Ethanol Safety Seminars Head to California

Joanna Schroeder

Ethanol Safety Seminars, hosted by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), are heading to California this month, as part of a Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) grant. All seminars are free and feature sessions from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided. The seminars are designed for individuals who respond to ethanol-related emergencies as well as those who work at fixed-facilities and transport fuel.

The goal of these seminars is for attendees to gain full ethanol emergency response eerctraining experience that they can put to use immediately in the field as well as pass along to other first response teams. A majority of this training is based on the “Complete Training Guide to Ethanol Emergency Response,” a training package created by the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC) that has been distributed throughout the United States and to several countries worldwide. Seminar dates:

  • July 8 & 9 at the California Fire & Rescue Training Authority in Sacramento, co-hosted by Central California Traction.
  • July 10 & 11 at the Elihu M. Harris State of California office building in Oakland, co-hosted by Richmond Pacific Railroad.
  • July 12 & 13 at the Modesto Junior College Fire Training Center in Modesto, co-hosted by Modesto & Empire Traction Company.
  • July 15 & 16 at the Olive Drive Fire Training Facility in Bakersfield, co-hosted by San Joaquin Valley Railroad.
  • July 17 & 18 at the Del Valle Regional Training Center in Castaic, co-hosted by Filmore & Western Railroad and Pacific Harbor Line.
  • July 19 & 20 at the UP Intermodal Container Transfer Facility in Long Beach, co-hosted by Filmore & Western Railroad and Pacific Harbor Line.
  • July 22 & 23 in the auditorium of the War Memorial Building in San Diego, co-hosted by San Diego & Imperial Valley Railroad.

Additional sponsors for the tour include Kinder Morgan and Pacific Ethanol.
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biofuels, Education, Ethanol, RFA

Solar Electric Motorcyle Takes A Win

Joanna Schroeder

During the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb held each year in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Lightning Motorcycles finished first in the Exhibition Powersports division, outperforming all its competitors, including those motorcycles running on gas. In addition, the Lightning SuperBike was powered by solar energy.

gI_75157_2013 Pikes Peak Race Lightning MotorcyclesThe solar-powered Lightning SuperBike—under rider Carlin Dunne was the top qualifier on June 28 and posted a time just over 10 minutes (10:00.694). The challenging 12.42-mile, fully-paved course includes 156 turns ending at the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak.

“We are incredibly gratified with the performance by Carlin,” said Richard Hatfield, founder and CEO of Lightning Motorcycles. “The Lightning team worked around the clock to ensure that we provided the best possible bike for the race. We set this as a goal more than four years ago after our first North American road-racing event. Sunday, we achieved our goal. This accomplishment is a big step forward for Lightning, and we believe this is a giant leap forward for public acceptance of clean, renewable energy-based transportation.”

The Lightning SuperBike was powered with solar energy provided by SMA America, which manufactures solar inverters. This energy, channeled through a mobile charging station, fueled the motorcycle’s onboard battery pack, providing the vehicle with enough power to win the race and beat the previous electric motorcycle record.

“The merger of solar power and electric vehicles is exciting to witness and we are thrilled with the success of the impressive SuperBike,” said Henry Dziuba, president and general manager of SMA America. “The win at Pikes Peak shows that superior, world-class performance can be achieved today with clean technologies.”

Last year, the Lightning SuperBike set land speed records for electric motorcycles at El Mirage Lake bed in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino, Calif. and at the Bonneville Speedway near Wendover, Utah.

Alternative Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, Solar

Canadian Oilsands Town Embracing Biodiesel

John Davis

canadaflagA town in the middle of the Canadian oilsands industry is embracing biodiesel as part of its plan to reduce its carbon footprint and provide fresh vegetables to the area. This article from the Edmonton Journal says Fort McMurray put in a system where one shipping container is producing biodiesel to help provide the energy for a second container used to grow the veggies.

In the midst of the carbon-heavy oilsands industry, Fort McMurray is on a mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by turning its garbage into energy and heat, and plans to eventually close its landfill.

It’s also a region with no local supply of fresh vegetables — that is, until Edmonton-based Sustainitech arrives with two more aquaponics units in shipping containers this fall, says CEO Joey Hundert. His company, which already uses vegetable oil to run carnival rides, won the gardening contract that’s a key part of Wood Buffalo’s new waste treatment system.

About 20,000 heads of lettuce can be grown annually in each converted shipping container, which has five layers of lettuce, 448 fluorescent lights and — on the bottom — a layer of tilapia, a freshwater fish whose excrement is turned into plant food by bacteria.

In the first phase, there will be six shipping containers — the biodiesel plant, one garbage gasifier arriving in January, three aquaponic containers for growing veggies and one low-speed generator. The latter is made from a retired tugboat engine, just to continue the recycling theme. The low-temperature gasifier will burn garbage and create synthetic gas. Mixed with the biodiesel, it will run electricity generators and also create heat for growing organic vegetables.

Officials say the waste vegetable oil from the surrounding work camps is the feedstock for the biodiesel, keeping that out of the landfills as well. Eventually, the biodiesel could run buses and be used for heating new homes.

Biodiesel, International, Waste-to-Energy

The Right to Blend

Joanna Schroeder

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed into law last week legislation that preserves an Iowa petroleum marketer’s right to blend with Iowa manufactured ethanol and biodiesel. This, according to Dawn Carlson, president of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, helps retailers sell competitively priced fuel and preserves Iowa jobs.
“We celebrate the signing of Iowa’s “Right to Blend Law”, Carlson. “This legislation allows petroleum marketers to continue to offer locally grown biofuels to Iowans.”

Biodiesel-Pump-Photo-Joanna-Schroeder-e1364839994362This legislation was requested by the petroleum marketers, who have supported ethanol and biodiesel blending for more than 30 years in Iowa. In a special ceremony honoring the new law, Governor Branstad praised the state’s petroleum marketers for their efforts to offer competitively priced fuel and preserve Iowa jobs. The Governor and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds were thanked for their support of the law.

According to fuel pricing data, this legislation helps Iowa businesses to buy fuel more competitively. Having the ability to blend gasoline and diesel with local ethanol or biodiesel enhances competitive forces that drive prices lower at the terminals.

Carlson says with passage of the Right to Blend law, local retailers have the freedom to fully accommodate the market demands for biofuels. Oil company contracts can not prevent Iowa marketers from blending with renewable fuel produced in Iowa or dictate which blends of biofuels local marketers can sell.

Additionally, there are several other provisions in the law, such as extending the lower excise tax rate on ethanol blended gasoline, exempting from fire marshal registration certain sized farm fuel tanks which will help expand farm storage when supplies are tight.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Legislation

Analysis: Biodiesel Could Solve Ethanol Blend Wall

John Davis

epa-logoA new analysis shows that biodiesel might be the solution for ethanol “blend wall” concern and its impact on the overall number of advanced biofuels being blended. There’s been a lot of talk about the issue of the ethanol “blend wall,” the point at which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates for that renewable fuel are greater than the amount of ethanol able to be blended into regular gasoline. Right now, the most widely accepted “safe” level of ethanol mix for most vehicles is 10 percent, with a debate raging around the ability to go all the way up to 15 percent without modifications of current vehicles or the vehicles being flex-fuel capable. In this analysis posted on Reuters, the author points out that even with the higher blend limit, there will still be a gap between the time all the infrastructure is in place and the higher blends could be the norm. In the meantime, he suggests that biodiesel could help meet the EPA numbers by being a substitute for some of the ethanol products and cites precedent for such a move.

EPA has already used its authority to cut the cellulosic ethanol mandate (because of under-supply) and increase biodiesel, while keeping the overall advanced biofuel target unchanged.

That has directly substituted biodiesel for ethanol.

This year EPA cut the cellulosic target to 14 million gallons from 1 billion gallons as required in the 2007 act, and increased biodiesel to 1.28 billion gallons, also from 1 billion.

The U.S. National Biodiesel Board estimates record output of more than 1.2 billion gallons this year, roughly half of which will be made from soyoil with the rest a mix of recycled cooking oil, animal fats and other products.

EPA talked up the ability of the U.S. biodiesel industry to take an increasing role, in its ruling last year setting the biodiesel target.

“We believe that it is appropriate that biomass-based diesel play an increasing role in supplying advanced biofuels to the market between 2012 and 2022,” it said. (“2013 Biomass-Based Diesel Renewable Fuel Volume; Final Rule”)

The article goes on to point out that the biodiesel industry is capable of ramping up production if more of the green fuel is needed. Current expanded targets for biodiesel production represent just 2.9 percent of the total diesel picture, and since all diesel vehicles can take at least a 5 percent blend (and many experts will point out that blend is much easily higher), there’s no danger of biodiesel hitting a similar blend wall in the near future.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

RFA Comments on Proposed Tier 3 Rule

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week regarding the proposed rule on Tier 3 Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards.

Kelly Davis, RFA Director of Regulatory Affairs, says they support the timely implementation of the Tier 3 standards especially the proposal to establish E15 as the certification test fuel beginning in 2017. “We really hope that these don’t get held up,” she said. “The E15 certification fuel is something the industry has been waiting on a long time, including the automotive industry, to more reflect what’s really in the marketplace.”

However, there are a few areas of concern for ethanol producers. “We will accept the 10 part per million sulfur limit but we don’t want to have to be in what they call the refinery program that requires the amount of testing and expertise for the batch testing facility,” Davis explained, since denaturants are the sole source of sulfur in denatured fuel ethanol (DFE).

Davis says RFA also believes that existing standards and specifications for “flex fuels” are sufficient and EPA should not subject these fuels to the same type of standards applicable to gasoline, since they are concerned that may discourage FFV production due to potential difficulty in meeting NMOG+NOx standard bin levels. RFA also commented EPA should provide equal RVP treatment for E10 and E15 and that E16-E50 blends should be treated as alternative fuels.

Kelly explains the more technical details of RFA’s comments on the proposed rule in this interview: Interview with RFA's Kelly Davis

Audio, Car Makers, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA

Del Monte in UAE to Use Biodiesel in Trucks

John Davis

UAEflagA food and vegetable supplier is using the used cooking oil from one of its customer restaurants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This story posted on Environment News Service says Del Monte is running some of its vehicles on the used cooking oil from McDonald’s in the Arabian Peninsula country.

A total of 20 vehicles from Del Monte’s logistics fleet are now running on biodiesel made from McDonald’s UAE’s used vegetable cooking oil. Del Monte’s entire fleet of vehicles is expected to run on biodiesel by the end of 2013.

Used vegetable oil is collected from McDonald’s outlets across the UAE and converted into 100 percent biodiesel by McDonald’s cleantech partner, Neutral Fuels, a Dubai-based biodiesel manufacturer.

“Since the biodiesel campaign was first launched in 2011, we have seen an increasing interest from companies around the region,” said [Rafic] Fakih [the managing director and partner of McDonald’s UAE operations].

Oussama Naddy, general manager at Del Monte Foods (UAE), said, “As McDonald’s UAE’s long time partner and supplier for the past six years, we saw this as a great opportunity to participate in what we believe is a groundbreaking initiative.”

“We were convinced to participate thanks to the numerous benefits associated with biodiesel,” said Naddy, “including the 80 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emission, and the ease with which the conversion from regular diesel to biodiesel can be made throughout our fleet without modifying the engines.”

I’ve been to the UAE, and I can personally tell you it is one of the cleanest countries I have been to, anywhere on the planet. So it comes as no real surprise to see this kind of initiative that turns what would be waste into a clean-burning fuel that doesn’t require any kind of modification to current engine systems.

Biodiesel, International

MGM Resorts Goes Solar

Joanna Schroeder

During a news conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring U.S. Senator Harry Reid and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in advance for the National Clean Energy Summit 6.0 on August 13, 2013 at Mandalay Bay, MGM Resorts announced plans for a major solar energy system. The 6.2 megawatt installation, planned for the Mandalay Bay Resort Convention Center, will be MGM Resort’s first commercial solar project and will generate enough energy to power nearly 1,000 homes.

MGM_PIC_1At peak production, the rooftop array is expected to produce nearly 20 percent of the Mandalay Bay’s power demand. This in turn will also lower demand on the southern Nevada electricity grid at the hottest time of the day, decreasing the need to import energy from outside the local energy system thus reducing energy costs for the entire Las Vegas system.

“Integrating environmentally responsible practices throughout our operations has been a key pillar in MGM Resorts’ strategic sustainability plan,” said Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International. “Partnering with NRG Solar to install the solar rooftop at Mandalay Bay highlights a major milestone in our efforts to promote renewable energy and reduce our consumption of the planet’s limited resources.”

MGM Resorts chose the Mandalay Bay Resort Conference and Convention Center for its new solar array due to its large sun-oriented rooftop space, which spans roughly 20 acres. Once the project, custom designed and developed by NRG Solar, is completed, Mandalay Bay will buy the energy created by the array though a power purchase agreement (PPA).

“MGM’s desire to advance environmental stewardship in support of a cleaner future speaks to the quality of the organization,” added Tom Doyle, President and CEO of NRG Solar. “At the same time, it’s an intelligent business decision. The new 20,000 panel solar rooftop array at Mandalay Bay will effectively enable the resort to lock in a substantial component of its energy costs at a very competitive rate. Our expectation is that other corporations will follow thought-leaders like MGM Resorts to protect our planet.”

Alternative energy, Electricity, Energy, Solar

Fuel Evolution Since 1776

Joanna Schroeder

Tomorrow is Independence Day, or Fourth of July, for the United States and this week the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s “Today in Energy” brief took a look at how U.S. energy consumption by fuel source has changed since 1776.

EIA History of EnergyThe brief notes that the country started off with renewable energy playing a dominant role in the U.S. energy picture as wood was the primary energy source during America’s first 100 years.

“A typical American family from the time our country was founded used wood (a renewable energy source) as its primary energy source until the mid- to late-1800s. Early industrial growth was powered by water mills. Coal became dominant in the late 19th century before being overtaken by petroleum products in the middle of the last century, a time when natural gas usage also rose quickly.”

The brief notes that while the overall energy history of the United States is one of significant change as new forms of energy were developed, the three major fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal, which together provided 87 percent of total U.S. primary energy over the past decade—have dominated the U.S. fuel mix for well over 100 years. However, recent increases in the domestic production of petroleum liquids and natural gas have prompted shifts between the uses of fossil fuels (largely from coal-fired to natural gas-fired power generation), but the predominance of these three energy sources is likely to continue into the future.

biomass, Renewable Energy

Freedom to Farm

Talia Goes

Before we get to our new Zimmpoll let’s look at the results of our latest one which asked the question, “Do you listen to satellite radio?” The results would suggest that not everyone has hopped on the satellite radio bandwagon. However, we did see a quick spike in the “No, never will” answer which seems suspicious. What do you think about these results?

Our poll results: Forty-three percent said Yes, forty-one percent said No, Never Will, twelve percent said No, Plan To and four percent said Other. Have your listening habits changed? We didn’t ask about the options which include traditional broadcast radio as well as internet radio. We might need to ask this again with those choices to see what happens!

Untitled

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What is the greatest threat to our freedom to farm?” With Independence Day almost here the theme is going to be freedom. What about freedom to farm? Let us know what you think. And thank you!

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.

ZimmPoll