Florida Living Green, Going Yellow

Cindy Zimmerman

GM E85 has arrived in the Sunshine State.

Florida’s first E85 pump opened in Tallahassee Wednesday, with Governor Jeb Bush doing the honors of filling the first tank full.

General Motors Corporation, in partnership with Inland Food Stores and the State of Florida, facilitated the launch. According to a company release, they have plans for at least 16 other fueling sites in the greater Tallahassee area.

“Securing a diverse and reliable supply of energy will reduce Florida’s dependence on imported oil and ensure that a balanced mix of fuel sources and technologies are available for years to come,” said Governor Bush. “The tremendous potential of ethanol to become a major source of transportation fuel for Florida ‘s energy future will be spurred with greater public access to ethanol fueling stations.”

Commenting on today’s announcement, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson added, “We congratulate General Motors and Inland Food Stores in the formation of this partnership to bring renewable biofuel to consumers at more retail locations. We’re pleased that the efforts of today’s partnership will help provide more Florida consumers with domestically grown and produced fuel choices like E85.”

Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles

Locally-Owned Plants Better For Local Economies

Cindy Zimmerman

NCGA A study released today by the National Corn Growers Association says that ethanol plants owned by local farmers provide more economic benefits for communities than those owned by absentee investors.

The study, “Economic Impacts on the Farm Community of Cooperative Ownership of Ethanol Production,” concludes that, “Since a farmer-owned cooperative ethanol plant is literally a member of the community, the full contribution to the local economy is likely to be as much as 56 percent larger than the impact of an absentee-owned corporate plant.”

Two main reasons are given for that conclusion:

1. The share of expenditures for operations of a farmer-owned plant derived in the local community is likely to be larger than that of an absentee-owned plant. For example, virtually all accounting, administrative and marketing functions will be provided locally, while these functions may be centralized off site for an absentee-owned plant.

2. Farmer-owners of a cooperative or limited liability corporation (LLC) ethanol plant will participate in the profits through dividends. Dividends paid to farmer-owners represent additional income that is spent and invested largely in the local community, according to the study.

John Urbanchuk of LECG, LLC, conducted the analysis. The entire report can be viewed in pdf format here.

Ethanol

New KS Ethanol Company Hires CEO From USDA

Cindy Zimmerman

Everton Energy, a new biofuel company headquartered in Kansas, has announced the appointment of Bert Farrish as the company’s first Chief Executive Officer.

According to a news release, Farrish joins Everton from the United States Department of Agriculture, where he served as Deputy Administrator for Commodity Operations for the Farm Service Agency. In this role, Farrish was directly responsible for the administration of the United States bio-diesel and ethanol bio-energy program.

“Our vision is to build a fully integrated energy production and marketing company, using the latest technological developments in bio-energy,” said Farrish. “We are in a unique position to take a leadership stake in the rapidly growing biofuel industry, and we expect to be producing ethanol within just three years. By 2010, Everton will be one of the leading producers and suppliers in the United States.”
Everton

Everton is partnering with Kansas-based ICM to design and construct a 100 million gallon ethanol production facility in Concordia, Kansas starting in early 2007. Everton also plans to announce details regarding the location and development of a second facility in the near future.

Ethanol

200 Million for Cilion

Cindy Zimmerman

Cilion Officials with California-based Cilion announced this week they have raised over $200 million in capital financing to build multiple ethanol plants.

Cilion was formed in June (see previous post) with a partnership between Western Milling and venture capital firm Khosla Ventures

According to a press release, Cilion will operate modular, standardized 55 million gallons per year ethanol plants using India-based Praj technology. Using a variety of innovations, these plants will be greener and less expensive than standard corn-to-ethanol plants, therefore substantially reducing the consumption of traditional energy sources in ethanol production.

Ethanol

Agressive Expansion

Cindy Zimmerman

Petrobras According to this AP report out of Rio de Janeiro, “Brazil is aggressively expanding its sugarcane plantations and expects to more than double its annual exports of alcohol fuel, or ethanol, by 2010.” That’s according to Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy speaking at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference on Monday.

Brazil is the world’s second-biggest producer of ethanol after the United States and is the biggest exporter. Brazil also has the world’s largest fleet of ethanol-powered cars _ seven out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil are “flex fuel” vehicles that can run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of the two.

Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said it expected to sign a long-term contract to export ethanol to Venezuela.

Ethanol, International

Breaking More Ground

Cindy Zimmerman

US Bioenergy Thursday is the big day for a new ethanol plant in Michigan.

US BioEnergy will celebrate the opening of Michigan’s third ethanol plant in Woodbury Thursday, Sept. 14. Mitch Irwin, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, will serve as master of ceremonies. Bob Dineen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association will speak along with company officials. US Bio Woodbury will use more than 16 million bushels of corn to produce 50 million gallons of ethanol annually

According to the US Bio Woodbury page on the US Bioenergy website, they have a live web cam to “check out plant construction progress live.” I tried it, but it didn’t work – even after downloading the recommended software from the site, which took about 25 minutes! So, I assume it will be there sometime – maybe after the groundbreaking. I mean, how much could there be to look at now?

Ethanol

Paseo Biofuels Meetings

Cindy Zimmerman

MSA cargill More Paseo Biofuels investment meetings are scheduled for this week in Missouri.

Tuesday 9/12 at 9:00 a.m. – City Auditorium in Union
Wednesday 9/13 at 9:00 a.m. – Red Rooster Restaurant in Laplata
Wednesday 9/13 at 1:00 p.m. – Lions Club Hall in Mendon
Thursday 9/14 at 9:00 a.m. – Hampton Inn in Clinton
Thursday 9/14 at 12:00 p.m. – Flaming Lantern in Butler
Friday 9/15 at 9:00 a.m. – Holy Rosery in Monroe City

For more information about Paseo Biofuels they suggest you call 573-635-3819.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel in the Parks

Cindy Zimmerman

National ParksIn 1995, the soybean checkoff funded key research on soy biodiesel quality. The same year, Yellowstone National Park began serving as the soy biodiesel testing ground for the National Park Service. A decade later, the market for soy biodiesel is flourishing, and its use has spread to more than 20 other national parks and among thousands of other diesel users such as farmers and truckers.

United Soybean Board director Chuck Myers of Nebraska and Jim Evanoff, Environmental Manager for Yellowstone National Park held a press conference Tuesday from Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park to talk about the use of biodiesel in our national parks.

“We’re here to recognize ten-plus years of successful use of biodiesel in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park,” said Myers. “It confirms that biodiesel can be used successfully in one of the harshest all weather climates in the United States.”

“Yellowstone, being the world’s first national park, we feel an obligation to be first at doing the right thing environmentally,” Evanoff said. “The most successful has been the introduction and advancement of biodegradable fuels in Yellowstone Park.”

You can listen to the opening statements of Myers and Evanoff here: Listen to MP3 Biodiesel Parks (6 min MP3)

According to the state of Montana, the use of biodiesel by Yellowstone has reduced the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 500 tons per year.

The use of biodiesel in the National Park Service now includes 23 parks nationwide with over 1,000 different diesel applications including conventional diesel vehicles, boats, heavy equipment, and stationery applications such as boilers and stand-by generators. Blends range from 2 percent to 100 percent biodiesel.

Biodiesel, Government

Paul Dana Awards

Cindy Zimmerman

Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman honored the first three recipients of the Paul Dana Leadership in Biofuels Awards on Aug. 28 in a ceremony at the Indiana State House.

The recipients of the 2006 Paul Dana Leadership in Biofuels Award are Kellie Walsh, executive director of the Central Indiana Clean Cities Alliance; Dr. Mike Ladisch, a professor at Purdue University who directs the school’s laboratory of renewable resources engineering; and Jon Lantz, vice president of supply and marketing for Countrymark Coop. Pictured with the winners are Skillman and Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller (on either side of Kellie Walsh).Dana

The award, announced during 90th Indianapolis 500 activities in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was named in memory of Indy Racing League IndyCar Series driver and biofuels advocate Paul Dana. Notice that the awards are replicas of Dana’s helmet in the photo.

“Paul Dana was a man who understood the incredible upside to the development and use of biofuels,” said Skillman. “He could see the many benefits biofuels offer to our nation, to our environment and to our farmers. He used his position and energy to make great strides in this area. The three individuals we honor today are examples of the dedication and vision that marked Paul Dana’s life and legacy.”

Read more on drivingethanol.org.

(Winners photo from Ron McQueeney Indy Racing League)

Ethanol, Indy Racing

Full Flex Fuel Facts

Cindy Zimmerman

Full Flex Logo Got a call today from FullFlex USA, a company in Idaho that sells a conversion system to make most any car a flex-fuel vehicle. Seems they saw the post on Flex Tek we did a while back (see previous post) and thought I might be interested in doing an interview about their system – and I was.

According to their website, “FULLFLEX GOLD Bi-Fuel Manager works with microprocessors that automatically adapt to your fuel system requirements. There is no polarity concern with Fullflex. The computer system calculates a ultra fine adjustment which may increase fuel economy and better performance for your vehicle.”

President and CFO Alex Conger owns this bright yellow Hummer, named “Ethyl,” that runs on 98 percent ethanol using the FullFlex system and he says he actually gets better fuel mileage with ethanol using the system than with regular gasoline!

You can listen to my interview with Alex here: Listen to MP3 Full Flex Interview (9 min MP3)

You can also see a video of Alex and Ethyl on their website, or from this YouTube link.

Alex doesn’t quote a price for the Full Flex system in the interview, saying that he would rather people would call so that he can find out exactly what vehicle they have and what their needs are. The toll free number is 866-568-3617 and the website is FullFlexInt.com. There is an on-line store with various models which range from about $420 to $700, depending on the vehicle type – monopoint, multipoint, throttle body injector, five cylinder, etc.

Audio, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles