Governor’s Ethanol Challenge

Cindy Zimmerman

CACThe Minnesota Governor’s Ethanol Challenge is happening this week at four Wissota dirt tracks– July 10 in Alexandria, July 11 in Madison, July 12 in Willmar and July 13 in Montevideo.

According to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest, the Midwest Modified class races are “auto racing at its roots – loud, local and promoting an alternative fuel grown, produced and sold in Minnesota.”

“This annual event means a lot to local racetracks, the communities and to the Midwest Modified racers who have embraced this renewable fuel,” said Chad Willis, a member of the Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council and big fan of dirt track racing. “I have attended just about every race since the Governor’s Challenge began. The racers often tell me they prefer using ethanol because it has high octane, burns cooler and allows them to use smaller engines and get the same horsepower.”

Ethanol, News, Racing

California Plans World’s Largest Solar Farm

John Davis

cleantech.pngSan Francisco-based Cleantech America, LLC says it will build a solar power farm possibly a square mile in size… making it seven times bigger than the world’s largest and 17 times bigger than anything else of its kind in America.

This story from CNN.com says the project is slated to be completed in 2011 and would produce 80 megawatts of electricity:

Bill Barnes, CEO of Cleantech, said the scale of the Kings River Conservation District Community Choice Solar Farm will change renewable energy and make California the global leader for huge solar projects and replace Germany as the solar energy hub of the world.

“We’re pretty confident that solar farms on this scale are going to have an industry-changing impact,” Barnes said by telephone on Friday. “We think it’s the wave of the future. This scale of project, I think, creates a tipping point for renewable energy.”

Barnes declined to give the estimated construction cost of the Community Choice farm.

“We think the impact for it will be similar to the impact of the computer chip,” which gained computing power once made on a large scale, Barnes said.

When finished, the project will power almost 21,000 homes. Cleantech also has plans to build another 80-megawatt plant… if enough California land can be found.

Miscellaneous

Rising Feedstock Prices Squeezing Biodiesel End Product

John Davis

USDA logoFederal Agriculture Department officials are warning that the rising demand for biodiesel is pushing up the demand, and the price, for the feedstocks that go into biodiesel… and that is cutting into already thin margins biodiesel are working under.

USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins says soybean oil prices have already been going up, and farmers are planting 15 percent fewer acres of soybeans to make way for corn to produce ethanol… pushing supplies down even further… and prices for the biodiesel feedstock even higher.

Keith Collins“As we look out over the coming year, we still think we’re going to have adequate supplies of soybeans, but the price for soybean meal and soybean oil is going up, and biodiesel, made from soybean oil has already been on a very thin margin over the past year.”

Officials say rising regular diesel prices have stayed up as well, and that has helped.

Click here to hear the USDA’s story on this subject.

Biodiesel

All-Star Broadcast Powered by Biodiesel

John Davis

All Star GameTonight’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be seen by millions of fans across the country… thanks, in part, to biodiesel. And it’s just the start for the green fuel’s part on America’s sports stage.

Fox SportsFox Sports will be powering all of its generators, satellite trucks, and other diesel equipment at its television compound in San Francisco with 20 percent biodiesel, B20. This release from the National Biodiesel Board says Fox has also committed to using B20 to power its broadcasts of the World Series, Super Bowl, the Bowl Championship Series and other major events:

The move is part of the “Cool Change Initiative” introduced by News Corporation, the parent company to FOX Sports.

“This initiative is an attempt to reduce our carbon footprint to neutral by 2010,” said Michael Davies, Director, Field Operations – FOX Sports. “The All-Star game presents the opportunity to start implementing some of these environmentally friendly practices, part of which is using B20 in our equipment.”

“The entertainment industry has led by example when it comes to using and promoting biodiesel,” said Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board. “It’s refreshing to see such high profile stars and companies embracing biodiesel and letting it help them take control of their impact on the environment and oil imports.”

Fox officials say biodiesel was an easy choice for an alternative fuel, since they didn’t have to change any of their equipment to use it.

Biodiesel

Biofuel Output Forecast

Cindy Zimmerman

The International Energy Agency is forecasting that global biofuel output will double from 2006 levels to 1.75 million barrels a day in 2012.

IEAAccording to a Dow Jones newswire report, the agency included its second annual report on biofuels in its medium-term oil market report through to 2012, released on Monday.

IEA also raised its 2006 biofuel supply baseline by 79,000 barrels a day to 863,000 barrels a day due to stronger-than-expected growth and more detailed capture of projects. Still the agency warned while the forecasts showed a “considerable rate of growth” for global biofuel production they were significantly below capacity planned for 2012. IEA says it maintained a cautious biofuels stance because high feedstock prices raised doubts over economic viability.

“Many projects…will not see the light of day,” says IEA, adding current economics mostly favors use of feedstocks such as corn, sugar, soybeans, wheat and palm oil for food over fuel. Technology for significant production of biofuels from other feedstocks isn’t expected by the IEA to come into play by end of the 2012 outlook period.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

EPIC and RFA at Green Grand Prix

Cindy Zimmerman

GGP carHybrid and alternative fueled vehicles were in the spotlight July 6 at the Green Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, NY. The event is organized annually by the Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association, according to Executive Director Carol Fitzgerald.

“This was our third annual Green Grand Prix and it was tremendously successful,” said Fitzgerald. “The goal of the event was to be able to create more awareness of alternative fuels and the impact they can have on the environment.”

There were a total of 36 different vehicles in the road rally this year representing 10 different fuel types.

“We had everything from hybrid vehicles, to the ethanol-powered vehicles, we had electric,” Fitzgerald said. “We actually even had a wood-chip powered vehicle.”

Representatives from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) participated in the road rally driving one of only 20 new 2007 Ford Escape Flex Fuel Hybrids currently being tested around the country.

RFA Communications Director Matt Hartwig and EPIC Communications Director Joanna Schroeder were able to average nearly 31 miles to the gallon in the Ford Escape, which is on loan to RFA from Ford to test drive.

Link to full release with audio sound bites.

E85, EPIC, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News, Racing, RFA

Military Wants to Switch to Alternatives

John Davis

syntroleum1.JPGThe Department of Defense has signed a contract with Syntroleum Corp. to buy 500 gallons of biofuel made from animal fats. The feedstock for Syntroleum’s fuel would come from Tyson Foods.

This company press release says it’s a first-of-its-kind test program that is aimed to see if the military could use fuel from domestic, renewable sources:

Under terms of the contract, Syntroleum will provide 500 gallons of ultra-clean renewable synthetic jet fuel produced entirely from fats supplied by Tyson Foods, Inc., using the company’s recently announced Biofining(TM) technology. The fuel will be used for research development and performance testing in military turbine applications as part of the DOD’s Assured Fuels Program, aimed at evaluating the possibility of utilizing renewable alternative jet fuel made from bio feedstocks. The U.S. Air Force has expressed its desire to source 50 percent of its fuel needs from domestic alternative sources by 2016, and plans to certify its entire fleet of aircraft for alternative fuel use by 2010.

Jack Holmes“This contract with the U.S. Department of Defense is another significant milestone for Syntroleum,” said Jack Holmes, CEO of Syntroleum. “When the contract is completed, we would be the first company to provide both renewable synthetic aviation fuel and FT aviation fuel to the Department of Defense for its certification and weapon system testing program. This acceptance of our alternative synthetic fuels once again validates the quality and integrity of our product, and the successful completion of this program will provide Syntroleum with an opportunity for other long-term supply contracts with the Department of Defense.”

Just a personal note from a veteran who spent a few days in the heat and sand and grit of the desert, I would have been much happier camped out next to a corn and soybean field as opposed to some berm just off the oil fields. This makes a lot of sense to me.

Biodiesel

U.S. House Allows Sugar as Ethanol Stock

John Davis

Cong. Collin PetersonThe U.S. House Agriculture Committee is considering a measure that would allow U.S. growers to sell cane and beet sugar for making ethanol. It’s part of an 111-page proposal updating U.S. agriculture subsidies.

This Reuters story says the proposal was written by Ag Committee chair Cong. Collin Peterson of Minnesota:

Support rates for sugar would rise under the proposal, to 18.5 cents per lb of raw cane sugar and 23.5 cents per lb of beet sugar. They now are 18 cents per lb for cane and 22.9 cents a lb for beet sugar.

By law, the government must run the sugar program at no net cost. The program relies on domestic marketing allotments, when needed, to balance the supply of domestic and imported sugar with U.S. consumption. Tariff-rate quotas control imports.

Under the Agriculture Committee text, the Agriculture Department would set marketing allotments “for domestic human consumption” of sugar for the 2008-12 crop years. Sugar sold “for uses other than domestic human consumption” would be excluded from the limits.

One part of the proposal says if the federal Ag Department awards surplus sugar as a reward to growers who agree to reduce production of sugarcane and beets that are already planted, the sugar from those fields can only be used as a bioenergy feedstock.

Another related measure lets the USDA buy raw, refined, or in-process sugar from growers and sell it to bioenergy producers.

The proposals are part of the new farm bill.

Ethanol, Government, Legislation, News

Green Star Algae-Biodiesel Test Successful

John Davis

greenstar.jpgCalifornia-based Green Star Products, Inc. announced today that it has completed the second phase of testing its facility that turns algae into biodiesel.

According to this company press release, the company has been testing the five most important operating parameters that need to be controlled at its Montana facility including daily and seasonal pond temperatures, pH, evaporation, salinity, and invasion by outside organisms… some of the toughest challenges facing the commercial microalgae industry:

Mr. Joseph LaStella, President of GSPI, stated “The GSPI demonstration facility which is a full-size module of our planned production facility furnished GSPI with a wealth of field information and patentable low-cost construction techniques.”

Phase II testing included pushing the survival environmental envelope of the developed algae strain (zx-13) utilized by GSPI.

Mr. LaStella further stated, “The zx-13 strain survived at elevated temperatures, much higher than any tested in most of the available literature over the last 50 years. Temperature testing by Universities usually cuts off at 90 Degrees Fahrenheit, this zx-13 strain successfully endured peak temperatures of 115 Degrees Fahrenheit for several hours on successive days.”

One test result Green Star officials didn’t anticipate was how fast the algae would grow, and that has prompted them to consider a much larger 500 to 1,000-acre facility than the current 100-acre test plot.

The press release goes on to point out some real advantages to using algae instead of traditional oil-producing crops such as outproducing oilseeds by 100 times, algae eat global-warming CO2 gas and produce oxygen, it uses only sunshine and non-drinkable water, and doesn’t compete with food crops for land or fresh water.

Biodiesel, Research

Shipping Ethanol Could Be Literally On Track

John Davis

Ethanol producers facing the dilemma of not being able to ship much of their fuel through pipelines… but also not wanting to burn more fuel to make deliveries of the green fuel… have found the answer in an industry that can ship large quantities at a relatively cheaper price than semi-trucks: trains.

This article in Business Week says the boon for ethanol is also helping the railroads:

The idea behind ethanol is to reduce oil consumption, and thus reduce its negative environmental impact, so it seems trains would be the best way to transport the corn-based fuel. Trains are used to transport corn from grain bins to the production plants, and ultimately to markets across the country. According to the American Coalition for Ethanol, more than 75% of the ethanol produced in the United States is shipped by rail.

High diesel-fuel prices certainly make it a no-brainer for businesses to use the rails. As of June 25 the average price of on-highway diesel in the United States was $2.835 per gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration.

S&P equity analyst Kevin Kirkeby says shippers of bulk commodities, like coal and grain, are largely dependent on railroads for long-distance transportation. Ethanol is another product likely to rely heavily on the rails, as it is hard to transport ethanol any other way.

The article goes on to say Burlington Northern railroad’s ethanol shipping revenues this year will be $100 million. Rail car producers are also benefitting as they see demand for their cargo vehicles rise with the production of ethanol.

Ethanol, News