Wildlife Report Picks and Chooses Data

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has analyzed a new report out from the National Wildlife Federation on “Corn Ethanol and Wildlife” and found it lacking in accuracy.

The University of Michigan study released last week claims to show “how government incentives for corn ethanol are driving farmers to shift land into corn production, resulting in significant decreases in grassland bird populations throughout the fragile Prairie Pothole Region.” The region studied includes Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota.

The RFA analysis concludes that “selective and questionable use of data, unclear research methods, and emotional arguments cast doubt on the reliability of the conclusions and recommendations.”

The authors deliberately pick and choose certain data from certain years to support their conclusions. In many cases, the authors selected agricultural data points that are obvious outliers when viewed in the context of both mid- and long-term historical trends. As one example, the paper uses 2004 and 2007 data for comparisons of planted corn acres, but uses 2007 and 2009 data for a comparison of acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

RFA also notes that USDA data clearly show that recent expansion of corn acres nationally and in the four-state region examined in the NWF report came through crop switching, not through the conversion of native grassland, since total crop acres in the four states actually declined slightly from 2004 to 2007. On top of that, the NWF report uses “grossly outdated assumptions about growth in average corn yield per acre and the amount of ethanol yielded per bushel of corn” to suggest the biofuel requirements of the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard will demand an additional 10.69 million acres of corn by 2015 over 2009 levels.

Read the RFA analysis here.

corn, Environment, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Biomass to Provide Power for Algae Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

EnergyQuestAn algae-biodiesel plant in Alabama will be powered by biomass.

This press release posted on CNNMoney.com says Nevada-based Energy Quest, Inc. will build a turn key biomass (wood waste) to power/algae energy plant producing 26.8 megawatt (24 net) of power in Piedmont, Alabama:

The attached Algae biodiesel plant will produce a clean and efficient fuel that can be used in any device that utilizes diesel fuel.

The plant at full capacity will require 33.5 tons per hour of wood waste feedstock provided from the surrounding area. The plant will produce approximately 24 MW of electrical power at $0.06 per KW and 20 million gallon annually of bio-diesel at $2.00 per gallon. The plant will operate 24 hours a day and when completed provide 60 jobs. EQI would be an owner and operate this facility.

Energy Quest’s advanced modular gasification design will result in lower set up costs and increased efficiencies. The gasifiers will provide clean syngas fuel for the power generators. The Algae CO2 capture system will be provided by others and completely built in Piedmont.

The stack gases containing CO2 are captured and ducted to Algae growing pod clusters as feed for the growth of Oil (lipid) producing Algae. Algae grows in water. The lipid laden Algae is harvested from the pod growing clusters several times per day. The Algae is then dewatered to a sufficient level to feed into the lipid extraction process. Once the lipids have been extracted from the Algae it is fed into the lipid oil to diesel conversion process. Using this process will yield 200 litres of bio-diesel from every ton of CO2 produced from the biomass combustion process.

The project is estimated to cost nearly $81 million.

algae, Biodiesel, biomass

Stimulus Bucks to Fund Algae Biofuels Research

John Davis

PNNL1Money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act … aka the Stimulus Bill … will go to fund research on algae-based biofuels.

This press release from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory says the lab will get about $14.2 million for its role in two biofuels research consortia:

[Energy Secretary Steven] Chu funded the consortia with nearly $80 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds with the goal of bringing new biofuels to the market and developing a cleaner and more sustainable transportation sector, as well as reducing dependence on foreign oil sources …

PNNL will co-lead one consortium with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and then play a large role in a second consortium led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

For more than 10 years, PNNL has advanced the science and technology for converting biomass into liquid transportation fuels, bioproducts and bioenergy. Its key focuses have been catalysis, environmental biotechnology and analysis. Biomass is biological material that comes from plants, wood, waste and other materials and can be converted into fuels and other products.

“We’ll be calling upon our entire suite of disciplines and capabilities in our support to these consortia,” said John Holladay, PNNL biomass manager. “We are positioned to address the entire spectrum of scientific challenges associated with developing a sustainable biofuels transportation sector – from fundamental research to applied processes.”

The press release goes on to say that the lab has several capabilities … proteomics, gasification and catalysis research… critical to biomass fuel conversion.

algae, biofuels, Government

Brazil Opens First Ethanol Powered Power Plant

brazilAccording to Reuters, Brazil has opened the world’s first ethanol powered power plant. Petrobas and General Electric (GE) designed the project in hopes that this will help with demand for ethanol. The plant switches between between running on natural gas or ethanol instantaneously.

“We have great expectations to show the viability and economy of generating electricity from…an alternative feedstock to fossil fuels,” Maria das Gracas Foster, head of Petrobras’ natural gas division, said.

John Ingham, Latin America products director for GE, said tests showed switching the plant to ethanol reduced carbon dioxide emissions without lowering energy output. “A plant like that consumes a lot of ethanol, so it has to be in a place that makes sense (such as) places that have no access to gas, like Japan, some islands, or places that depend heavily on diesel like the Amazon region,” he said. GE is looking to do the same thing in Japan.

Brazil is expected to produce a record 27.8 billion liters of ethanol in the 2009-2010 season. It began its biofuels program 30 years ago and now mandates a minimum 20 percent of ethanol in gasoline.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Midwest Ethanol Pipeline Plans Unveiled

poetAs first reported on Indystar.com, plans were unveiled for an 1,800-mile long ethanol pipeline that will run across the midwest to carry the fuel in the east. The project of POET Ethanol Products and Magellan Midstream Partners estimate that 3.6 million gallons of ethanol a year will be carried by the pipeline from South Dakota to New Jersey.

Bruce Heine, director of government and media affairs for Magellan said, “When we get the loan guarantee, we expect land acquisition and other steps to take about two years, and then construction about two more years.” The project is estimated at $4 billion and will take at least four years to complete.

The part of the pipeline that would cross Indiana would require the acquisition of some property but would largely use the existing route of the Buckeye petroleum pipeline. It would loop around the north side of the Indianapolis metro area. It would angle northeast across Hendricks County, touch the northwest corner of Marion County, angle northeast through Carmel and Hamilton County and then northeast to Jay County into Ohio.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Miscanthus Rhizome Root Harvester & Planter Unveiled

Joanna Schroeder

While researchers continue work on miscanthus’s viability to produce cellulosic ethanol, and growers now have a way to plant and harvest the feedstock more efficiently. After years of collaboration and research, a miscanthus rhizome regeneration harvester and planter system has been developed. The unveiling took place during the Bioenergy Feedstocks Symposium held at the University of Illinois (U of I). Typically, miscanthus is a labor-intensive crop requiring multiple machines, and costly manual selection and grading – but not any longer.

itcsjs10_609xThe new machine is the result of a three-year collaboration between U of I, Tomax Ltd and Bermuda King USA. According to a news release from U of I, this machinery can lower the cost of miscanthus rhizome production by up to 40 percent and create opportunities for miscanthus to be used more widely as a high-yield bioenergy crop.

Gavin Maxwell, Tomax Ltd Senior Bioenergy Consultant, said, “Bioenergy feedstock processors require security for supply and unless we dealt with regeneration and planting issues for miscanthus, we simply couldn’t make progress. The collaboration team had a very clear objective when beginning the design process of the harvester and planter. Our goal was to remove manual labor, integrate the digging and grading process, increase soil separation and improve both quality and volume to substantially reduce the cost of vegetative rootstock propagation.”

In recent U.S. trials, the machine has demonstrated a 200 percent increase in rhizome collection over manual systems. this allows, says the research team, the opportunity for regional nurseries to more efficiently expand to meet the demand for both solid and liquid fuel conversion. The harvester and planter package will be available beginning this year and will be available for expanded grower crops in time for the 2011 season.

bioenergy, biofuels, Cellulosic, Equipment, feedstocks

Solar Whale Boat to Clean Up Waterways

Joanna Schroeder

Entrepreneurs around the world have devised some clever ways to address global warming and here is another another one: a solar whale boat. Known as the Physalia, this 100 percent self sufficient energy amphibious garden is shaped like a whale and designed to clean up polluted waterways throughout Europe. Physalia  means water bubble in Greek and according to Vincent Callebaut Architectures, who concepted the ecosystem, “It is a poetic invitation to travel, a sensory experience for the transdisciplinary research, geopolitical debates, popular pedagogy.”

physalia_pl27m

This carbon-zero emission boat is designed using renewable energy including a roof that contains a double pneumatic membrane chiselled with smooth photovoltaic solar cells. Under its hull, hydro-turbines transfer water into hydro-electricity powering the navigation system.

The surface is comprised of aluminum covering the multi-hull steel structure and is covered by a TiO2 layer of anatase shape that reacts to ultraviolet rays reducing water pollution. So, in essence this boat is both self cleaning and also absorbs chemical and carboned waste left by other boats. Lastly, with a planted roof and hydraulic network, the boat can purify the water.

Click here for a conceptual presentation of the Physalia.

Energy, Environment, Solar

REpower Supplying Wind Turbines for Minnesota Project

Joanna Schroeder

REpower_logoDenver-based REpower Systems AG announced that National Wind LLC has awarded them with a contract to supply 20 MM92 wind turbines for the Lake Country Wind Energy project in Minnesota. The turbines have a rated power of 2.05 megawatts (MW) and a hub height of 100 meters. While this is the first phase of the project, ultimately once all phases are complete, the wind energy program will wabi_logoprovide an estimated 340 MW of wind energy annually.

This is the first Minnesota project for REpower and the first collaboration with National Wind. Per Hornung Pedersen, CEO of REpower, stated in a press statement, “The US market is gradually starting to recover. This order and the other signed contracts in the last few months show that our North American business is slowly picking up again.”

According to Windustry, a Minnesota-based non profit aiding communities in developing community wind projects, Minnesota is one of the fastest growing wind energy states, in part due to good local policy and support.

“We strongly value our new relationship with REpower and look forward to building upon it,” said NationalWindLogo_0Jack Levi, co-chair of National Wind. “Securing wind turbines is a significant project milestone for Lake Country Wind Energy. Not only is REpower’s turbine technology an ideal fit for the project’s wind regime, it also advances Lake Country’s first phase toward a late 2010 construction. It is exciting to bring Meeker and Kandiyohi Counties’ first utility-scale community-owned wind project closer to reality.”

Company Announcement, Energy, Wind

Growth Energy Lays Out Agenda

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth EnergyDomestic, renewable ethanol can be a major contributor to job creation as well as cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing dependence on foreign oil, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis told a summit of agricultural legislative leaders meeting in Orlando this week.

“We are poised to create as many as 136,000 jobs in the United States with one regulatory move – EPA agreeing to raise the blend wall to 15 percent, as we’ve petitioned them to do. We could create many more with the construction of ethanol pipelines and blender pumps, to distribute this renewable, low-carbon fuel to the consumer,” Buis told the 2010 Legislative Agricultural Chairs Conference.

“When Congress passed the 2007 Energy and Independence Security Act, it decided that this nation must begin to take it domestic, renewable energy sources seriously. So Congress expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates new levels of green, domestic fuels. But if states begin to erect regulatory obstacles that block the intent of Congress, such as the flawed Low Carbon Fuel Standard adopted by the California Air Resources Board, we will not be able to meet this objective,” Buis said.

“Growth Energy supports a national low-carbon fuel standard – if it is done right. Last year Growth Energy rolled out a proposal for a national low carbon fuel standard based on accepted science – not controversial theory – because ethanol is ultimately the only widely-available low-carbon fuel alternative to gasoline refined from foreign oil,” Buis said.

Earlier this month, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association jointly filed a legal challenge in U.S. District Court to California’s flawed Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The federal litigation charges that the California Air Resources Board ignores the intent of Congress by barring domestic ethanol from the California fuel market.

Ethanol, Government, Growth Energy

Virginia Forms Offshore Wind Coalition

John Davis

Offshorewindmills2A group of developers, manufacturers, utilities, localities, businesses and environmental groups has created a coalition to promote offshore wind energy in Virginia.

North American Windpower reports that the Virginia Offshore Wind (VOW) coalition wants to make the Hampton Roads area a hub of manufacturing and supply for future offshore wind farms on the East Coast:

“The market opportunity for Virginia to become the East Coast hub for offshore wind manufacturing and logistics is approximately $80 billion and represents more than 10,000 new jobs for our state,” says Josh Prueher, president of Earl Industries and vice chairman of VOW. “We must act now to capture it.”

Last summer, [William D. Sessoms Jr., mayor of Virginia Beach, Va.] created the Mayor’s Alternative Energy Task Force to study new green energy sources for Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads and the state. Wind energy was identified as one likely source of alternative energy.

VOW is working closely with Virginia legislators to place the state in a position of leadership within the industry. The coalition is working on state legislation that will make Virginia competitive with other states pursuing offshore wind.

You can read more about VOW here.

Wind