Tennessee’s Biomass Innovation Park Breaks Ground

Joanna Schroeder July 30, 2010

Yesterday, Dallas Tonsager, the Under Secretary for Rural Development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony for Tennessee’s Biomass Innovation Park. The park is a unique campus that will develop technology to integrate and optimizes the entire biomass supply chain. It will also be the site for a $5 million Department of Energy-funded high-tonnage switchgrass bulk handling system.

The Biomass Innovation Park will provide harvesting, handling, storage, densification, pre-processing, and transportation for multiple feedstocks including switchgrass, and serve as a foundation for all biomass feedstock used to create biofuels, biochemicals, bioproducts, biomaterials, biopower, and bioenergy. The 21-acre park is located adjacent to the Genera/DDCD demonstration-scale biorefinery in Vonore.

“This facility will integrate biomass receiving, storage, separation, pre-processing, and compaction. It will initially process up to 50,000 tons of switchgrass but is designed to handle a wide range of energy crops and other biomass feedstocks,” said Genera President and CEO Dr. Kelly Tiller. “We will also have energy crop R&D demonstration plots onsite, as well as some demonstration scale novel conversion processes and technology.

Switchgrass studies are currently underway and more than 6,000 acres of switchgrass are being grown by local farmers within a 50 mile radius of the plant. Genera has contracted with the farmers to convert the switchgrass to cellulosic ethanol. The first phase of construction will completed by the end of 2010, in time to store and process switchgrass from the fall harvest.

“The Biomass Innovation Park will be a unique and valuable asset in answering many of the questions farmers, biorefineries, and the entire bioenergy industry are asking about sufficient, sustainable, scalable, cost effective supply chains for energy crops;” concluded Dr. Tiller.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

San Jose Opens Additional EV Charging Stations

Joanna Schroeder July 30, 2010

San Jose, California is the latest city to install a Networked Charging Station for electric vehicles (EV). The station was installed by Coulomb Technologies and is part of a $37 million ChargePoint America program that will eventually offer hundreds of free stations for public and home charging throughout the Bay area. Coulomb has the largest established base networked charging stations worldwide with more than 700 stations shipped to 130 customers.

“Coulomb’s first customer was the City of San Jose and we’re pleased to be back, both to welcome the electric vehicle transformation to Silicon Valley and also to bring jobs to install and maintain electric vehicle infrastructure,” said Richard Lowenthal CEO of Coulomb Technologies. “Thanks to our $37 Million ChargePoint America program, San Jose will be one of the first cities in the nation to enable its residents to buy vehicles that don’t pollute and don’t depend on oil.”

Coulomb is working with Ford, Chevrolet and Smart USA, three companies that have announced that they will introduce EVs in the Bay area in upcoming months. The first two ChargePoint America stations are now installed at the McEnergy Convention Center parking center. The program goal is to install 5,000 charging stations in nine regions of the U.S. including Austin, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose/San Francisco, California; New York, New York; Orlando, Florida; Bellevue/Redmond, Washington; and Washington D.C.

“The installation of San Jose’s first ChargePoint America station is an important step forward in our efforts to make the Bay Area the Electric Vehicle capital of America,” said Mayor Chuck Reed. “Our partnership will Coulomb Technologies is the perfect example of how Silicon Valley can lead the world in clean tech innovation and create new jobs in our community.”

Coulomb’s ChargePoint Network is open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles and provides authentication, management and real-time control for the networked electric vehicle charging stations. ChargePoint Network’s unique features also include a ChargePoint iPhone App, location of unoccupied charging stations via smart phones and charging status sent to you by SMS text or email notification.

Electric Vehicles, News

Largest US FFV Fleet Now Has 85 Percent Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman July 30, 2010

The biggest fleet of flexible fuel vehicles in the United States now has access to 85 percent ethanol fuel.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Protec Fuel joined representatives of the Norfolk Naval Base and Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) in Norfolk, Virginia to cut the ribbon and open the new E85 pump. In addition to providing fuel for the Navy Fleet and city fleets, the station is open to the general public.

Norfolk is home to the largest fleet of vehicles using alternative fuels in United States. As the largest Naval complex in the world, the Norfolk Naval base has 2,585 flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) in their fleet. “When the largest fleet in the state of Virginia is fueling their vehicles with alternative fuels like ethanol, it shows the strong desire to rely more on domestic made fuel and less on foreign oil,” said RFA Director of Market Development, Robert White. “With the Navy taking this lead, we only hope that it will promote the use of America’s fuel throughout the rest of the U.S.”

Todd Garner, Managing Partner of Protec Fuel said they are proud to be partnered with NEXCOM and The US Navy by building and opening this new E85 station. “The Norfolk Naval E85 station, serving the largest Naval base in the world, will effectively serve the general public and the large flex-fuel fleet vehicles simultaneously,” said Garner. “Economic and environmental benefits aside, this station and E85 will help get our troops home and strengthen our national security through domestically produced fuels.”

World Bank Report Takes New Look at Food and Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman July 30, 2010

Ethanol production probably had less impact on global commodity prices in 2008 than many were saying at the time.

A newly released working paper, entitled “Placing the 2006/08 Commodity Price Boom into Perspective,” from the Development Prospects Group at the World Bank, concludes that “…the effect of biofuels on food prices has not been as large as originally thought.”

Authors of the report, John Baffes and Tassos Haniotis, argue that energy prices, as well as speculation, played significant roles in the non-energy commodity price spikes seen in the recent past. “We conclude that a stronger link between energy and non‐energy commodity prices is likely to have been the dominant influence on developments in commodity, and especially food, markets,” says the report. “Demand by developing countries is unlikely to have put additional pressure on the prices of food commodities, although it may have created such pressure indirectly through energy prices.”

Another point they make is that biofuels only represent 1.5 percent of worldwide grain and oilseed use. “This raises serious doubts about claims that biofuels account for a big shift in global demand. Even though widespread perceptions about such a shift played a big role during the recent commodity price boom, it is striking that maize prices hardly moved during the first period of increase in US ethanol production, and oilseed prices dropped when the EU increased impressively its use of biodiesel. On the other hand, prices spiked while ethanol use was slowing down in the US and biodiesel use was stabilizing in the EU.”

In a 2008 Policy Research Working Paper, authored by Donald Mitchell, lead economist for the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group, which claimed 70-75 percent of the increase in food prices that year was due to biofuels and the related consequences of low grain stocks, large land use shifts, speculative activity and export bans.

So, this new paper is a big about-face from the 2008 view and actually says what most biofuels advocates were saying all along, according to Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen. “In reversing course, this World Bank report reaffirms the marginal role biofuels play in world commodity and food prices,” said Dinneen. “The RFA has long noted that ethanol production has continued to increase while corn prices have now returned to normal levels. Volatile oil prices, speculation, and adverse weather conditions all played far more significant roles in driving commodity prices to record and near record prices.”

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis praised the World Bank for setting the record straight. “This study clearly shows that the notion of food-versus-fuel was simply wrong,” said Buis. “Food-versus-fuel has always been and will always be nothing more than a myth. We hope that this report will encourage others who have relentlessly perpetuated this untruth to admit their mistakes and put an end to this false debate.”

It is interesting to note that these “working papers,” although released by the World Bank, done by World Bank economists and posted on the World Bank website, come with a disclaimer that says they represent “work in progress” and that the findings “are entirely those of the authors” and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank.

Link to July 2008 working paper.
Link to July 2010 Working Paper.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, food and fuel, Food prices, International, RFA

Renewable Energy Progress

Cindy Zimmerman July 29, 2010

Earlier this month, the 25x’25 Alliance released a progress report on where the nation is in terms of the goal of meeting 25 percent of our energy needs with renewable resources by 2025, and they held a press conference with representatives of all the major renewable energy sectors to talk about the report and what still needs to be done.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we will hear from each of those representatives – Tom Buis with ethanol group Growth Energy; Bob Cleaves of the Biomass Power Association; Brad Collins with the American Solar Energy Society; Karl Gawell from the Geothermal Energy Association; and Rob Gramlich with the American Wind Energy Association – as well as 25x’25 steering committee co-chairman Reid Smith.

Listen to the Domestic Fuel Cast here. Play Domestic Fuel Cast

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Audio, biomass, Domestic Fuel Cast, Electricity, Energy, Ethanol, Geothermal, Growth Energy, Solar, Wind

First Ethanol Blender Pump West of Rockies Opens

Cindy Zimmerman July 29, 2010

Get Green LLC, Lucky Stop and Growth Energy have teamed up to offer the first blender pump offering mid and high levels of ethanol west of the Rockies.

The Lucky Stop station in Las Vegas offers ethanol blends of E30 and E85 and owner Mike Maalouf is pleased to offer his customers a choice. “Everyone is struggling with the way the economy is right now. By installing E30 and E85 this creates more choices for the consumer, but also assists with lessening our dependency on foreign oil,” he said. There are 13 other E85 stations in Nevada, but this is the first to offer an additional blend. The new blender pump opened for business on July 12 and Maalouf reports that his sales have already increased by 30 percent.

Growth Energy provided Lucky’s a grant through their 2010 E85 and Blender Pump Program. Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy noted that the recent certification of Dresser Wayne and Gilbarco blender pumps by Underwriters Laboratory will help promote the installation of blender pumps across the country to help decrease our dependence on oil.

“We are pleased to assist Lucky Stop with the opening of the first blender pump west of the Rockies,” said Buis. “Every blender pump we install will help make our country more energy independent and more secure, all while giving consumers a choice at the pump that includes domestic, renewable ethanol. Growth Energy is pleased to have been able to assist in Lucky Stop’s efforts and we remain committed to assist with additional blender pumps across the nation.”

blends, Ethanol, Growth Energy

More MN State Cars Use E85

Cindy Zimmerman July 29, 2010

More state vehicles in Minnesota are able to use up to 85 percent ethanol in their tanks, according to the American Lung Association in Minnesota.

So far this year, state agencies used 437,063 gallons of E85, a 25 percent increase over last year. Those figures come from the state’s SmartFleet Committee, a group tasked with helping agencies comply with Executive Order 04-10, issued by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The Faribault Academies, a campus of educational facilities serving deaf and blind Minnesotans, topped all others in the SmartFleet quarterly report, using E85 75 percent of the time they bought fuel. Another standout was the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, which reported 73 percent E85 use during the first half of the calendar year. In terms of sheer volume of E85 used, the state Department of Transportation used 170,617 gallons of cleaner-burning E85 in six months, compared to 376,312 gallons of gasoline and 690,798 gallons of B5 biodiesel blend fuel.

“This continued progress shows that the State of Minnesota is serious about its stated goal to reduce its petroleum consumption,” said Kelly Marczak, director for the American Lung Association in Minnesota’s clean fuel and vehicle technologies program and a member of the SmartFleet Committee. “In just six months, the state’s use of E85 in 2010 prevented more than 1,745 tons of lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions and harmful pollutants from entering our air.” In addition, the 5% biodiesel blend prevented 290 lbs of particulate matter, 400 lbs of hydrocarbons, 3,000 lbs of carbon monoxide and 700,000 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions.

The American Lung Association in Minnesota supports the use of E85 and biodiesel fuels in both public and private vehicles, as part of an overall strategy to reduce and prevent air pollution.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News

CARB Proposes LCFS Soil Sustainability Provisions

Joanna Schroeder July 28, 2010

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is far from over on discrediting biofuels as part of their mandated policy known as the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). For the past year, the ethanol industry has been embroiled in a fight for proper reflections of biofuel’s indirect greenhouse gas emissions, aka indirect land use. Now, CARB has created a working group to study soil sustainability provisions of biofuels. The specific crops under review at this time include corn ethanol, sugarcane ethanol, wood based fuels, palm oil, and soy biodiesel.

Today, CARB held a meeting to discuss this topic. In the proposed agenda, CARB offered several “loose” categories to be considered including carbon content, erosion, crop rotation, nutrition/chemical use, productivity, and crop expansion. I’ll kick myself for saying this, but I’m surprised they didn’t include water.

While I’m not sure what exactly has driven this new LCFS dimension of discussion, I can speculate that several recent events have in part led to this recent course of action. One is the Dead Zone/hypoxia issue which resurfaced when several scientists began calling the Dead Zone a bigger environmental catastrophe than the BP Oil spill. Corn and corn ethanol are being charged for creating the Dead Zone through its use of pesticides and fertilizers used in production.

Second, Friends of the Earth has been vocally opposed to how corn is produced and to corn ethanol (actually, to all current and future biofuels) and is currently engaged in a national campaign to end production of corn ethanol and reassess corn production methods.

While I do believe that soil sustainability is an area to be reviewed in general, I do not agree that you can regulate biofuels policy on this issue. Not only that, but like indirect land use, a theory not based in sound science, petroleum is not being held to the same standards. No where on the agenda is a discussion of the soil, or land implications of global petroleum production.Read More

biofuels, Environment, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Legislation, Opinion

Two Views on Impact of Ethanol Tax Credit Expiration

Cindy Zimmerman July 28, 2010

One agricultural economist is disputing the findings of another when it comes to the impact on the domestic ethanol industry of removing the existing blenders tax credit and the associated tariff on imported ethanol.

In dueling commentaries posted Tuesday on “The Hill’s Congress Blog,” Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) director and professor of economist Dr. Bruce Babcock, and ENTRIX technical director and agricultural economist John Urbanchuk share differing opinions about the impact of allowing allowing the current 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol blender’s tax credit (Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, or VEETC) and 54-cent-per-gallon ethanol tariff to expire at the end of this year.

Babcock did a study, funded by the Brazilian sugarcane industry, that found there would be only a “modest” impact on the industry if the VEETC and tariff went away. Urbanchuk, who has done numerous economic studies for the U.S. ethanol industry, disagrees. “That’s true only if you take a “Field of Dreams” view of the ethanol industry: If we mandate that Americans use more ethanol, then someone, somewhere will produce that ethanol,” Urbanchuk writes. He says that “removing the tax credit would encourage the export of another U.S. industry.”

Meanwhile, Growth Energy notes in a blog post that the Babcock study assumes that the U.S. market will be able to utilize intermediate ethanol blends, such as E15, that will increase demand. According to the Babcock paper (top pg 12), “The key assumption here is not EPA approval, but rather, that EPA approves implementation of intermediate blends in a manner that increases the market demand for ethanol enough to sell 15 (billion gallons) at 75% of the price of gasoline.” Growth Energy says, “That is the essential contribution of the paper: if the ethanol industry gets access to a bigger share of the market, the government supports aren’t as important.” So, in other words, both views could be right, depending on whether or not the market is increased to 15 percent.

Brazil, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Butter Could be Biodiesel Feedstock

Cindy Zimmerman July 28, 2010

USDA researchers are studying the use of butter as a feedstock for biodiesel.

According to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists with USDA's Ag Research Service looked into the concept of making butter that would otherwise go to waste into biodiesel.

Michael Haas and colleagues cite rising global demand for biodiesel, and the desire to expand the feedstock base, as motivating factors for their research. The United States alone has committed to producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022, a major increase from the current annual production level of about 11 billion gallons. Most of that was ethanol. Biodiesel production, now approaching 1 billion gallons annually in the U.S., is also slated to increase. As researchers seek additional and affordable feedstocks for biodiesel production, these scientists turned to butter, one billion pounds of which are produced annually. Could surplus, spoiled, or nonfood-grade butter be used to make biodiesel at competitive prices?

In an effort to find out, the scientists recovered the fat from a quarter-ton of butter and converted it into the fatty acid esters that constitute biodiesel. They found that the resulting material met all but one of the official test standards for biodiesel. The study concluded that with further purification or by blending with biodiesel from other feedstocks butter biodiesel could add to the supply of biobased fuel for diesel engines.