Fuels America Releases E15 Consumer Poll

Joanna Schroeder

Fuels America released a poll today that gauged consumer opinions of E15, a 15% ethanol, 85% gasoline fuel blend currently sold in nine states in the U.S. The poll comes on the heels of E15’s re-entrance into the American fuel market earlier this week. E15 was approved for use in vehicles 2001 or later nearly 14 months ago and today 40 stations are selling E15 at the pump, on average between 10-20 cents less per gallon than regular gasoline.

FA_Sharegraphic_E15_091813aThe poll of 1,211 U.S. adults, revealed that a strong majority of Americans (82 percent) support having E15 available at their local gas stations; and more than three-quarters (76 percent) want access to even higher ethanol fuel blends, such as E20 or E30 (20 or 30 percent ethanol).

“The overwhelming majority of Americans understand that having options when you fill up at the gas station is a good thing,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. “They have spoken loud and clear that they want access to clean, homegrown renewable fuel. What we clearly see from this poll is that consumers like higher blends of ethanol in their gas because it saves them money. Ethanol is currently trading 80 cents lower than regular unleaded gasoline and the bottom line is that ethanol provides consumers a choice and savings at the pump.

“Most drivers fill up with E10 now, but they want higher blends like E15. Currently, consumers do not have access to higher blends because oil companies have failed to modernize their infrastructure and refuse to allow these cheaper fuels to compete with their own product,” added Buis.

The Fuels America poll found that nearly four in five (79 percent) believe that the oil industry’s efforts to block the availability of E15 is bad for consumers.

Listen to the E15 Consumer Poll press call here: E15 Consumer Poll

In addition to releasing the new poll data, during a media teleconference, several ethanol advocates debunked a number of myths that oil industry lobbyists continue to perpetuate about E15.Read More

Audio, biofuels, E15, Ethanol, Fuels America, Growth Energy, RFA

Climate Hearing Sparks Frenzied Debate

Joanna Schroeder

This week the Energy and Power subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee heard testimony from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy about the President’s climate plan. This past June, President Obama unveiled his new action plan for climate change. Many of the opponents of the plan are criticizing the proposed regulations from EPA for new and existing power plants, which they argue will increase costs for consumers and send jobs overseas but haven’t put forth alternative solutions.

Mark Reynolds, executive director of Citizens Climate Lobby said the time dedicated to the hearing would be better spend talking about effective alternatives to Obama’s plan. “We April in DCunderstand that conservatives object to the use of EPA regulations to curb greenhouse gases,” he said. “If that’s the case, and given the rapidly closing window for action on climate change, they should be talking about a market-based alternative, such as a revenue-neutral carbon tax.”

Citizens Climate Lobby proposes a steadily-rising carbon tax and returning proceeds to the public to offset increased energy costs. A number of conservatives have expressed support for this approach and Reynolds said they should be called to testify at the next hearing.

“I’m grateful that Chairman Ed Whitfield convened today’s hearing, and I hope there are more to come in the near future,” continued Reynolds. “Having held a hearing to critique the President’s plan, the next hearing should focus on solutions.”

Among them, Art Laffer, former Reagan economic adviser said, “Reduce taxes on something we want more of–income–and tax something we arguably want less of–carbon pollution. It’s a win-win.”

While Greg Mankiw, economic advisor to George W. Bush and Mitt Romney commented, “A proposed carbon fee — or carbon tax, if you prefer — is more effective and less invasive than the regulatory approach that the federal government has traditionally pursued.”

Reynolds concluded, “It’s easy to sit and complain that the President is trying to circumvent Congress. Congress, however, has failed to protect our nation from the risk of climate change. It’s time to stop complaining and take action.”

Clean Energy, Climate Change, Environment

Siemens Unveils Plan for Wind Training Facility

Joanna Schroeder

Siemens has unveiled plans to build a new, state-of-the-art wind service training facility in Orlando, Florida. The facility will offer comprehensive skills and safety training to its service technicians and engineers worldwide. The 40,000 square foot center will be located close to the the company’s global Energy Service Division in Orlando and is expected to be one of the most advanced wind training facilities in the world.

“We are pleased that Florida remains a solid business base for Siemens as indicated by its choice of our state over other U.S. states for this innovative, high-tech training center,” said Florida Governor Rick Scott.

Siemens announces plans for new, state-of-the-art wind service training center in U.S.Siemens’ initial investment will be approximately $7 million and the company plans to create 50 new full-time jobs and host approximately 2,400 trainees annually from the U.S. and the Americas. The training center, which is being built based on LEED Gold green-building standards, is scheduled to begin operations by this summer.

“As wind energy has become a mainstream source of power generation, the continued reliable and competitive performance of renewable energy is critically important to meeting the nation’s future energy demand,” said Randy Zwirn, CEO of Siemens Energy, Inc. and CEO of Siemens Energy’s global Service Division. “As an industry leader in both onshore and offshore wind, Siemens is poised to meet that demand and this new, advanced training facility in the U.S. will help ensure that our wind service technicians receive the highest standard of technical and safety training.”

The wind training center will provide technical and health and safety training for Siemens’ wind power service technicians. The central feature of the new training center will be two full-size Siemens nacelles upon which wind service technicians will be trained to perform maintenance based on Siemens specifications. In addition, two 32-foot high climbing towers, ladder structures, electrical and hydraulic modules, and a maintenance crane will make training, safety and rescue simulations possible under realistic conditions.

Alternative energy, Education, Wind

RFS Dominates DC Policymakers Conversations

Joanna Schroeder

Fuels America launched an educational program in Washington, D.C. this week to highlight the importance of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The program highlights the key benefits of the energy policy and includes messaging that carpets Metro stations most traveled by policymakers and their staff.

783-1“The RFS is important not only for corn farmers but also for our nation as we move toward a more energy secure, environmentally sound future,” said National Corn Growers Association (NGGA) President Pam Johnson, whose organization is a member of Fuels America. “When people understand the incredible alternative ethanol offers, they embrace it as a way to keep out-of-control gas prices in check while cleaning our air and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Now, whether commuting to work or just heading across town, the precise people who influence our nation’s energy policy will be confronted with the critical importance of preserving the RFS and our nation’s energy future.”

The RFS, says NCGA is founded on three principles: its good for the U.S. economy, it’s good for our nation’s energy security, and it’s good for the environment.

biofuels, corn, Ethanol, Fuels America, NCGA, RFS

Novozymes & Raízen Partner on Cellulosic Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

Novozymes and Raízen Energia S/A, Brazil’s largest sugarcane crusher, have announced plans to collaborate on the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Brazil. Novozymes will be supplying enzyme technology for the plant, expected to begin production by the end of 2014.

Sugarcane in BrazilThe plant will be a bolt-on facility to Raízen’s Costa Pinto sugarcane mill in the state of São Paulo and will have the capacity to produce 40 million liters of cellulosic ethanol a year from sugarcane bagasse and straw. The agreement also provides for Novozymes to supply enzyme technology to Raízen’s second cellulosic ethanol plant, should such a plant be constructed.

To support Raízen in its efforts to advance cellulosic ethanol, Novozymes will develop enzyme technology optimized for Raízen’s process. In addition, Novozymes intends to establish new enzyme-manufacturing capacity in Brazil. The exact size, location and investment budget for this enzyme-manufacturing facility are not yet determined and will depend on the level of estimated demand for enzyme technology in Brazil.

“This first plant developed by one of the world’s largest sugarcane ethanol producers marks an important step in the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol in Brazil,” said Thomas Videbæk, Novozymes’ Executive Vice President of Business Development. “We look forward to sharing the journey with Raízen and enabling this exciting development for Brazil through the delivery of world-leading enzyme technology.”

advanced biofuels, Brazil, Cellulosic

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFGTM Research as released its U.S. PV Leaderboard report. The Leaderboard tracks the top commercial and residential installers and module/inverter supplies in both national and state-level solar markets. The report is designed to help solar companies benchmark against PV competitors; optimize strategies in leading state markets; equip your team new sales channels; and find partners across the supply chain.
  • Registration is open for the 2013 Cleantech Open Global Forum being held at the San Jose, California Convention Center November 20-21, 2013.  The speaking lineup has been announced with the keynote speaker confirmed as Guy Kawasaki, a special advisor to the Motorola business unit of Google. He is also the author of APE, What the Plus!, Enchantment, and nine other books. Click here to see the full program and to register.
  • The Delhi Metro will soon be partially fulfilling its power requirements with solar energy, officials said Tuesday. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to execute renewable solar power projects in its premises. As a result, the production of solar power will help DMRC partially fulfill its energy requirements as well as reduce carbon footprints. As per the MoU, the DMRC and SECI will collaborate for the development of solar projects which includes ground, rooftop and other possible mountings of solar panels at identified DMRC sites.
  • Northwestern Michigan College is offering solar training classes in October for solar training month at the NMC Aero Park campus in Traverse City. The classes will vary from introduction classes to certificates and associate’s degree courses. The Solar Energy Industries Association estimated 1 in 230 new jobs created nationally are solar jobs.
Bioenergy Bytes

Biodiesel’s Turn on the New York Catwalk

John Davis

tristatebiodieselModels are known for strutting their stuff on the catwalks of New York’s Fashion Week, but a pretty green model (no, not jealous) made its way into the limelight: biodiesel. Biodiesel Magazine reports as supermodels strutted down runways, those catwalks were lit up by lights powered by B20.

Dehran Duckworth, a managing partner at Tri-State Biodiesel, said this was the first year Tri-State Biodiesel won the contract to supply the Aggreko plc generators and temperature control equipment for the virtual “tent city” with its 20 percent biodiesel fuel. “It was an uphill push getting them to agree to run on B20,” Duckworth told Biodiesel Magazine. Bidding against other suppliers, Duckworth said Tri-State Biodiesel was able to hit the right price point since New York State only taxes the petroleum portion of a B20 blend.

tristate911“They said, ‘Your fuel is so clean that it shut down our units, and we had to change the filters,” Duckworth said. Fortunately, Aggreko was savvy enough to understand that the cleansing properties of the biodiesel blend freed up residues left behind from years of petroleum use. He said in the future, Aggreko may dedicate some of its equipment for biodiesel blends to avoid similar issues.

Biodiesel is a good fit for New York. Last week, Tri-State Biodiesel also supplied the near B100 for the generators that supply the shafts of light for the September 11th tribute in New York City. Earlier this month, a mandate was signed into law that requires all city vehicles to soon use a biodiesel blend.

Biodiesel

Army Awards Last MATOC Contracts

Joanna Schroeder

Screen Shot 2013-09-18 at 10.48.01 PMThe Army has awarded the last of the Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) to geothermal technology company New Generation Power Inc. based in Chicago, Illinois. This contract award adds New Generation Power Inc., a small business, to the pool of five other qualified contractors who will be eligible to bid on future individual geothermal technology project task orders.

“Today we are expanding the pool of potential contractors for geothermal projects to include a small business,” said Col. Robert Ruch, commander, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville. “Including more potential contractors and small business allows us to further expand competition among qualified bidders and encourages the best value for renewable energy projects.”

The second round of MATOC awards is in keeping with the original September 2012 Request For Proposal (RFP) which allowed for immediate awards to firms within the competitive range and additional awards to firms that qualified after further evaluation by the government. This completes the geothermal MATOC awards for now, although the government may choose to allow additional firms to qualify in the future.

The MATOC involves third-party financed renewable energy acquisitions and involves no Army capital or Military Construction appropriation. The Army only purchases the power from contractors who own, operate or maintain the generating assets. The MATOC’s total estimated value of $7 billion refers to the total dollar value of energy available for purchase under all Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) task orders for their entire term (up to 30 years).

As renewable energy opportunities at Army installations are assessed and validated, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, will issue a competitive task order RFP to the pre-qualified MATOC companies for the specific technologies. Task orders will specify the type and amount of energy to be supplied to the Army installation or other federal user as well as other pertinent information for the developer to prepare a response that meets the government’s requirements.

Alternative energy, Geothermal, military

Feds Bust Biodiesel RIN Frauder

John Davis

scalesofjustice1Federal charges against a company accused of biodiesel Renewable Identification Number (RIN) looks to stop fraud of the green fuel’s federal program. Biodiesel Magazine reports the government is charging an Indiana biodiesel firm with 88 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, false tax claims, false statements under the Clean Air Act, obstruction of justice, money laundering and securities fraud, for an investment scheme of more than $100 million.

The [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] alleges that when Imperial Petroleum purchased Middletown, Ind.-based e-Biofuels LLC as a subsidiary in 2010, e-Biofuels’ owners falsely represented that they were producing biodiesel from soybean oil and chicken fat. e-Biofuels received significant government incentives based on its biodiesel production representations. But e-Biofuels actually used middlemen to buy finished biodiesel and portrayed those purchases in fake invoices as the raw “feedstock” needed to produce biodiesel. e-Biofuels later sold the purchased biodiesel for as high as double the price it paid for it.

The government alleges that Craig Ducey, Chad Ducey, Chris Ducey and Brian Carmichael operated e-Biofuels and conspired with Joseph Furando and Evelyn Katirina Pattison (aka Katirina Tracy)—two executives with a pair of related New Jersey-based companies that operated under the names Caravan Trading Co. and Cima Green—to purchase RIN-stripped B99 from third parties, pretend that e-Biofuels had produced that fuel at its Middletown facility and fraudulently resell that fuel to customers as B100 with RINs and an available tax credit.

The SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Indianapolis charges Imperial Petroleum and [its CEO Jeffrey] Wilson as well as Craig and Chad Ducey and Carmichael, who now lives in Bend, Ore. The complaint also charges Caravan Trading LLC, Cima Green LLC, and Cima Energy Group and their operators Furando and Pattison (Tracy) for acting as the middlemen in the scheme. They allegedly provided false and misleading documents to deceive government regulators and attract investors to Imperial.

“This investigation has been underway for at least two years, and we commend the EPA and other federal authorities for moving it closer to resolution,” said Ben Evans, director of public affairs and federal communications for the National Biodiesel Board. “In two other known cases of similar fraud from this period, the perpetrators are now serving significant time behind bars. If these charges are true, we hope to see similar justice in this case.”

Those indicted could be looking at up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Biodiesel, NBB, RINS

Flex-Plant Opens In California

Joanna Schroeder

NRG Energy and Siemens Energy recently dedicated the country’s second Flex-Plant, the El Segundo Energy Center located near Los Angeles, California. The first Flex-Plant is located in Lodi and went into commercial operation last year. Siemens Energy supplied and commissioned the two Flex-Plant 10 El Segundo Energy Centercombined cycle power islands. In total they have an installed capacity of 550 megawatts (MW) – enough to supply efficient and flexible electricity to approximately 450,000 Californian homes.

El Segundo Energy Center is considered an environmentally conscious, combined cycle solution for peaking and intermediate load. The two units can achieve 300 MW in less than 10 minutes, allowing the plant to back up the electrical grid, including grids that are connected to wind and solar power. The Flex-Plant is a solution for supplementing energy should renewable power generation suddenly fall short.

During the dedication ceremony, Martin Tartibi, executive vice president at Siemens Energy Solutions Americas, noted, “NRG and the state of California today moved one step closer to realizing a greener future in California. Siemens Flex-Plant 10 technology is on the leading edge of where power generation in America is going in the future – fast, flexible and environmentally friendly.”

With the SGT6-5000F gas turbine integrated with a single-pressure, non-reheat bottoming cycle, and an air-El Segundo Martin Tartibicooled heat exchanger for steam condensing, this Flex-Plant 10 provides a net efficiency of nearly 49 percent – much higher in efficiency than conventional simple cycle solutions. As compared to conventional combined cycle technology, this Flex Plant is more environmentally friendly with a reduction of 95 percent of CO2 start up emissions and low water consumption.

This plant also demonstrates the Siemens Clean-Ramp Technology, which reduces transient emissions, while the gas turbines ramp up and down to meet electricity demands.

“Flex-Plants with fast start technology are an environmentally friendly solution to seamlessly integrating renewable power into the grid. As a result of this project, the El Segundo Energy Center will be able to provide Californians with 550 MW of clean energy for decades to come,” added John Chillemi, President of NRG Energy’s West Region. “With Siemens as our partner, we were able to meet the challenges of permitting, constructing and operating in a highly populous and visible beach community in the South Bay Southern California area.”

Electricity, Energy, energy efficiency, Smart Grid