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Offshore Wind Could Boost Ontario’s Economy

Joanna Schroeder

In a new study released by The Conference Board of Canada and financed by the wind company Vestas Offshore, the development of offshore wind farms could boost Ontario’s economy by $4.8 billion to $5.5 billion a year between 2013-2026. During the same time frame, development could lead to a total of $10 billion in capital investment and operations spending and support around 4,000 jobs during the construction phase.

“Employment and Economic Impacts of Ontario’s Future Offshore Wind Power Industry,” was based on the economics if seven new offshore wind energy projects were developed totaling 2,000 megawatts (MW) by 2026. The Conference Board felt that this number was “conservative compared with market potential.” While there are no offshore wind farms currently operational in North America, there are two in development near Kingston, Ontario.

“An offshore wind industry in Ontario – one that develops enough projects to be sustainable in the longer term – would create both short-term construction employment and permanent green jobs in the operations phase,” said Len Coad, Director, Environment, Energy and Technology Policy, The Conference Board of Canada. “Should development progress as anticipated, it is likely that new industries will develop in the province to service the needs of the growing sector.”

According to IESO, there is 2,600 MW of wind energy capacity expected to be online in Ontario by the end of 2011 with the number growing significantly over the next five years. The organization said that wind energy is well positioned for growth with the implementation of the Green Energy and Green Economy Act of 2009 as well as the Ontario Power Authority’s Feed-in-Tarriff (FIT) program that promotes renewable energy.

Energy, International, Research, Wind

Oil Independence Act Introduced

Joanna Schroeder

Earlier this week, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced H.R. 6554, “Domestic Fuel for Enhancing National Security Act of 2010.” Now, he has introduced “Oil Independence for a Stronger America Act of 2010” along with Mike Castle (R-Del.). This proposed legislation would create or extend a diverse array of federal programs necessary to help advanced biofuel producers secure financing for construction of first-of-a-kind projects.

Rep. Inslee stated, “This legislation creates a path forward to achieve energy independence and invigorate American industries. The legislation will help redirect the billions that we send overseas to pay for our addiction to foreign oil and instead invest those dollars into homegrown biofuels and America’s transportation sector.”

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) Industrial & Environmental Section, stated, “The United States needs to produce large volumes of advanced biofuels to reduce reliance on foreign oil, enhance both our energy and national security, and jump start economic growth. More than 65 planned and operating projects in 30 states are looking to build an advanced biofuels and biobased products industry. But, even with the rapid pace of technology development and the demonstrated commitment of Congress and the Obama administration, federal policies to date have fallen short in helping the industry to secure needed capital investment in biorefineries and infrastructure.”

Erickson stressed that federal policies can provide potential investors the type of certainty they need to make a long-term investments in new cellulosic and algae-based advanced biofuel facilities and asked for the enactment of an investment tax credit similar to those given to other nascent industries.

BIO, biofuels, Government

Biodiesel, Ethanol Contribute to Gasoline Demand Drop

John Davis

A new report from the U.S. Department of Energy says that gasoline demand will drop in this country by another 20 percent by the year 2030.

And this article from the Examiner.com says part of that drop is due to alternative-fueled vehicles, including those running on biodiesel and ethanol:

“A combination of demographic change and policy change means the heady days of gasoline growing in the U.S. are over,” said David Vergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his history of the oil industry. Exxon-Mobil’s CEO Rex W. Tillerson acknowledged that U.S. gasoline demand peaked in 2006, anticipating future declines. While the country’s “Great Recession” and high gas prices have kept Americans off the roads, more fuel efficiency and alternative-fuel vehicles promise to keep demand down. Current and past administrations continue to press for alternatives to fossil fuels.

Now, while the article’s author makes a good point about the alternatives helping bring down overall gasoline demand, I think he makes some wrong assumptions that ethanol hurts the environment, especially the water supply. He does make some good points that more alternatives in public transportation, such as natural gas buses, electric subways and light-rail, will contribute greatly to the overall drop in petroleum-based gasoline demand.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

New Patent to Add Value to Canola-Biodiesel By-Product

John Davis

A new patent could end up being a big boost to the canola-based biodiesel industry.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that Clean Power Concepts Inc. of Regina, Saskatchewan has picked up an exclusive patent that will allow it to extract protein from lipid sources from biodiesel production plants:

Originally developed as a result of scientific research conducted by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, CPC President and CEO Michael Shenher said the patented technology is ideal for extracting proteins from canola meal where it then can be converted into livestock, chicken and fish feed products and sold into those respective markets. Deploying the newly-acquired patent technology, according to Shenher, would be ideal for financially distressed biodiesel manufacturing refiners or existing producers running on a reduced capacity basis seeking additional revenue streams.

“We believe that this is going to be able to change the economics of biodiesel production because it’s going to significantly supplement the revenue from the canola crush operations,” Shenher said. “There’s a lot of interest right now in value-added agriculture and aquaculture feed products.”

The company plans to put the process in place at its own 5 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Regina and hopes to license the technology to other biodiesel producers.

Biodiesel

ZimmPoll Says Social Media Participation Strong

Chuck Zimmerman

Here are the results of our latest ZimmPoll. In answer to the question, “Do you participate in social media?” the majority say they do. According to the numbers, 53% say yes and they post regularly, 28% say yes but they rarely create their own posts, 27% say no and they never will and only 1% say no but plan to start participating soon. Thanks to all our poll takers. Quite a few more did in our second week!

It is possible, as has been pointed out to me, that our results might be skewed slightly since so much of this particular poll question is being seen by those who already participate in social media. I can see that. However, we have a lot of website visitors who I’m sure are not yet social media savvy. If you’re not then I recommend you get started. For motivation, you might consider getting on Twitter and participating in the weekly BioChat session each Wed. at 7pm ET. It will start back up after a holiday break in January.

The new poll is now live and the question is, “Do you think the general consumer perception of agriculture changed in 2010?” This should resonate since the whole topic of consumer perception of farming is so top of mind right now. In fact, it has given rise to new agricultural organization efforts like the USFRA and of course it is one of the goals of the AgChat Foundation to help consumers better understand where their food comes from and who is producing it and how. Can’t wait to see the results from this one!

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

ZimmPoll

AC Propulsion Wins EV Grant

Joanna Schroeder

AC Propulsion, a company that specializes in electric drive development, has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) to integrate its electric drive system technology into commercial vans operating in Southern California. The company will launch the conversion program by developing the electric propulsion system and conversion process for full-size vans that are used in service fleets.

“AC Propulsion’s electric drive system is proven and patented to work for a broad range of vehicles,” said Tom Gage, CEO of AC Propulsion. “The grant from AQMD is allowing us the opportunity to take gasoline-fueled commercial trucks and replace all of the components that contribute to air pollution with a zero-emissions system.”

The converted vans will be zero emission plug in electric vehicles. The first phase of the project will include the conversion of three vehicles that will be evaluated by several service industry partners. The first vehicle will be a developmental prototype, the second vehicle will be utilized for safety and crash testing and the third will go to in-use testing. The first conversion vehicle is slated for road testing in early summer 2011.

“Cleaner technologies such as AC Propulsion’s electric drive system have great potential to help improve air quality in Southern California through cleaner vehicle fleets,” said Barry Wallerstein, AQMD’s Executive Officer.

AC Propulsion was awarded the $300,000 grant out of a total program budget of $750,000. The concept for the conversion van program evolved through a collaboration between AC Propulsion and AutoPort, Inc., an automobile conversion company located in New Castle, Delaware.

Electric Vehicles

South Dakota Road Trip Set to Drive Off in 2011

Joanna Schroeder

When nearly 5,000 South Dakota fourth graders return to school after the holidays, they will be getting some new lesson plans. They will be learning about alternative energy including ethanol, wind and hydroelectricity as well as conservation and other green practices. The lessons have been added to the 2011 “South Dakota Road Trip,” a 13-week virtual tour of the state used in the classrooms to help the students learn about the state’s history.

“South Dakota and the entire Midwest has had a profound impact on our nation’s energy supply, and that impact will grow many times over in the future,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “I’m glad that POET can help students learn about that rich history and hope it will inspire some of them to get involved in this exciting field in the future.”

Beginning in January, during each lesson, students will travel across South Dakota learning about significant historical figures, events, industries, and culture. Along the way, they’ll stop at places including a farm, an ethanol plant and a racetrack to learn about the different stages of ethanol production. Students will also stop at a windmill to learn about the evolution of wind energy and the Oahe Dam to learn about hydroelectric power. This is just a sampling of the places the students will go.

There is also a health element in the program.“Students learn about the environment and healthy habits related to the town’s name and history, making it a fun and interesting way to learn about healthy lifestyles,” said Marsha Kucker, owner of Education Resource Center of South Dakota.

The curriculum is being finalized for use in January 2011. The project was developed by the Education Resource Center of South Dakota in partnership with Avera Health. South Dakota State University provided graphic design and programming and POET sponsored the alternative energy sections. If you would like to request a copy of the curriculum or enroll your student, please contact Julia Miller at 605-265-5555 or via email.

biofuels, Electricity, Ethanol, Wind

Court Ruling Positive for Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman

The biodiesel industry got another early Christmas present when a district appeals court today denied a petition challenging the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2).

The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia set forth a unanimous decision to deny the petition by National Petrochemical Refiners Association (NPRA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) challenging the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2). The petition was filed in March of this year saying the RFS2 violated the statutory requirements setting separate biomass-based diesel volume requirements for 2009 and 2010, that it was inappropriately retroactive without proper lead time and compliance provisions.

The National Biodiesel Board’s (NBB) was obviously pleased to hear about the decision. “This wholly validates the U.S. biodiesel industry’s legal position and sends a clear, unambiguous signal to the marketplace that the common-sense renewable goals established in the RFS2 program will be met,” said Manning Feraci, NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs.

Renewable Energy Group (REG), the nation’s largest biodiesel producer, also applauded the decision.

“This lawsuit was the final piece of uncertainty creating market disruption for the biodiesel industry. With last week’s reinstatement of the biodiesel blenders’ tax credit and today’s announcement by the court, REG is bullish on the 2011 market for biodiesel demand,” said REG’s Gary Haer, who is the new president of NBB.

More than 1.4 billion gallons of biodiesel production is registered with the EPA to produce valid RINs to meet required volume obligations. Renewable Energy Group has more than 180 million gallons of production capacity. The company anticipates significant demand increases in coming weeks due to these recent announcements.

Meanwhile, NPRA “expressed disappointment and concern” over the decision. “This retroactive regulation by a federal agency establishes a deeply troubling and potentially far-reaching precedent,” said NPRA president Charles Drevna. “We’re disappointed that the court did not overturn what is clearly a flawed and misguided approach toward implementation of the federal Renewable Fuels Standard. Regardless of the court’s ruling, however, NPRA and its members remain committed to working towards the overall implementation of the RFS program.”

Even though the thrust of the challenge was related to biodiesel, Growth Energy had intervened in the court case on behalf of the ethanol industry to help defend the mandated volumes and make sure that the volumetric levels were retroactive as of Jan 2010. “We intervened because we believe that EPA’s decision regarding the mandated volume of domestic renewable fuels furthers the intent of Congress,” Growth Energy said in a statement.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, Growth Energy, NBB

Wind Industry Forecast Looks Good as Year Ends

Joanna Schroeder

The wind industry has gained some momentum as the year comes to a close. Last Friday, President Obama signed into law the tax bill that includes a one-year extension of the 1603 investment tax credit for developing renewable energy sources including wind. Denise Bode, the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association said of the event, “This is a great holiday present for the 85,000 American workers in the wind energy industry, tens of thousands of whom will now be able to get back to work in a sector that has been a bright spot in the recession so far.”

Bode believes that this governmental action will be a signal to investors to put more capital back into the U.S. economy. She anticipates that new orders will be on the rise and with wind power reaching 20 percent of the total in Iowa and at times contributing to 25 percent of total power needs in Texas, Bode sees a “a whole lot more” affordable wind energy to come. “The inclusion of renewable energy in the tax bill is a clear indication of strong bipartisan support for the wind industry, which will make more renewable energy than any other technology for decades,” she said.

Another big win for the industry last week was word that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a proposal by Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO), the company that operates the grid throughout the Midwest, to create a new cost allocation policy, or “regime” to pay for transmission upgrades. These upgrades are needed to develop transmission infrastructure, improve reliability, reduce electric bills, foster economic development, and provide consumers access to wind energy and other forms of renewable energy.

The regime creates a new category of transmission projects called Multi-Value Projects (MVPs). The MVP concept is based on the recognition of the numerous, widely shared benefits provided by enhanced transmission infrastructure and, accordingly, spreads the costs for these lines across the MISO footprint.

“We applaud the Commission’s decision to approve the MISO proposal with respect to Multi-Value Projects, as it represents a significant improvement over the existing cost allocation proposal,” said AWEA’s Senior Vice-President for Public Policy Rob Gramlich. “With this policy in place, the Midwest is ready to step up to the plate and support wind development and unlock the associated manufacturing and supply chain jobs throughout the region. The proposed mechanism would spread the costs of new transmission infrastructure to the beneficiaries, allowing the region to build a robust transmission grid that will bring reliability and economic benefits as well as supporting state, regional and national policy goals. This policy is a tremendous victory for the region’s consumers, environment, and economy.”

Electricity, Wind

Ask the Fuel Answerman

Joanna Schroeder

This fall, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  approved the use of E15 (15 percent ethanol, 85 percent gasoline) in conventional vehicles manufactured in 2007 or later. As a result, many questions have been raised as to the effect the increased level of ethanol will have on vehicles on other small engine equipment. (It should be noted that at this time, E15 has not been approved for use by the EPA in small engines or for marine equipment.)

The “Fuel Answerman” a.k.a. Mike Profetto who is the Vice President of Product Engineering at Gold Eagle Co has cautioned motorists that ethanol is corrosive to rubber and plastic parts and can lead to issues in both vehicles as well as small engines including lawnmowers. He also notes that ethanol is a solvent and can loosen debris and deposits that have built up in a fuel tank over time, resulting in clogged fuel systems. This can lead to hard starting, rough running and even stalling. Yet in the opinion of the author, it is also these properties of ethanol that can keep your engine running, meaner, cleaner and longer.

The “Fuel Answerman” is offering up his services and is ready to answer technical fuel-related questions from diesel to ethanol and a current hot button issue: the voluntary transition to E15. In addition, his company is preparing to launch a new product after the first of the year to help counter the effect of ethanol fuels. It’s called STA-BIL Ethanol Performance Improver and Profetto says the product will aid in engine maintenance in several ways including the prevention of corrosion caused by ethanol blended fuels; help remove water from fuel; clean fuel injectors, carburetors and intake valves; and keep engines running smoothly for optimal performance.

blends, Education, Ethanol