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

Letters to the Editors Show Support for Biodiesel

John Davis

Just a quick check of a few letters to the editors in some Sunday papers across the country reveals a possible increase in the understanding and acceptance of biodiesel.

This letter from Chip Keen, a certified mechanic from Puget Sound in Washington state, wound up in the Fort Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette:
Petrodiesel is highly toxic; biodiesel is less toxic than table salt. If the world ran on biodiesel rather than petroleum, oil spills would no longer be the matters of great concern that they are today, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would no longer be a bone of contention, and repressive regimes and global terrorism would no longer be supported by petro dollars.

And in the Billings (MT) Gazette, Mary E. Fitzpatrick, chair of the Clean Energy Task Force, Northern Plains Resource Council in Billings wrote:
Cleaner exhaust and homegrown prosperity helps everyone. Montana farmers can grow oilseed for a local market that is not controlled by agribusiness or multinational energy companies. The infrastructure supporting a biodiesel industry would bring jobs and income to rural Montana. The product could power many farm and ranch operations.

Just a couple of letters? Sure, but when you couple this anectdotal evidence with a recent survey from the Renewable Fuels Association that says 85% of Americans think that the government should be involved in the development of alternative fuels (see Cindy’s January 25th post), it at least seems to indicate more acceptance.

Biodiesel

Companies Join to Build Slovenia’s Largest Biodiesel Refinery

John Davis

A Slovenian oil refining company has partnered with an Austrian financier to build Slovenia’s largest biodiesel plant. The plant in Lendava, Slovenia (pictured below) will produce about 18 million gallons of biodiesel a year… making it one of the biggest in Europe.
Nafta Lendava Biodiesel Plant

According to a press release on the company’s website, Nafta Lendava, Eko Nafta, Nafta Biodizel and the Austrian firm CMB Maschinenbau with their representative Hypo Alpe Adria Bank joined together in the 15.4 million Euro deal (nearly US $20 million).

Groundbreaking is planned for this spring with the plant expected to be on-line in early 2008. When fully operational, it will represent nearly 90 percent of Slovenia’s biodiesel production.

Biodiesel, International

Saudi Alabama?

John Davis

This story in the e-zine Tuscaloosanews.com (a weekly on-line publication produced by the students and faculty of the University of Alabama’s College of Communications) says that the raw products in Alabama have the state poised to be the next Saudi Arabia… at least in the alternative fuels world. Using a combination of fuels produced from chicken poop, cellulose from the massive amount of wood products in the state, switchgrass, and a growing biodiesel industry in Alabama (made from locally grown soybeans), experts believe the state could be on the verge of something big:

David Bransby, Auburn U. “I often say we are the Saudi Arabia of biomass,” said David Bransby, professor of energy and fiber crops forage-livestock management at Auburn University. “I think those two resources: wood and broiler litter. If we had the technologies to produce the energy from them — to make the liquid fuels from them commercially competitive — we could start tomorrow because they’re all sitting there waiting. That material is all there.

Must be pretty big for Alabama students promoting the thoughts of someone from Auburn! The story goes on to say the state already has one biodiesel plant, another one coming on-line in March, and seven more in the works.

The state legislature has been a little slow to act, but now there is at least one tax incentive proposed, and Gov. Bob Riley has put together an alternative energies advisory panel.

Biodiesel, Cellulosic, Ethanol

Photo Album From the Biodiesel Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

I’m uploading all my photos each day to a Flickr Photo Album. I got started this evening and there’s already over 100 photos available.

To see the photos now and throughout the conference just visit this link: Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Biodiesel Conference Blog sponsored by John Deere

Biodiesel Conference