New Hampshire is crashing into an arbitrary cap on solar, and without swift measures before the next legislative session begins in January, New Hampshire’s competitive solar market and local jobs are in jeopardy. Tell Utilities Solar Won’t be Killed (TUSK) and their Chairman Barry Goldwater Jr. are urging New Hampshire’s leaders to preserve competition by lifting this cap on energy choice and preventing disruption to a growing market.- Concurrent Design, Inc. has received a one-year, $1 million cooperative award from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative. With support from Pecan Street Inc., the company will develop an advanced prototype of Energy Switch, a home energy device that manages the flow of electricity between a home, the home’s solar panels, an on-site battery, back-up generation, and the electric grid.
- Invenergy has announced that it has signed a 125 MW wind power purchase agreement (PPA) with Owens Corning to provide the insulation, roofing, and fiberglass manufacturer with renewable energy supporting their new corporate sustainability goals.
- Representatives from C.A.T., U.S. Venture Gain Fuel Canada, and Gaz Métro, along with local and regional dignitaries, celebrated the grand opening of the first GAIN Clean Fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) public station in Quebec. The GAIN station, located at 4 Transport Street in the industrial park of Coteau-du-Lac, will provide the North American carrier with alternative fuel to support C.A.T.’s growing fleet of CNG trucks.
Effect OSG Unveils “Hybrid” House
The Effect Operational Sales and Systems Group (Effect OSG) has unveiled a “hybrid” house on a private home in Laurentians in Quebec. The home is powered by an Enerdynamic Hybrid Technologies (EHT) wind and solar hybrid system. The systems, coined EnerCubes, consists of eight vertical axis wind turbines featuring an innovative vane design and solar panels fully integrated into an automated battery management and control system.
The Outback Power management system controls eight 500 watt EnerCubes, 3.8 kilowatt (kW) of solar panels and batteries with 54 kWh energy capacity. According to Effect OSG, the roof mounted EnerCubes has features such as:
- self-start at wind speeds as low as 1.7 meters per second (3.8 miles or 6.1 kilometers per hour) sustained rotation;
- low maintenance since the system has no drive shaft, no gear boxes, no brushes, bushings or slip rings;
- modular design, which allows ‘flat-packed’ shipping to the deployment site with plug and play installation;
- scalable, since they can be installed either as single functioning units or grouped together for additional power, low vibration, through the use of precision matched bearings, which are the only turbines’ moving parts; and
- no electromagnetic interference (EMI) since the generator emits a frequency of 14 HZ when operating at its rated output, which is too low to produce EMI.
President and CEO of Enerdynamic Hybrid Technologies Inc., John Gamble, said, “We are most pleased to deliver an advanced wind and solar hybrid resource with key performance parameters.
Paul Dionne, President Effect OSG, added that, “as a specialist firm in linking client needs to custom fit energy solutions, we felt that introducing this wind generator technology, which turns with much greater ease than traditional turbines, gave our clients a significant edge in using an ultra-efficient wind energy system to be less dependent on electric utilities.”
Other companies involved in the project included O² Globale Énergie, Phase3 Energy and EnShift Power. Other contributors include Gagnon & Zollner Maîtres Artisans, for system installation and building structure; Triacta Power Solutions, for power monitoring system; and Budget Propane, for gas heating systems, as an alternative to further reduce customers’ electrical bills.
Consumer Food Opinions & Mass Media
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What’s mass media’s impact on consumer food opinion?”
This poll made it clear that mass media does impact the opinions consumers have on food. Is this a good thing or bad? It seems good news doesn’t make front page. How do we get consumers to look at the science behind the food they eat? Maybe that should be an upcoming ZimmPoll.
Here are the poll results:
- Big – 71%
- Small – 19%
- None – 0%
- Doesn’t matter – 10%
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, Does your agribusiness/operation have a crisis communications plan?
Consumers are more interested than ever about our diverse food supply. We as an agriculture community have a great challenge when it comes to communicating in an ever-changing world where information is just a click away. Agribusinesses and farming/ranching operations need to be proactive in communicating with the consumer. Do you have a crisis communications plan set in place? Have you had to use it?
Military Jets Could Fly High on Roadside Gumweed
Researchers in Nevada are finding a way to turn a roadside weed into a high performance military jet fuel. This article from the University of Nevada, Reno, says the school’s Glenn Miller is leading the effort in a project that refines roadside gumweed into biofuel.
“The plant grindelia squarosa, known as curly top gumweed, has extractable hydrocarbons with the potential use as a biodiesel or biomaterials crop,” Miller, a professor in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, said. “Gumweed is native in Nevada and grows on the side of freeways and, more importantly, is an arid land crop that requires less water than other substitutes like alfalfa. Alfalfa takes five feet of water to grow while gumweed uses no more than a foot of water.”
The collaborators on the project planted the gumweed at the University’s Valley Road Field Laboratory and the Main Station Field Laboratory using minimal water and fertilizer resources. After growing and harvesting the gumweed, it went through biomass processing where it was broken down to liquid that smells like tar.
The researchers say the crop and process can produce up to 122 gallons per acre on a biennial basis on the semi-arid lands of Nevada. The project received $500,000 in grant funding from the United States Department of Agriculture and has the potential to supply up to 20 percent of fuel demand for the military.
“It is estimated that if even 10 percent of sagebrush-covered lands in Nevada are used to grow gumweed for aviation biofuels, 400 to 600 million gallons per year of jet biofuels could be produced,” Hongfei Lin, a collaborator from the College of Engineering, said. “That’s definitely incredible. There’s lots of potential.”
Testing to Begin at Nebraska Biodiesel Plant
The retrofitting of a Nebraska biodiesel plant is nearly complete, and officials are ready to start testing the equipment for its actual opening. This article from the Beatrice (NE) Daily Sun says the Duonix biodiesel plant is almost ready to go after originally being built in 2007 and bought in 2011 by Flint Hills Resources, which is a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc., and Benefuel Inc.
Mayor Stan Wirth said the company will begin testing the plant before putting it into operation sometime next year.
“For the past year, they have been retrofitting the plant for the first commercial sale use of their biodiesel technology,” Wirth said. “In preparation of that startup, they will be conducting safety checks on the plant and its equipment over the next couple months.”
According to a letter sent to the company’s “neighbors,” the safety checks may result in a “blowdown,” which is the venting of high-pressure gas or water.
The routine procedure is used to check the integrity of piping work, the letter stated, that produces a sound similar to the roar of a jet engine and may last for a few minutes.
Workers will also test the flare gas recovery system, designed to minimize the need for flaring, a safety mechanism that reduces pressure and maintains balance in industrial systems.
Save the Date for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit
Mark your calendar for the 10th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit taking place Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at The Meadows Conference Center at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. Hosted by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA), the event is free and open to the public.
“Our 10th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit is set to be bigger and better than ever,” said IRFA Managing Director Lucy Norton. “With so much discussion over the Renewable Fuel Standard, and with the Iowa Caucuses right around the corner, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit will be a great place to learn and engage on the latest renewable fuels issues.”
Although the Summit is free, registration is required and now open. Click here to learn more about the event, to register and to obtain information about sponsorship and trade show opportunities.
ACE Ads Feature RFS Success Stories
As the deadline for the final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rules nears for 2014, 2015 and 2016, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) is promoting members with RFS success stories in Washington, D.C. One such story is being featured in Morning Consult’s daily energy brief and another in the November 18, 2015 edition of The Washington Post.
One story features Delayne Johnson, CEO of Quad County Corn Processors and other features Jeff Oestmann, CEO of East Kansas Agri-Energy. Both are part of ACE’s Power by People campaign, an initiative that highlights people in the ethanol industry who are doing extraordinary things for the economy and the environment.
“ACE’s ads draw attention to the milestones that East Kansas Agri-Energy and Quad County Corn Processors have achieved in advanced and cellulosic biofuel thanks to the RFS, evidence that should help the Obama Administration stand strong on RFS blending volumes instead of caving into oil company demands,” said Brian Jennings, executive vice president of ACE.
Morning Consult’s daily energy brief is read by more than 41,000 subscribers inside and out of the Beltway and ACE’s advertisement runs today through November 23. In addition, ACE is sponsoring a “cover wrap” print ad in copies of The Washington Post delivered to Capitol Hill on November 18. The print ad is available on the ACE website.
During the month of November, ACE’s social media platforms are also showcasing people from all walks of life, including retailers and consumers, who benefit from a strong RFS using videos, infographics, and profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and featuring hashtags #RFSWorks, #PowerByPeople, and #RFSOnward.
BioEnergy Bytes
- Greenbelt Resources Corporation has been nominated to receive a 2015 Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award. Founded in partnership with Los Angeles Business Journal in 2010, the honors are awarded annually on the basis of accomplishment in a range of fields. The 2015 event, “Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Symposium and Awards,” will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills on November 18, 2015.
- Biomass Supplies (Pvt) Ltd, based in Sri Lanka, is producing biomass from branches pruned from live fences of Gliricidia trees. The company, which works with 30,000 small farmers who have planted 60 million new trees, is the first smallholder project to earn RSB certification in South East Asia.
- Green Plains Inc. has announced that it has completed the acquisition of an ethanol facility located in Hereford, Texas. The Hereford facility is the company’s fourteenth ethanol plant, bringing Green Plains’ total production capacity to more than 1.2 billion gallons per year. The company expects to offer the facility’s transportation and storage assets to its master limited partnership, Green Plains Partners LP.
- Plug Power Inc. has announced it has been named to Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500, a listing of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. Plug Power revenue grew 132 percent during the period from 2011 to 2014.
10K New U.S. Clean Energy Jobs in Q3
According to the latest Clean Energy Jobs report from Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), there were almost 10,000 new clean energy jobs announced during the third quarter (Q3) this year. The top three states for the quarter were: Utah (2,950 jobs announced), California (1,916) and Colorado (850). Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Maine, Nebraska, Mississippi and North Dakota rounded out the top 10. So far this year, about 30,000 clean energy jobs have been announced.
The top clean energy sector was solar with nearly 7,000 jobs at 23 projects in power generation or manufacturing. The wind energy industry came next with approximately 2,500 jobs across 11 projects.
“Clean energy continues to put more Americans to work every day all across our country,” said Bob Keefe, E2’s executive director. “We can keep that growth going – but only if our state and federal lawmakers take action on the clean energy policies now before them.”
Keefe said the report suggests Congress could stimulate even more economic activity in clean energy through the passage of long-term federal tax incentives. These incentives assist in putting clean energy industries along with energy efficiency at a more level playing field with fossil fuel industries.
In addition, Keefe said the report highlights a how states can send a clear market signal to the private sector to increase investments, and create more jobs, by implementing the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The report notes that smart implementation of the Clean Power Plan by states – along with strong “subnational” clean energy policies in states like California – will help the U.S. meet its climate goals and show leadership as nearly 200 countries prepare to convene at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 21) in Paris next month.
“Here at home, the Clean Power Plan gives us a clear roadmap for creating good clean energy jobs,” said RJ Harrington, president and CEO of Sustainable Action Consulting near Denver. “Overseas, it solidifies America’s reputation as the global hub of innovative, entrepreneurial clean energy business activity.”
Broin Resumes Role as POET CEO
POET founder Jeff Broin announced last week that he has resumed his role as the company’s CEO after serving as Executive Chairman for over three years.
“A few years ago, I wanted to slow down a bit, be less involved in the affairs of POET and have time to do other things and spend more time with my family,” Broin said. “In the last few years I have been able to work on broader industry and ag issues, get our new foundation – Seeds of Change – up and running and support several third-world causes. However, I also found myself continuing to work regularly on company issues. The fact is, my passion and love for this company, our industry, agriculture and the people I work with is just too great. I guess you could say my heart has always been in this company. We have so many great opportunities in front of us to change the world, and I think I can be of most value moving forward by serving as CEO,”
Jeff Lautt has been CEO and will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of POET as President and Chief Operating Officer. “No one is more passionate about this company and industry than Jeff Broin. This business is in his blood,” said Lautt.