Ethanol 2011: New Fuels, New Rules

Joanna Schroeder

Join the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) along with the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) for a FREE Webinar: Ethanol 2011: New Fuels, New Rules on October 20, 2010 at 1:00 pm CST. The webinar will focus on giving the ethanol industry in-depth information on ethanol blending, mid-level ethanol blends and E85. This free webinar is brought to you by the Blend Your Own Ethanol (BYO Ethanol) Campaign.

Attendees will also learn about ethanol infrastructure incentives that are available to help retailers expand their existing infrastructure and bring more choice to consumers at the pump. Today, the Federal tax credit gives station owners a 50 percent tax credit, up to $50,000, for installing E85 infrastructure, but it expires at the end of 2010.

Don’t miss out. The webinar will provide the latest updates on the effort to increase ethanol blends up to 15 percent, and will discuss how blender pumps continue to fit the equation for retailers looking to provide customers a variety of fuel choices. The BYO webinar will also discuss new fuel formulations in detail and help retailers learn more about ethanol marketing for current and future blends. Sign up today to learn what ethanol marketing will look like in the near future. Register for this FREE webinar at www.BYOethanol.com.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Los Alamos County Wins Energy Leadership Award

Joanna Schroeder

The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) of Los Alamos County is receiving the Energy Leadership Award from the New Mexico Association of Engineers (NMAEE) for their commitment to upgrading the grid for solar power. The award honors a person or organization for their demonstrated leadership, innovation and commitment to the smart grid project in New Mexico, a component of the statewide New Mexico Green Grid Initiative (NMGGI).

“The community of Los Alamos is excited to lead this demonstration project, which is designed to prove the viability of utility-scale solar power with smart grid technology. This is the forefront of implementing real-world green technology,” said DPU’s Deputy Utilities Manager for Engineering, James Alarid.

The Los Alamos smart grid project will be implemented by a team that includes DPU along with the New Energy Technology and Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Technology and Industry and the Los Alamos National Labs, which supports the NMGGI led by the State of New Mexico and the Galvin Electricity Initiative in developing its components.

Among the components of the smart grid project at Los Alamos are a 2 megawatt photovoltaic array, 7 megawatt-hour battery storage system, which is enough to power 3,300 homes for 1 hour, and a smart demonstration home that will use green construction techniques and feature smart meters and appliances to effectively demonstrate how smart energy technology can help consumers save energy and money.

Although the project has not received any federal funding, the DPU agreed to move forward with the project with $17 million in financial backing from NEDO along with $10 million to be funded by a Power Purchase Agreement through the DPU.

“The Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities has demonstrated significant leadership and resiliency by agreeing to move forward with this ground-breaking project using a major investment of its own resources,” said Jack McGowan, a consultant for NMGGI, partner with the Galvin Electricity Initiative and a member of NMAEE. “The DPU is taking important steps to ensure that its electricity consumers will be able to make informed decisions about energy consumption in the future, while meeting its carbon-neutral objective.”

Electricity, Solar

RFA Wants Answers to DOE Loan Program Problems

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) wants some answers from the Department of Energy and Congress about why the Renewable Energy Loan Guarantee Program is not working.

Renewable Fuels AssociationIn a post on RFA’s The E-Xchange Blog today, RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen says the program “has been defined by inaction and obstruction and is largely seen as a complete failure to date in terms of bringing next generation biofuel technologies to the marketplace.” With the funding not being used for the loan program, Congress has seen this as a piggy bank they can break into and raid to pay for other programs.

Renewable Fuels Association LogoDOE officials are set to testify this week before a Senate committee and Dinneen proposes a few questions that need to be answered. When do DOE officials anticipate making the necessary changes to the program to make it more accessible to next generation biofuel technologies? How do DOE officials view the loan guarantee program? Is it for power generation technologies only? Or, should it apply to all renewable energy technologies including biofuels, as Congress intended? For members of Congress, assuming DOE gets on track to dispense funds from this critical program, when will you act to restore funding raided for various programs unrelated to renewable energy infrastructure development?

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is holding the hearing, specifically to examine DOE’s loan guarantee program, at 9:30 Eastern.

Energy, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA

E85 is a Mileage Win

The first Progressive Automotive X Prize, a one-year race to design an ultra-efficient car that’s “safe, affordable and desirable”, winner has been announced and it runs on E85.

According to the New York Times, The Very Light Car, built by Virginia company Edison2, won the $5 million first prize with 100 mpg and the lowest carbon footprint of all contestants. Its gasoline engine, which ran on E85, beat out dozens of electric and hybrid cars, vehicles currently thought to be among the most efficient available.

David Friedman, who directs the Clean Vehicle Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists said, “While these [X Prize] vehicles may not be what we’re going to see on the road in the next decade, they really do point to a lot of the ingredients that we need to get to 60 miles per gallon, or more, in the next 15 years.”

The auto industry has targeted a goal for vehicles to receive 60 miles per gallon (mpg), “Just last year automakers supported reaching 35+ mpg by 2016, and before we have even achieved those new heights, the calls have begun to almost double mileage,” said Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers. “Clearly we live in a period of extreme political volatility, and some groups are promoting their political wish list prior to the elections,” he said.

For automakers, the question is how to do it. They have offered more efficient gasoline cars in recent years, but some are betting big on electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Students Learn FFV Conversion Process

Students at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) are studying the flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) conversion process. As first reported on KMIT.com, by using FlexFuel U.S.’s system, the students are excited to learn how to lessen dependence on foreign oil imports.

“It’s pretty interesting and it’s easy to install too and it’s not really that hard. The hardest thing is the wiring and even then it’s not that hard,” said student Heath Tulp/

The students at NIACC are putting in a supplemental fuel injection system to a vehicle adding fuel as needed so the car can run smoothly on both gas and E85.

Mitch Sremac who invented the system said he created it “To make it easy enough to install by most technicians and be able to keep the car running and meet emission standards.”

NIACC is the first school to study the new conversion system.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Miscellaneous, News

Intellago Grain Software A Success for Didion

Joanna Schroeder

Didion Milling based in Cambria, Wisconsin has successfully worked with Christianson & Associates (C&A) to install Intellago Grain Software at their processing plant. Didion Milling is both a producer of food-grade milling products as well as ethanol. The software will provide Didion with a single, fully integrated grain and financial management tool.

Specific benefits of the grain module, that is an extension of the plant’s Dynamics ERP system, are enhanced financial reporting capabilities, integration of all inventory items into a single, unified inventory system, and a better tool to establish risk management strategies that allow them to lock in margin when available.

“We currently engage in operations that dramatically exceed industry standards.  Our employees have a wealth of knowledge and experience in grain merchandising, grain manufacturing, logistics, ethanol, engineering, and software development,” said Luke Burmeister, Didion CFO. “My core team partnering with C&A has developed a fully automated ERP system from the procurement of corn to the production and traceability of food and fuel to the delivery of  financial statements.”

Didion Milling is a unique facility in that it produces both food for the consumer market and fuel. The majority of ethanol facilities produce dried distillers grains (DDGs) which is sold for animal feed.

Burmeister concluded, “We will continue to diversify our customer base, add product mix, and reduce our overall costs and carbon footprint through a reduction in energy taking us to the next level in our food AND fuel vision. It is all about adding value to the kernel of corn. We intend to leverage our high-quality workforce and extensive process and software development experience working with the leader in the industry in developing and enhancing the most efficient automated software system in the renewable fuels industry.”

Last week, Didion Ethanol hosted a Green Energy Expo to educate consumers about ethanol. Earlier this year, C&A released its annual Biofuels Benchmarking Report, a look at ethanol plants efficiency and financial viability. Tools such as Intellago Grain Software have been designed to help improve a biorefinery’s bottom line.

corn, Ethanol, food and fuel, Miscellaneous

DOE Awards $20M for Geothermal Programs

Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has drummed up $20M in funding for seven geothermal projects that will focus on technical and economic feasibility of unconventional geothermal energy technologies. The seven companies awarded funding include Energent Corporation, GreenFire Energy, Modoc Contracting, Oski Energy, ElectraTherm, Louisiana Geothermal, and NRG Energy. Each of these companies will be focused on one of three core areas: low temperature fluids, geothermal fluids recovered from oil and gas wells, and highly pressurized geothermal fluids.

In a statement, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, “These innovative projects have the potential to expand the use of geothermal energy to more areas around the country. The development of these technologies will allow us to tap into additional renewable energy resources, reduce carbon pollution and create new jobs.”

Chu hopes that these research projects will help lower the cost of geothermal energy and help make the operational deployment of low temperature geothermal units more economical.

Geothermal

Friends of the Earth: Africa up for Grabs

Joanna Schroeder

Friends of the Earth International (FOE) has released a report about Africa’s move to produce biofuels to help meet the global needs of renewable energy. “Africa, up for grabs: the scale and impact of land grabbing for agrofuels” looked at 11 African countries and found that five million hectares of land, or an area the size of Denmark, is being acquired by foreign companies to produce biofuels, mainly for European markets. Dubbed “land grabbing,” the majority of entities entering the country are European and Chinese companies with Brazil making a play as well.

According to FOE, the purpose of the report was to take a closer look at these land deals and determine how many of them are for agrofuels and how they will affect local communities and the environment. In the report the authors write, “although information is limited, there is growing evidence that significant levels of farmland are being acquired for fuel crops, in some cases without the consent of local communities and often without a full
assessment of the impact on the local environment.”

The report says that many African countries are waking up to the realities of biofuels and have halted their biofuels programs. Others, they say are moving forward. FOE offers several actions that they believe should be taken including putting a stop to land grabbing; re-prioritize political priorities that include local sustainable farm programs and energy efficiency brought about through public transportation, walking and cycling;  and creating fair and appropriate land deals.

In a press release, Mariann Bassey, food and agriculture coordinator for Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria said, “The expansion of biofuels on our continent is transforming forests and natural vegetation into fuel crops, taking away food-growing farmland from communities, and creating conflicts with local people over land ownership. We want real investment in agriculture that allows us to produce food and not fuel for foreign cars.”

The report points out that jatropha, often hailed as a wonder crop for biodiesel production, is actually one of the worst enviornmental offenders and claim that those who have converted food crops to this biofuels crop, can not make a living.

In conjunction with the report, FOE is calling for the EU to scrap its biofuels policy and asking governments to invest in environmentally friendly agriculture and decrease the energy used for transportation through conservation efforts.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Environment, International

2010 Fuel Scorecard Released

Joanna Schroeder

The Truman National Security Project has released its 2010 Fuel Scorecard and ethanol scores near the top of the list as viable fuel options for the future. Based on several factors that affect America’s security including instability of supplier country, opposition to American values, climate disruption, possibility of threat to supply chain, and cost spike volatility, ethanol scores as the second best fuel for our future.

The authors of the report write, “Across each of our national security metrics, oil ranks in a league of its own. It is high time American consumers and policymakers recalculate their routines, and begin to move America towards an energy posture that does not undermine our nation’s security. Ethanol—particularly second generation ethanol – electricity, and natural gas can all play roles in a more secure America.”

The Truman Project focuses, in part, on bringing attention to the security and climate problems that come from a dependence on fossil fuels – especially those purchased from countries that do not hold the same values as Americans. They note in the report that America purchases 50 percent of its oil from OPEC, who controls 70 percent of the world’s global oil reserves and 40 percent of daily oil supplies. Last week, OPEC celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The report notes that America’s energy supply is a weakness and a prime target for attack – an issue which has been known by oil countries for many years. At one time, Osama bin Laden was quoted as saying, “We bled [Russia] to the point of bankruptcy. So if we were able to do it to the Russians, we can now do it to the Americans, and the best way to do it is to go after their Achilles heel and attack oil.”

The report concludes that American power in the world would be severely compromised by sharp cuts to its fuel supply at home. “Therefore, smart decisions about fuel sources need to be made now to ensure the safest, strongest America over the long term. Our current reliance on oil—the worst performer in this report—is leaving our country more vulnerable to shock while shoring up the capacity of regimes intent on endangering America’s interests, values, and leadership in the world.”

While the report acknowledges that no current fuel source is perfect, we must “devote our national resources to power sources that will sustain America’s strength while causing the least harm.”

Electricity, Ethanol, Natural Gas, Oil

Propel Sends Out a Thank You to Its Customers

Joanna Schroeder

Propel is taking a leadership role in California and Washington in bringing biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel to drivers. Earlier this month, Propel opened a new E85 station in Oakland, California, just one of nearly two dozen planned for the Bay area. Also this summer, Propel received an $11 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission to help install 75 additional E85 pumps throughout California over the next two years.

The company, however, knows that part of their success is due to the customers who support both the ethanol industry and their company through their purchase of E85. They are saying “thank you” to these customers with a new video that features customers who come to their stations to fill up with ethanol. The video was produced by Chris LaPlante and Emily Shellabarger, two ethanol enthusiasts.

The next station to go online will be located in Placerville, California.

Biodiesel, biofuels, E85, Ethanol