America’s farmers and ranchers not only feed the world but are also helping fuel the world. Today is National Agriculture Day and the first day of spring. Let your local farmers know how much you appreciate them creating an abundant and safe food supply.
This latest edition of Domestic Fuel Cast we look at an exciting new development from the Indiana Soybean Alliance that might just put to rest some of the complaints about biodiesel’s tendency to gel at extremely cold temperatures.
The group has developed a type of biodiesel that, even at a 100 percent mix, won’t gel at more than 60 degrees below zero. That’s even colder than what conventional petroleum diesel clouds at (about -15 for the not-so-green fuel). It’s Permaflo Biodiesel, and to put it to the test, Ryan West, Director of New Uses for the alliance, led a group on a 1,400 mile trip across Alaska to the Arctic Circle. Along the way, they ran B100 in their vehicle and generator as they camped their way across the state in temperatures this winter of more than 20 below!
West says the fuel held up just fine, and it gives hope to many areas, including some of the remote Alaskan villages that can’t produce their own fuel and rely on a once-a-year supply truck, that they can be independent from fossil fuels.
It’s an amazing trip and an amazing product. You can hear all about by listening to this week’s Domestic Fuel Cast here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/DFCast-3-19-09.mp3]
There is an advantage to self publishing because you can truly say what you want to say. And Ronald H. Bowman, Jr. does just that in his book, “The Green Guide to Power Thinking Outside the Grid”. I originally thought the book was going to be about the development of the “Smart Grid“. It wasn’t. Although he did talk a little about the “Green Grid“. However, the book was actually about, “the state of technology…their maturity to the marketplace, reliability, financial feasibility, interoperability with incumbent utility, and ecological impact.” His energy alternatives include: wave, solar, biomass, biowaste, geothermal, tidal, wind, and fuel cell (hydrogen). He also spends time on coal and nuclear energy.
Electric energy usage is projected to go up 50% by 2031 and 100% by 2050. With the current pace of increasing energy needs and slow adoption of renewables to the marketplace, Bowman argues that we won’t have enough power to meet our demands in 2031. Like most others, he believes that there needs to be more tax credits and incentives to spur the growth of alternative energy to market. I know, I know, everyone hates energy subsidies, right? Well, apparently people don’t hate oil subsidies. Just subsidies that are designed to make our country a cleaner, greener place powered by domestically produced renewable energy.
Bowman touches on the carbon caps and carbon trading –it won’t work the way it is currently set up (I agree) and like most uniformed people, hates ethanol. BTW in case you can’t hear, see or read, the food versus fuel debate was a complete sham. Overall, he does a decent job of assessing feasiblity of the renewable energy options. Want to learn more? Buy the book or any book that I review on DomesticFuel.
Senators John Thune (R-SD), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) have reintroduced legislation that would fix the flawed definition of renewable biomass in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
The definition of “Renewable Biomass” in the 2007 Energy Bill excludes any material removed from national forests and most private forestlands. Therefore, cellulosic ethanol derived from this feedstock does not count toward the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), resulting in blenders and refiners having no incentive or requirement to purchase biofuels produced from these sources.
The proposed legislation would change the definition of “Renewable Biomass” to more closely conform to earlier versions of the RFS and the 2008 Farm Bill. That would allow pre-commercial and post-commercial waste from national forests to be eligible feedstocks under the definition of “Renewable Biomass” and allows for waste materials to be removed from our public lands which will assist in reducing fire danger.
The Farm Bill also includes several incentives for the production of cellulosic ethanol based on this definition of “Renewable Biomass.” These incentives include grants and loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol plants and provisions of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program.
According to a 2005 U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture study, about 2 billion tons of treatable biomass on federal forestland is available for bioenergy production. A significant portion of this biomass could be sustainably removed on an annual basis, not counting post-commercial waste such as wood chips from paper mills.
The National Biodiesel Board has joined the online conversation on Twitter.
Today several of us have joined Twitter, to help answer your questions and discuss anything you feel like talking about in the biodiesel world. Whether you want to know if there is a biodiesel pump in your town, or have technical questions, or want to talk about anything biodiesel at all, we want to hear from you! If we don’t find you first, you can follow these National Biodiesel Board representatives on Twitter by clicking on the user name:
Biodiesel_Voice, Jenna Higgins/Director of Communications
Biodiesel_Media, Jessica Robinson/Senior Communications Specialist
Biodiesel_DC, Michael Frohlich/Wash D.C. Dir. of Comm. (federal updates)
Biodiesel_Tech, Jordan Thaeler/Technical Projects Manager
Biodiesel_Earth, Don Scott/Director of Sustainability
Biodiesel_Info, Bev Thessen/Information Coordinator
Hey Joe Jobe. I don’t see you on the list!
If you or your company needs some help figuring this whole Twitter thing out then contact me anytime. You can follow Domestic Fuel on Twitter too.
I love wind energy and I’ve been wanting a wind turbine for my home for awhile. So much so that I’ve been sending out communications on my Twitter account (ID – jmschroeder). Well, I’ve finally found one. The product is called Windspire and it is produced by Mariah Power, founded in 2005. It is 30 feet tall by 2 feet wide. It is propeller free (no worries about the birds here folks), quiet and perfect for office buildings, government buildings and homes. Since May 2008, there has been a Windspire on display in the United States Botanic Gardens.
What else is cool about Mariah Power is that they are putting people back to work. On April 20, 2009 they will be opening their new manufacturing facility in Manistee, Michigan, an area especially hard hit due to the decline of Detroit’s auto industry. The facility will put 140 people to work over the next 3 years. Check out this video that highlights the community as it builds the new plant and residents get ready to go back to work.
The cost per Windspire is approximately $6,500 but with the incentives from the Reinvestment and Recovery Act, which covers 30% of the cost for both purchase and installation, you could install your own wind energy source for as little as $4,500. I’m not sure how quickly you’d see you return on investment (I’m sure it is fairly quickly especially for government and office buildings), but in my book it’s immediate when you can reduce or even eliminate the use of fossil fuel based energy sources. Green, renewable energy rocks!
There’s a new day on the calendar. Well not a new day, just a new celebration. This one on solar energy.
Move over Earth Day. There’s a new environmentally friendly semi-holiday coming up, and it’s none other than Solar Day. This day doesn’t just thank the sun for shining, though. It’s meant to educate the public about the benefits of using solar energy, and how residents can take advantage of solar options in their areas. Solar Day 2009 will be held all throughout the United States on the first day of summer, which lands on Sunday, June 21 this year. If your interest is piqued by this news, be sure to check out SolarDay.com, the official home of Solar Day, and a portal for all sorts of news on the solar industry.
More and more municipalities are finding ways to keep more waste out of their landfills and sewer systems, while putting that garbage and grease to work as alternative fuels.
The effort has grown so much that another… the second one… Annual Waste-to-Fuels Conference & Trade Show, sponsored by the Florida BioFuels Association, Inc.; the Southern Waste Information eXchange, Inc.; and the American Recycler (a salvage, waste, and recycling news Web site), will be held at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, in San Diego, California on May 17-19, 2009:
The Waste-to-Fuels Conference & Trade Show will provide a forum for informing the public and private sectors of the economic and environmental benefits of converting waste materials to alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol as well as energy recovery. Attendees will have excellent networking opportunities and a chance to visit with exhibitors to preview the newest advances in alternative fuel production products and services. The conference will be designed to attract individuals and organizations/companies nationally.
Conference Session topic areas include the following:
* Overview of Waste-to-Fuels/Energy
* Siting, Permitting and Funding Waste-to-Fuel/Energy Facilities
* Waste-to-Fuel/Energy Case Studies from Around the Globe
* Agriculture & Sewage Waste-to-Fuels/Energy Recovery
* Fats Oils and Greases (FOGS) and Digestion Technologies
* Municipal Solid Waste-to-Fuel and Energy Recovery
* Specialty Waste-to-Fuels/Energy Projects
Tight budget keeping you from attending? Well, there are some Stimulus Scholarships available to pay the $595 conference fee. Click here for more information.
More information is available through the conference Web site: www.waste-to-fuels.org.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu says for the sake of our children and grandchildren, the United States “must decrease our dependence on oil, use energy in the most efficient ways possible, and lower our carbon emissions.”
Chu told the House Science and Technology Committee this week that in order to make that happen, the government needs to increase funding and “support transformational technology research to bring a range of clean energy technologies to the point where the private sector can pick them up.”
Top on Chu’s list of those technologies is “gasoline and diesel-like biofuels generated from lumber waste, crop wastes, solid waste, and non-food crops.” He also prioritized “large scale energy storage systems so that variable renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power can become base-load power generators” on his wish list.
This was the first Cabinet-level witness for the Committee, and the Secretary’s first appearance at a House panel.
Algae as a feedstock for biofuels, in particular, biodiesel and ethanol, continues to grow in interest… especially in the Southeastern U.S. People from nine different states recently met in Atlanta the first official event of the National Algae Association’s new Mid-South Chapter.
A press release from the group says the importance of turning algae into biodiesel can be summed up with the title of the keynote address: “Algae, the New Biocrude”:
“The NAA Atlanta workshop was outstanding for me because it accelerated my knowledge of developing algae technologies, potential customers, the competitive landscape, and who the emerging leaders are. Additionally, the workshop afforded some great networking and exchange of ideas. I look forward to attending future events and would highly recommend NAA events to anyone with an interest in algae-based biofuels development as an investor, researcher, algae venture employee/potential employee, entrepreneur, or utility representative,” said Dan Berler, chemical engineer/Atlanta.
“The intense interest and interaction of our workshop attendees has confirmed the growing need for more events such as this in the region,” observed Tamra Fakhoorian, president of the chapter. She continued, “The NAA Mid-South Chapter is looking forward to serve the growing algae community in the southeastern region of the US by holding similar workshops, conferences and on-site algae production clinics. Our next workshop is slated to be held in Huntsville, Alabama in early June.”
The National Algae Association brings together algae researchers and companies to share ideas and exchange information.
