ACE Conference 2026

Oil Scores a Victory in House, Ethanol Continues Battle

Joanna Schroeder

In an update to a story posted earlier this week, in a late night vote the House of Representatives have approved provisions that would block the implementation of E15 into the marketplace. Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) presented a provision to the House Continuing Resolution (a short-term resolution that would fund the government through the end of this year) that would block the EPA from its ability to roll out E15 and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) presented a provision that would disallow blender pumps and ethanol storage facilities. Both provisions were accepted into the resolution that was passed by the House.

“The Sullivan provision picks politics over science. EPA’s consideration of E15 was based on a more exhaustive study and collection of data than any of the 11 previously-approved petitions. No other fuel mix has been tested more,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, which filed the Green Jobs Waiver for E15 in March 2009. “With all the turmoil going on in the Middle East and elsewhere, the House of Representatives just voted to stop the only viable alternative to foreign oil: ethanol. It is the wrong move at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.”

Renewable Fuels President and CEO Bob Dinneen expressed his frustration with the action made by the House. “Last night, political science trumped physical science. The fact remains ethanol is a thoroughly tested, safe, and effective motor fuel. Americans spend nearly $1 billion a day importing oil, often from hostile regions of the world. If the chaos in the Middle East teaches us anything, it should be that America must forcefully begin down the path of energy self-reliance. Increasing the use of domestic renewable fuels like ethanol is the first, and arguably, the easiest step we can take.”

While at this point, these provisions are not law, the Senate must also pass an identical package and from there the president must also sign the bill. President Obama has indicated that he would veto a bill that contains provisions that blocks biofuels from entering the market. Not only will these provisions keep the country from meeting its renewable fuels goals set out in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, but it keeps the country beholden to energy produced from oil produced in volatile regions.Read More

blends, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, Legislation, RFA

Fuel Marketer: Fed Tax Break Helps Biodiesel Price

John Davis

An Indiana-based oil exploration, production, refining and marketing company (including biodiesel) says reinstatement of the federal $1-a-gallon biodiesel blenders credit is helping make the green fuels competitive with non-renewable petroleum products.

CountryMark of Indianapolis says biodiesel blended fuel prices at the farmer-owned cooperative are reflecting the difference the credit is making:

“The biodiesel blender tax credit of a dollar per gallon has biodiesel blended fuels very competitive in the marketplace,” says Jon Lantz, CountryMark Vice President of Marketing. “In light of this change, we encourage fuel buyers to talk with their local cooperative about biodiesel-blended fuels.”

Biodiesel-blended fuels reduce dependency on foreign oil and are good for the environment. These are benefits and values consumers have been looking for and with the change in the tax credits, these fuels and associated benefits are available at a competitive price. We, in the CountryMark system, are looking forward to delivering these all-American biodiesel blended fuels, Lantz added.

CountryMark Member Cooperatives will be working diligently to reach out to school transportation directors, municipalities, county highway departments, fire departments and emergency vehicle managers in the coming weeks to talk about the benefits of B20 and the new prices which have been reduced by the passage of the biodiesel blenders tax credit.

Last year, CountryMark bought 750,000 gallons of biodiesel for blending and hopes to blend 3 million gallons of B100 into diesel fuel this year.

Biodiesel

USDA Matches Biofuels Facilities with Feedstocks

John Davis

The USDA is working on matching the best places to build biofuel refineries with the areas that have the best feedstocks to produce the green fuels.

This Agricultural Research Service article says they’ve been looking at the potential in the Pacific Northwest:

[ARS] agronomist George Mueller-Warrant, plant physiologist Gary Banowetz, and hydrologist Jerry Whittaker calculated that the 6.2 million tons of straw left over from the production of Pacific Northwest cash crops could be used to produce more than 430 million gallons of biofuel. ARS is USDA’s chief intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy.

The scientists, who work at the ARS Forage Seed and Cereal Research Unit in Corvallis, Ore., revised a statistical approach that had been developed by other site analysts to identify the best locations for commercial and public facilities.

Then the team used the revised program to calculate the number of biofuel conversion facilities that could be supplied by the average annual straw yield, and identified the best locations for the conversion facilities so that the costs of transporting straw could be minimized. Straw is a high-bulk, low-density commodity, which adds to the expense of moving it from field to market.

The team ran its calculations for facilities that had three different scales of annual production. Small-scale facilities could process 1,100 tons of straw, medium-sized facilities could process 11,000 tons of straw, or large-scale facilities could process 110,000 tons of straw.

Even discounting the amount of straw needed to be left on the fields, ARS researchers’ results found there would be enough feedstock for 6,200 small facilities, 660 medium facilities, or 64 large biofuels facilities.

biofuels, USDA

FAO Promotes Farming Food & Fuel

Joanna Schroeder

According to a new report, “Making Integrated Food-Energy Systems (IFES) Work for People and Climate – An Overview,” the simultaneous production of food and fuel by farmers can help to reduce poverty in countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. This according to FAO who published the report this week.

“Farming systems that combine food and energy crops present numerous benefits to poor rural communities,” said Alexander Müller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources. “For example, poor farmers can use leftovers from rice crops to produce bioenergy, or in an agroforestry system can use debris of trees used to grow crops like fruits, coconuts or coffee beans for cooking.”

Müller noted that other types of food and energy systems use byproducts from livestock or biogas production and with this type of integrated systems, farmers can save money – they don’t have to buy expensive fossil fuel or chemical fertilizers. Rather, than can use the slurry from biogas production, a more sustainable, less costly alternative.

“They can then use the savings to buy necessary inputs to increase agricultural productivity, such as seeds adapted to changing climatic conditions — an important factor given that a significant increase in food production in the next decades will have to be carried out under conditions of climate change. All this increases their resilience, hence their capacity to adapt to climate change,” said Müller.

IFES are also beneficial to women as they can eliminate the need to leave their crops to go in search of firewood. In addition, the report concludes that IFES farming can help to mitigate climate change, especially emissions stemming from land use change, because there is less chance land will need to be converted.

In conclusion, Olivier Dubois, an FAO energy expert said, “Promoting the advantages of IFES and improving the policy and institutional environment for such systems should become a priority. FAO is well placed to coordinate these efforts by providing knowledge and technical support for IFES implementation.”

biofuels, biogas, Indirect Land Use, International, Research

SoloPower Receives $197 DOE Loan Guarantee

Joanna Schroeder

SoloPower, a manufacturer of flexible thin film solar cells and modules announced that it has received a conditional commitment from the U.S. DOE for a $197 million loan guarantee. The funds will be used to help complete construction of their manufacturing facility located in Wilsonville, Oregon, when complete, will produce around 400 MW of thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules each year.

“This announcement is the latest confirmation that when it comes to energy policy, Oregon is on the right side of history,” said U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. “The project in Wilsonville will hire hundreds of highly skilled, highly paid Oregonians to manufacture the latest in renewable energy technology.  Oregon is already an epicenter for renewable energy projects. A loan guarantee to help companies such as SoloPower get important projects off the ground is the right approach that will keep Oregon where it belongs – at the forefront of technology.  I look forward to working with the folks at SoloPower in putting Oregonians to work creating the products that represent the future of renewable energy.”

SoloPower CEO Tim Harris added, “We appreciate and commend the DOE’s emphasis on supporting innovative, clean-tech companies as a way to further the goal of energy independence while stimulating employment and helping secure our nation’s manufacturing base in this important emerging industry. This backing allows us to rapidly ramp up our production and to promote the spread of clean, distributed solar power to the rooftops and on the ground, while providing hundreds of quality manufacturing jobs using some of the most advanced technology in the world.”

Also this week, the Nuclear Energy Institute released the results of a national survey that determined, “By a four-to-one margin, an overwhelming majority of Americans support the use of federal loan guarantees to encourage investment in the clean-energy technologies identified by President Obama in his recent State of the Union address.”

The survey found that 79 percent of respondents agree that, “to jump-start investment and maintain U.S. competitiveness, the federal government should provide guarantees backing loans for building solar, wind, advanced-design nuclear power plants or other energy technology that reduces greenhouse gases.” Nineteen percent of those surveyed do not agree, and two percent don’t know.

Electricity, Energy, Solar

Ethanol Industry On the Track At The Daytona 500

Joanna Schroeder

The ethanol industry is excited for Daytona 500, set to take place on Fox at 1:00 pm EST on Sunday February 20th. This race kicks off the first race that Sunoco Green E15 will be used, a blend of 15 percent corn-based ethanol – produced by American farmers, right here in America. To kick off the weekend, Growth Energy, who is a NASCAR partner, held a press conference from the Daytona International Speedway to give us a quick update on the festivities and promotions on the track surrounding the race and ethanol’s debut.

Tom Buis, Growth Energy’s CEO said that they were excited about this partnership with NASCAR and this the partnership they have put together under the banner of ethanol in order to educate millions of fans and followers of NASCAR nationwide about the benefits of ethanol – its good for our country, its good for America’s energy security and its good for the environment. Additional major partners in this effort are the National Corn Growers Association, American farmers and American ethanol producers.

Buis said the race will be started with the green flag that will feature an American ethanol logo, and all the cars will also feature American ethanol logos. But he encouraged viewers to pay special attention to #33 Chevrolet driver Clint Bowyer, with Richard Childress Racing who is the latest addition to the ethanol team and is being sponsored by the industry during the 2011 season. In prelims yesterday, he just missed winning the “race” by inches so he should be a real contender to win the race on Sunday. During the race, there will be other on-track and on-TV promotions as well.

You can follow the ongoing NASCAR promotions on www.americanethanolracing.com, www.growthenergy.org or www.ncga.org.

Also on the call was Growth Energy Co-Chair Ret. General Wesley K. Clark who seconded Buis’ comments and added that the fact that NASCAR is using E15 is a huge testament to the skill of farmers, to the agricultural community, to ethanol pioneers and America’s Midwest. “It’s an All-American fuel,” he said.

In conclusion, Jeff Broin, Growth Energy’s Co-Chair and CEO of POET concluded, “NASCAR is the great American race and ethanol is the great American fuel and it’s fun to see the two things come together.”

Listen to Growth Energy’s On the Track At Daytona 500 Press Conference here: Ethanol On The Track At Daytona 500

Audio, blends, Ethanol, Growth Energy, NASCAR, Racing

Daytona 500 Featuring Propane Fueled Emergency Vehicles

Joanna Schroeder

Daytona 500 is two days away and this year two of the emergency fleet vehicles will be comprised of the Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup trucks equipped with the ROUSH CleanTech liquid propane autogas fuel system. These vehicles will be tested throughout the 2011 NASCAR season.

“NASCAR is famous for serving as a proving ground for new technology,” said Jack Roush. “It is a privilege to show race fans and the sport what we at ROUSH CleanTech know about clean alternative fuels. Propane autogas is already the third most widely used fuel in the world. It’s readily available in the U.S., and we’re ready to test it as a workhorse on the track this season.”

In addition to testing the propane autogas system in its Track Service vehicles, NASCAR us also unveiling some other “green” fuels this season. Daytona 500 will also be the kick-off for Sunoco Green E15 race fuel, a blend of 15 percent corn-ethanol that will be used in all three of its national series. In addition, NASCAR has other sustainability initiatives on and off the track this year including recycling all tires, oils, fluids, and batteries used in competition; rolling out the largest bottle-and-can event recycling program in sports; launching the largest tree-planting program in sports to neutralize all the carbon produced by Sprint Cup Series racing; and attaining LEED certification for new office buildings in Charlotte and Daytona Beach.

“Green is not an exclusively NASCAR-led initiative,” said Dr. Mike Lynch, managing director of green innovation for NASCAR. “It takes the efforts of our entire industry contributing to and collaborating on new initiatives such as this.”

According to ROUSH their propane autogas-powered vehicles lower emissions fuel costs while maintaining the vehicle’s factory warranty coverage and trademark durability. They cite research that shows propane autogas burns cleaner than gasoline or diesel, with up to 20 percent less nitrogen oxide, up to 60 percent less carbon monoxide, up to 24 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and fewer particulate emissions when compared to gasoline.

“ROUSH CleanTech is driven to win the alternative fuels race with a lineup of propane autogas-powered Ford vehicles unparalleled in performance, dependability, and environmental soundness,” said Joe Thompson, president of ROUSH CleanTech. “Our propane autogas-fueled trucks impart green power at peak performance, and we can’t wait to showcase that to the millions of NASCAR fans across the nation.”

Propane, Racing

GROWMARK FS Platform is Homegrown Fuels

Cindy Zimmerman

GROWMARK FS cooperatives promote a platform of homegrown fuels.

Iowa RFA GrowmarkThat was the message Kevin DeGoey of the GROWMARK FS cooperative New Century in Iowa gave at the recent Iowa Renewable Fuel Association summit in Des Moines during a panel presentation by retailers and fuel distributors on how the approval of 15 percent ethanol blends can bring more fuel choices to Iowa.

“Homegrown fuels gives us better performance, better for the environment, reduces our dependence on foreign oil,” DeGoey said, noting that New Century has eight retail fuel locations and six tank wagon routes in all or part of nine Iowa counties. New Century just installed an ethanol blender pump at its Vinton, IA location last October. Currently, 87% of New Century’s gasoline sales are E10 and two percent are E85.

DeGoey discussed the opportunities for ethanol under the E15 waiver by the Environmental Protection Agency and the need for increased use of blender pumps. “E15 moves the blend wall forward, better economics for the consumer, keeps our ethanol industry strong, it’s good for Iowa,” he summarized.

When it comes to biodiesel, DeGoey said that about four percent of their diesel sales are currently B2-B20 blends and they are committed to the biodiesel quality assurance program. “GROWMARK and New Century pride themselves in not only meeting standards, but we also like to exceed them, if possible,” he said.

Check out DeGoey’s power point presentation from IRFA’s website and listen to or download his remarks at the summit here: Kevin DeGoey with New Century FS

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, GROWMARK

Funding is Critical for Advanced Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Advanced biofuels from new feedstocks are facing a “chicken and egg” situation on the way to commercialization and that is why government funding remains vital to the industry.

That was the message delivered by Chris Standlee, Executive Vice President of Abengoa Bioenergy, during a teleconference with other advanced biofuels company officials on Thursday. “It’s a critical ‘chicken and egg’ scenario since few people are willing to grow the feedstocks before the facilities are built and few people are willing to build the facilities until the biomass feedstocks are available, so government incentives are critical,” said Standlee.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) hosted the roundtable call – which also included officials from Ineos Bio, Coskata and POET – to discuss how USDA programs such as the Biorefinery Assistance Program and the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels are needed to coordinate market efforts to create a sustainable value chain for bioenergy and biofuel production. USDA recently announced progress in implementing those two programs and previously implemented the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), including designation of Qualified Biomass Conversion Facilities. “The BCAP program is a critical program to develop this infrastructure,” Standlee said. “It provides payments direct to farmers and people who deliver the feedstock to the qualified facilities.”

However, funding for some of these programs may be in jeopardy due to opposition in Congress. “We certainly want to point out our belief that this opposition is short sighted and impedes our significant efforts to provide this increasing alternative to imported foreign petroleum,” Standlee said.

AbengoaHe also noted the importance of advanced biofuels commercialization in creating jobs and revitalizing rural economies, using the Abengoa plant to be built in Hugoton, Kansas as an example. “We anticipate roughly a two year construction period, during which there will be 300 minimum direct construction jobs created in this rural area of southwestern Kansas,” he said. Once construction is complete, which they hope to start this year, the plant will provide 65 permanent local jobs and will purchase feedstock from farmers in the surrounding area.

Abengoa is one of the founding members of the new Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC) announced this week and Standlee is serving as vice chairman of the new group. “Our primary goal is to make sure that biofuels are allowed to grow and given the support necessary, particularly the advanced biofuels which are just now coming into their own, and given the opportunity to assume a significant role in reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” he said.

Listen to Standlee’s comments from the teleconference here: Chris Standlee, Abengoa

advanced biofuels, AEC, Audio, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

New Energy Technologies Finds Power IN the Roads

John Davis

Usually we talk about alternative energy being used on the roads, but this time, I’d like to introduce you to a technology that harvests energy FROM the roads.

Continuing my conversation from yesterday with New Energy Technologies’ President and CEO John Conklin, he tells us today about MotionPower, that captures the kinetic energy produced by moving vehicles.

“If solar and wind energy can be used to generate electricity for commercial and residential use, we began to wonder, ‘why can’t automobiles and trucks?'”

Conklin says more than 250 million vehicles drive about 6 billion miles each day on this nation’s roadways, providing a great feedstock for this new technology. Only about 15 percent of the energy in transportation fuels actually moves the vehicle; the rest is lost to the moving parts of the engine. And of the 15 percent, 10 percent of that is lost to the rolling resistance known as braking. Capturing that lost energy is the basis of the MotionPower technology.

He adds that MotionPower is really divided into two types of energy-capturing technologies: one that uses a mechanical treadal-type of system that generates the electricity from a deceleration area, such as an off-ramp or a low-speed road area; and the other that uses a peristaltic system that pushes a fluid through the mechanism to take advantage of wave motion energy generation (which would be used more commonly with heavy-duty trucks).

“With kinetic energy being related to mass and velocity, we can develop systems to target low-speed automobiles, high-speed automobiles and heavy trucks,” Conklin explains.

Conklin says these technologies are very close to being installed in our roads and sees 2011 as key to his company’s commercialization efforts.

Listen to more of my conversation with Conklin here: John Conklin, New Energy Technologies, part 2

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