ACE Conference 2026

Small Biz Gives Thumbs up for Climate Plan

Joanna Schroeder

There have been several polls conducted in the wake of President Obama’s new plan to fight climate change. This week, a poll focused on small business owners shows that ASBC logoregardless of party affiliation, they support safe, cleaner, more efficient and renewable energy. The poll was commissioned by the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) and asked a range of energy and environment questions.

“Large majorities of small business owners want the country to develop energy that is clean and renewable,” said Richard Eidlin, Director of Public Policy for ASBC. “Whether Republican, Democratic or Independent, they want the government to promote energy efficiency and clean technologies and they don’t want our tax dollars to continue subsidizing coal, oil and gas.”

The poll, conducted by Lake Research, gauged opinions on several policy issues currently under consideration in states and in Washington, DC. Of the business owners surveyed, 47 percent were Republicans, 27 percent Democrats and 14 percent Independents. Key findings from the survey included:

  • ASB Council Poll79% of small business owners support increasing energy efficiency by 50% over next ten years.
  • 72% of small business owners think incentives for clean energy are a priority.
  • 63% of small business owners support EPA efforts to limit carbon dioxide emissions of power plants.
  • 62% of small business owners oppose continuing subsidies to oil, gas and coal companies.
  • 63% of small business owners support a national renewable energy standard.
  • 57% of small business owners want banks and other investors to include environmental benefits in business investment decisions.
  • 80% of small business owners support requiring disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Confirming the poll results, Susan Labandibar, President of TechNetworks of Boston said, “Reducing the use of fossil fuels would benefit all businesses, but especially small businesses that are most affected by damage from severe weather. It makes sense that opinion polls would show that small businesses owners want the government to set and enforce standards for safer, cleaner energy sources. They understand that reducing fossil fuel pollution and boosting clean energy will help small businesses and assure economic stability over the long term.”

Alternative energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Environment

Which is Faster – EV Battery Switch or Gas Fill Up?

Joanna Schroeder

Here is something fun for a Friday.

A Model S battery pack switch that takes less time than filling your tank with gas or biofuels such as ethanol or biodiesel. The Model S is manufactured by Tesla and is an all electric vehicle. The EV design is focused on performance – driving this car is like driving a sports car.

  • 0 to 60 in 5.4 seconds
  • Top Speed 125 miles per hour
  • O tailpipe emissions
  • With an 85 kWh battery, estimated driving miles at 55 miles per hour is 300 miles before charging or swapping out the battery

Here’s out it works. When you go to a Tesla station, you can choose the supercharge option or you can choose the swap the battery option. So the big questions – do you prefer faster or free? Watch below.

Alternative Vehicles, Electric Vehicles, Video

RFS Fact Check

Joanna Schroeder

Energy Fact CheckTrue or False? Natural gas is an approved alternative fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard. False.

It’s questions like these that arise as the debate around the RFS heats up. But minus having your own personal RFS assistant at your beck and call, the next best option may just be the new Energy Fact Check site created by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).

CLAIM: The Renewable Fuel Standard is costly, mandates unrealistic fuels and takes away the incentive for biofuel producers to lower costs and grow the industry.

FACT: The Renewable Fuel Standard supports a rapidly expanding biofuels industry, producing modern fuels that lower gas prices, lower carbon emissions and produce jobs and economic investment.

This is just one example of the type of questions and answers you can find on the site.

In addition to information on the RFS, the website covers energy issues including costs, deployment, investment, jobs and national security. The website also has energy industry contacts and an energy library.

Click here to check out Energy Fact Check.

biofuels, Renewable Energy, RFS

Energy Development on Federal Lands Growing

Joanna Schroeder

During President Obama’s speech on climate change earlier this week he said that more energy projects needed to be developed on federal land. While some are in favor of this strategy, many are not. Yet according to outgoing U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes, energy development on federal lands is robust and opportunities abound for oil and gas production as well as renewable energy projects Hayes made these remarks at a Platts Energy Podium newsmaker event in Washington.

David Hayes Sec of InteriorHayes, who is leaving his post to teach at Stanford Law School in the fall, defended his department’s efforts despite criticism from some in Congress that the Obama administration isn’t moving fast enough to make more public lands available for energy development.

“It is incredibly frustrating how politicized this issue has become,” Hayes said. “On the oil side, onshore, we’ve gone up by 35% in terms of oil being produced on our public lands.”

Offshore development has also increased and Hayes said production in the Gulf of Mexico has not only recovered from delays caused by the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, but is higher than it’s been in years. He also noted there are increased federal safety standards in place.

While oil production is up, Hayes said natural gas production is down with companies focusing on finds in shale formations (fracking) that are on private and state lands. On the renewables side, Hayes said the Interior Department has approved 25 utility-scale solar facilities, nine major wind farms and 11 geothermal plants – more than 13,000 megawatts of renewable energy power approval since 2009.

“We have done proof of concept that in this country we can have utility-scale renewable energy providing a major energy source to major population centers,” Hayes added.

Environment, Natural Gas, Oil, Renewable Energy

More Must Be Done to Develop Aviation Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

Screen Shot 2013-06-28 at 9.59.22 AMThe commercial aviation industry has a clear path toward cleaner, more economical and more secure energy alternatives through the increased use of advanced biofuels developed in the Midwest, according to a report issued by the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative (MASBI). The report was produced following a yearlong analysis of the benefits that could be delivered from a robust sustainable aviation biofuels industry in the Midwest.

Noting the progress made in developing biofuels, including its use on more than 1,500 commercial aviation flights globally, the coalition agreed that more must be done to achieve the sustainable production of commercial-scale and cost-competitive advanced biofuels from sources such as non-food crops and waste products and issued several recommendations:

  1. Streamline the approval process for new biofuel production methods;
  2. Level the policy playing field for advanced biofuels with the conventional petroleum industry;
  3. Tailor agriculture products such as oil-seed crops for jet-fuel production;
  4. Improve biofuel production through agricultural innovation; and
  5. Pursue deal structures that balance risk and reward for early adopters of technology.

MASBI Executive Committee“We’ve been developing a new industry – one that has the ability to reduce carbon emissions, create green jobs, drive innovation in clean technology and bolster the successful future of the airline industry which is vital to communities all around the world,” said Jimmy Samartzis, managing director of global environmental affairs and sustainability for United Airlines. “We need to focus on this today, so that we can have these options tomorrow as we build a more sustainable future.”

Expanding the availability of sustainable aviation biofuels will have clear business benefits for the airline industry and the broader Midwest economy. From 1990 to 2012, fuel costs increased by 574 percent and are now the single largest expense for commercial aviation, accounting for up to 40 percent of an airline’s operating budget. Commercial aviation spends $6.3 billion on jet fuel a year for flights originating in the Midwest. MASBI estimates that replacing five percent of petroleum jet fuel in the Midwest with aviation biofuel would create more than 3,600 jobs and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 700,000 tons.

“The Midwest can be a leader in this effort because it boasts the experience, technological innovation, and resources to do so,” said Samartzis. “The impact of MASBI goes well beyond the Midwest and influences the development of the advanced biofuels industry nationally and globally.”

advanced biofuels, aviation biofuels

DF Cast: Algae Backers’ Beef with DOE

John Davis

Backers of algae, especially for biofuel production, say while the Department of Energy provides millions for universities to do research through the DOE Biomass Program, commercial enterprises are being left by the wayside. And they say that isn’t fair, and after 60 years of looking at the green microbes, researchers have developed nothing.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk with Barry Cohen, the Executive Director at the National Algae Association, about how the commercial side of his industry is getting shut out, and he argues if they had just 10 percent of the money that universities get, we would have a commercialized algae-based biofuel within a year.

It’s a pretty interesting conversation, and you can listen to it here: Domestic Fuel Cast - Algae's Beef with DOE

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

algae, Audio, biofuels, Domestic Fuel Cast, Research

Brazil’s First Biodiesel Export Headed to EU

John Davis

BSBIOS1The first batch of Brazilian biodiesel for export is headed for the European Union. BSBIOS announced that its first load of 22 tons of biodiesel is on a ship headed for The Netherlands.

The CEO of BSBIOS, Erasmo Carlos Battistella, emphasizes that this is a great step towards the market opening. “There are many difficulties, with relation to taxes mainly, and cost Brazil that make negotiations difficult with the European market. But this is an important advance we need to fulfill to demonstrate that Brazil can also export biodiesel,” he said.

Since March 6th, 2008, when BSBIOS became the first company in Brazil to receive authorization from the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels – ANP to export biodiesel, the company waited for the moment to achieve this goal. “BSBIOS has tried to make partnerships official to export biofuel,” asserted Battistella.

The company’s operation director says this is just the first shipment of what they hope is an expanding market.

Biodiesel, International

Kansas Farmer Recognized for Biodiesel Board Work

John Davis

kraus1A Kansas farmer has been recognized by the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) for his work for the biodiesel industry. The Kansas Soybean Commission announced that their primary representative on the NBB for the past 12 years, Harold Kraus from Hays, picked up NBB’s Friend of Biodiesel award during a membership meeting in Washington, D.C.:

“Harold has been a tremendous advocate for the biodiesel industry who will definitely be missed,” NBB CEO Joe Jobe said. “The industry has grown out of infancy to a billion-gallon industry due in large part to the efforts of champions like Mr. Kraus.”

“Any time your peers pat you on the back you have to feel better,” Kraus said. “When I came on board, there were 55 members. Now, we’re in the hundreds. We’ve got a good number of people, and they’re doing their job.”

“From the start, the soybean checkoff has played a major role in developing the U.S. biodiesel industry, and soybean farmers like Harold have invested a lot of time, energy and resources into bringing American-made, high-performing biodiesel to the marketplace,” said Dennis Hupe, KSC director of field services. “The award never can express fully the thanks that Harold deserves for his dedication to the development of the biodiesel industry.”

Kraus is retiring from his position on the board.

Biodiesel, NBB, Soybeans

Open Fuel Standard Introduced in House

Cindy Zimmerman

engel-rfs-hearingCongressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) this week introduced the Open Fuel Standard Act (H.R. 2493) in the House, legislation which would require 30 percent of new automobiles in 2016, 50 percent in 2017, and 50 percent in each subsequent year, to operate on non-petroleum fuels in addition to or instead of petroleum-based fuels.

“This could include ethanol, methanol, natural gas, electricity, biodiesel, hydrogen or a new technology,” said Rep. Engel, who has sponsored the bill in previous sessions of Congress, during yesterday’s hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard, saying that he believes the legislation would complement the RFS. “It would empower consumers to make a choice about which fuel is best for them.”

Engel says he got the idea for the legislation during a visit to Brazil many years ago when he noticed the variety of fuel choices consumers had. “If it works in Brazil, it can work here if we wish it to work,” he said. Rep. Eliot Engel

“This is all about choice,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen in support of the bill. “Consumers want a choice other than petroleum. A recent poll showed that 76 percent of Americans wanted manufacturers to produce vehicles that run on fuels other than oil. The goal here is to offer consumers the most cost effective and clean energy choice possible.”

The bill also features original co-sponsors Reps. Steve Israel (D-NY-03), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA-13), Tom Cole (R-OK-04), Collin Peterson (D-MN-07) and Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam).

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

    • BioEnergyBytesDFPurified Renewable Energy has contracted R1 Group to sell a Katzen Technology corn-based, dry mill, fuel-grade ethanol production facility with a nameplate capacity of 18 million gallons per year, in Buffalo Lake, MN. The facility will be sold at a §363 bankruptcy auction on August 8, 2013. Qualified bids, including a $125,000 deposit, are due July 31, 2013.
    • ShoEi Foods has selected Cenergy Power to engineer and construct a 864 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system. The solar power system will be used to offset local energy demand at their walnut processing facility in Marysville, CA.
    • In an effort to accelerate the development of renewable energy resources, Hawaiian Electric Company has requested permission to negotiate with five proposed projects that could quickly provide low-cost electricity for Oahu. If approved the solar and wind projects will have 20-year power purchase agreements directly with Hawaiian Electric.
    • MTS Systems Corporation is collaborating with GE Power Conversion to supply a simulation system to RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, German, for its Center for Wind Power Drives. The equipment will be used to study and design wind turbines.
    • Dominion Virginia Power is accepting online applications for its Solar Purchase Program that will help eligible customers offset the cost of adding solar power to their homes and properties.
Bioenergy Bytes