in 2008 and had to shut down, but REG felt it was a significant plant that needed to get back in operation, so they worked to make it happen for the local economy. “Think of a gallon of biodiesel in roughly every bushel of soybeans, this is a 30 million gallon biodiesel facility, so that really adds value back to a bean bushel,” Oh said.

Listen to or download interview with Dan Oh here. REG President Dan Oh

Representatives of the Minnesota soybean industry were on hand today for the grand opening, including Jim Willers, who is a farmer from Beaver Creek and a director on the United Soybean Board, as well as a member of the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. After touring the plant, Willers said he was impressed with the shape it is in after being shut down for three years. “I found out that it was in excellent condition when they closed it down and the start up was way better than they thought,” he said. “It’s a state of the art facility and in six months they’re going to be a BQ-9000 plant.”

Listen to or download interview with Jim Willers here. Minnesota soybean farmer Jim Willers

Watch the ribbon cutting below and see photos in the REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant photo album

Audio, Biodiesel, REG, Soybeans, Video