Senators Pleased With Energy Title of Farm Bill

Cindy Zimmerman

Tom HarkinTwo of the main architects of the new Farm Bill are more than thrilled with overwhelming passage of the legislation this week by both the House and Senate.

“Senate passage of the farm bill conference report on a strong, bipartisan basis demonstrates support for core farm bill initiatives – conservation, energy, nutrition and rural development – while continuing and strengthening farm income protection,” said Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA).

Harkin says the bill increases biofuels production by accelerating commercialization of advanced biofuels, like cellulosic ethanol, by helping farmers produce biomass crops, by providing grants and loan guarantees for new biorefineries, and by increasing bioenergy research.

Saxby ChamblissSenate Ag Ranking Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said of the bill, “We’re going to make sure that we provide future generations with alternative energy projects and that we do it in the right way.”

The Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2008 passed the House by a 75 percent margin and the Senate vote was 81 to 15. However, President Bush intends to veto the bill because he says it is too costly and contains too little reform. The margin of votes in Congress indicate that they will be able to override the veto.

Biodiesel, Energy, Ethanol, Government, News

Ethanol on Display at Alternative Vehicle Expo

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol was in the spotlight at this week’s Alternative Fuels and Vehicles Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

EPIC at AFViThe conference featured every vehicle technology under the hot sun on display and several panels and workshops helped to educate and provide information about the various blends of ethanol and especially how they can fit into greener fleets.

Ethanol Promotion and Information Council communications specialist Elizabeth Hilpipre says that several ethanol representatives appeared on panels at the event. “There were many questions during the conference about compatibility, sustainability and of course, food and fuel,” she said. “Over three different panels, EPIC Deputy Director Robert White spoke about the realities of the food and fuel debate, as did Team Ethanol IndyCar owner Bobby Rahal.”

During the general session, Rahal addressed his concern over the impact of $120+ per barrel oil, and the simple transportation costs associated with getting products to market, having more of an impact on food prices.

Overall, Hilpipre says the conference was a great success for the ethanol industry. “Fleet managers, average consumers and school kids turned out by the numbers to learn about the arsenal that continues to grow each year to help diversify our nation’s fuel supply,” she said.

EPIC, Ethanol, News

Biofuels Flying High with Algae

John Davis

Airbus and JetBlue Airways are just two of a handful of airlines exploring the use of biofuels made from algae to power their planes. The Green Tech Blog reports that a joint biofuel effort – which also includes international airlines Aero Engines, Honeywell Aerospace and UOP, a second Honeywell company – was announced Thursday.

The group plans to study ways to make commercial aviation fuels out of so-called second-generation feedstocks such as algae.
Airbus A380

Success with algae would be a salve for biofuel boosters who are feeling the sting of a backlash against early hype… Algae as a fast-growing fuel source–and a gobbler of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas–is a notion that’s been catching on with a number of start-ups and academic researchers.

But for the moment, biofuel from algae remains an experiment in progress, expensive to produce and still entangled in a number of technical challenges.

That’s where the backing of established and heavyweight manufacturers such as Honeywell and Airbus could make a difference. Honeywell says that its UOP subsidiary, a specialist in refining technology, has been working for some time in a DARPA-funded project to convert natural oils and grease into military jet fuel and has commercialized a process for producing “green diesel” from biofeedstocks.

Biodiesel, transportation

Ethanol Smear Campaign Exposed

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol proponents from the halls of Congress to the corn fields of the Midwest are expressing outrage at documentation that major food corporations may have supported a high-dollar public relations campaign to blame farmers and ethanol for rising food prices.

Chuck GrassleyIn a prepared floor statement on Thursday, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa told his colleagues that “this anti-ethanol campaign is not a coincidence. It turns out that a $300,000, six-month retainer of a beltway public relations firm is behind the smear campaign, hired by the Grocery Manufacturers Association.”

That information was reported Wednesday in the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call, which obtained confidential documentation of the effort.

Roll Call“Rising food and fuel prices have led the biofuels industry to take a beating on Capitol Hill the past few weeks,” the article stated. “But the pummeling hasn’t been by chance — it’s part of a concerted effort spearheaded by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Glover Park Group. GMA has been leading an ‘aggressive’ public relations campaign for the past two months in an effort to roll back ethanol mandates that passed in last year’s energy bill.”

Among the documents obtained by Roll Call was the GMA’s proposal request “to build a groundswell in support of freezing or reversing some provisions of the 2007 Energy Bill and for the elimination/reform of ethanol subsidies and import restrictions.”

Glover Park Group’s proposal response included the number one objective to “obliterate whatever intellectual justification might still exist for corn-based ethanol among policy elites.”

NCGANational Corn Growers Association president Ron Litterer says that corn farmers are shocked and outraged by the news. “It is simply unfathomable that food companies through the Grocery Manufacturers Association chose to smear their farmer-suppliers rather than cooperate with us to meet the growing challenge for America’s fuel needs,” Litterer said. “Unfortunately, from what we’ve heard this not the only campaign in the works to place the blame on agriculture.”

Ethanol, Food prices, News

Deere Upgrades Ethanol Management System

Cindy Zimmerman

DeereJohn Deere Agri Services has released an upgrade to its ethanol business management system, which includes a new flow controller interface as an extended option available with their scale automation system. As part of the integrated business system for ethanol facility management, the scale system automates shipping and receiving operations.

The ethanol facility is able to customize the system according to factors such as ID, load number, or destination. When haulers arrive at the plant, the flow controller prompts them for the required information, which is then optionally verified with data in the automated system.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Massachusetts to Get E85 Station

Cindy Zimmerman

Massachusetts drivers will soon be able to get 85 percent ethanol enriched fuel for their flex-fuel vehicles.

Mass E85 StationAccording to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, Burke Oil of Chelsea, MA will add E85 to its fueling options next month.

“Waivers and permits were new issues for state and local government agencies as well as for us,” said Andy Frongillo of Burke Oil. The lack of Underwriters Laboratories certification of a dispenser kept the site from opening much sooner.

Frongillo added, “Burke’s gas station has the distinction of being the first in Massachusetts offering biodiesel at the pump. Burke supplies many of the area’s largest biodiesel and bioheat users. To keep pace with growing demand, the company recently opened a Biofuels Storage Facility in Holyoke, Massachusetts.”

Burke Oil tentatively plans to hold a grand opening event on June 26.

Biodiesel, E85, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News

Biodiesel Gets Even More Bio Friendly

John Davis

XcelPlus Global HoldingsAs if biodiesel isn’t green enough. But, Maverick BioFuels has found yet another way to make bio-diesel even more sustainable and XcelPlus Global Holdings is jumping at the opportunity to put this new technology to use. XcelPlus will equip itself with the necessary tools from Maverick to covert glycerin, a byproduct from biodiesel production, to a fuel suitable for use in turbine engines.

Gly-Clene (TM) can be made from any crude glycerol, regardless of the feedstock, including yellow grease. The fuel has the ability to power up turbine engines for electricity production or any other non-aircraft use associated with turbine engines. Gly-Clene can also be used to heat fluid bed reactors as it also performs well in oil gun furnaces.

With the ever-increasing biodiesel production, the glycerin market grows as well. Subsequently, the fear of another glut has concerned biodiesel manufacturers, scratching their heads looking for a stable way to dispose of this by-product. There is currently enough glycerin produced in the U.S. alone for Gly-Clene to produce 27,000 megawatts of electricity per day or over 8 billion megawatts per year without even adding steam turbines to take advantage of the excess heat produced by the turbines.

Visit www.xcelplusglobal.com to view video updates on the Gly-Clene technology.

Biodiesel, Energy, Environment, Production

DOE: Wind Could Provide 20% of US Power

John Davis

A new report from the U.S. Department of Energy says that America could get 20 percent of its power from wind energy in about the next 20 years.

This agency press release says it will mean increasing the amount of wind power by nearly 20 times current production levels… a doable number according to the DOE:

Entitled “20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030”, the report identifies requirements to achieve this goal including reducing the cost of wind technologies, citing new transmission infrastructure, and enhancing domestic manufacturing capability. Most notably, the report identifies opportunities for 7.6 cumulative gigatons of CO2 to be avoided by 2030, saving 825 million metric tons in 2030 and every year thereafter if wind energy achieves 20 percent of the nation’s electricity mix.

DOE Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy Andy Karsner said, “To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be necessary, and will require us to take a comprehensive approach to scaling renewable wind power, streamlining siting and permitting processes, and expanding the domestic wind manufacturing base.”

Prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy and a broad cross section of stakeholders across industry, government, and three of DOE’s national laboratories – the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA; and Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM, the report presents an in-depth analysis of the potential for wind in the U.S. and outlines a potential scenario to boost wind electric generation from its current production of 16.8 gigawatts (GW) to 304 GW by 2030.

The report goes on to say that infrastructure will need to be improved, as well as streamlining the siting and permitting processes to meet that goal.

Government, Wind

Canada Ag Minister Defends Biodiesel, Ethanol

John Davis

Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is blasting those opposing a proposed mandate for biofuels in the country.

This story from the Lloydminster (Alberta, Canada) Meridian Booster has more details:

Ritz defended the plan in the House of Commons against criticism from the New Democratic Party, which once supported the use of biofuels but has switched its position. The bill would mandate a five per cent ethanol mixture in gasoline by 2010 and a two per cent mixture of biodiesel by 2012.
“It’s an excellent situation for the environment, it’s a great thing for farmers, and a great thing for rural communities,” said Ritz.

The NDP’s about-face comes after a number of studies have been released indicating that using wheat and corn-based ethanol could drive up food prices in light of what some experts are calling a global food shortage. The United Nations recently called biofuels a “crime against humanity” for diverting food away from hungry mouths.

Ritz says this situation doesn’t apply to Canada where the price of basic food commodities actually dropped slightly in February. The government estimates it would take five per cent of total production capacity to produce the three billion litres of ethanol which the plan would require. He says the weather has more impact on Canada’s agricultural output than five per cent.

The article goes on to say that Ritz points out that the United Nations has said there’s enough food. The issue is getting it to where it needs to be at the right time.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, International, Legislation, News

Steelman Calls Out Lawmakers for Biofuels Action

John Davis

Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, who is also running for the Republican nomination in the state’s gubernatorial race, has labeled Missouri lawmakers “cowards” for changing a law that kept those same lawmakers and their family members from investing their own money in ethanol and biodiesel plants in the state.

This AP story posted on the KY3 (Springfield, MO) web site says Steelman oversees a program that provides state money to assist in investing in biofuel plants and has been barring companies from getting the money if there was even just one investor who is an elected state official, department director or a relative of those people:

The policy outrages some lawmakers who are investors in ethanol and biodiesel plants. Senators voted 21-10 about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday to overturn Steelman’s policy by allowing the incentives so long as state officials own less than 2 percent of the business. The provision is an amendment to a larger tax credit bill and was approved on a head-count vote, avoiding a written record of who voted “yes” or “no” that would have been kept had they taken a roll call.

Rural lawmakers, many of whom invest in the plants, say Steelman’s policy is not fair. They argue it punishes Missouri residents simply because they have invested in the same facility as a lawmaker.

The policy has prevented incentives from going to the $82 million Show Me Ethanol plant because its investors include Rep. John Quinn, R-Chillicothe; his wife, Mary; and Andy Blunt, a brother of Republican Gov. Matt Blunt.

“They were cowards, and didn’t want to do what they did in the light of the day, because they didn’t want the people of the state to realize they were protecting their personal interests,” Steelman, a former senator, said later Wednesday.

Some senators say Steelman was out of line by insisting on an unreasonable conflict of interest policy.

Steelman’s actions have ruffled the feathers of many of her fellow Republicans, who invest in the plants. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as she tries to woo those same Republicans to vote for her in her primary race to see who faces presumptive Democratic nominee Jay Nixon for the governor’s seat as incumbent Republican Blunt is not running for re-election.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, Legislation, News