AFVI Show in Full Swing

The Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVI) 2010 Conference is now in full swing in Las Vegas. The 16th annual event is offering its attendees a wide array of workshops and sessions concentrated on alternative fuels and advanced technology vehicles.

The AFVI show kicked off on Sunday featuring speakers on compressed natural gas (CNG), propane, biodiesel, electric and ethanol. Nearly 90 exhibitor booths opened on Monday at noon including companies such as General Motors, Toyota, Ford, the National Biodiesel Board, Dresser Wayne, and Honda among others.

In their booth, Dresser Wayne is displaying a CNG dispenser, E85 fleet dispenser and a diesel exhaust fluid dispenser (see right). “It’s always a good opportunity to participate in a show like this to learn about about emerging opportunities relating to alternative fuels,” noted Dresser Wayne’s Director, Alternative Energy Products, Scott Negley.

A “Ride-n-Drive” also took place today offering attendees a chance to experience how an alternative vehicle feels on the road. Vehicles included in the Ride-n-Drive included: Ford E-250 (Propane); THINK THINK City (Electric); Camry (Hybrid); Highlander (Hybrid); Prius (Hybrid); Prius (Plug-in Hybrid); Civic GX (CNG); FCX Clarity (Hydrogen Fuel Cell); Volkswagen Golf TDI (BioDiesel); Volkswagen Jetta (BioDiesel); Crane Carrier LET2 (CNG/Hydraulic Hybrid); Starcraft Allstar (CNG); XCaliber CNG66 Mower (CNG); Escape (Hybrid); Fusion (Hybrid); Global Electric Motorcars e4 (Electric); Ford F-Series (Biodiesel – B20); and Chevy Tahoe (Flex Fuel Vehicle)

The 2010 AFVI show concludes tomorrow.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Car Makers, E85, Electricity, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News, Propane

Jobe Calls for Biodiesel Tax Credit Renewal at AFVI

John Davis

The head of the nation’s biggest biodiesel lobbying group is renewing his call for Washington to retroactively reinstate the federal biodiesel tax incentive … and it’s unacceptable how long the industry and country has had to go with the credit.

Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board told energy leaders at the Alternative Fuels and Vehicles Institute national conference in Las Vegas that Congress and the Obama Administration need to show how truly dedicated they are to green jobs by renewing the $1-a-gallon federal incentive:

Jobe explained that the biodiesel tax credit, in just five short years since its enactment, has resulted in the construction of over 150 renewable refineries in 44 states, 23,000 jobs, billions of dollars of net tax revenue to the U.S. Treasury, and the displacement of billions of gallons of petroleum. Congress allowed the biodiesel tax credit to lapse on December 31, along with all other expiring tax provisions.

Jobe also pointed out the critical environmental benefits of biodiesel that could be lost if the tax incentive is not reinstated immediately.

Produced from a wide variety of abundant and regionally-diverse by-products from crop and livestock production, biodiesel cuts carbon pollution by as much as 86 percent, according to the U.S. EPA. It is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar.

“As we all wait in dread for the Gulf oil slick to wreak devastation on some of the nation’s most sensitive wetland habitats, Congress’s inaction has left America’s nontoxic, biodegradable biofuel at risk of collapse,” he said.

Jobe says the inaction by the two chambers of Congress to reconcile their two versions of the bill that would save the nation’s first successful advanced biofuel is causing the loss of jobs every day.

Biodiesel

Ethanol Pioneer Responds to Recent Article

Cindy Zimmerman

The president of a company responsible for designing half the corn ethanol plants in the country is responding to comments attributed to him in the on-line publication of the Minnesota 2020, which describes itself as a “progressive, non-partisan think tank.”

rfa fagens awardThe opinion article was written by a college student from an interview done with Ron Fagen, president and CEO of Fagen, Inc., at the National Ethanol Conference in February. That’s where Ron and his wife Diane were recognized with the first ever Membership Award from the Renewable Fuels Association for their dedication of time, energy, resources and ideas in making the ethanol industry what it is today.

Editorial author Natalie Camplair notes Fagen’s contributions to the ethanol industry in the first paragraph, and then infers that Fagen has abandoned the industry he has helped to build over the last 20 years. “But the ethanol boom is over now,” she writes. “In an interview at the 2010 National Ethanol Convention on February 16 in Orlando, Florida, Mr. Fagen announced that, in 2010 and beyond, he plans to “put ethanol [projects] on hold” and instead to invest in biomass and wind energy projects.”

Back in the days when print only went as far as the paper on which it was published, this editorial would probably have only been read by a handful of people and Ron himself might never have even seen it. But, thanks to the internet, the story was re-published and linked around so it created enough waves that Mr. Fagen has circulated his own response:

A recent op-ed alleging that “the ethanol boom is over” and that “policies to further the corn ethanol industry should not be supported” demands a response, both because it is patently untrue and because my words were twisted and taken out of context to justify the editorialist’s opinion about corn ethanol. I respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But, in the case of the op-ed titled “Beyond Corn Ethanol” published on April 28, 2010 by Minnesota 2020, neither the opinions nor the so-called facts expressed were accurate.

It’s true that Fagen Inc. has partnered with farmers to build more than half of all the ethanol plants in the U.S. It’s also true that technology innovations have enabled corn farmers and ethanol producers to become incredibly efficient stewards of resources. Today, corn farmers use fewer inputs and less energy on fewer acres of land to produce more bushels of corn than ever before. Case in point: in 2009, U.S. farmers planted 7 million fewer acres of corn than in 2007, but they produced more corn than in the previous record year of 2007 thanks to technology and yield increases. At the same time, ethanol plants have reduced energy and water use to become more sustainable and efficient. University studies indicate that one gallon of ethanol contains more than two times the amount of energy used to make it.

So it is not accurate – in fact, it is downright misleading – to suggest corn ethanol has no future. Today, ethanol-blended fuel is the most affordable and clean-burning alternative to gasoline. And more importantly, unlike some other promising alternative fuels, we don’t have to wait for more ethanol because it is here now as the only commercially viable substitute to fossil fuels. In fact, this year U.S. ethanol producers will rank as our nation’s third largest supplier of fuel on a gasoline-equivalent basis, behind only Canada and Saudi Arabia, and ahead of Venezuela.Read More

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Opinion, RFA

Biotechnology to Expand Use of Biomass In China

Joanna Schroeder

Novozymes continues to lead the way in biomass technologies with their new announcement that they are partnering with Dacheng Group, a major starch processing company based in China, to develop technologies designed to produce household cleaning products and plastics from agricultural waste. Both plastics and cleaning products typically have petroleum as one of their ingredients.

As part of the partnership, Novozymes will share its enzymes for converting biomass to sugar and then Dacheng Group will convert the sugar into glycol. Dacheng Group has the first commercialized plant in the world to produce plant-based glycols. Glycols are biochemicals used in household cleaning products and cosmetics as well as used as building blocks for making polyesters and plastics.

Xu Zhouwen, Chairman of Dacheng Group noted, “Dacheng and Novozymes have complementary technological advantages in the biomass-to-chemical industry and share the vision for the future that renewables such agricultural and forestry residues or even urban organic garbage should be important energy and material sources.”

China currently produces 700 million tons of ag waste per year, including corn and wheat stovers, rice straw and more. Currently, most of the waste is burned contributing to the country’s serious air pollution problems.

“This collaboration with Dacheng Group is another important step toward the future biobased society,” said Steen Riisgaard, CEO and President of Novozymes A/S. “Biotechnology will open the pathway to a biobased society in which renewable agricultural residues can be converted into biochemicals and nearly substitute the role that petrochemical industries have been playing since the industrial revolution.”

In addition to this agreement with Dacheng to produce biochemcials for bioplastics. Novozymes has partnered with Braskem in Brazil and Cargill in the United States on similar projects.

biomass, Company Announcement, International, Video

BP Oil Spill Could Be Worst in US History

Joanna Schroeder

“I hope people use this opportunity to take a hard look at their own dependence on oil. I hope they look to find ways to kick their oil addiction as soon as possible and to elect leaders that help us do the same as a nation,” said John Abraham Powell, President of Get Oil Out (GOO), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Americans stop using oil and adopt alternative energy. Powell’s comments were in response to the LA Times news article that stated BP officials are concerned that the oil spill will soon release up to 2.5 million gallons of oil per day. If this comes to fruition, it would make this oil spill the largest in US history. Yes. Much, much larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

It is a tad ironic that BP is the culprit of such a devastating oil spill. Well before any other oil companies became involved in developing alternative energy technologies, BP, formerly British Petroleum, changed their name to Beyond Petroleum and began touting their devotion to alternative energy technologies– technologies that will ultimately replace oil when it disappears. Well, millions upon millions of gallons of their petroleum has now “disappeared” and “reappeared” right into one of the most sensitive wetland areas in the country. We need Houdini to develop a trick where the oil reappears in our gas tanks, but alas, I fear that even the great Houdini couldn’t pull off a trick like this.

ExxonMobil couldn’t pull of this trick either. Decades after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill off the coast of Alaska, ExxonMobil is still struggling with the consumer backlash, in part, due to their inappropriate response to the cleanup initiatives or more specifically, lack thereof. To this day, they never fulfilled their cleanup requirements. Will the same fate befall BP?Read More

biofuels, Oil, Opinion, Solar

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute Awards

Cindy Zimmerman

afviThe Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVi) recognized outstanding leadership in the alternative fuels and vehicles industry as part of the 16th Alternative Fuels & Vehicles Conference + Expo 2010 today in Las Vegas.

afvi robert white rfa awardAmong this year’s honorees is Robert White, Director of Market Development for the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), who was awarded the 24/7 Blend Award for “his leadership in industry-wide education about social media.” Under his leadership, RFA and other fuel advocacy groups were awarded a $1.6 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to provide training that includes social media for national Clean Cities Coalitions and their stakeholders.

The EV-angelism Award was presented to President and COO Rick Kasper for his early and lasting success in manufacturing electric vehicles. The Golden Bullet Award was presented to National Clean Cities Director Dennis Smith for his leadership in overseeing the process that will add 9,000 vehicles and more than 500 refueling stations under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Green Fleet Award was presented to Jerome Webber, Vice President of Fleet Operations for AT&T’s replacement of 15,000 vehicles over the next ten years with alternatively fueled and powered models. Director of Government Affairs for NGV America, Paul Kerkhoven received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his tireless advocacy of natural gas and Napa Valley Unified School District Transportation Director Ralph Knight received the Magic School Bus Award for replacing diesel buses with electric.

blends, Electric Vehicles, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Verenium Happy With First Quarter

Cindy Zimmerman

VereniumDespite the fact that total revenues of $13.0 million were down $1.4 million compared to last year, Verenium Corporation executives were happy with the 2010 first quarter financial report released yesterday.

“I’m very pleased with the successful first quarter and start to 2010 Verenium had with both its biofuels and specialty enzymes business units,” said Carlos A. Riva, President and Chief Executive Officer of Verenium. “Of note, the $5.0 million in gross margin generated from enzyme sales for the quarter is a record for us and is an indication of the strength in that business.”

Product gross margin dollars increased to $5.0 million, compared to $4.8 million for the same period in the prior year, “due primarily to an increase in the royalty on Phyzyme profits received from Danisco, combined with an increase in sales of higher margin enzyme products.”

Verenium recently announced an additional $4.9 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund activities at the Company’s demonstration-scale facility in Jennings, Louisiana and extended the joint development program established in August 2008 with partner BP.

Cellulosic

Lufthansa to Fly on Biofuels by 2011

John Davis

German airline Lufthansa is looking to start flying some of their jets on a mix of biofuel within the next couple of years.

This story from Reuters says it’s a move to save money and cut greenhouse gas emissions:

Lufthansa rival KLM, part of Franco-Dutch Air France, last year became the first airline to test biofuel in a passenger airplane, filling one of four engines on a Boeing 747 with biofuel for a 1.5 hour test flight.

The carrier has said it aims to make commercial flights which use biofuel from 2011.

U.S.-based Continental Airlines, the U.S. airline that is set to create the world’s largest carrier by merging with United Airlines parent UAL, had already used a mix of biologically derived fuel and jet fuel on a test flight.

[Lufthansa chief executive Wolfgang] Mayrhuber said Lufthansa had no plans to run individual test flights at this point. Instead, the carrier would wait until it could start using biofuel regularly on some routes to gather reliable data over a longer period of time.

In the long run, the use of biofuel is expected to save airlines money.

“First, we are hoping to get some resource security, and second, we hope that we will have some advantages in our costs for emissions trading,” Mayrhuber said.

Lufthansa estimates that it could spend between $200-470 million a year in European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS) credits they will have to pay starting in 2012. The airline will have to buy fewer credits by using the biofuels.

biofuels

Ethanol Co-Product Has Human Nutrition Benefits

Cindy Zimmerman

The ethanol co-product known as DDGs or dried distillers grain is mostly used as livestock feed, but a food grade version could help improve human nutrition.

South Dakota State University research shows a traditional Asian flatbread called chapathi (or chapati) gets a big boost in protein and fiber when fortified with food-grade distillers grains.

SDSU food scientist Padu Krishnan said it is one example of the ways DDGS could help improve human nutrition worldwide – and provide a new market for the ethanol co-product. Krishnan, a cereal chemist, has been studying and writing about the possibility of using DDGS in human diets since the early 1990s. Especially now with new state-of-the-art ethanol plants coming online in recent years, Krishnan said, the ethanol industry is well poised to make food-grade DDGS.

In lab studies, Krishnan and his colleagues found that using DDGS to make up 10 percent of the dough in chapathi, an Asian whole wheat unleavened bread eaten in South Asia and East Africa, boosted the fiber from 2.9 percent to 7.8 percent, while using 20 percent DDGS in the dough increased the fiber to 10.3 percent. Protein content also increased by using DDGS in the dough, up to 15.3 percent by adding 20 percent to the dough.

DDGS is ideal for including in human diets because it contains 40 percent dietary fiber and nearly 37 percent protein.

Distillers Grains, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Research, University

Brazil and US Ethanol Spar Over California Standard

Cindy Zimmerman

UNICAIn a court brief filed last week, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), Brazil’s ethanol trade association, defended California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) against lawsuits filed by the petroleum, trucking and ethanol industries of the United States.

“With about one in every ten U.S. cars driven in California, the largest state in the country with one of the highest carbon intensities in the world is seeking to do its share to fight climate change,” said Joel Velasco, UNICA’s Chief Representative in North America. “After exhaustive study, state officials have identified sugarcane ethanol as an important part of the solution to achieving California’s low-carbon goals, and our industry is prepared to help meet the challenge.”

Growth EnergyHowever, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis says the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol industry is defending a flawed formula that overestimates theoretical “indirect land use change” (ILUC) penalties on U.S.-made grain ethanol – when ILUC itself has yet to be proven as fact. “The foreign interests that would stand to gain under California’s flawed low-carbon fuel standard are rushing to defend it – despite the fact that ILUC is far from certain, and despite new evidence that the California Air Resources Board’s use of a Purdue University formula estimating ILUC was wrong. And that evidence comes from the very university that designed the formula,” said Buis in a news release.

Buis notes that a recent Purdue University study shows that the formula used by California overestimates corn ethanol’s ILUC emissions by more than twice as much.

Growth Energy, in conjunction with the Renewable Fuel Association and several agricutlural organizations, are challenging California’s LCFS on grounds that the regulations violate the Commerce and Supremacy clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The case will be heard on May 26 in Federal District Court in Fresno, California.

POST UPDATE: UNICA’s Joel Velasco wrote in to comment that Growth Energy’s issues with indirect land use change “have nothing to do with the challenges before the court – the lawsuit is about whether the Constitution allows California to regulate its fuels.” Velasco says he was not defending CARB’s ILUC calculations in his quote, “In fact, CARB assesses a higher ILUC penalty on sugarcane than corn — 46 vs. 30 gram of CO2 per megajoule. We just think California has a right to regulate its fuels under the Constitution.”

Ethanol, Indirect Land Use, International