White House Responds to Brazilian Tariff Questions

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol groups expressed concern and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) called for clarification this week on the White House’s position regarding the U.S. tariff on imported ethanol after a statement in favor of lifting the tariff was made by the President’s nominee for ambassador to Brazil.

Chuck GrassleyDuring his confirmation process, ambassador nominee Thomas Shannon said that removing the tariff would be “beneficial,” however as the official voice of the United States in Brazil, Shannon also stated that he will support the position of the Obama Administration.

“As a senator and as a presidential candidate, President Obama supported keeping the U.S. tariff on imported ethanol,” Grassley said. “It’s important to know whether the Administration’s position has changed before this nomination goes forward.”

In response, the White House issued a statement yesterday regarding the administration’s position on the ethanol tariff:

“The Obama Administration is committed to developing our domestic biofuels industry, and to help the international market for biofuels grow. Biofuels are an important renewable energy resource, which will help diversify our energy matrix and reduce our dependence on imported oil. Regarding the U.S. tariff on Brazilian ethanol, the administration has no plans to change it.”

Both the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy expressed concern and confusion over Shannon’s statements. “During his tenure in the U.S. Senate and as a presidential candidate, President Obama has been a strong supporter of America’s evolving ethanol industry,” said RFA President Bob Dinneen. “Removing the tariff would have a chilling impact on the development of next generation technologies and unfairly require Americans to subsidize foreign industry.”

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis was pleased to see the quick response from the White House. “We applaud the Obama administration for reinforcing its commitment to homegrown ethanol,” Buis said in a statement. “Keeping the tariff on Brazilian ethanol will ensure the development of a domestic renewable fuel industry, which creates green collar jobs, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, strengthens our national security, and improves the environment.”

Ethanol, Government, International

CARB Updates LCFS Numbers in Favor of Sugarcane Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

For months the ethanol industry has been working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to update their calculations of ethanol’s emissions reductions. A victory has finally been achieved as California has updated its calculations of sugarcane ethanol’s emission reductions. The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) welcomed the announcement.

Joel Velasco, UNICA’s chief representative for North America, said, “UNICA applauds CARB’s decision to revisit the data. The new proposal recognizes the science and gives reasonable credits to the mechanization of the sugarcane harvest, as well as the generation of bioelectricity with the burning of sugarcane bagasse.”

In March of this year, CARB approved its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), the first in the world, which aims at reducing the “carbon intensity” of all fuels used in the state. Beginning in 2011, California’s LCFS will reduce the carbon intensity of fuels, reaching at least a 10% reduction by 2020.

The new analysis released by CARB allows Brazilian ethanol to receive a credit of more than 15 gCO2/MJ, due to the use of bioelectricity from sugarcane cogeneration (7 gCO2/MJ) and the mechanization of sugarcane harvest  (8.2 gCO2/MJ). See table below.

tabela

The general public will have until August 19 to submit any comment they might have about the new credits given to sugarcane ethanol. On August 5, 2009 there will be a public hearing in California about this issue.

UNICA’s next goal is to continue to work to change the ethanol calucations related in indirect land use.

Ethanol, Indirect Land Use, News

Solar-Powered Airship to Fly from New York to Paris

John Davis

In the footsteps of Charles Lindbergh (but in a much more comfortable ride), a Spanish company plans to offer rides between New York City and Paris aboard a luxurious airship powered by the sun.

CleanTechnica.com reports that the Turtle Airships vessel will use lightweight photovoltaic cells and will be able to put down on land or water:

SolarAirshipThe first blimp prototype will be propelled in two nontraditional ways. The outside of the ship will be covered with Cadmium-Indium-Germanium (CIG) photovoltaic cells, picked for their their light weight. The cells should generate enough power to move the blimp at around 40 mph in average conditions, or at around 70 horsepower. Meanwhile, a diesel drivetrain will generate the rest of the power, and ideally the designers will look to an adapted hybrid electric model for that. And because blimps fly at low altitudes, they don’t have to deal with problems that plague diesel engines at elevations over 30,000 ft.

The only thing currently keeping this visionary project from flying is funding. But Turtle Airships hopes that will change after the completion of a genuine prototype that will demonstrate the project’s viability to funders. “Our goal in flying this remote control model is to get some video of it onto the Web and hopefully attract some financing that will enable us to move on from there to a genuine, manned, demonstration model of a Turtle Airship,” said one spokesperson.

The only thing that Turtle Airships insists on is not calling it a “blimp.” Guess there’s too many images of the Hindenburg… oh the humanity!

Solar

Ethanol, Biodiesel to Grow By More than 12% A Year

John Davis

GlobalBiofuelMarketAnalysisA new report says that the world’s biofuels market is prepared to grow by an average of 12.3 percent a year between 2007 and 2017.

This post from Biofuels International says that a report by industry research specialists RNCOS shows ethanol and biodiesel production worldwide will grow at 6.04 percent and 5 percent a year respectively between 2008 and 2019:

In the near future, the increase in biofuel production will largely be driven by corn-produced ethanol from Brazil and the US, which pledged to nearly double ethanol production by 2012. The European Community recently announced that biofuel will meet 10% of its transportation fuel needs by 2020.

As second-generation biofuels such as organic waste come online in the next few years, both the cost and the environmental footprint of biofuels will drop. The production of biofuels from waste has a negative carbon footprint relative to sending the waste to landfill, since the methane produced from the decay of organic matter is a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The RNCOS report says that while the U.S. and Brazil made up nearly 80 percent of the world’s ethanol production last year, China, India and Southeast Asia are set for enormous growth over the next decade.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Wind Energy Continues on Fast Growth Pace

John Davis

AWEA2The U.S. wind energy sector has added 4,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity in the first six months of this year, outpacing the first half of 2008’s 2,900 MW.

The American Wind Energy Association’s second quarter (Q2) market report released today says the U.S. added 1,200 in this most recent quarter, with Missouri showing the greatest growth of all the states. Good news, right? Well, there are some troubling aspects in the report:

While the number of completed wind farm installations was solid, AWEA said it is seeing a reduced number of orders and lower level of activity in manufacturing of wind turbines and their components, a development it termed troubling in view of the fact that the U.S. industry was previously on track for much larger growth and the global wind power industry is continuing to expand.

“The numbers are in, and while they show the industry has been swimming upstream, adding some 4,000 MW over the past six months, the fact is that we could be delivering so much more,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “Our challenge now is to seize the historic opportunity before us to unleash this entrepreneurial force and build up an entire new industry here in the U.S. that will create jobs, avoid carbon, and strengthen our energy security. To achieve that, Congress and the Administration must pass a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) with strong early targets.”

During the second quarter, the U.S. wind energy industry completed a total of 1,210 MW in 10 states, enough to power the equivalent of about 350,000 homes. These new installations nudge total U.S. wind power generating capacity to 29,440 MW, according to the report. The U.S. wind power generating fleet now offsets an average of 54 million tons of carbon annually, reducing carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 2% or the equivalent of taking 9 million cars off the road.

The state posting the fastest growth in the 2nd quarter was Missouri, where wind power installations expanded by 90%.

Texas still leads the nation in wind energy, in the amount added during the past quarter with 454 MW and total wind power at 8,361 MW. Iowa remains at #2 in overall wind power (3,043 MW), and California is next at 2,787 MW.

Wind

E85 and Biodiesel Promotions in MN

ala-mnAccording to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest, thousands of flexible fuel and biodiesel vehicle drivers have received educational mailings, viewed newspaper ads, and attended promotional discount events in July. Yet, the summer is not over! Supporters of ethanol and biodiesel are holding additional promotions in the weeks ahead.

July 31: 85¢ off per gallon of E85 at Jack’s BP in Watkins, MN
Event Supporters: Meeker County Corn Growers, Minnesota Corn Growers Association & the MN Clean Air Choice™ Team

mn_corngrowers_assnAugust 1: 9 am – 1 pm
85¢ off per gallon of E85
Goodhue Country Station
100 Third Ave in Goodhue, MN
Supporters include the Goodhue/North Wabasha Counties Corn & Soybean Growers, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, US Department of Energy Clean Cities, American Lung Association in Minnesota & The Clean Air Choice™ Team

August 18: 10 am – 2 pm
85¢ off per gallon of E85, B5 20¢ off per gallon
Freeborn County Coop at Hwy 56 & 90 in Austin, MN
Event Supporters include: Freeborn County Coop, Mower County Corn & Soybean Growers, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association & the MN Clean Air Choice™ Team

August 20: 1 pm – 3 pm
85¢ off per gallon of E85, B5 20¢ off per gallon*
Kwik Trip North
4th St NW (Exit off of I90) in Austin, MN
Event Supporters: Kwik Trip North, Mower County Corn & Soybean Growers, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Minnesota Soybean Growers Association & the MN Clean Air Choice™ Team

Biodiesel, E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Book Review – $20 Per Gallon

Joanna Schroeder

$20 per gallonWhy are so many people in denial that the price of gas will rise again, and continue to go up? Why are businesses and towns who are already drowning under the weight of higher energy prices not doing more to wean themselves off of oil? Could the high cost of oil take out behemoth companies like Wal-Mart? The answer is yes, according to Christopher Steiner in his new book, $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better.

The $6 gallon of gasoline could be reality in the U.S. in three to four years, says Steiner, and he predicts that will kick start some dramatic changes in how we live and where we work. Steiner notes that as big as the changes were when gasoline topped $4 per gallon in 2008, most of America denied it would stay that high.

In an interview on NPR, Steiner commented, “I think $6 is a serious tipping point for Americans psychologically. We’re going to say at that point. There is no turning back. This is reality. Let’s change how we do things.” And this could come sooner then many Americans think as several energy experts have predicted that a barrel of oil will top $200 and it could happen as soon as the end of 2009 or early 2010.

One possibility Steiner proposes in his book is that Wal-Mart’s business model will succumb to the high price of gasoline and consumers will return to buying mostly local goods sold by local merchants. This also means the concept of “Big-Box” stores which were built on the back of cheap gasoline could vanish into a time capsule.Read More

book reviews

Qteros: Cellulosic Ethanol Production Breakthrough

Joanna Schroeder

Qteros, formerly Sun Ethanol, recently announced that it has broken the barrier of ethanol production from cellulosic biomass feedstocks such as corn stover, sugarcane and woody biomass. As most biofuels companies report the production of 50 grams of ethanol per liter, Qteros says it is now producing 70 grams of ethanol per liter or approximately 100 gallons per ton.

The company’s proprietary microbe, the Q Microbe is reported to achieve this breakthrough production number. It is achieved through one step on industrially pretreated cellulosic biomass feedstocks, such as woody biomass. This technology makes cellulosic ethanol production the most economical to date and it uses less water than current ethanol production.

mn_vision

During a presentation at the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnolgy and Bioprocesssing last week in Montreal, Canada, Susan Leschine a microbiologist at the University of Massachusetts said of the discovery, “We knew from the beginning that the Q Microbe was an extraordinary microorganism. These results confirm what we predicted: Qteros and the Q Microbe can make cellulosic ethanol a commercial reality.”

Jef Sharp, Executive VP was quoted in a USA Today article about the breakthrough, “According to a DOE report, there are over a billion tons of plant biomass available every year for this purpose. Qteros will not need fossil fuel inputs for fertilizer or distillation of the ethanol because the lignin portion of the plant material (about 1/3 of most plants) will be burned to generate the heat necessary to refine the ethanol. There will also be leftover green electricity created.”

Although this announcement is monumental by past comparisons, Qteros has only just begun. The company expects to make additional improvements to the process of taking advantage of ongoing efforts in molecular genetics and strain development. That’s a whole lost of science to say that the company is still in search of producing an even better biofuel.

biofuels, Company Announcement, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Texas Set to Become Offshore Wind Energy Leader

John Davis

While bureaucrats on the East Coast argue about if they’ll allow green, offshore energy wind turbines (remember the eight-year long battle that continues over a proposed wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod?), Texas seems to be on the fast track to getting the nation’s first offshore wind farm.
Baryonyx
CleanTechnica.com reports that last week, the Texas General Land Office awarded Houston-based renewable energy company Baryonyx leases for three wind farms, including two in the Gulf of Mexico:

BaryonyxsitesThe two offshore wind leases, for sites in the Gulf of Mexico, are the sixth and seventh leases for offshore wind farms signed by the General Land Office since 2005, the land office said in a statement. The third site is on state land in the Texas panhandle.

Under the lease, Baryonyx will pay the state’s Permanent School Fund a nominal fee to lease the two offshore areas for wind development, but its payments would climb if and when the company began producing energy on the site.

Once built, the two offshore wind farms would inject a minimum of $338 million into the state’s school systems over the 30-year lease, according to state officials.

Baryonyx said its offshore farms will each produce a minimum of 750 MW and use some of the world’s largest turbines, each one producing up to five MW.

Baryonyx still needs to do the environmental paperwork to get the deal done, but you can bet there will be a lot less opposition on the Gulf Coast than off of Martha’s Vineyard.

Wind

Fiber to Fuel Company Fiberight to Construct Mini Mills

Joanna Schroeder

Innovative waste company Fiberight is on the move. Relatively quiet over the past few years as they perfected their waste-to-fuel technology, they are now ready to showcase their enhanced fiber separation technology (EFST). The company is building ‘mini mills’ next to landfills in order to be close to their feedstock: garbage. This reduces their feedstock transportation costs. In addition, the ethanol produced will also be transported localy; another way to keep costs down. For several years, the company has been developing technology that sorts and transforms (aka recycles) trash into cellulosic fibers which are then converted to biofuels.

regenex

The chemicals and enzymes that that are used in the process to convert the cellulosic fibers to sugar are also “recycled” and its transformational system divides organic and inorganic wastes and converts then according to type. For example, cardboard is sorted with other cardboard.

As reported by Ethanol Producer Magazine, Fiberight CEO Craig Stuart Paul said, “We have a team that comes largely from the waste management recycling industries and biofuel engineering industries, and we’ve really taken the approach that we believe there is an existing infrastructure in waste management. In other words, a collection infrastructure we can intercept.”

Stuart-Paul continued, “Fundamentally there is more energy in the waste stream than there is in lignocellulosic streams that is easier, if you get things right, to extract. We take a series of waste streams of industrial scrap through commercial dry waste—such as office building waste, and MSW—and we separate and sequester the organic and inorganic fractions. Then in all of the inorganic fractions, we separate the hydrocarbons and the recyclables and the stuff we send off to landfills. The organic fractions we convert to cellulosic ethanol.”

Last week, Fiberight announced a research partnership with CleanTech Biofuels in order to gain third party validation of their reported yields and costs associated with their waste-to-fuel technology.

biomass, Ethanol News