Disneyland has picked up California’s highest and most prestigious environmental honor… thanks in part to biodiesel.
This press release posted at Reuters.com says the resort has won the 2009 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA), recognizing “individuals, organizations and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership for voluntary achievements in conserving California’s resources, protecting and enhancing the environment and building public-private
partnerships.”:
“I applaud the Disneyland Resort for their wonderful commitment to our state’s commerce and environment. They are an inspiration to many and I thank them for their outstanding leadership,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.
“This honor recognizes Disneyland Resort’s ongoing commitment to developing socially responsible and environmentally friendly practices that promote environmental protection and economic growth,” said Frank Dela Vara, director of environmental affairs and conservation at Disneyland Resort. “We are proud of our commitment to exploring and implementing new technologies and practices that further the environmental legacy left by Walt Disney.”
In a move that allows the Resort to save approximately 200,000 gallons of petroleum diesel per year, Disneyland Railroad’s steam boilers are being fueled by a special biodiesel made from the processed cooking oil used in restaurants throughout the Resort.
“We have been recycling our used kitchen grease for years, but this innovation took recycling to another level,” said Dela Vara. Disneyland Railroad’s five trains had been using a soy-based biodiesel to fuel their steam boilers since April 2007. The cooking oil-based biodiesel continues to reduce emissions by up to 80 percent. Disneyland Resort’s Mark Twain Riverboat also uses the
special cooking oil biodiesel.
More information is available on the GEELA Web site.
Ninety-five percent of those polled agreed that farmers are trusted messengers on issues such as agriculture, corn products and ethanol – and ethanol itself was supported or strongly supported as a good fuel alternative by 65 percent.
Rising feed prices for catfish farms and the rising Chinese market are bad news for those in the South, as more than 320,000 catfish pond acres could be up for grabs. But where one door closes, another opens, as a possible glut of open-air ponds could provide a boon for those looking to raise algae for biodiesel.
Last week, we told you new research shows how green biodiesel is. I finally got a chance to catch up with National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe to talk a little bit about this important study… and what it will mean as the Environmental Protection Agency considers a new Renewable Fuels Standard, RFS-2.
In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, you’ll hear how Jobe believes the information that biodiesel now produces 4.5 units of energy for every unit of energy spent on it will prove to the EPA and skeptics that biodiesel is truly one of the greenest fuels out there. He says the information couldn’t come at a better time and was included with the NBB’s comments about the RFS-2.
Jobe adds that the NBB will be showing off biodiesel’s green, sustainable nature with a 
Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group has inked a contract with Hawaiian Electric Company to supply the utility with 400,000 gallons of biodiesel for the company’s new Campbell Industrial Park Generating Unit.
FDC Enterprises
FDC Enterprises is a parntering with the 
Let me give you an example of why California should not set the stage for energy reform. Just today, 
Wind energy has received another gust with the announcement from U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu that three universities have been given
What’s a loss for some ethanol and biodiesel producers could be a big gain for others looking to expand or get into the green fuel business. A pair of auctions… one in Nebraska and the other in New Jersey… by Maas Companies will offer some brand-new, out-of-the-box ethanol and biodiesel production equipment.
Carelton, Nebraska is the site of the 
Allison Guyton, director of operation for Maas Companies says her company has been doing these types of sales of biodiesel and ethanol equipment since the 1980s.
“This project here is an ideal of what this could mean not only to securing our energy future and helping fuel the world and lower emissions, but jobs in Iowa,” Culver said during the event held at the GPRE ethanol plant in Shenandoah. “It’s amazing what this could mean at a time when we really need economic development and job creation.”