EcoTech: Clean Jobs Continue to Grow

Joanna Schroeder

Clean jobs continue to grow with more than one million green energy job postings across the nation during Q1 2015 according to Ecotech Institute’s Clean Jobs Index. The index is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics and includes jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their company’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use few natural resources.

Clean Job Openings Q1 2015“As more businesses look for ways to conserve energy and renewables continue to gain traction, more jobs are becoming available,” said Chris Gorrie, Ecotech Institute’s President. “States have come to see clean energy sources as an important piece of infrastructure, opening the door to great opportunities in renewable energy.”

In Q1 2015 there were 1.2 million clean job postings in the U.S. with the top states for jobs being California, Texas and New York. States with the Highest Rise in Clean Jobs Openings, Compared to Q1 2014 include: Rhode Island, New York, Texas, North Carolina and Maryland.

States with Most Clean Jobs per 100,000 People:

  • North Dakota
  • Iowa
  • Rhode Island
  • Colorado
  • Wyoming
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Ohio
  • Indiana
  • South Dakota

EcoTech Institute created the Clean Jobs Index to provide objective information about renewable energy jobs and to compare states’ use and development of clean and sustainable energy.

Clean Energy, Education, Electricity

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its Indian business partner, Essel Infraprojects Limited (“EIL”), to establish a solar cell and module manufacturing facility joint venture. The MOU declares a 500MW production capacity for the JV and outlines the duties of each party.
  • Broadwind Energy, Inc. has announced that Peter Duprey, President and CEO, was elected to the American Wind Energy Association’s Board of Directors. Duprey brings over 12 years of wind industry experience and insight to the group.
  • SunEdison, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded contracts to build 33 MW DC of rooftop solar with Southern California Edison (SCE) in the utility company’s latest round of solar procurement. The solar systems will be built on rooftops throughout the Orange County and Inland Empire industrial corridors as part of SCE’s plan to upgrade and modernize the grid for customers in densely populated metro areas and reduce power interruptions during periods of peak demand.
  • Equinix, Inc., an interconnection and data center company, and Bloom Energy have announced a 1 MW, biogas fuel cell project at its SV5 International Business Exchange data center, located in Silicon Valley. The deployment of fuel cells supports Equinix’s long-term sustainability goal of using 100 percent clean and renewable energy across its global platform of more than 100 data centers.
Bioenergy Bytes

Report Details Use of Biodiesel in Heating Oil

John Davis

noraA new report details how biodiesel could play a significant role in heating oil in the U.S. The congressionally mandated report, titled, “Developing a Renewable Biofuel Option for the Home Heating Sector” from the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) says ultra-low sulfur heating oil (ULSHO) has been one of the biggest transitions in heating oil, and biodiesel blends at 20 percent (B-20) with ULSHO are lower in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) than natural gas when evaluated over 100 years, while blends of 2 percent (B-2) or more are lower in GHG than natural gas when evaluated over twenty years.

Other key findings in the report include:

– Biodiesel blended at 5 percent would require approximately 300 million gallons of biodiesel produced per year. Assuming the biodiesel industry average of 50 million gallons per year per plant. Bioheat® would be responsible for 6 plants built and continuously operated. Thus, nearly 270 full time jobs can be directly attributed to Bioheat®.
– Studies on the operation of Bioheat® on the basic burner operation with biodiesel blends at B-20 (at least) is the same as with unblended heating oil.
– NORA (the Alliance) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) have communicated the value of using biodiesel and selling Bioheat®. The Alliance features information about Bioheat® on its consumer website, OilheatAmerican.com. The NBB has a webpage, Bioheatonline.com that describes the advantages of Bioheat®. Further, the Alliance and its affiliated state associations have worked to provide education on this product to consumers and retail oil companies through the use of mass media and informational brochures.
– State and local governments have utilized a number of strategies to encourage the use of biofuels in their communities. It is often necessary to encourage its use with incentives or mandates to develop the infrastructure and overall market acceptance for a new fuel.

Biodiesel

AWEA: Prez Candidates Must Back Wind

Joanna Schroeder

During WINDPOWER 2015 this week, new American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Board Chair Mike Garland declared that it is time for the wind industry to start flexing its muscle.

“From the smallest companies to the largest, we have a shared responsibility to make this vision a reality,” said Garland, president and CEO of Pattern Energy. “Everyone in this industry needs to demand a five-year PTC.” The Production Tax Credit (PTC) is the primary federal incentive for building more new wind farms.

windpower-2015-logoAccording to AWEA, the cost of wind power has declined over 58 percent in just five years, but to meet the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Vision will require a long-term stable policy environment that allows for a continued downward trajectory of wind’s costs.

Garland noted that Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and potential presidential candidate, has already come out in favor of a multi-year extension of the PTC, and that “it’s the industry’s job to make sure other candidates do the same”.

“What we do now will determine our success for years to come,” said Garland. “Let’s do our part and remind everyone that wind energy helps everyone, that wind is American’s clean, domestic and cheap fuel.”

Garland called on companies big and small to help the industry stay on track to meet the scenarios laid out in the DOE Wind Vision report released earlier this year. That starts with American wind power doubling from where it is today to 10 percent of the U.S. electricity mix by 2020, 20 percent by 2030 and become one of the leading sources of electricity by 2050.

Expanding on Garland’s comments were six other leading wind industry executives, including Chris Brown, president of Vestas. “For us, it’s pretty simple. We want to be the undisputed global wind leader. Full stop. It’s about one thing. Least cost of energy. We’re economic against a lot of forms of energy in most of the parts of the country. If we continue to drive that, we don’t become a political story, we become an economic story.”

Clean Energy, conferences, Electricity, Renewable Energy, Wind

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1The International Solar Energy Expo & Conference (EXPO Solar) will be held at KINTEX in Korea for 3 days from September 9 –11, 2015. More than 320 companies from over 20 countries, including China, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and the U.S. will participate in the ‘EXPO Solar 2015’, which celebrates its 7th anniversary this year. Over 28,000 foreign and Korean buyers and visitors will attend the expo.
  • Sunrun has announced a partnership with the Westfield Corporation to bring interactive stations to malls in New York and California. Beginning this week, Westfield malls will unveil stations that educate consumers on the ease and cost savings of making the switch to solar, and provide customized home proposals in minutes.
  • Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power has acquired the 103 MW Butler solar facility from Community Energy, Inc., in Georgia. Southern Power has acquired or is constructing more than 1,100 MW of renewable energy generating capacity with 16 solar, wind and biomass projects, including four solar projects in Georgia.
  • Trina Solar Limited has received the esteemed Innovation Award for the company’s Duo-Max module, a 72-cell frameless dual glass module (PEG14 series) at the Mexico International Renewable Energy Conference (MIREC), held this week in Mexico City.
Bioenergy Bytes

GEA Tells Senate: Geothermal Yes

Joanna Schroeder

The Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) is vocally supporting a bi-partisan legislation package that they say “would help expand geothermal power by addressing some of the most important barriers to geothermal development in the U.S.” according to Karl Gawell, Executive Director of the Geothermal Energy Association, GEA. The association singled out 562, S. 1057. (Note S. 822 is included as a provision of S. 1057.)

GEA logoS.562, Sponsored by Senator Heller (R-NV) and co-sponsored by Senator Risch (R-ID) would provide help for new geothermal projects to shorten delays at one of the most critical and risky phases of development – exploration, GEA explained. “Given the multiple NEPA processes required for geothermal development, and the inclusion of a restriction for lands involving extraordinary circumstances, we believe this process improvement can be made without risk to the environment,” GEA said. This legislation would provide geothermal exploration the same treatment afforded oil and gas exploration under the 2005 Energy Policy Act – a limited categorical exclusion — with the additional restriction for lands or resources viewed as involving extraordinary circumstance.

S. 1057, Sponsored by Senator Wyden (D-OR) and co-sponsored by Senator ester (D-MT) proposes several initiatives that GEA supported. It would:

  • set a 50,000MW National Geothermal Goal;
  • direct federal agencies to identify priority areas for development;
  • allow federal oil and gas lease holders to obtain a non-competitive geothermal lease to facilitate coproduction of geothermal from their wells — today 25 billion barrels of hot water is produced annually from oil and gas wells within the United States that is wasted;
  • authorize cost shared exploration of geothermal energy resources;
  • re-authorize the use of geothermal lease revenues to support the expansion of our knowledge of the resource base; and
  • facilitate new discoveries, by allowing the limited non-competitive leasing of adjacent lands where a new discovery has been made.

According to GEA, the Wyden bill would “help spur the discovery and development of the substantial untapped geothermal energy resources here in the U.S. The clean baseload geothermal energy produced as a result of these important measures will help the nation achieve a more diverse and reliable electricity supply, even as it reduces emissions, helps state and local economies, and creates jobs in both the oil and gas, and the renewable sectors.”

Clean Energy, Electricity, Geothermal, Renewable Energy

US Coachways Major Biodiesel Foundation Funder

Cindy Zimmerman

us-coach-greenA major motorcoach company has topped $10,000 in donations to the National Biodiesel Foundation, making US Coachways the single largest donor outside the biodiesel industry to date.

“This donation total to date is a landmark amount, and we are exceedingly grateful for US Coachways’ continued commitment to biodiesel research and outreach,” said John Heisdorffer, Foundation president. “On behalf of the researchers, students, instructors, mechanics and others that benefit from the foundation, we thank this company for its continued generous support.”

Headquartered in Staten Island, New York, US Coachways is a family owned and operated bus and limousine charter company that has made regular monthly contributions to the foundation since 2012. “More people travel by bus than by any other mode of transportation,” said CEO Ed Telmany. “We contribute because we want to see the motorcoach industry become cleaner and more sustainable, and we’d also like to encourage other companies to put their commitment to sustainability into action by making donations to this foundation.”

Telmany said the contributions also show their customers that the company is motivated to help the transportation industry improve air quality.

Biodiesel, NBB

Novozymes Talks Flexibility for Ethanol at FEW

John Davis

Novozymes_logo_leftNovozymes, our sponsor for coverage at the upcoming Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW), June 1 – 4 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will be talking about the company’s flexible solutions to increase ethanol plant profitability and achieve operational goals during FEW. Novozymes invites everyone to stop by its booth #1021 and chat with its knowledgeable team.

Get a sneak peek at Novozymes Bioenergy University – an online training platform to help you boost your operators’ competencies
Play Ethanol Challenge – our fun, interactive new game that explores ethanol production (each day’s top scorer wins an iPad, and everybody who plays gets a prize!)
Fuel your own engine at the Common Ground Cafe – our coffee bar

We also encourage you to join Novozymes in the following FEW sessions:

Yield maximization: propagation and fermentation optimization
Presenter: Derek Payne, Research Associate

Tues., June 2, 1:30-3 p.m.
Track 1: Production and operations
Exploring best practices for yield maximizationRead More

Ag group, Agribusiness, Ethanol, Ethanol News, FEW, Novozymes

Ethanol Report as Summer Begins

Cindy Zimmerman

ethanol-report-adThe kickoff of summer this Memorial Day weekend finds beaches in Santa Barbara California closed as oil spreads off shore and workers try to clear up the mess left by the spill. Elsewhere, the oil industry continues to spread misinformation about ethanol, keeping RFA busy working to clear up misconceptions as fast as they happen.

In this Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen talks about a new report showing RIN credits have no impact on the price of gas, how E10 is safe for boaters, and when he expects to see the long overdue EPA proposal for volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Ethanol Report as Summer Begins

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA, RFS

What Should Congress Do About COOL?

Jamie Johansen

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What is your favorite type of craft beer?”

We have a very wide array of results from out most recent ZimmPoll. It is clear all these craft brews are needed to satisfy all our taste buds. Wheat topped our poll, but after attending the recent Alltech Craft Brews & Food Fest, I’m a big fan of a Kolsch. The 2nd annual event brought in over 4,000 attendees tasting 180 different beers from 51 breweries. 350 beers entered the Alltech Commonwealth Cup competition, but there was only one winner. Batch 100, a Belgian-style ale filtered, tank conditioned and made with candy sugar from The Dayton Beer Company of Dayton, Ohio took home the 2015 trophy.

alltech-brewsHere are the poll results:

  • IPA – 12%
  • Amber Ale – 15%
  • Stout – 9%
  • Porter – 4%
  • Barley Wine – 2%
  • Brown Ale – 0%
  • American Pale Ale – 3%
  • Wheat – 18%
  • Belgium – 3%
  • Bourbon Barrel Ale – 4%
  • Bock – 5%
  • Kolsch – 0%
  • Irish Red Ale – 2%
  • All of the above – 9%
  • Other – 14%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, What should Congress do about COOL?

Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) has been a hot topic in ag circles for quite some time, but this week especially. The House Agriculture Committee approved legislation to effectively repeal country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements for beef, pork, and chicken. Now it is time for Congress to decide the fate of COOL. Where do you stand on this issue?

ZimmPoll