Some students from Rhode Island have certainly been getting quite the education when it comes to renewable energy… and they’re passing their knowledge along.
Students in Ponaganset High School teacher Ross McCurdy’s class have taken their fuel-celled powered Model T and a biodiesel-powered pickup truck that they drove 3,000 miles cross-country last summer to GovEnergy 2009, the premier energy training workshop and tradeshow for Federal agencies, going on now in Providence, Rhode Island.
Through e-mail, McCurdy tells Domestic Fuel that the Fuel Cell Model T project vehicle is a replica of a 1923 Ford Model T Roadster.
“The project is being done in two phases. First we converted it from a roaring Chevy 350 V8 gas engine to electric power, and for the second phase we are integrating a 12 kilowatt Hydrogenics fuel cell, fueled by twin Lincoln composite transportation grade hydrogen cylinders,” McCurdy says.
He adds that with fuel cells, the only emissions are clean water and even the hydrogen that runs the fuel cell can be derived from water, while providing no harmful emissions.
The school district has several other hands-on, clean energy projects, including the world’s first fuel cell powered band, Protium. They use instruments, microphones, amplifiers, speakers, even the “portable earthquake” subwoofers, that run on electricity generated by fuel cells.
“Kids love rock and roll and hot rods – and with these projects we’ve been able to demonstrate renewable energy technology with projects they can relate to.”
Student Zane Lewis, McCurdy’s right hand man on the fuel cell projects as well as a participant in the coast-to-coast biodiesel pickup road trip and the sound man for the band Protium, says it’s been a group effort.
“The Model T project has been a great learning experience, and we did the whole thing from scratch. We came up with the idea in class, and then took it out of the classroom to the garage to implement it. Whenever we had a problem to solve we would go back to the classroom and get a bunch of brains to figure it out – it was a huge group activity.”
Lewis says that after giving up many weekends and putting in hundreds of hours, they were able to turn the Model T from a gas guzzler to an electric-powered green machine… perfect for trips to the ice cream shop or to the Rhode Island State House to lobby for renewable energy.
Cigar-chomping, irreverent, and always entertaining professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, Barry Flinchbaugh, is now the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Farm Foundation. It seems only fitting that Flinchbaugh, known for his direct style and usually correct stances (even when conventional wisdom might say something else) is leading an organization that is known for thinking outside the box to come up with public policy solutions for the ag sector, including the biofuels industries.
Governor Mitch Daniels highlighted a bill at a ceremonial signing recently that revises the current corn marketing program to include a $500,000 ethanol program, funded by Indiana’s corn farmers.
“These funds will encourage fuel retailers to offer E85 and consumers to use E85 in their flex-fuel vehicles,” said Mike Shuter, ICMC president and a Frankton, Indiana farmer. “The ethanol industry is a major market for our corn and this program allows us to use our corn checkoff funds to help grow demand for ethanol, which grows demand for corn. “We want corn farmers contributing our state corn checkoff to know that they are putting a sizable amount of their dollars into this new ethanol program and that we should be able to measure its effectiveness for moving ethanol into the market because of the timeline the tax deduction will be available to retailers.”
I spent the last few days with old friends and making new acquaintances here in Milwaukee during the 22nd Ethanol Conference & Trade Show hosted by the 
You may notice a “Social Media” theme here which is still new to many in the biofuels industry. One of the sessions, “Strategic, Advocacy and PR in the Era of New Media” was a great first step for attendees to learn how to get into the game. The panel included Kristin Brekke and Shannon Gustafson, with ACE along with Jeremy Bird, Organizing for America and Greg Veerman, 
“We must leave oil before oil leaves us.” Wise words from Brian Jennings, the executive director of the 
In closing, Jennings said, “We need to renew, unite and have the determination to succeed.” Well said.
The U.S. Navy is working with Biodiesel Industries and aerospace and defense company Aerojet to develop a high-tech, remote-controlled, automated, portable biodiesel production unit.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association has teamed up with legendary radio station WHO in Des Moines to power its Crystal Studio at the Iowa State Fair from August 13-23 using B20 biodiesel.
BP and Martek Biosciences Corporation have signed a deal to develop an advanced biodiesel from sugars.
In this edition of “The Ethanol Report” we hear from representatives of the National Corn Growers Association, the American Coalition for Ethanol and the Renewable Fuels Association about the “Blend Your Own Ethanol” campaign announced this week at the 22nd Ethanol Conference & Trade Show in Milwaukee. The goal of BYOethanol is to install 5,000 blender pumps nationwide over the next three years.