ACORE President Expects Big Gains

John Davis

acore.jpgThe president of the American Council on Renewable Energy believes the recent growth in renewable energy markets is just the beginning of sustained growth that will increase the renewable energy business by 10 times.

This ACORE press release says President Michael Eckhart made the remarks at a clean tech conference in Seattle:

eckhart.jpg“The growth of renewable energy means jobs and economic growth in every Congressional district,” said Mr. Eckhart November 8 at the Cleantech Investing on the Pacific Northwest conference hosted by the Stoel Rives law firm and Nth Power venture capital firm. “And members of Congress are beginning to see it. The major job creators in Germany in the past three years have been the wind and solar industries. We can have those jobs, too.”

The global renewable energy industry is receiving third-party capital investment of approximately $100 billion in 2007, according to New Energy Finance. The level of venture capital funding has increased more than tenfold since the year 2000, according to Clean Edge. Eckhart said the current boom in investment and financing is as a trend, not a bubble.

Eckhart went on to tell conference attendees that President George W. Bush and Congress are key to setting the environmental rules and incentives for change.

Miscellaneous

Renewable Fuels and National Security

Cindy Zimmerman

RFAThe Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is sponsoring a lunch and panel discussion Wednesday in Washington DC on the importance of renewable fuels like ethanol in our nation’s comprehensive national security strategy.

The event will feature a keynote address by former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey as well as a panel discussion on the consequences of our nation’s increasing dependence on foreign oil and the role renewable fuels like ethanol must play in breaking that dependence.

The event is being hosted by the Reserve Officers Association.

Ethanol, News, RFA

Student Fees to Pay for Green Fuel

John Davis

Students at Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minnesota have been paying “green fees” that will help build a wind power generator for the school’s science center.

This story in the Dickinson Press has more:

minnstatesustain1.jpgThe 39.5-kilowatt wind turbine will generate enough energy to run the building, plus 20 additional kilowatts per month that could be sold back, said Pete Sand, co-chairman of the Sustainable Campus Committee that distributes green fee money.

The goal of the wind turbine is to help reduce the amount of electricity produced from coal fire, which releases carbon dioxide gases, Sand said.

“It’s the right thing to do and somebody’s got to start doing it,” he said.

The turbine could be up by next fall.

Wind

US BioEnergy Earnings Up

Cindy Zimmerman

US BioenergyUS BioEnergy Corporation reports higher third-quarter earnings on rising output and lower corn costs.

According to the company, net income in the third quarter was $11.1 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with $8.3 million, or 12 cents per share, in the second quarter.

The company went public last December.

Gordon Ommen, US BioEnergy’s CEO says, “It was the first full quarter of production at our Ord, Nebraska plant and we now have four plants in operation and four additional plants under construction. Additionally, we successfully closed the acquisition of US Bio Marion, LLC (formerly Millennium Ethanol, LLC) during the third quarter, which positions us to bring our total production capacity to 750 million gallons per year (mgy) by the end of 2008.”

The company is in the process of building a transportation system that will allow it to move ethanol more efficiently from its facilities.

“This positions US BioEnergy to become one of the largest volume shippers of ethanol in the U.S. by the end of 2008, adding transportation efficiency to our growing list of competitive advantages,” Ommen said.

Ethanol, News

The Vicious Cycle of Irony

John Davis

Increased demand for biodiesel has meant an increased demand for biodiesel plants… which has increased demand for feedstocks such as soybeans… which has pushed up the price for soybeans… which has hurt the operation of the biodiesel plants. That’s irony, right?

Some biodiesel plants are starting to feel the negative effects of the surge that brought them to life in the first place. This story in the Janesville (WI) Gazette says construction of a $42 million biodiesel plant in Wisconsin has stopped:

npp-logo.jpgThe rising cost of soybean byproducts forced North Prairie Productions to temporarily suspend construction on its biodiesel plant in Evansville, President Mike Robinson said.

npp-construction1.jpg“We always knew there’d be times when markets are good and markets are bad,” he said. “You’re most vulnerable as a company when you start, and you don’t want to start when times are bad. We just wanted make sure that we are secure when we enter the market.”

Company officials point to a 20 percent rise in soybean oil prices since last August as the main reason for the stop in construction.

Meanwhile, according to this story on the NewsOK.com web site, a biodiesel plant in Northeastern Oklahoma has gone bankrupt because of the high cost its feedstock:

Green Country’s largest unsecured creditor was agricultural giant Cargill Inc., which is owed more than $128,000 for soy oil.

The biodiesel plant began operations in an industrial park in Chelsea in 2005. The business was formed by David Allen and his partner, Scott Williams. Allen bought out his partner for $25,000 in September 2006.

That brings the number of Oklahoma biodiesel plants down to just one, the Earth Biofuels plant near Durant. But two more are still in the works for Tulsa and Guymon. Let’s hope they can stay afloat through this latest storm.

Biodiesel

Tyson, Syntroleum Biodiesel to Keep Air Force Flying

John Davis

syntyson.pngTyson and Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Syntroleum have formed a company called Dynamic Fuels that will make jet fuel out of animal fat.

This article on the cleantech.com web site says the two will turn 2.3 billion pounds of animal fat into 75 million gallons of biodiesel a year:

Tyson announced that it would build the first biodiesel plant under its venture with Tulsa, Okla.’s Syntroleum (Nasdaq: SYNM) on a site in Louisiana, citing the area’s proximity to feedstocks, transportation, and the Barksdale Air Force Base, which has three squadrons of B-52 bombers.

“The B-52 has been the first Air Force jet that has been certified for synthetic fuels,” said Jeff Webster, Sr. VP of renewable products at Tyson, in a conference call.

“We’ve met all of the standards that have been set in the preliminary testing for synthetic fuels, and we’ve contracted with the Air Force for our next set of fuels for further testing.”

Construction on the biodiesel plant will start next year with production expected in 2010.

Biodiesel

Biofuel Makers Want Changes to Farm Credit Rules

John Davis

Leaders in Iowa’s renewable energy field are asking Congressional leaders to change federal law so Farm Credit would be allowed to make loans to build ethanol and biodiesel plants that do not have a majority of farmer-stockholders as owners.

harkin.jpgThis story in Wallaces Farmer says they’ve sent a letter to both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin, and to other senators asking for support of the change to Farm Credit’s lending authority because of the problems expanding the renewable fuels industry and maintaining its profitability. The new farm bill, currently under debate, has an amendment with the change:grassley.jpg

The current economic climate is challenging, to say the least,” says Sam Cogdill, president of Amaizing Energy LLC, an ethanol plant at Denison in western Iowa. He is one of eight people representing ethanol and biodiesel plants across the state who signed the letter.

“We understand the struggles of expanding the ethanol and biodiesel industry and trying to keep it profitable in changing economic times,” he adds. “Rising input costs and other factors are creating increasingly smaller margins for ethanol and biodiesel producers.”

But bankers are balking at the idea:

The Farm Credit System was created under a federal charter years ago and operates as a cooperative. “As a government-sponsored lender, they have certain advantages we don’t have,” says Jim Schipper, president of American State Bank at Osceola and current chairman of the Iowa Bankers Association.

The Farm Credit System has preferential tax treatment and access to funding at interest rates a commercial bank is not eligible to get. “That’s fine as long as Farm Credit lenders are within their mission–providing credit to farmers,” says Schipper. “But this expanded horizons idea goes way beyond that. If they want to finance enterprises that are not farmer-owned projects, then they should have to discontinue their federal support.”

Schipper goes on to point out that guys such as Bill Gates, who owns one-fourth of Pacific Ethanol, would be eligible for the Farm Credit loans if the change happens.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, Legislation, News

EU, NBB Face Off over Tax Credit

John Davis

eu-flag.gifLobbyists for the European Union and the National Biodiesel Board have been working Congress hard over the issue of tax credits.

This article from The Hill.com says EU officials say the tax credit just allows American biodiesel to be dumped in Europe while the NBB argues the incentives are needed to support the alternative fuel:

At issue are increased U.S. exports of biodiesel to Europe, which EU officials argue are displacing European crops that would otherwise be converted into biodiesehttps://energy.agwired.com/wp-admin/upload.php?style=inline&tab=upload&action=&ID=&post_id=-1194925751&paged
Uploadl in European countries. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson raised the issue with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab during his visit last week, according to an EU official.

One of Mandelson’s arguments is that the current policy cheats U.S. taxpayers, whom the EU argues are subsidizing biodiesel exports to Europe. EU officials say these subsidies do nothing to lower U.S. dependence on foreign oil — one of the initial justifications for providing the U.S. industry with tax credits — since the biodiesel is just sent to Europe.

nbb-logo.jpgThe NBB, however, argues that the rise in U.S. exports simply reflects the higher demand for biodiesel in the EU, where policymakers are trying to increase the percentage of biodiesel as a proportion of total diesel fuel use to 10 percent. That would be huge in Europe, where about 50 percent of the passenger-car fuel used for transportation comes from diesel.

Denying the tax credit to biodiesel that is exported would close the free flow of trade, according to the NBB, endangering a U.S. industry that has made tremendous strides in recent years. NBB CEO Joe Jobe argues this would create a “serious disincentive” for the U.S. industry.

European biodiesel producers say much of the biodiesel sent to Europe is made entirely from U.S. crops, and U.S. producers add a splash of petroleum to to qualify for the tax biodiesel blending tax credit.

The NBB is fighting a similar measure that is allowing biodiesel producers from Indonesia and Malaysia ship biodiesel to a U.S. port for a “splash” of petroleum, at which point the blenders’ tax credit is pocketed and the finished product dashes off to Europe. The Europeans aren’t happy about this practice, either, but see the American biodiesel as a bigger threat.

Biodiesel

Good News in WSJ Article

Cindy Zimmerman

A Wall Street Journal article on water use for ethanol production points out that the industry is taking steps to address the concerns.

RFAEthanol producers say they are prepared for the challenges as the business expands and are ready to adapt quickly. Producers, plant designers and water engineers are all teaming up to try to reduce water consumption, says Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington, D.C.-based group that represents ethanol producers.

Producers as small as newcomer US BioEnergy of St. Paul, Minn., and as big as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. of Decatur, Ill., have discussed measures to reduce their impact.

The article points out that advancements in engineering and new technology are being developed to reduce water usage.

Significant technical innovations are required to reduce the amounts of water that ethanol plants consume. One ethanol plant designer, Delta T Corp., based in Williamsburg, Va., says it has created a system that will reduce consumption to just one-and-a-half gallons of water per gallon of ethanol, down from four gallons of water.

To further reduce the plants’ impact on drinkable water, engineers also can route more low-quality water — even waste water — to functions where high purity is unnecessary. In the past two years, demand for engineers experienced in this kind of work has skyrocketed in the ethanol industry.

And the WSJ report notes that even without increased ethanol production, the nation still needs to get fuel somehow.

Canadian oil reserves, seen as a possible source of conventional fuel for the U.S., produce a thick grade of oil that requires just as much — if not more — water for refining than ethanol does, says Mr. Hartwig.

“The water from that [refining] process is so toxic that it has to be put into holding ponds so large they can be seen from space — and it takes 200 years to separate,” he says.

Ethanol, News

Chrysler Gives Grant to Alt. Energy Company

John Davis

chrysler.jpgChrysler has handed out a $150,000 grant to alternative energy incubator company NextEnergy.

nextenergy.jpgThis story on the Detroit News web site says the two Detroit-based companies are collaborating on several projects, including the National Biodiesel Energy Lab, which is developing standards for biodiesel used in vehicles:

“This grant is an extension of Chrysler’s commitment to being a good neighbor,” said Frank Fountain, Chrysler LLC senior vice president for external affairs and public policy. “It’s a priority for Chrysler to increase the use of alternative fuels by investing in research into biodiesel technology.”

NextEnergy’s research into biodiesel is of high interest to Chrysler. Ross Good, Chrysler senior manger for energy and substance, said the automaker aims to recommend a 20 percent blend of biodiesel for all its diesel vehicles, but can’t make that recommendation until a national standard for the fuel is established.

Chrysler was the first automaker to partner with NextEnergy several years ago, said Jim Croce, CEO of NextEnergy.

“With The Chrysler Foundation’s grant,” he said, “we have been able to complete a testing platform that helps check out the viability of new bio and synthetic fuels as they progress from concept to use in vehicles and power generators.”

Biodiesel, Car Makers