Nestle Chairman – Biofuels Are Immoral

Joanna Schroeder

The Chairman of Nestle, who just so happens to sit on the board of ExxonMobil, Peter Brabeck-Latmathe, lambasted global leaders for their support of “immoral” biofuel policies that are starving millions around the world earlier this week. In particular, he attacked the Obama administration for promoting corn-based ethanol and reserved no kind words for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack who he claimed is making “absolutely flabbergasting” claims for America’s ability to produce food, feed and fiber.

This beat-down occurred during his speech at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York and was published by The Independent. During his presentation he said, “Today, 35 per cent of US corn goes into biofuel. From an environmental point of view this is a nonsense, but more so when we are running out of food in the rest of the world.”

Brabeck-Latmathe continued, “It is absolutely immoral to push hundreds of millions of people into hunger and into extreme poverty because of such a policy, so I think – I insist – no food for fuel.”

The fuel versus food debate has been raging for several years. For each report that debunks the theory, another is published that places primary blame on rising food costs at the feet of America’s corn and ethanol industries. Yet, scores of economists have publicly acknowledged while there are dozens of factors that affect food prices, the current spike is being driven by speculators, a global increase in demand for protein and the unrest in the Middle East to name a few reasons.

National Corn Growers President Bart Schott responded to Brabeck-Letmathe’s comments. “It is scandalous, ludicrous and highly irresponsible for the chairman of a global conglomerate that tripled its profits last year to talk about higher corn prices forcing millions into starvation. Perhaps if Nestle is so concerned about food prices, its board will consider putting more of their $35.7 billion in 2010 profits back into poor communities. Just their profits alone represent more than half the entire farm value of the 2010 U.S. corn crop.”Read More

Commentary, corn, Ethanol, food and fuel, International, NCGA, Opinion, water

Poplar Trees Possible Candidate for Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center may have discovered some clues that could lead to poplar trees as the next candidate for biofuels. The research is being led by Charles Wyman of the Bourns College of Engineering’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology at the University of California Riverside who is joined by teams from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. They published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Lignin content in natural Populus variants affects sugar release.”

Basically, the team is looking for traits in poplar trees that will lead to better sugar release. The lignin found in the plant’s cells have been a major challenge to overcome in biofuel production because it must be converted to sugar for production; yet, its strong sugar bonds interfere with access to the carbohydrates, and thus access to the sugar.

Wyman explained, “The real driver for bioenergy is how to get sugar as cheaply as possible from these recalcitrant materials. We’re looking for clues as to which traits in these poplar materials will lead to better sugar release.”

The BESC researchers were able to quickly analyze volumes of poplar core samples through the use of a high-throughput screening method. The goal was to better understand the chemical factors that drive sugar yields. The work resulted in finding a correlation between one plant trait, the syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio, which are the building blocks of lignin, and increased yields.

“The conventional wisdom is that high lignin contents are bad for sugar release,” said lead author Michael Studer. “We unexpectedly found that this statement is only valid for low S/G ratios, while at high S/G ratios lignin does not negatively influence yields. However, replacement of carbohydrates with lignin reduces the maximum possible sugar release. Another interesting result was that the samples with the highest sugar release belonged to the group with average S/G ratios and lignin contents. This finding points to a need for deeper understanding of cell wall structure before plants can be rationally engineered for efficient biofuels production.”

During the project, the research team was able able to pinpoint certain popular samples that produced remarkably high sugar yields without pretreatment – a typical prerequisite in biomass to biofuel production. This could help to reduce the costs of production. The team believes that their research may lead the way for poplar cultivars to be grown for commercial testing and propagation and ultimately for biofuel production.

advanced biofuels, Cellulosic, Research

RFA Says Ethanol Evolution Must Be Part of US Energy Future

Cindy Zimmerman

bob dinneen As President Obama was preparing to outline his vision for America’s energy future in Washington this week, the president of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) sent a letter to Obama urging him to reaffirm his commitment to the continued evolution of America’s ethanol industry.

In this “Ethanol Report” interview, RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen notes that no other energy technology can match today’s domestic ethanol production. “You have to reflect on the fact that ethanol is not radioactive, it’s not going to damage the ecology on the Gulf coast, ethanol doesn’t even need a no-fly zone! And yet the only energy that’s really under attack today is ethanol,” he said.

Ethanol Report PodcastDinneen encourages the President to continue working with the industry and Congress on efforts to transform existing ethanol policies to address fiscal concerns while still helping ethanol grow and evolve. “The ethanol industry has stepped up to the plate and said we’re willing to reform our tax incentives so we can reduce costs,” he said. “I hope we’re looking more deeply at what we want our energy future to be. I hope we’re looking at all energy tax incentives – do we still need to be subsidizing petroleum, for example?”

President Obama is scheduled to outline his vision for America’s energy future in a speech in Washington tomorrow morning.

Listen to the Ethanol Report here: Ethanol Report on Energy Future

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

The Convergence of First & Second Gen Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

Often times, it appears that people pit first generation biofuel technologies against second generation biofuel technologies. This leads me to ask the question, Why can’t we all get along? Well, now we can with the convergence of conventional ethanol technologies and emerging algal biomass technologies being developed by BioProcess Algae.

BioProcess Algae is based in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and the company is designing, manufacturing and operating systems that enable controlled, economical cultivation of algal biomass using attached growth technology. According to CEO Tim Burns, the technology was developed through its water company, BioProcess H2O when they looked at the attached growth platform and how using their fixed films could be used as an effective way to grow algae. So in 2008 they formed BioProcess Algae, which is the sum of four companies: BioProcess H2O, Clarcor, Green Plains Renewable Energy, and NTR.

Fast forward to 2011. Burns said the company has developed a three-prong business strategy to commercialize the technology. In partnership with Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE), they selected Shenandoah, Iowa to be the site where they prove out their technology at commercial scale. In a very simple terms, BioProcess Algae is using the plant’s CO2 emissions (aka flue gas) as a nutrient source to grow the algae. The plants also share waste water and waste heat.

Burns explained that the first phase began in October 2009 when they first integrated their Grower Harvester bioreactors directly to the plant’s CO2 exhaust gases. During this initial phase, they developed a set of metrics that included productivity and uptime targets. They exceeded all of their targets. Next, Phase 2 began. They have completed a 4,000 square foot facility that houses all the infrastructure needed to support their bioreactors including full process control and dewatering.

So what exactly does this sharing of resources mean for both technologies in terms of efficiency and production costs?Read More

algae, Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, water

Biofools or Bio-Heroes?

Cindy Zimmerman

It’s pretty much a badge of honor in the biofuels industry to be nominated by Friends of the Earth as “Biofool of the Year.”

Growth Energy is calling this year’s nominees “Bio-Heroes” in a blog post today.

“Critics of biofuels would go to great lengths to distort the truth and smear the records of supporters. One doesn’t have to look far to find the silliness to which some would stoop. Friends of the Earth, one such group determined to embarrass themselves into irrelevance, went so far as to try to attract media attention to their poorly uninformed and sadly named “Biofool of the Year” award,” reads the post. “At Growth Energy, instead of heaping ridicule on leaders that want to break our country’s addiction to foreign oil, we choose to laud them, and ask others to support their efforts.”

This year’s nominees are Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), General Wesley Clark, Secretary Tom Vilsack, and the editors of Domestic Fuel – Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman. Vote for your favorite here.

biofuels, Environment, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Higher Oil Prices Offset Higher Biofuel Feedstock Costs

John Davis

A new study shows that U.S. farmers will enjoy better incomes in 2011, thanks to increasing crop prices. And while that might translate into higher feedstock costs for ethanol and biodiesel producers, the report from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri shows higher oil prices should offset those higher prices being paid for the two biggest biofuel feedstocks, corn and soybeans.

In my interview with Pat Westhoff, Director of FAPRI (which you can hear in its entirety over on our sister website, AgWired.com), he says the higher feedstock prices would be a huge negative if not for the higher cost of petroleum.

“These higher oil prices are allowing biofuel producers to continue to expand production, in spite of the higher costs of corn being used in those plants.”

Westhoff admits that the higher oil prices can also hurt biofuel production, as those increases seem to push up every other cost and inject a lot of uncertainty (also fed by the unknowns of what Congress will do with certain ethanol and biodiesel credits and overcoming the ethanol blend wall) into all markets, even alternative energy.

“It’s probably one of the reasons why we’re not seeing not nearly the kind of investment that we had been seeing into new biofuels plants today.”

You can hear what Westhoff had to say about FAPRI’s report and its mention of biofuels here: Pat Westhoff, Director FAPRI

Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Alt Energy Groups Ask Congress to Support DOE Programs

Joanna Schroeder

A multitude of leading energy trade associations today wrote to Congressional leaders with a request for Congress to maintain support and funding for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) including the Loan Guarantee Program. The program, in part, is used to help bring emerging alternative energy technologies to market. Groups that signed the letter include the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the Biomass Power Association, the Clean Economy Network (CEN), the Geothermal Energy Association, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). A hearing on federal loan guarantee programs is scheduled for Thursday, March 31, in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water.

The organizations wrote in their letter, “[W]e write today in support of Federal programs implemented to foster the development and expanded use of domestically-produced clean and renewable energy in the United States. Together, our industries account for over half a million jobs in the United States and counting. Existing federal programs continue to foster growth and allow U.S. businesses to lead a worldwide effort to deploy power plants, manufacturing facilities and fuel production facilities across the country.”

The groups stressed how economically unsustainable America’s dependence on imported energy, especially oil, has become. With oil prices hovering around the $100 per barrel mark, the country sends hundreds of billions of dollars to OPEC members. The groups stressed that support and investment in renewable energy technologies can lessen this dependence while creating jobs. While the organizations recognize budget issues are of utmost concern in Congressional leaders, they still urged members of Congress to take a holistic look at the benefits of America’s renewable energy industry.

“As Congress moves forward with efforts to cut federal spending, it is important to recognize and retain programs that create American jobs, leverage private sector investment and increase tax revenue,” the letter continued. “The DOE Loan Guarantee Program is one of these programs. Eliminating funding for this program will disrupt and delay dozens of projects that are seeking a DOE loan guarantee, and will have very real impacts on job creation and energy security efforts currently underway. We strongly support efforts to prevent funding cuts and preserve the DOE Loan Guarantee Program in its current state.”

The full letter can be read here.

biofuels, biomass, Energy, Ethanol, Geothermal, Government, Solar, Wind

ACE Fly-In Participants Ready To Educate The Beltway

Joanna Schroeder

More than 50 American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) members and ethanol supporters from 15 different states are descending on Washington D.C. tomorrow as part of ACE’s annual fly-in. This year, Executive Vice President, Brian Jennings, said that the group will be playing a bit of offense and a bit of defense when they meet with more than 100 Congressional offices.

“When it comes to offense, we’re clearly going to put a lot of emphasis on the need for consumer fuel choice,” said Jennings. “For policies in Washington that relate to ethanol, to deploy more flexible fuel vehicles and more blender pumps, or consumer choice pumps, so motorists have the opportunity and the freedom, if you will, to use these higher blends of ethanol. Because today we simply do not have that critical mass of that infrastructure that we need.”

Jennings said that the group will also be discussing some ideas they have for reforming the ethanol tax incentives. Last year, the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) was extended for one year at 45 cents per gallon with the credit going to the blender of record. He noted, “The ethanol industry understands that’s the last extension of VEETC we’re ever going to receive. So if we want any sort of economic incentive to remain in place until we get to that critical mass of FFVs and blender pumps, we’re going to have to significantly reduce the taxpayer cost of that incentive and determine other reforms that focus better on where it needs to go.”

Defensively, Jennings said the group will focus on defending the industry against some bad votes in the House. “You had an amendment that was adopted that was proposed by Congressman Flake of Arizona that would prevent the United States Department of Agriculture from helping to install blender pumps. That’s a problem because later this month USDA is going to announce a grant and loan guarantee program designed to install blender pumps,” said Jennings.

Another amendment by Sullivan from Oklahoma would restrict the EPA from moving forward to implement the E15 decision. “Those two amendments received strong bi-partisan support in the House,” said Jennings. “Now they’re likely going no where in the Senate but when we meet with members of the House during the fly-in a lot of the emphasis is going to be on setting the record straight regarding the E15 waiver process and all of the science that was used to justify the waiver, and educating members of Congress why a consumer choice pump makes sense.”

I asked Jennings about the disconnect between current policy makers regarding biofuels and the high prices of gas at the pump – now over $4.00 a gallon in many cities across the country. Jennings said our opponents have unfortunately done a good job of defining the industry and that we have to take that message back – another focus for the grassroots group in D.C. Jennings concluded that “a real, live constituent from a Senator’s state or member of Congress’ legislative district can make such a more compelling and persuasive case to a member of Congress than a paid lobbyist.” And that is why he believes this fly-in is so important.

You can listen to my full interview with Brian Jennings, EVP of ACE, here: Brian Jennings Highlights DC Fly-In

ACE, Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Shaun McGrath To Take The Reigns At ASES

Joanna Schroeder

The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has named Shaun McGrath as its new executive director beginning April 1. McGrath joins the organization with more than 25 years of public policy experience at all levels of government. Prior to joining ASES, he was the deputy director of intergovernmental affairs in the Obama White House. In this position, he was the principal liaison and point of contact to the United States’ governors. While in this position, he coordinated with states on the proposed energy bill, development and implementation of the Recovery Act and assisted the Gulf Coast states during the BP oil spill.

“Shaun McGrath brings to ASES a strong track record in bipartisan policy development at the national, state and local levels,” said ASES Board Chair Jeff Lyng. “He has been a powerful advocate of renewable energy in two branches of government and in the City of Boulder, which has been a national leader in sustainable development. We are delighted that Shaun will lead ASES into a new era and look forward to introducing him to the ASES community at SOLAR 2011 in Raleigh.”

McGrath is no stranger to alternative energy. Prior to his role as deputy director, he served as the mayor of Boulder, Colorado and was twice elected to the Boulder City Council. In these positions, he assisted in the passage of the city’s Climate Action Plan that included a carbon tax on energy. He was also instrumental in working with Xcel Energy to make Boulder a Smart Grid City and supported various multi-mode transportation projects.

“I am thrilled to be able to work with such an esteemed organization,” McGrath said. “ASES has been advocating for renewable resources for nearly 60 years. The reasons for investing in solar and other renewable energies are greater now than ever, and I look forward to working with the strong and active ASES membership to aggressively promote policies and programs that move consumers, local governments, states and this nation into the new energy economy.”

Electricity, Solar

Loss of DOE Loan Gurantee Program “Would Be A Tragedy”

Joanna Schroeder

There is a lot of action in the “Beltway” these days surrounding biofuels. One such conversation is around the fate of the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program. A group of policy makers want to end the program, which right now is funded with Reinvestment and Recovery monies. However, energy companies, such as Pleasanton, California-based Fulcrum Bioenergy, would be dead in the water. CEO Jim Macias said if this program ends “it would be a tragedy.” Not only for his company, but for the entire alternative energy industry as a whole.

Fulcrum Bioenergy is in the process of building a waste-to-ethanol plant just outside of Reno, Nevada using ordinary household garbage and converting it to ethanol, electricity and biochemicals. The plant is fully permitted, engineered and equity financed and the company is in the final stages of documentation to close on a DOE Loan Guarantee that is the final piece for their financing. Once that piece is in place, Fulcrum will start construction and begin producing renewable ethanol at the end of 2012. It is important to note that Fulcrum has been working on the DOE loan for more than 2 years.

When the first plant in Reno is complete, it will produce 10 million gallons of ethanol per year and 16 megawatts of electricity. From there, Fulcrum plans to roll out 20 more sites, already selected, and Macias said the feedstock contracts are already in place. When these 20 sites are in production, they will produce 1 billion gallons of ethanol per year from garbage.

Yet if the DOE Loan Guarantee program gets axed not only would his project die, but any project that has been awarded DOE Loan Guarantees since 2009 would lose their funding.

“It’s very challenging for first-of-a-kind commercial plants to to get fully funded in normal economic times, and federal support for new technologies like this, loan guarantees play a very valuable role in closing the funding gap. We’ve raised all the equity capital to construct it including coverage for potential overruns, and the DOE loan guarantee provides a very important step to help these emerging technologies.”

Macias said its important for emerging technologies to receive government support during good economic times, but even more critical now due to the lack of capital fund and bank credit caused by the ongoing recession. He stressed that the loan guarantee program has played a critical role in helping these technologies that are ready for commercial demonstration to get there.

Macias concluded that if the DOE Loan Guarantee Program is rescinded, it would set back the industry. He also said it would be “devastating to breaking our [America’s] dependence on imported oil and reducing the price of oil.”

You can listen to my full interview with Fulcrum Bioenergy CEO, Jim Macias here: Jim Macias Discusses DOE Loan Guarantee Program

advanced biofuels, Audio, biochemicals, bioenergy, Electricity, Waste-to-Energy