ACE Conference 2026

Book Review – The Frugal Superpower

Joanna Schroeder

This week I read the book “The Frugal Superpower,” by Michael Mandelbaum. For much of the beginning, I couldn’t quite figure out what this book had to do with energy. But I kept on going and was rewarded by some true insights as to other good reasons why reducing our dependence on Middle Eastern oil can help our country out of some if its current mess.

In the book, Mandelbaum takes on the challenge of laying out why America’s expansive foreign policy is coming to an end and the consequences of such an action. Let’s face it, America needs to tighten it’s purse strings – the country has phenomenal deficits, is still trying to recover from a financial crash and its entitlement programs such as Social Security, are running out of money. So what should go by the wayside? America’s underwriting of global security that dates back to the 1940s.

Mandelbaum is not naive to what could happen when the U.S. stops fighting the wars of others, but he is also very aware of what will happen if the U.S. continues to fight all the wars of others. It will put our “Superpower” status in more jeopardy. Whereas realigning our foreign policy could actually strengthen our position.

The war in Iraq is over oil – a commodity that our country cannot live without.

Mandelbaum writes, “Because the United States accounts for so much of the world’s oil usage, a major reduction in American consumption could lower overall consumption enough to reduce the global price of the commodity. This would decrease the money accruing to the governments that depend heavily, in some cases almost exclusively, on the sale of oil to finance their operations. Iran is one such country. The sale of oil account for 80 percent of its annual revenue. Reducing the income of the Islamic Republic would give its rulers less money to spend on the policies that threaten the rest of the region and the world….Restricting the stream of Iranian oil revenue would have an even more powerful effect on the regime: It would undermine its internal stability.”Read More

biofuels, book reviews, Oil, politics

Canadian Biodiesel Industry Will Triple in Two Years

Joanna Schroeder

The Canadian biodiesel industry got a huge push last week when the federal government fulfilled its commitment to move forward with the Renewable Diesel Standard beginning July 1, 2011. According to Canadian Renewable Fuels Association President (CRFA) Gordon Quaiattini, the requirement to meet a 2 percent renewable diesel mandate in Canada will require nearly 600 million liters of biodiesel annually. To date, the Canadian biodiesel industry has built out about 200 liters of capacity so it will need to triple to meet the demand of the mandate.

“We think it’s certainly a milestone date for homegrown renewable biodiesel in Canada,” said Quaiattini in an interview via Skype. “As we have long been advocating, we believe strongly that biodiesel is a better way to drive and certainly an innovative way to fuel our economy in Canada.”

Quaiattini said that this mandate is a signal to investors who have a number of planned expansion projects in place to move ahead and this will ensure the industry builds out the additional capacity required to meet demand that will ramp up over the next 18 months. Oil companies, who are the obligated parties, will have until the end of 2012 for the first compliance period, and then after that, they will need to comply with the mandate each calendar year.

The CRFA has been working closely with the federal government on the mandate and will continue to do so throughout the mandatory consultation process that will begin shortly around this decision. In addition, they are working with provincial governments as well who have also passed biodiesel mandates. For example, this April, Alberta’s biodiesel mandate goes into effect. In addition, CRFA is prepared to work with companies and their investors that are interested in building out additional production capacity to ensure they understand the incentive environment that is in place.

Quaiattini closed the interview by posing the question, “What’s next?”

“It only makes sense to talk about doing more. Now that we’ve got this first 2 percent mandate coming into effect, at what pace do we look at expansion beyond it and that’s certainly going to be a discussion we’ll be having with governments here in Canada moving forward.”

You can listen to my full interview with Gordon here: Interview with Gordon Quaiattini

2011 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, International

Advanced Ethanol Council Created

Cindy Zimmerman

Renewable Fuels Association LogoLeaders in the world’s advanced ethanol industry announced today that they are joining with the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) to form the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC). The new council will be focused on accelerating the commercialization of advanced ethanol “through visionary public policies that unleash the full potential of these advanced technologies and launch new market opportunities for ethanol.”

The AEC represents a wide range of advanced ethanol technologies utilizing feedstock from grasses and corn stalks to wood waste, municipal solid waste and algae to produce ethanol. The industry leaders founding the AEC include Abengoa Bioenergy , BlueFire Renewables, Coskata, Enerkem , Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inbicon, Iogen, Mascoma, Osage Bio Energy and Qteros.

“Advanced ethanol production and use is a critical component of America’s strategy to become more energy self‐reliant,” said Mascoma Chief Executive Officer Bill Brady, who will serve as Chair of the AEC. “New ethanol technologies will dramatically increase transportation fuel security, create new jobs, and diversify the feedstocks that can be processed into transportation fuels. Together with existing biofuel production, advanced ethanol will dramatically reduce America’s dependence on imported oil and provide Americans with more control over their energy future. As world events have demonstrated, the need for secure alternatives to imported oil is immediate. Members of the AEC are excited to join with the RFA and begin writing the next chapter in American ethanol.”

“American ethanol production is one of the most dynamic industries anywhere in the world,” said RFA President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Dinneen. “The innovative companies founding the AEC are leading the evolution of domestic ethanol production to include a vast array of feedstocks. The RFA is proud to join with the members of the AEC and continue its work building a bigger and broader American ethanol industry.”

The AEC has elected Brooke Coleman as Executive Director. Coleman has been the driving force behind numerous advocacy efforts to protect and expand markets for biofuels, promote advanced biofuels and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, while simultaneously addressing environmental concerns.

Joining Bill Brady as Vice Chairs of the AEC are Chris Standlee, Executive Vice President of Abengoa Bioenergy and John McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer of Qteros.

Read more here from RFA.

advanced biofuels, AEC, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Republicans Turn Their Ire Toward Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) has submitted a proposed amendment to the House Continuing Resolution, a short-term resolution that was enacted during the lame duck session last year that would fund the government through March 2011, that would block E15 from gaining market share throughout the U.S. This past January, the EPA approved the use of E15, a blend of 15 percent ethanol, 85 percent gasoline, for conventional vehicles and light duty trucks manufactured in 2001 or later. This approval has caused a storm of opposition from politicians, to the petroluem industry, to major food manufactures, to fight to block the use of the higher blend of ethanol.

This Thursday, the House is scheduled to vote to extend funding through September 30, 2011. True to their ‘campaign promises,’ many Republicans are stepping up to cut costs, and at the ire of several Republicans is ethanol. First, Sullivan has proposed to eliminate funding for the EPA to implement the move to E15.

Bob Dinneen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) responded by saying, “America needs to tighten its belt, but it should not come at the expense of our energy security. Preventing EPA from implementing its approval of E15 for cars, pickups and SUVs made in model year 2001 and newer only means America remains addicted to foreign oil.”

“EPA and DOE have done extensive testing and found E15 to be a safe and effective fuel for use in the vehicles approved in the waiver. No evidence to date has shown E15 to cause problems in any vehicle, regardless of its vintage. This amendment seems more about political science than physical science, and would only serve to slow the evolution of America’s domestic ethanol industry and strengthen the stranglehold oil has on the nation’s economy and energy future,” said Dinneen.

Then, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) proposed another amendment to the House Continuing Resolution that would bar USDA funds from helping to install blender pumps. Flake has made his move despite the fact that Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has stated multiple times that the funds are already allocated in previously approved budgets.

“The ultimate outcome of both of these amendments will be to perpetuate our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. The Sullivan amendment injects politics where it doesn’t belong – in regulatory affairs that are decided by sound science rather than politics,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, the organization that submitted the E15 Waiver. ”

“A full and immediate move to E15 would create more than 136,000 new jobs in the U.S., reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 7 billion gallons, reduce harmful emissions equivalent to removing 1.35 million cars from the road, and revitalize our rural communities. At the same time, preventing the Administration from implementing policies that will develop our nation’s renewable fuel infrastructure will only limit consumer choice at the pump and maintain the status quo,” concluded Buis.

blends, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Legislation

Biodiesel Poised to Have an Explosive Year

Joanna Schroeder

The mood was optimistic during Advance: 2011 Biodiesel Conference & Expo last week. Why? Because all signs are pointing to the industry growing by leaps and bounds this year. I spoke with Donald Nelson, Director, National Sales with REG (Renewable Energy Group), the largest biodiesel company in the U.S. about RINS and how, if at all, they can signal positive things in the marketplace.

To begin, I asked Nelson to explain what a RIN was. It’s a Renewable Identification Number (RIN). “To make it simple,” said Nelson, “RINS really is the currency of the RFS2. That’s how the EPA measures the compliance of an obligated party.” He continued by explaining that for each gallon of biodiesel produced, 1.5 RINs are generated that travel with that gallon to the blender and then the blender or obligated party separate that RIN from the “wet gallon” and at this point, the RIN can travel separately from the fuel.

Last year was a tough year for the biodiesel industry. The $1 per gallon tax credit had expired and several obligated parties sued the EPA over the RFS2 biodiesel mandate numbers (under the RFS2 biodiesel qualifies as biomass based diesel). Fortunately, by the end of the year, the EPA won the suit and the credit came back, but by this time there weren’t enough RINS in the marketplace to meet demand to the uncertainty caused by the aforementioned issues.

Nelson said there were 1.15 billion gallons of material that needed to be consumed when you add 2009 and 2010 together but it appears that the marketplace will be short 95 million gallons. Yet he’s not worried and is very confident that the industry can not only make up for the shortfall this year, but also meet the RFS2 numbers. Combined this will be a total of approximately 925 million gallons of biodiesel needed to be produced this year. To put it in perspective, last year the industry produced 310 million gallons. Nelson said this is a 300 percent increase in production but there are 2.2 billion gallons of biodiesel production registered with the EPA, although much of it is not online.

So what’s next for the industry? Explosive growth. Plants are coming back online although Nelson said some still need additional investment dollars to get back up and running. In addition, the obligated parties are creating plans to build out the much needed infrastructure so the fuel can get where it needs to go.

Nelson concluded that he thinks the industry is going to see tremendous growth over the next couple of years and “It’s very exciting.”

You can listen to my full interview with Don here: Interview with REG's Donald Nelson

2011 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, NBB

Renewables In and Out of Obama Budget

Cindy Zimmerman

There are renewable winners and losers in the FY2012 budget proposed this week by President Obama.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the president has included funding in the budget “To promote the domestic production of renewable energy, we invest in renewable energy programs related to commercialization; research and development; education and outreach; and energy efficiency and conservation. We are also focusing our loans to rural electric cooperatives to support the development of clean burning low emission fossil fuel facilities and renewable energy deployment. Developing a nation-wide renewable energy industry will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in rural America, while helping us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and reducing risks to our environment.”

More specifically, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu says the budget includes $3.2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs and $300 million in credit subsidies to support approximately $3-4 billion in renewable energy and energy efficient projects. Funding for renewable energy technology would increase over all by 70 percent, including $425 million to support the “SunShot” solar power initiative, $64 million for offshore wind farms, $59 million for geothermal power initiatives.

However, hydrogen energy and fuel cell research would be cut by about 40 percent, a move that the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) calls those cuts “misguided and harmful to American competitiveness.”

“After investing billions of American dollars and years of effort, we simply cannot walk away from our commitment to these critical technologies,” said Ruth Cox, president and executive director of the FCHEA. “Fuel cells are the microprocessors of the Energy Age and they are already transforming the energy network through distributed generation of clean, efficient and reliable power.”

In the good news category, Big Oil takes a big hit in the budget, eliminating some $3.6 billion in tax subsidies for the oil, coal and gas industries.

bioenergy, biofuels, Government, Hydrogen, Oil, Solar, USDA, Wind

Biodiesel Board Offers RFS2 Webinars

John Davis

The new Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) will require at least 800 million gallons of biodiesel are used this year … and how petroleum refiners and importers and distillate distributors get to that number will be the subject of a series of free webinars offered by the National Biodiesel Board.

NBB officials say the 90-minute webinars, entitled “RFS2 Ready: Biodiesel Producers Ready to Meet 2011 RFS2 Requirements,” will offer information on how to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2011 volume requirements and will be tailored for each region of the country:

Exclusive biodiesel market analysis will also include:
• Month-by-month, gallon-by-gallon outlook for 2011 biodiesel supply and demand
• Risk management and pricing strategies utilized for RINs compliance
• Federal, state and PADD-specific legislative policies driving biodiesel demand
• New end-user markets pushing biodiesel sales

New England, Central Atlantic, and Lower Atlantic
Date: April 7, 2011, Thursday
Time: 10:00 a.m. EST
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/512562224

Midwest
Date: February 24, 2011, Thursday
Time: 10:00 a.m. CST
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/462239120

PAD District 3: Gulf Coast
Date: March 31, 2011, Thursday
Time: 10:00 a.m. CST
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/121176800

PAD District 4: Rocky Mountain
Date: March 24, 2011, Thursday
Time:10:00 a.m. MT
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/167337976

PAD District 5: West Coast
Date: March 10, 2011
Time: 10:00 a.m. PT
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/120837872

Biodiesel, NBB, Webinar

Raptor Providing Equipment for Georgia Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

On the heels of last month’s announcement from Raptor Fabrication and Equipment about its opening a Florida biodiesel plant, its parent company, Raptor Technology Group says it will provide equipment for Coastal Biofuel of Savannah, Georgia:

The plant has the capability to produce one million gallons of clean biodiesel per year. Raptor expects the facility to begin biodiesel production in mid March. In addition to providing both the manufacturing and technology Raptor also participates in the ongoing revenue stream of the facility. The Coastal Biofuel facility is the second plant that Raptor has launched in 2011.

Coastal Biofuel will convert used cooking oils, animal fats and virgin vegetable oils into clean burning biodiesel fuel.

“We are excited to have Coastal Biofuel as one of our customers. With fuel costs rising, Coastal will be able to produce a competitively priced biofuel that burns cleaner and has superior lubricating properties compared to petroleum diesel fuel,” said Tom Gleason, President and CEO of Raptor Technology Group. “In addition to its many advantages over petroleum diesel fuel, the recently re-instated Federal Tax Credit for biofuel levels the playing field for economical and profitable fuel production,” added Gleason.

Biodiesel

New Hoses Better for Biodiesel

John Davis

A new line of flexible rubber hose has been designed to work better with biodiesel-burning engines.

Fleet Equipment Magazine reports that Eaton Corp.’s new GH100 ESP hose will stand up to biodiesel mixes from 2 to 100 percent:

GH100 hose features a hydrogenated nitrile rubber tube, wrapped with aramid/poly braid reinforcement with a polyester abrasion-resistant cover. It is qualified for underhood use with B2 to B20 up to 150C and B100 up to 125C and for transmission oil cooler applications using synthetic lubricants at peak temperatures up to 175C.

“Biodiesel blends and synthetic lubricants are important aspects of the emerging sustainable energy system and they are going to be increasingly common in the future,” said Doris Showalter, Eaton senior product manager, transportation and air conditioning products. “Unfortunately, these fluids can quickly make ordinary hose products brittle and prone to cracking, and subject them to other forms of premature failure. At temperatures above 100C, some biodiesel blends above B20 can ‘bake out’ the elastomers necessary to keep hoses flexible. This is a particular problem in vehicles that may see a variety of fuel blends – B5 this week, B20 and higher next week, and so on.

“Temperature is the catalyst,” she said, “and with underhood temperatures easily reaching 150 C on a hot day in the southwest, we are seeing hose damage in a short time depending on the biodioesel blend percentage and quality of the blend, on a global front. The materials used in GH100 resist ‘bake out,’ which reduces the potential for damage and early hose failure.”

The new hose is designed to fill the temperature-performance gap between conventional chlorinated polyethylene tube hose products and premium Teflon hoses.

Biodiesel

Mexico Partners with OriginOil on Algae Project

Joanna Schroeder

The Mexican government is getting into the renewable fuels game – they are funding a pilot scale algae project spearheaded by OriginOil to develop renewable jet fuel. The government is using the project to demonstrate industrial algae production and then hopes to launch the project into a substantial investment in large-scale jet fuels production.

“We are excited to support Mexico’s ‘Manhattan Project’ to produce 1% of the nation’s jet fuel from algae in less than five years,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. “By the end of this decade, the project must produce nearly twenty times that amount, propelling Mexico to the front rank of bio-fuel producing nations. We pledge the full dedication of our resources to help make this happen.”

Genesis Ventures of Ensenada, Baja California will be the project operator and the company has received a first Economy Ministry grant through The National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) for its first site. Genesis will develop the site as a model for numerous additional projects to be co-located with large CO2 sources. Once complete, the site will be operated by Ensenada’s Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE) who have also invited University of Baja California (UABC) algae researchers to collaborate on the project.

“We intend to rely heavily on OriginOil’s expertise in feeding and sanitizing algae cultures, and its core harvesting and extraction technology,” said Eduardo Durazo Watanabe, President of Genesis Ventures. “Through our partner Jose Sanchez, we have a uniquely close association with OriginOil which will enable us to scale up production quickly.”

algae, Biodiesel, biojet fuel