Gilbarco Expands Pump Warranty for E15

Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a company that provides fueling and retail management systems for convenience stores, hypermarkets and service stations, announced today that they have upgraded the warranty on their standard fuel dispensers to cover use of ethanol content up to E15. Gilbarco is the first supplier in the industry to announce this change for fuel dispensers that are under warranty in the field. These dispensers are currently Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approved for ethanol up to E10 under the UL 87 standard.

“We are pleased to lead the market with the expansion of our current warranty from E10 to E15, ensuring that our customers are covered if the current E10 standard is broadened to E15,” said Richard Browne, Vice-President Marketing, North America at Gilbarco Veeder-Root. “Our standard fuel dispenser models, currently UL listed to 10% ethanol, will now carry a warranty for up to 15% ethanol. This change is retroactive to Gilbarco® dispensers manufactured or commissioned in North America since April 1, 2008. Models include the Gilbarco Encore® and Legacy® series dispensers, as well as the Gasboy® Atlas® product line.”

“Our customers can be confident that Gilbarco and Gasboy will honor warranty claims and otherwise support the dispensers they have recently purchased or are considering, should the blending standards change to E15,” Browne said.

Gilbarco Veeder-Root is the industry’s leader in alternative fuels dispensing technology with a full range of flexible fuel solutions. Earlier this month, the company obtained UL and National Conference on Weights and Measures approval for 19 Gilbarco Encore flexible fuel dispenser models for use with blends up to E25.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

More Corn Acres for Food and Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

More corn acreage is in the forecast for this year, according to the USDA Prospective Plantings report out today, and there is still plenty more in storage.

USDAAccording to the forecast, farmers intend to plant 88.8 million acres of corn in 2010, three percent more than both last year and 2008. Meanwhile, the Grain Stocks report shows corn stocks as of the beginning of this month were up 11 percent compared to last year at 7.69 billion bushels.

Matt Hartwig with the Renewable Fuels Association says the numbers show that farmers are producing plenty of corn for both food and fuel. “Corn in storage at this point in the year is at its highest level since 1987, a year in which an all-time record surplus of corn was recorded,” Hartwig notes. “The amount of corn currently stored on farms (4.6 billion bushels) is larger than the amount of corn that is expected to be processed into ethanol in 2009/10 (4.2 billion bushels).” Hartwig also points out that the total amount of corn in storage right now (7.7 billion bushels) “is larger than the total amounts of corn harvested annually as recently as the early 1990s.”

Early reaction to the prospective plantings report is that corn acreage will likely be higher than forecast. While the report estimates corn acreage will increase by 300,000 or more in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio, a decrease of 200,000 acres is forecast for Iowa. However, corn growers in Iowa say they definitely expect to see their acres increase when it’s all said and done. Northeast Iowa farmer Tim Burrack, chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, says the survey was done a few weeks ago when the weather still looked pretty bleak, but that has turned around dramatically. “In our area, I am amazed at how quickly winter left and spring came,” Burrack said during a telephone press conference Wednesday morning. Field work has been underway since Friday and he says they should be ready to plant as soon as the soil warms up.

In southwest Iowa, grower Kevin Ross says the corn that was left unharvested over winter also probably had an impact on the acreage estimate, but the combines are running now and getting the last of that corn out of the fields so they will be ready to plant. Ross says more corn means more ethanol, which means it is even more important for the EPA to approve E15 blends for gasoline. “With the huge stocks being carried out and this extra increase in acres, plus the bushel per acre increase last year, it’s really critical to the success and livelihood of corn farmers to get this corn crop marketed,” he said. “For me and farmers all across the US, E15 being approved by EPA is really very important and I sure as heck hope they see that it’s a good way to go … we need that market.”

Weather in the corn belt this week is nearly ideal for field preparation and soil warming so farmers are hopeful they will not see the planting delays they have experienced the past two years.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farming, RFA, USDA

Constellation Energy Completes Solar & Wind Project

Joanna Schroeder

While President Obama only gave a cursory comment about the role of solar and wind in our energy future in his remarks this morning, these industries continue to move forward with completion of renewable electricity projects. Today, Constellation Energy announced that its subsidiary, Constellation Energy’s Projects & Services Group, has completed the installation of a 1.2 megawatt solar and wind power system at the University of Toledo’s Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation in Toledo, Ohio. The campus will use the wind and solar project for two purposes: sustainable energy and offer students first-hand experience in renewable energy technologies.

“The creation and production of clean, renewable energy sources is vital to the way we power our world. That’s why The University of Toledo created the Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation,” said UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs. “Our relationship with Constellation Energy for the solar and wind electric generation systems on that campus will help students and researchers advance the technology that will power our future.”

The project utilizes thin-film-on-glass photovoltaic solar technology that was originally developed based on the University’s own research. Constellation Energy’s Projects & Services Group also installed a 132-foot wind turbine at the site. Together, the solar and wind systems are annually expected to generate the power equivalent to the amount of electricity used by 140 homes in a year. Generating that same amount of electricity using non-renewable sources would result in the release of more than 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and the equivalent of the emissions from 200 passenger vehicles per year.

Constellation Energy finances, designs, constructs and owns these solar installations and supplies power generated on-site to the customer over a period of 15 to 20 years. This creates an attractive and affordable model that requires no upfront capital from customers, such as The University of Toledo, and reduces customers’ use of power from the electrical grid and associated carbon emissions.

News, Solar, Wind

Berkeley Lab Awarded Funds for Biofuels Research

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi announced today that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will receive almost $18 million from the Recovery Act to build an advanced biofuels process development facility from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This grant will assist researchers with studies of next generation biofuels by providing industry-scale test beds for innovative technologies called Advanced Biofuels Process Development Unit (PDU).

“The Advanced Biofuels Process Development Unit will serve the efforts of major biofuels research across the nation, including the Bioenergy Research Centers in the DOE Office of Science,” said Berkeley Lab director Paul Alivisatos. “The establishment by EERE of this facility at Berkeley Lab, a DOE Office of Science national laboratory, reflects a renewed spirit of cooperation between the DOE technology and science programs. Berkeley Lab is proud to play its part.”

Zoi added, “The Department of Energy is committed to developing cost-effective and sustainable advanced biofuels. With this investment in the Advanced Biofuels PDU, we will vastly increase the capacity to test new innovative approaches on a larger, integrated scale. Scaling up these clean energy technologies is crucial to addressing climate change and building a strong, domestic clean energy economy.”

The Advanced Biofuels PDU is scheduled to be fully operational by early 2011. The facility will be a publicly available facility where researchers can integrate process steps and test innovative technology pathways, such as those being developed at DOE’s Office of Science Bioenergy Research Centers, and it will be the only one of its kind available for public use.

biofuels, Government, News

New Energy Plan – Offshore Drilling

Joanna Schroeder

President Obama gave a speech this morning from a hanger at Andrews Air Force Base reiterating our country’s need for energy independence. This will be done, he says, through energy initiatives and the government will “lead by example.” In the background, a Navy Green Hornet jet that will fly on a mix of 50 percent biomass on earth day next month.

I believe the only group that will be truly happy after today’s speech is our frenemy Big Oil. Obama said, “So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America’s natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.”

They will be guided by scientific evidence? Whose scientific evidence? If we developed policy that was based on sound science, we wouldn’t have two pieces of legislation, the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard that are shamelessly based on the misguided and not scientifically supported theory of indirect land use.Read More

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Legislation, Oil, Opinion

Free RFS2 Workshop Announced

Joanna Schroeder

For those who are interested in learning more about how RFS2 will be affecting your biofuels business, there is an RFS2 Workshop being held in Des Moines, Iowa at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel on April 6th. The workshop is being hosted by the Renewable Fuels Association, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the National Biodiesel Board. The event is free for members of these organizations. Nonmembers can attend for a nominal fee.

This RFS2 Workshop will cover all aspects of the re-registration process for ethanol and biodiesel producers. EPA personnel will be on hand to walk you through the process of updating your CDX account, give you details regarding the requirements of the independent engineering study, and offer helpful tips and hints for mastering the EMTS program for RINS. In addition, they will review how the pathways to plant expansions and technology updates will affect your plant.

It is suggested that participants in the CDX and EMTS breakout sessions bring their laptops to follow along with the presenters as they walk you through the electronic forms. For agenda details and a registration form, please click here. For further questions, please contact Jim Redding.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, NBB, RFA

Ethanol Bob Tweeting President’s Energy Speech

Cindy Zimmerman

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen is on location at the site of President Obama’s speech this morning on energy initiatives for the United States. The event is being held in a hanger at Andrews Air Force Base with the backdrop of a Navy Green Hornet jet that will fly on biofuels on Earth Day.

The president is expected to announce new energy policies that rely heavily on domestic production of traditional energy sources, including opening up new off-shore oil drilling. However, Dinneen says, “Relying on 20th century energy sources to address 21st century challenges will not solve the problem. America’s energy policy must be focused on renewable sources that have great potential for innovation and improvement. Renewable fuels, such as ethanol produced from a variety of feedstocks, hold great promise to reduce our need for imported oil, address climate change concerns, and create enduring economic opportunity. Oil and other fossil fuels are finite resources. While we cannot ignore their contributions, neither can we ignore the reality that reliance on them is simply unsustainable.”

Follow Dinneen’s Twitter updates from the president’s address at www.twitter.com/ethanolbob.

Post Update:

According to the Navy:

Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-23 will be testing the full envelope of the ‘Green Hornet’ with a drop in replacement biofuel made from the camelina plant in an effort to certify alternative fuels for naval aviation use.

The ‘Green Hornet’ flight is an important step in the certification and ultimate operational use of biofuels by the Navy and Marine Corps.

biofuels, Energy, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA

DOE: Biodiesel Will Help Cut Oil Production

John Davis

A leading analyst for the U.S. Department of Energy says world oil production could go down starting 2011.

This article from Heatingoil.com says while the forecast from Glen Sweetnam, the director of the International Economic and Greenhouse Gas Division at the Energy Information Administration (EIA), credits a reduction in investment for most of the decline, the presence of biodiesel will also play a role in petroleum’s possible fall:

This transition toward lower oil demand can be seen in the heating oil industry itself, which—through a combination of industry leadership and legislative mandate—is adopting blends of biodiesel and heating oil. Biodiesel blends will lower overall oil demand while supplying consumers with a more efficient and cleaner-burning heating fuel. As with Sweetnam’s forecast that declining oil production could happen next year, many heating oil users will see changes by next heating season—in Massachusetts all heating oil will have to contain 2 percent biodiesel by July 1, 2010, and pending legislation in Connecticut and Pennsylvania would have a similar effect on heating oil users in those states in the next three to four years.

It’s the “above ground” factors, such as biodiesel, and not the amount of oil in the ground that will have the biggest effects on petroleum production.

Biodiesel

Nissan’s Electric Leaf Undercuts GM Volt’s Price

John Davis

In the race for a profitable electric car, Nissan might have just raced out to a big lead. The Japanese car maker has announced that its Leaf electric car will sell for $32,780 … well below GM’s Chevy Volt’s sticker price of $40,000. When you include the $7,500 federal tax credit (which the Volt would also be eligible for), that gets the price down to just more than $25,000.

This story from CNNMoney.com says Nissan plans to sell the Leaf starting in December … just a month after the Volt hits showroom floors:

By keeping the sticker price low, the Leaf will be profitable for Nissan, said Mark Perry, Nissan’s director of product planning. That means customers should expect more variants of the Leaf in coming years, he added.

Nissan has already said that there will be a luxury Infiniti version of the car.

Industry analysts have frequently said that electric cars would not be profitable for years to come because of the high costs associated with the vehicles batteries.

“We’ve been working in lithium ion batteries for 17 years,” Perry said. “So all that advanced research and engineering work we’ve [already] paid for.”

The article goes on to say that some states have their own electric vehicle tax credits, including California, which offers $5,000 … bringing the price down to about $20,000. In addition, there are some credits that help pay for the installation of home charging stations.

Car Makers, Electric Vehicles

Green Activists Continue Ethanol Smear Campaign

Joanna Schroeder

Another anti-biofuels report has been released, this time from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) who is arguing that an immediate benefit would ensue if current biofuels policies were repealed and replaced with policies that would take the world’s most productive cropland out of production. Maybe more alarming is that while the report attempts to discredit the most promising biofuels technologies, it gives fossil fuels along with other dirty energy sources a get out of jail card. This report has spurred the biofuels industry to respond.

“Most disappointing about the continuous barrage of attacks by environmental activists is that we share many of the same goals,” said Matt Hartwig, Director of Public Affairs at the Renewable Fuels Association. “Ethanol producers remain steadfastly committed to developing new technologies that improve efficiencies and expand the basket of feedstocks from which ethanol is made. Unfortunately, many in the environmental movement choose to rely on disproven theories and partnerships with the oil lobby to mislead and misrepresent what American ethanol production is all about. Simply put, second and third generations of ethanol technology will not exist without a successful first generation.”Read More

Environment, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA