Ethanol Joins High Rollers in Vegas

Cindy Zimmerman

High rollers in Vegas can now get higher ethanol blends for their flex fuel vehicles (FFVs).

Growth Energy has joined forces with CJW Petroleum to offer E85 at a station in North Las Vegas, located close to Nellis Air Force Base where numerous flexible fuel vehicles are stationed. The new E85 pump opened for business July 13 and sold over 1,400 gallons of the alternative fuel in a short time.

“There are tens of thousands of federal flex fuel vehicles that have never run on anything but conventional gasoline because they don’t have access to mid and high level blends of ethanol,” said Phil Lampert, V.P. of Market Development for Growth Energy. “We are working with partners across the nation to build out the infrastructure so flex fuel vehicle owners have a choice at the pump.”

Phillipe Savigard, owner of the Nevada station said, “The reason I offered the fuel was I feel it is the right time. We need to make consumers more aware of the product and educate them so there is less confusion in the marketplace.”

CJW Petroleum has become part of Growth Energy’s 2010 E85 and Blender Pump Program, offering funds to retailers for the alternative fuel infrastructure. Growth Energy is also assisting retailers with the technical aspects of installation and marketing of both mid and high level blends of ethanol.

E85, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Ethanol and Corn Groups Call for Increase to E12

Cindy Zimmerman

Three major farmer and ethanol groups today called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to formally approve the use of E12 (12% ethanol) in the nation’s gasoline supply.

ACEThe American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) sent a joint letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson saying, “based on the EPA’s delay in acting upon the full E15 waiver and on our concerns that the Agency will restrict the use of E15 to cars made in 2001 and thereafter, we encourage the EPA to formally approve the use of E12 for all motor vehicles as an immediate interim step pending any ongoing additional testing on E15.”

NCGAThe groups pointed to President Obama’s stated goal of reducing reliance on oil imports and reiterated that expanded use of domestically produced ethanol will help accomplish that goal. According to the letter, “Decreasing dependence on foreign oil is a key to this country’s environmental, energy and security policy, and the EPA must provide a practical and workable solution to the ethanol blend wall issue and do so soon. Allowing E12 for all motor vehicles as an interim step to a full waiver for E15 is a reasonable and defensible first step to solve the immediate problem.”

Renewable Fuels Association LogoThe groups’ letter reviewed previous EPA findings, policy positions and research to demonstrate the reasonableness of approving E12 for use in the nation’s automobile and light truck fleet. “The EPA has a clear basis and the authority to approve E12. While we think delay on E15 is unnecessary and will slow progress on expanding the use of ethanol, we all agree that approval of E12 is a vital interim step that EPA can and should take,” the groups wrote. All three groups remain fully committed to efforts to approve the use of E15 for all vehicles.

Read the entire letter here.

ACE, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA, RFA

Senator Reid Introduces Limited Energy Bill

Joanna Schroeder

With the climate bill in flux in the Senate, there are new concerns surfacing that climate legislation is dead in the water, stalling political efforts to revive the economy though the development of clean tech jobs. In response, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) responded last week by proposing a new piece of limited energy legislation that would limit offshore drilling, raise the liability caps for oil companies and support the growth of green jobs. The green jobs would come as a result of energy efficiency measures but the bill does not appear to support a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES).

Reid has been attempting to get some sort of jobs bill passed for months. Earlier this year, he presented an Unemployment Jobs Extension Bill that included a one-year extension of the biodiesel tax credit. Reid stripped the biodiesel tax credit from the bill and ultimately, the bill did not pass.

The apparent tie-in of the oil spill and energy bill is that many gulf oil workers are out of work. Reid believes that an energy bill will help put people around the country back to work. The Department of Energy estimates that if a 20 percent renewable electricity standard were put into place, 3,000-4,000 new jobs would be created in most states. Yet supporters of clean jobs are arguing that these clean jobs are not being created fast enough and an energy bill with an RES could be the ticket, although it doesn’t appear Reid’s bill be the ticket needed for admission.

But on the flip side, the oil and gas industry is fighting this bill tooth and nail saying that green jobs will not make up for the large number of displaced oil and gas workers. Offshore drilling needs to continue.Read More

Electricity, Energy, Legislation, Opinion, politics

Enroll in Alcohol School Today

Joanna Schroeder

The 30th annual Alcohol School is around the corner on September 12-17 in Montreal, QC, Canada. Sponsored by Lallemand Ethanol Technology, this program is designed for both lab and plant management personnel from the biofuels industry as well as those working in beverage alcohol and allied industries who are interested in learning more information about technology and advancements in future ethanol and distilled beverage production. Everything discussed during this program will ultimately help plants positively improve their bottom line.

Students of the Alcohol School will have the opportunity to attend classes focused on either fuel of distilled beverage courses as well as receive hands-on lab training conducted by industry scientists, academics and Ethanol Technology Institute experts.

Space is limited and early bird registration ends on August 16th. Attendees can learn more details and register online here.

Education, Ethanol

Peanut Growers Hear About Ethanol and Biomass

Cindy Zimmerman

Southern peanut producers meeting in Panama City Beach last week heard about ethanol and producing energy on a local level.

Growth Energy representative Dennis Weise talked to the farmers about how they can advocate for domestically produced energy by getting involved.

“We have to get outside of the corn belt now, so it’s important that we talk to folks from the southeast United States, the southwest and everywhere else,” said Weise. He talked about the advertising and promotion efforts Growth Energy has undertaken and he encouraged the farmers to join Growth Force. “We need advocates for our industry,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s their industry as well.”

Listen to or download an interview with Weise at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference here: Dennis Wiese Interview

Taking renewable energy to a more local level was Steve Flick of Show Me Energy Cooperative in western Missouri, which is a non-profit, producer owned cooperative founded to support the development of renewable biomass energy sources.

Flick says they have shown that farmers can produce renewable energy on a local level and peanut farmers in the southeast can do the same thing. “They do have marginal land in Georgia and Alabama, not interfering with their peanut production, they can actually utilize that marginal land to create energy like we’re doing at Show Me,” he said. “I told them ‘You are in control of your own destiny’ so if you feel like energy is important to you, you can develop a group of farmers and learn how to operate and build a plant like we did.” The plant produces pellets from biomass that the co-op members use to heat their homes and poultry barns in the winter.

Flick also says that Show Me will have a big announcement coming in September about building a combined heat and power plant on their site in west central Missouri. “Now we’ve become a game-changer by creating our own electrical load for our own power supply right there in our own backyard,” he added.

Listen to or download an interview with Flick here: Steve Flick Interview

Audio, biomass, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Boeing: Biofuel Use by Airlines Up to 1% by 2015

John Davis

Boeing’s top environmental officer says that commercial airlines might use up to 1 percent biofuels made from plants and algae by the year 2015.

Bloomberg quotes Billy Glover, managing director of environmental strategy at Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit, as pointing out that has worked with airlines from the U.S. to Japan to test jet fuels made from plants such as jatropha and camelina:

“We need to get to 1 percent to get that foundation and then the trajectory will be significantly steeper,” Glover said in a telephone interview in London. “We’re aiming for a 1 percent penetration around the middle of this decade, and we think that’s quite achievable.”

Airlines are striving to reduce emissions that the United Nations says account for at least 3 percent of the global- warming gas pollution. The environment group Greenpeace estimates output of the gases from carriers will double by 2050. To help curb pollution, the 27-nation European Union will bring airlines into its carbon cap-and trade system in 2012.

No carriers use biofuels for regularly scheduled flights though airlines have tested biofuels in flight since 2008. That was when Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., controlled by the U.K. billionaire Richard Branson, tested a jumbo jet partly powered by fuel from babassu nuts and coconut oil.

Since then, airlines including Air New Zealand Ltd., Continental and Japan Airlines Corp. have tested biofuels sourced from various crops in their planes.

Officials say the key for success with airlines using biofuels will be to scale up production of the green fuels.

algae, biofuels

Feds Give $228 Mil. for Sun- and CO2-to-Fuel Projects

John Davis

The federal Department of Energy is giving $228 million for projects that will turn sunlight directly into fuel and carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuel and other products, such as plastics, cement and fertilizers.

This article from Biofuels Digest says $122 million will go to start an Energy Innovation Hub for the sun projects, and $106 million for six projects dealing with CO2:

The Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub is one of three Hubs that will receive funding in FY10. The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), to be led by the Cal Tech in partnership with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The goal of the Hub is to develop an integrated solar energy-to-chemical fuel conversion system and move this system from the bench-top discovery phase to a scale where it can be commercialized. JCAP research will be directed at the discovery of the functional components necessary to assemble a complete artificial photosynthetic system: light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers, and separation membranes.

The Hub will then integrate those components into an operational solar fuel system and develop scale-up strategies to move from the laboratory toward commercial viability.

In addition to the major partners, Cal Tech and Berkeley Lab, other participating institutions include SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford, California; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of California, Irvine; and the University of California, San Diego.

The article goes on to say $156 million in private cost shares will match the $106 million for the CO2-to-products grants.

Government, Solar

Ethanol Tariff Tiff

Cindy Zimmerman

UNICAThe Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association UNICA this week drew attention to conflicting statements made in the past week by Growth Energy representatives about what they would like to see done with the tariff on foreign ethanol that is tied to the blenders tax credit under the Fueling Freedom plan introduced by the organization last week.

In a post on the blog SweeterAlternative and a YouTube video, UNICA noted apparent discrepancies between statements made by Growth Energy Co-Chairman Jeff Broin of POET and fellow co-chair Gen. Wesley Clark.

Growth EnergyIn an interview, Broin said that under an open market “a tariff becomes less important because we would have access to the entire market.” However, he adds that “if Brazil has a tariff, I think the U.S. should have a tariff that’s the same.” During a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing this week, Clark said they were “strongly in favor of keeping that tariff in place” adding that “There is absolutely no reason for the United States to trade dependence on foreign oil (for) dependence on foreign produced ethanol.”

Joel Velasco of UNICA writes, “What I find most interesting today is that the two chairmen of Growth Energy seem to have completely different positions on the tariff. Which is it? Does Growth Energy support market competition and consumer choice or not?”

Growth Energy sought to clarify the organization’s position on the tariff in relation to the “Fueling Freedom” plan in a blog post today, saying that the two co-chairmen were talking about different scenarios – with or without an “open market.” “Growth Energy’s position on the tariff has been consistent: it makes no sense to remove the tariff when all we will do is shut down domestic ethanol production,” the post concludes. “However, if lawmakers implement the Fueling Freedom plan and we transition to an open market, the tariff becomes less important.”

Brazil, Ethanol, Exports, Growth Energy, UNICA

Truckstop Operators Lobby for Biodiesel Incentive Renewal

John Davis

The group that represents truckstops and travel plazas is urging renewal of the federal $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax incentive.

Refrigerated Transporter reports that NATSO has teamed up with other partners in the industry, such as the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, to send a letter to U.S. Senate members, asking them to support U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley’s amendment to the Small Business Lending Act of 2010 that would extend the biodiesel tax credit through December 31, 2010:

“It is vital that Congress reinstate the biodiesel tax credit to ensure a healthy biodiesel market for producers and consumers,” said Lisa Mullings, NATSO president and chief executive officer. “The lapse of this credit and drastic cuts in production are undermining fuel retailers’ commitment to offering alternative fuels to the public and to investing in biodiesel infrastructure. The expiration of the tax credit has put thousands of jobs at stake and threatens the industry’s ability to meet the mandated renewable fuels standard.”

Since the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit expired, US biodiesel production has plummeted by more than 80%. At the same time, motorists are changing buying habits as the price of biodiesel surpasses other fuels. The $1-per-gallon blender tax credit makes biodiesel cost competitive with conventional diesel fuel. The expiration of the tax credit, coupled with sagging consumer demand, has caused many producers to shut down or severely scale back production.

Truckstop operators say this is also part of their efforts to support environmental efforts.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

EPA Data on Canola Biodiesel Pathway Released

John Davis

Canola-based biodiesel is closer to becoming a fuel authorized for biomass-based diesel Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), now that the EPA has released a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) for its recent modeling of the canola oil biodiesel pathway.

Earlier this year, EPA announced the final rule for the new Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), but the canola pathway was not yet looked at as biofuel feedstock able to meet required greenhouse gas reduction standards. Now, Biodiesel Magazine reports that the EPA says canola oil biodiesel could reduce GHGs by 50 percent compared to petroleum-based diesel:

“These results, if finalized, would justify authorizing the generation of biomass-based diesel RINs for fuel produced by the canola oil biodiesel pathway modeled, assuming that the fuel meets the other definitional criteria for renewable fuel (e.g., produced from renewable biomass, and used to reduce or replace transportation fuel) specified in EISA,” EPA said in the NODA memo.

EPA analyzed canola oil as a feedstock “assuming the same biodiesel production facility designs and conversion efficiencies as modeled for biodiesel produced from soybean oil.” To assess the impact of producing biodiesel from canola oil, the EPA also created a control case projection estimating 200 million gallons of canola-based biodiesel per year by 2022. “While we recognize that some canola oil has historically been used to make biodiesel for domestic use,” EPA said, “this range of production (zero to 200 million gallons) covers the range of production likely by 2022.” To create the projection, the EPA used a number of factors including historical volumes, potential feedstock availability and competitive uses, potential increases in crop acreage and potential increases in crop and conversion yields.

“As with other EPA analyses of fuel pathways with a significant land use impact, the proposed analysis for canola oil biodiesel includes a best estimate as well as a range of possible lifecycle greenhouse gas emission results based on formal uncertainty analysis conducted by the agency,” EPA also noted.

The EPA believes canola crop yields will increase in the long term.

Biodiesel, Government