Marathon First to Offer In-line Blending in Kentucky

John Davis

Marathon Oil The nation’s fifth-largest oil refiner, Marathon Oil, has announced it is the first biodiesel storage and distribution terminal in Kentucky to provide in-line blending. From a company press release dated today, Mary Ellen Peters, Marathon’s senior vice president for marketing says “Biodiesel helps us meet thechanging needs of our customers while supporting Kentucky’s alternative
fuels goals. Our focus continues to be on delivering the quality products our customer’s desire. Shipping the first load of biodiesel out of Marathon’s terminal fulfills that goal.”

Kentucky Clean Fuels - Kentucky Soybean Board
The Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition, the Kentucky Soybean Board and National Clean Cities, Inc. helped Marathon get some grants to make this possible. The terminal, located in Louisville, will provide B-2 (2% biodiesel) and B-5 (5% biodiesel) products.

Biodiesel

Coal Leader Poised to be Wind Leader

John Davis

Officials in Wyoming, the country’s largest coal producer, believe the state could become a leader in using wind to generate power. This story in the Casper (WY) Star Tribune says the state ranks as the seventh windiest in America and has 14 million acres of windy land:

FPL Energy Wyoming “Wind energy is the fastest growing energy technology in the world, and the future looks bright for this clean energy source in Wyoming,” said documents from FPL Energy, which owns and operates the Wyoming Wind Energy Center near Evanston. “The state has world-class wind resources, the technology is improving and the costs are coming down, making wind power cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation.”

The Evanston center powers about 43,000 homes, and Wyoming has two other wind generation sites… one south of Cheyenne, and one in Medicine Bow. The article says the potential for wind electrical generation in the state is 883 million megawatt hours per year. Wyoming used only 12 million megawatt hours in 1999.

Wind

Riding & Driving

Chuck Zimmerman

Volkswagen TouregThe Ride & Drive is bigger and better than ever here at the National Biodiesel Conference this year. If you want, you can drive any of several vehicles like this 2007 Volkswagen Toureg TDI.

You can see a list of all the vehicles involved here: Ride & Drive List (pdf file)

If you’re interested you can also see a list of diesel vehicles which are available here in the United States: Diesel Vehicle List (pdf file)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, Car Makers

Merle Haggard on Biodiesel

Chuck Zimmerman

Merle HaggardOne of the newest stars to advocate biodiesel is Merle Haggard. The legendary country star performed for attendees at this year’s Conference after meeting with the press and the board of the National Biodiesel Board.

Before coming to the auditorium where he performed though his bus got a fill up with biodiesel. During the press conference Merle said that he was learning about the benefits of biodiesel. When asked what attracted him to the renewable fuel source his answer was “the smell.”

Merle HaggardAs someone who is in a diesel powered bus a lot he says he really doesn’t like the smell of burning diesel but heard that biodiesel smelled different and that was what got him interested. He also said that he’s happy for how the development of biodiesel is helping American farmers. (Thanks to Brian Kanof for the picture of Merle filling up)

I recorded the full press conference which you can listen to here: Listen To MP3 Merle Haggard Press Conference (14 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference

Freezing to Report on Global Warming

Cindy Zimmerman

Ely MeBeing a Floridian at heart, if not by birth, I can honestly say I have never been in weather as cold as last weekend in Ely, Minnesota when I had the opportunity to attend Ely’s Winter Festival and visit with the community’s favorite son, arctic exporer Will Steger.

Fortunately I did dress for the part, but I still had to wear fairly thin gloves to take pictures and there was one point that my hands went numb and it took 15 minutes of warming over a pot-bellied stove to get them to stop hurting.

It is a little difficult to operate a camera in sub-zero temperatures. Each of my two digital cameras froze up once on me during the picture taking at the Steger homestead.

Ely Col The official low Saturday night was 32 below zero, but it had warmed up to a balmy 25 below when we left Ely on Sunday morning to catch a plane out of Duluth.

It was a beautiful place and an interesting experience. Maybe I can go back there in the summertime!

global warming, Miscellaneous

Explorer, Environmentalist, Educator and Ethanol Evangelist

Cindy Zimmerman

Will and Bear The dogs may be pulling the sled when world-renowned arctic explorer Will Steger departs on his latest expedition February 14, but the trip will be powered by ethanol.

When Steger was looking for sponsors to support his Global Warming 101 expedition, he decided that the ethanol industry would be a natural choice.

“I’ve been talking up the benefits of ethanol for 18 years,” Steger said. “I wrote a book in 1988 and in that book I talked about ethanol as being one of the solutions.”

So, Steger approached Ron Fagen, president of Fagen, Inc. in Granite Falls, Minnesota, about the idea last year and Ron not only jumped at the opportunity, he brought the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) on board as well.

Fagens Will and Jeff“The world has become acutely aware that the use of fossil fuels is warming our planet at an alarming rate,” said Fagen. “We are honored to support his efforts to document these effects and inspire changes that will halt this trend.”

Steger says he really believes that if Americans use more ethanol it will make a positive difference in the global climate situation and it has other benefits as well. “It’s best for our economy and our national security and above all supporting our people in the rural areas,” he said. Steger is pictured here with Ron and Diane Fagen and Team Ethanol Indy Car driver Jeff Simmons.

Listen to a brief interview with Will done at the Mukluk Ball this past weekend in Ely, Minnesota. Listen To MP3 Steger Interview (1:30 min MP3)

To help support the Global Warming 101 expedition, EPIC is selling cute little polar bears in ethanol t-shirts, like the one Will is holding in the top picture. Go to www.drivingethanol.org and click on the e-mart link on the right side of the home page, then choose “polar expedition” under merchandise categories. They also have t-shirts.

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol, global warming, News

Download Freedom Fuels for Free

Cindy Zimmerman

Freedom Fuels The documentary “Freedom Fuels” is now available for free download.

“Freedom Fuels” takes an in-depth look at renewable fuel sources, such as bio-diesel, ethanol and vegetable oil. It explores the interaction of the petroleum industry and alternative fuels over the last 150 years, and examines the global impact that bio-fuels can have on our future.

Visit www.mofilms.org to download the documentary. Download instructions are on the web page. Quicktime 7 is required to view the movie, and is also available for free download on the site.

Biodiesel, EPIC, Ethanol, News

Darryl Brinkmann Interview

Chuck Zimmerman

Darryl Brinkmann, Larry Hagman, Daryl HannahI think that I’ve mentioned that many of my interviews and some other audio files like general session presentations are available as a podcast. It’s the National Biodiesel Conference Podcast in fact. You can find the link and instructions on how to subscribe here.

One of the interviews in the podcast series is one I did today with the chairman of the National Biodiesel Board, Darryl Brinkmann, seen here on the left during a rehearsal session yesterday with Larry Hagman and Daryl Hannah.

I spoke with Darryl today about how this conference is growing and what he sees as challenges facing the biodiesel business even in light of all the growth that’s taking place. Darryl says that there are two things to consider, one is quality and the other is public policy.

Listen to my interview with Darryl here: Listen To MP3 Darryl Brinkmann Interview (4 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, Miscellaneous

Segments of the Opening Session

Chuck Zimmerman

Representatives at General SessionAt this morning’s general session a panel discussion was held that featured U. S. Representatives, Collin Peterson (D-MN), Kenny Hulshof (R-MO), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) and Dave Wheldon (R-FL). These are also the members of The Second Amendments, the band that played at half time during the Super Bowl party yesterday here at the National Biodiesel Conference.

They talked about their vision of our nation’s energy future. The moderator for the session was Gene Gebolys, World Energy Alternatives and NBB Regulatory Chair.

I recorded the session for you in its entirety: Listen To MP3 Representatives Rock The House (34 min MP3)

During the morning general session the NBB CEO, Joe Jobe gave a speech in which he outlines several key focus areas for the organization. I recorded his speech and you can listen to it here: Listen To MP3 Joe Jobe Speech (12 min MP3)

Just in case you’d like to read a transcript of his remarks you can find it with this link: Joe Jobe Speech (Word Document)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, Government

Meet Our Sponsor – John Deere

Chuck Zimmerman

As you know by now, the sponsor of my coverage of the National Biodiesel Conference is John Deere. I met with Don Borgman, John Deere representative attending the conference this morning and recorded the interview you can watch on this YouTube.

I also recorded it as an audio interview series as well. Don talks about the John Deere renewable fuel initiative and says that the company has actually been supporting biodiesel for some time.

Listen to my interview with Don here: Listen To MP3 Don Borgman Interview (7 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, Video