Missouri-Kansas Becoming Green Rivals

John Davis

moksflags.jpgWhen you live in this part of the country, you KNOW how big of rivals Kansas and Missouri are. This hatred goes all the way back to before the Civil War! I’ve even known people who would actually spit after they spoke the other state’s name. Officials at MU and KU have tried to tone down the rhetoric by calling it a border “showdown” instead of border “war” (which most diehard fans still call a war). Pretty fascinating for an Iowa boy who didn’t grow up with this rivalry that has moved to the football fields and basketball courts of the two states.

Now, it seems Missouri and Kansas have become rivals about how green they want to be. This story from the Kansas City (MO) Star says there is lots of legislation on both sides of the border, including more than 20 green bills before the Missouri legislature this session:

In Missouri, the bills showing movement this year rely on tax policy as a prod to change consumer habits and business operations.

The House last week gave first-round approval to a bill granting a $2,000 income tax deduction for the purchase of hybrid vehicles manufactured in the United States.

In the Senate, language recently added to a large agriculture bill also addresses alternative-fuel vehicles. The bill includes not only a tax deduction for hybrid purchases, but also incentives for consumers who purchase 85-percent ethanol gasoline and gas-station owners who install alternative fuel facilities.

Plus, a 5 percent biodiesel mandate is making its way through the halls of the Capitol in Jefferson City.

Kansas lawmakers have put forward several green bills, but all are overshadowed by the key issue of the year: a coal-burning power plant expansion in western Kansas.

Both the Senate and the House have passed legislation designed to clear the way for Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build two new coal plants at its existing Holcomb, Kan., plant…

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has vowed to veto the bill, saying it doesn’t do enough to encourage renewable energy or protect the environment.Read More

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Government, Legislation, News

Market Forces Force REG to Withdraw IPO

John Davis

reglogo1.gifThe high price of soybean oil is making it awfully tough on some biodiesel makers. In an unfortunate sign of the times for the biodiesel industry, Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group has had to withdraw its attempt at an initial public offering (IPO).

CNNMoney reports that “unfavorable market conditions” has forced the company to reconsider what would have been a $150 million IPO:

The offering, filed in July 2007, listed Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) , Banc of America Securities and Thomas Weisel Partners as managers in the offering. The Ralston, Iowa-based alternative energy company had planned to use the proceeds from the offering to partially finance the construction of three new biodiesel production facilities, pay accrued dividends and general corporate purposes.

Biodiesel

Connecticut Town Considers Biodiesel

John Davis

greenwich.jpgThe town of Greenwich, Connecticut want to run about 150 of their 300 vehicles in the city’s fleet on biodiesel. Unsure how well that might actually work, officials decided to visit another New England town to see how their efforts had gone.

This story in the Greenwich (CT) Times has details:

[Elizabeth Linck, the town’s fleet director] and town Purchasing Director Joan Sullivan went last week to Keene, N.H., where the city has been using biodiesel for the past six years, to research the possible changeover.

“We wanted to see it in action,” Linck said. “When you do a project like this, you talk to the people who are doing it successfully.”

From fire trucks to public works vehicles, anything that runs on diesel in Keene’s city fleet uses the same soy-based blend being looked at by Greenwich. About 78 of the city’s 150 vehicles use biodiesel, which requires no special equipment.

Steve Russell, Keene’s fleet director, said the city was looking to cut down exposure to “eye piercing” and “lung piercing” emissions for its residents and employees.

“When you pull that car into that garage, it takes a while for those diesel fumes to go away,” Russell said. “My mechanics have noticed a major difference in the shop. It takes away the nasties.”

Keene is using soy-based B20, and Greenwich officials are considering the same after testing a 5 percent blend at first. While Keene officials say the biodiesel costs them more, they were able to get a state grant to help defray those costs. No word whether Connecticut offers such an incentive.

Biodiesel

Student Wins Honor for Solar Cell Project

John Davis

mccarthy.jpgAn Oregon teenager has been honored for his work on making solar cells more efficiently.

Brian McCarthy of Liberty High School from Hillsboro, Oregon placed third and won a $50,000 scholarship in the 2008 Intel Science Talent Search:

In his research, Brian McCarthy, 18, from Hillsboro, Oregon, investigated the viability of plastic solar cells as a new option in solar energy technology. Using interfacially polymerized combinations of porphyrins and phthalocyanines – plant-like photosynthetic materials found in nature that are photoactive and photoconducting (both properties of functioning solar cells) – he synthesized extremely thin, fragile films for potential use as solar cells and tested them using scanning electron microscopy techniques. Brian’s novel polymer films responded electrically to light, indicating that they could act as solar cells and offer a less expensive option to current silicon-based solar cell technology.

Science, Solar

U.S. Biodiesel Producers Look to Europe

John Davis

useuflags.jpgAmerican biodiesel producers, who are trying to keep their heads above water in a market of rising feedstocks, might have found a way to keep their doors open: send their biodiesel to Europe.

This story in the Des Moines (IA) Register says a weak dollar, coupled with American and European incentives, makes biodiesel made in this country cheaper than its counterpart on the other side of the Atlantic:

“You have to look for every market you can find,” said Bill Horan, who is chairman of Western Iowa Energy LLC, a Wall Lake biodiesel producer that lost $2.6 million in 2007 because of the high cost of soybean oil and other feedstocks.

The Wall Lake plant has shipped biodiesel to European buyers through Ames-based Renewable Energy Group, which manages the plant and markets its biodiesel.

The United States shipped about 300 million gallons of biodiesel to Europe in 2007, a 10-fold increase from the year before, according to the European Commission. U.S. biodiesel production last year was estimated at 450 million gallons.

The move really irks European biodiesel producers, who are threatening to file an anti-dumping case against the imported biodiesel. They say the $1-a-gallon U.S. tax credit amounts to unfair subsidy, and they might push their governments for a new tariff against U.S. biodiesel. But American producers argue they’re just filling the demand their European counterparts can’t.

Biodiesel, International

Ethanol Pump Promo for Sebring

Cindy Zimmerman

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council helped the American LeMans Series kick off the 56th running of the Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring this weekend with a pump promotion offering E10 for $2.56. A total of 2566 gallons of the fuel were sold at the local Gate Petroleum station in Sebring, Florida.

EPIC Sebring Pump PromoSeveral race car drivers were on hand to pump gas and sign autographs including Joel Feinberg and Chris Hall both of Primetime Race Group racing the GT2 Team Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.

The American Le Mans Series has chosen E10 as an “official ethanol-enriched fuel” of the series, the first time a street legal renewable fuel has been used in any endurance format. Also approved by the series is cellulosic E85, which will run in some of the cars this season.

Meanwhile, Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson this week announced new fuel quality standards for gasoline blended with ethanol.

These changes specifically target selected fuel quality standards for gasoline blended with 10 percent or less ethanol. This will allow even more stations in Florida to sell ethanol-blended fuel.

American LeMans, Cellulosic, E85, EPIC, Ethanol, Racing

Wisconsin Trying to Buy Part of MN Wind Farm

John Davis

wpsc.jpgThe Wisconsin Public Service Corporation is looking to buy half interest of a Southeast Minnesota wind farm.

This story on the Finance and Commerce web site says the move is seen as part of Wisconsin’s effort to get 10 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2015:

In September 2007, Minneapolis-based wind energy developer National Wind LLC announced that it planned to develop High Country as a community-owned wind project.

Under this business model, participating landowners get majority ownership of the wind farm. When fully built out, the High Country development will produce 300 megawatts.

In February, National Wind announced on its website that it had been negotiating with “a regional utility” to acquire part of the development. WPSC was that utility.

Terms of WPSC’s development and energy purchase agreement were not disclosed. But generally, putting in the infrastructure (turbines) to produce wind energy costs $2 million for every megawatt, which in this case would put WPSC’s cost at around $300 million.

The utility is expected to have 100 three-bladed white wind turbines on more than 70 square miles of farm land.

Wisconsin and Minnesota are considered in the top 20 states for wind energy potential.

Wind

Minnesota Looks to Increase Biodiesel Mandate

John Davis

Hoping to mimic the success its ethanol mandate has brought to that industry in Minnesota, the state is looking at bumping up its 2 percent biodiesel mandate.

This story from Minnesota Public Radio says a bill before the state legislature would increase that requirement by 10-fold:

juhnke.JPG“What this does is actually give a signal to industry that they should move ahead, and develop more infrastructure for this product,” [bill sponsor Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar] says.

Right now, trucks in Minnesota burn a blend that contains two-percent biodiesel. Juhnke’s bill would increase that to 20-percent by 2015. In the winter months, the requirement drops back to five-percent, until problems with cold weather are worked out. At least half of the biodiesel would be produced in Minnesota.

Juhnke says if biodiesel follows in ethanol’s footsteps, it will be good for rural Minnesota.

“You know, there are 17 ethanol plants right now, each of them averaging probably 35 or 40 really-good paying jobs in these communities, and so that money spins and turns in the local economies out here.”

Juhnke’s bill would also come up with $500,000 to fund algae biodiesel research in Minnesota.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

NBB Names Sustainability Task Force Members

John Davis

nbb-logo.jpgAfter announcing the formation of its Sustainability Task Force at the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida last month, the group has filled out the nine-member panel.

According to this NBB press release, the group, led by Emily Bockian Landsburg of Philadelphia Fry-O-Diesel, will work to ensure the biodiesel industry will continue to protect the environment, while producing jobs and reducing dependence on foreign oil:

landsburg.jpg“In order to develop best practices that will be adopted throughout our industry, we selected a task force that represents the various segments of the industry and regions of the country,” said Landsburg. “Recognizing the need for input from critical stakeholders who are not members of the NBB, such as environmental organizations, government entities, and sustainability advocates, we are forming an Advisory Committee that will be heavily involved in this process.”

The members of the task force are Kumar Plocher, Yokayo Biofuels, Ukiah, Calif., a small producer making and distributing biodiesel from waste kitchen greases the company collects; Victoria Carver, Iowa Soybean Association, Urbandale, Iowa – ISA has developed environmental management practices that address soil and energy conservation, run-off and pest and nutrient management; Rachel Burton, Piedmont Biofuels, Pittsboro, N.C., a small producer that grew out of a grassroots cooperative; Dennis Fisher, ADM, Decatur, Ill., Director of the Office of Compliance and Ethics and member of ADM’s Sustainability Steering Committee; Doug Hanson, South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, Elk Point, S.D., a grain and livestock farmer; Tim Maneely, U.S. Biodiesel Group, St. Paul, Minn., a production plant engineering and design expert with experience in soy, palm, and coconut oil supply chains, representing a large producer; Doug Smith, Baker Commodities, Minneapolis – has over 20 years in the rendering and oleochemicals industry, specializing in quality control and safety management; Jeff Trucksess, Green Earth Fuels, Houston, Texas, a regulatory and legislative expert with a background in international development; and Landsburg, Philadelphia Fry-O-Diesel, Philadelphia, an organizer of the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit from a company that developed technology to convert the waste material of sewer trap grease into biodiesel.

You can also hear some of Landsburg’s comments on this post from the NBB Conference blog.

Biodiesel

Long Term Lending Support Needed

Chuck Zimmerman

Dave Vander GriendAt today’s Ethanol 2008: Emerging Issues Forum one of the speakers was Dave Vander Griend, President/CEO ICM, Inc. Dave spoke about financing new technologies and the move toward a market based incentive system. I spoke with him afterward.

He says that he continues to believe that the ethanol industry is solid and that there are opportunities. Right now he says the industry is experiencing a bump in the road with the higher corn prices and depressed ethanol prices. However, that’s something he says you see every 4 to 5 years in the grain markets.

According to Dave, one of the challenges right now is a lack of support in the lending community since they’re a reactionary group. They see something that’s not highly profitable today and as he puts it “they run and do something else.” But he says that although there are tight margins right now, in 2 years they’ll be great just like they were 2 years ago. So he says that a little more long term thinking on the part of lenders would be very helpful.

One of the things he’d most like to see happen is a long term strategy in Washington. It’s one thing he says to set a goal but there needs to be a plan in place to make it happen.

You can listen to my interview with Dave here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ethanol/ne-ethanol-08-griend.mp3]

Audio, conferences, Ethanol, News