ACE Conference 2026

Minnesota Company Harvesting Power from the Sea

John Davis

INR logo Officials with Independent Natural Resources, Inc., a company based in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, say they have successfuly tested a wave-powered pumping system that will move ocean water to a hydroelectric plant and desalination facility. The Star Tribune reports the company has been working on the project for five years and has tested in off the coast of Freeport, Texas:

Mark Thomas, CEO of Independent Natural Resources Inc., said Friday from Texas that he views the test as a big step forward in the search for what has been an elusive form of alternative energy that one day could generate lots of cheap, clean power for coastal cities.

An engineering team from Texas A&M University at Galveston, which also has done laboratory testing of early stages of the wave-powered “Seadog” pump, plans to visit the Gulf of Mexico site off Freeport to review the project.

INR, Inc Officials
The company believes a one-square-mile field of Seadog pumps (see a demo of it here) could produce up to 1,500 megawatts of hydroelectricity.

Another Seadog test site is planned off the coast of California.

Miscellaneous

Pamplona Buses to Run on Biodiesel

John Davis

Pamplona, Spain is famous for its annual running of the bulls, but the city’s buses might become famous for running on eco-friendly biodiesel. Fifty city buses will run on a 100% biodiesel mixture provided by the Spanish company Acciano. Check out this story from Reuters:

Pamplona biodiesel Acciona will deliver 1.5 million liters of fuel a year, produced from vegetable oil at its plant at Caparrosa, also in northern Spain.

Acciona said the city planned to extend biodiesel use to the whole fleet of 127 buses.

“This is the first case in which 100 percent biodiesel is used by public transport in Spain on a large scale,” it said.

Pamplona was already using 20-30% biodiesel in about 50 city buses.

Biodiesel, International

John Deere Promoting Biodiesel Green

John Davis

John Deere logo John Deere Green might be more than just a highly recognizable color… it could be a way of life for the tractor-making giant. A quick mention on TheHorse.com is directing readers to John Deere’s expanded web site on biodiesel and biofuels information:

John Deere combine “The biodiesel content on the Web site will help provide farmers and others interested in biofuels with more detailed information on this topic and John Deere’s position on how these fuels can most effectively produced and utilized as high-quality energy sources,” said Don Borgman, director of agricultural industry relations for John Deere.

Click here for to see a report and video on biofuels from the John Deere web site.

Of course, John Deere was a recent sponsor of Domestic Fuel’s coverage of the National Biodiesel Conference.

Biodiesel

Cellulosic Ethanol Production Comes to Louisiana

Cindy Zimmerman

A cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant broke ground Friday in Jennings, Louisiana – the first of its kind in the United States.

Massachusettes-based Celunol Corporation also celebrated the grand opening of the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol pilot facility. Celunol officials were joined in the celebrations by dignitaries from federal, state and local government, including Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

Blanco “These two milestones mark a significant step forward for Louisiana and our nation,” said Governor Blanco in a news release. “Cellulosic ethanol represents a new way to pursue the goals of increased energy security and economic development for our rural economy, while protecting the quality of our environment. We congratulate Celunol and its partners on these milestones, and look forward to the growth of this promising new industry here in Louisiana.”

Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen also congratulated the company on the accomplishment.

“To achieve the goals for renewable fuel use put forth by President Bush and Members of Congress, it will take the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol technology,” said Dinneen. “That commercialization took a big step forward today.”

When completed, the combined facilities will have the capacity to produce nearly 1.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year.

With a nominal production of 50,000 gallons per year, the pilot facility will further refine technology to convert biomass such as sugarcane bagasse, wood chips and other abundant biomass sources into ethanol. The demonstration facility will use locally-grown energy cane and sugarcane bagasse in ethanol production.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

New York Becoming the Windy State

John Davis

Chicago might be known as the Windy City (actually dubbed for the city’s talkative politicians), but New York State seems to be putting nature’s wind to good use. RenewableEnergyAccess.com reports that 9,300 customers of New York State Electric & Gas… better known as NYSEG… and another 3,000 customers of Rochester Gas & Electric… RG&E… have signed up to get wind-produced energy since the two subsidiaries of Energy East Corporation started offering the program a few years ago:

NYSEG Wind Chart “The wind energy programs at NYSEG and RG&E are a natural fit with our commitment to do all that we can to protect the environment,” said Jim Laurito, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “We are pleased to be able to offer this environmentally friendly, renewable energy option to our customers.”

NYSEG customers are projected to consume 33.3 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind energy this year. In 2007, users of RG&E should use about 19.5 million kWh.

Wind

Ethanol Conference Blog Announced

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA Conference It’s official – the 12th Annual National Ethanol Conference has a new blog.

The Renewable Fuels Association made the announcement in a press release:

The RFA is pleased to bring you complete coverage of the NEC in real time at the National Ethanol Conference Blog (www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/conference/blog/). The NEC Blog will feature recaps, photos and text of speakers’ remarks, as well as providing a feel for the atmosphere inside the conference.

“As the premiere policy conference for the ethanol industry, the NEC has seen interest in the event grow nearly as quickly as the industry itself,” said RFA President Bob Dinneen. “As such, the RFA is pleased to offer an up-to-the minute accounting of conference events to those unable to attend. The use of new media is critical to providing policy makers, business leaders, media and other interested parties with current and accurate information. Following the conference, the RFA will continue to maintain the blog as a resource for those interested in the latest news from Washington impacting the U.S. ethanol industry.”

This year’s blog is being operated by Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm New Media. In addition to operating blogs for renewable fuel events, ZimmComm is also the publisher of energy.agwired.com.

Ethanol, News

U.S. Ethanol Giant Expanding into International Biodiesel Market

John Davis

ADM logo Archer Daniels Midland Co…. ADM… is already the largest ethanol producer in the U.S. Now, company officials want to become a major player in the international biodiesel market. Reuters quotes a Wall Street Journal report that says ADM plans to partner with Wilmar International to start a biodiesel plant in Indonesia. ADM will also have a biodiesel plant of its own in Brazil before July:

The Brazil plant is expected to be the nation’s largest, the paper said. Worldwide, the company projects a fourfold rise in biodiesel production over the next five years, the paper said.

ADM is playing it close to the vest and has not yet commented.

Biodiesel

Students On Board with Biodiesel… Literally

John Davis

City Academy logo Here’s a truly inspirational story. A group of students in Salt Lake City bought a bus on eBay to use for class trips. Now, the students at City Academy are even making their own biodiesel to drive the thing! Check out this story from KSL-TV:

City Academy Bio Bus Their science teacher Shea Wickelson is helping them learn how to make biodiesel, a combination of used vegetable oil and other chemicals.

Shea Wickelson, Science Teacher: “We spent a whole year of chemistry curriculum tying chemistry concepts to our coming up with sort of the perfect biodiesel formula, and all of the students did their own independent research.”

Maddy Hartley, High School Student: “We didn’t have to convert it, we didn’t have to add anything, we just run the biodiesel just like we would normal diesel, and the thing about biodiesel, the point of biodiesel, is to make vegetable oil a little less thick.”

By the way, City Academy is a public charter school that does college prep courses. Its motto is “Excellence and Innovation in Academics and Citizenship.”

Biodiesel

Ethanol Drives Ten Year Ag Forecast

Cindy Zimmerman

WAOB According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest projections, ethanol will dominate the farm economy for the next decade.

USDA’s Interagency Agricultural Projections Committee, headed by the World Agricultural Outlook Board, this week released “USDA Agricultural Projections to 2016.” According to the report, “strong expansion of corn-based ethanol production in the projections affects virtually every aspect of the field crops sector, ranging from domestic demand and exports to prices and the allocation of acreage among crops.”

USDA analyst David Stallings says by the year 2009, ethanol will consume 30 percent of US corn production, compared to last year’s 20 percent. He expects acreage to increase to as much as 90 million acres by that year and prices to level off after that.

“We see a fairly rapid increase in corn prices for 2007-08 and 2008-09, and then peaking in 2009-10 at an average farm price of $3.75 per bushel,” said Stallings. They don’t expect corn prices to drop below $3.00 a bushel for the next decade.

Ethanol, Government, News

Saab Gives 100 Percent a Go

Cindy Zimmerman

Saab 100 Saab plans to unveil a 100 percent bioethanol-powered engine in Geneva next month.

According to a news release:

GM Powertrain CEO Kjell ac Bergstrom said: ‘Bioethanol is a potent, high-quality fuel which opens up exciting possibilities in helping to meet the environmental challenges that face us. As the need to reduce energy consumption increases, we are exploring ways to run smaller engines that give relatively high power, with and without hybrid technology. This concept car shows that bioethanol can play a key role in this “right-sizing” process, while also minimizing fossil fuel emissions.’

Car Makers, Ethanol, News