NEC 2027

Princess Cruises Honored for Biodiesel Efforts

John Davis

PrincessCruise1With the tag line of “escape completely,” Princess Cruises looks like it’s trying to escape to a more environmentally friendly fuel: biodiesel. This company news release says it has been honored by the Port of Seattle with a Gold Level Green Gateway Award for the line’s environmental stewardship, including turnings ships’ used cooking oil into biodiesel.

“We’re gratified that the port has recognized us for making a difference in local environmental efforts,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. “Passengers come to beautiful ports such as Seattle to experience the area’s natural beauty, so we are committed to doing our part to keep it that way.”

The company goes on to point out that its environmental goals and policies go beyond what is required by law and how Princess Cruises is committed to high environmental standards.

Biodiesel

Ornicept: Wind Energy Technology for the Birds

Joanna Schroeder

DSC_2294Earlier this month, the winners were announced in the Clean Energy Challenge, and prize winner, Ornicept, has a unique technology that can aid in the mitigation of bird issues associated with wind turbines. The technology was developed last May by young entrepreneurs Justin Otani and his co-founder Russell Conard, who graduated from Indiana University. Early on they won a business plan competition called the “Best Competition,” that gave them the initial seed capacity. From there they relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Conard, says Otani is computer scientist with a bird habit and in college set out to create a computer program that could identify birds with video. When reaching out to biologists and other people on how he could improve the system, the commercial applications became apparent. Simultaneously, while Conard was working with biologists, Otani was working at the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship for Innovation and running the on campus incubator and also serving as a consultant for student-started companies. It was through this process that he was connected with Conard.

RUSSELLOtani said there needs to be a balance between business and the need to protect wildlife – an issue that the wind industry is also dealing with. Eventually, the technology emerged and when it did, it was a state-of-the-art network of distributed cameras, computers, and computer vision algorithms. When working in tandem, it is a system for remotely collecting data on birds by species as they move through a survey zone.

What’s interesting, Otani explained, is that it may not be a whole wind farm that creates risks to bird but maybe one or two wind turbines that have the majority of impact. So if it’s pre-construction, using their data that lets you know where those high use areas are, you can often offset the placement of the turbines, even a 100 meters, and dramatically reduce the risk to birds.

Today, the technology is being beta-tested and refined and the plan is to roll-out the technology full scale soon. In anticipation of the launch, the Ornicept team will be displaying and discussing their technology during the upcoming American Wind Energy Association Conference & Exhibition taking place May 5-8, 2013 in Chicago.

Listen to my interview with Justin Otani here: Wind Energy Technology for the Birds

Alternative energy, Audio, Energy, Environment, Wind

Producing Biodiesel from E. Coli

John Davis

ecoliResearchers in the United Kingdom have figured out how to produce biodiesel from E. coli bacteria. This news release from the University of Exeter says the work with Shell Oil makes a product almost exactly the same as petroleum diesel, removing any blend limits other biodiesel forms might require:

Professor John Love from Biosciences at the University of Exeter said: “Producing a commercial biofuel that can be used without needing to modify vehicles has been the goal of this project from the outset. Replacing conventional diesel with a carbon neutral biofuel in commercial volumes would be a tremendous step towards meeting our target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Global demand for energy is rising and a fuel that is independent of both global oil price fluctuations and political instability is an increasingly attractive prospect.”

The release goes on to talk about how E. coli bacteria turn sugars into fat, and thus, the oils to serve as a feedstock for the biodiesel.

Biodiesel, International, Research

Neil Young Fills ‘er Up with Cellulosic Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

Earlier this month, Hall of Fame recording artist Neil Young stopped by Sioux Falls, South Dakota to fill up his LincVolt with POET-DSM cellulosic ethanol. LincVolt is a hybrid-electric 1959 Lincoln Continental with onboard charging powered by cellulosic ethanol. He’s on a cross-country tour to highlight renewable energy.

During his visit, Young said you don’t see much about what is going on with the climate in the media. “It’s just not a fast moving subject. It’s a slow moving big story. But it’s not going to be going away unless we do something.”

He supports American-made fuel and noted that when he filled up with cellulosic ethanol, his vehicle is able to get an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) over traditional gasoline. “This is just incredible for the planet,” added Young.

Check out the video here and I must say his refurbished Lincoln is “DYNOMITE”.

advanced biofuels, Cellulosic, Climate Change, Electric Vehicles, Environment, Ethanol, Video

Bioenergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFRedfield Energy, LLC of Redfield, South Dakota has become a member of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).
  • POET Biorefining-Macon has resumed ethanol and Dakota Gold distillers grain production and has now added Voila corn oil to its product mix.
  • Solectria Renewables has commissioned a 2.15MW array at Cedarville University located in Cedarville, Ohio, on Earth Day. Cincinnati-based project developer and EPC, Melink Corporation, chose Solectria Renewables’ SGI series inverters to power this installation and SolrenView web-based monitoring, to monitor the array’s energy activity.
  • Peak Solar LLC now has a new 24-hour hotline for American homeowners who are working on or interested in DIY solar installation on their homes: 1-805-Solar-81.
  • Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. has begun construction on the 250 MW Buffalo Dunes Wind Project. Located southwest of Garden City, Kansas, the project was developed by Kansas-based TradeWind Energy and is jointly owned by GE Energy Financial Services and Enel Green Power North America.
Bioenergy Bytes

UPS Ramps Up Its Natural Gas Fleet

Joanna Schroeder

UPS is ramping up its natural gas fleet with the addition of approximately 700 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles. In addition, the company will build four refueling stations by the end of 2014. Once completed, UPS says its LNG private fleet will be one of the most extensive in the U.S. The company has been operating natural gas vehicles for more than a decade. With natural gas prices 30-40 percent lower than imported diesel and U.S. production gearing up, the logistics company is investing more aggressively in the natural gas infrastructure necessary to make it part of the UPS delivery network.

UPS LNG truckWorldwide UPS has more than 1,000 natural gas vehicles on the road today. UPS’s alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet of more than 2,600 vehicles also includes a wide array of low-emissions vehicles, including all-electrics, electric hybrids, hydraulic hybrids, propane, compressed natural gas and biomethane. Since 2000, the fleet powered by alternative fuels and technologies has driven more than 295 million miles.

“LNG will be a viable alternative transportation fuel for UPS in the next decade as a bridge between traditional fossil fuels and emerging renewable alternative fuels and technologies that are not quite ready for broad-based long-term commercial deployment,” said Scott Davis, UPS Chairman and CEO.

New UPS-built fueling stations in Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and Dallas, Texas, will serve its heavy-weight rigs traveling into adjacent states. With the addition of accessible LNG fueling stations, UPS also will add LNG trucks on routes from Dallas, Houston and San Antonio to further extend territory.

An initial investment of more than $18 million to build fueling stations will be supported by the purchase of these 700 LNG tractors and continued expansion of the natural gas fleet in the U.S.  UPS already operates 112 LNG tractor trailers from fueling stations in Las Vegas, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz., and Beaver and Salt Lake City, Utah, and has its own LNG fueling station on its property in Ontario, Calif.

“When other shipping and logistics companies are talking about possibilities, we are putting alternative fueled vehicles on the highway,” said Davis. “LNG is a good alternative to petroleum-based fuel for long-haul delivery fleets as it is abundant and produces reduced emissions at less cost. At UPS, we are helping to knock down some of the biggest hurdles to broad market acceptance of LNG in commercial transportation by continuing to establish vehicle demand, fuel and maintenance infrastructures.”

Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

Lee Consulting: Alternative Energy Knowledge Center

Joanna Schroeder

Have a question about renewable energy? Then look no further than Lee Enterprises Consulting based in Sherwood, Arkansas and your go-to guy, Wayne Lee. Lee has been a consultant for nearly 30 years and about a decade ago, began expanding his expertise into biofuels as people began coming to him with questions. He said he began fairly small with the goal of becoming the one-stop shop for those in the renewable fuels industry. Today, his firm has a breadth of talent in biodiesel, ethanol, biomass, cellulosic, biobutanol, waste-to-energy, wind, solar, and more.

RWL1So what types of services do they offer? Lee says in it upwards of 100.

And what might be a common request or question for his team?

For example, Lee said they are often contacted to do project feasibility studies such as the feasibility to build a biodiesel plant, If the the outcome is a green light, the client will often ask his group to serve as the project manager. In this case, they would help find experts to design and optimize the plant, build the plant, install the plant and bring you up to speed and get you trained. Lee said if this is four different people, he has found that if there is a problem, the four different companies would play the blame game. But if it is one person coordinating all the partners, then he or she can get down to the problem quicker and have it resolved in a timely manner.

As the environment continues to take center stage, I asked Lee if when working with his clients, he kept sustainability in mind. He noted, “If you look at the renewable fuels industry and the alternative fuels industry as a whole, there is a lot of overlap, but really it’s an all of the above approach. I can see an ethanol plant with a biodiesel plant sitting adjacent to it and perhaps add solar panels on the roof and wind turbines on the outside. I think that the key is Mother Earth will give us a lot of free stuff if we’re willing to take it.”

Lee added, “I think that alternative fuels is here to stay. I don’t think that there is bad and a good. There is a what’s good right now. My hope is over the next few years the alternative fuels industry becomes a little more mainstream. Petroleum is here to stay but it’s getting harder to find and harder to get and that’s going to make its price go up. And I think we all have a duty to keep the Earth clean and the way it was meant to be.”

Listen to Wayne Lee’s full interview here: Lee Consulting Enterprises: Alternative Energy Knowledge Center

Alternative energy, Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind

DOE Announces $18M to Advance Drop-In Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $18 million in investments for four pilot-scale biorefineries that will test renewable biofuels that will meet military specifications for jet fuel, shipboard diesel, cars and trucks. These projects build on the Obama Administration’s broader efforts to advance biofuels technologies to continue to bring down costs, improve performance and identify effective, non-food feedstocks and processing techniques.

Logos for DOE StoryThe projects selected for negotiation are: Frontline Bioenergy LLC (up to $4.2 million based in Ames, Iowa); Cobalt Technologies (up to $2.5 million based in Mountain View, California); Mercurius Biorefining, Inc. (up to $4.6 million based in Ferndale, Washington) and BioProcess Algae (up to $6.4 million based in Shenandoah, Iowa).

“Advanced biofuels are an important part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above strategy to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, improve our energy security and protect our air and water,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “The innovative biorefinery projects announced today mark an important step toward producing fuels for our American military and the civil aviation industry from renewable resources found right here in the United States.”

Chu says domestic oil and gas production has increased each year the President has been in office. Simultaneously the administration is taking additional steps to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil. As part of this effort, the Department is helping to speed the development of hydrocarbon-based biofuels that are more compatible with today’s infrastructure and engines, including heavy vehicles and other applications. According to the Energy Department’s Billion Ton Study, advanced biofuels have the potential to displace approximately one-third of the nation’s current transportation petroleum use.

The pilot-scale biorefinery projects selected today will use a variety of non-food biomass feedstocks, waste-based materials, and algae in innovative conversion processes to produce biofuels that meet military specifications for jet fuel and diesel. The projects will demonstrate technologies to cost-effectively convert biomass into advanced drop-in biofuels and assist these organizations to scale up the processes to commercial levels. Recipients are required to contribute a minimum of 50 percent matching funds for these projects.

advanced biofuels, algae, aviation biofuels, biomass, military

Indonesia, EU to Meet Over Biodiesel Subsidies

John Davis

eu-indonesiaflagsIndonesian and European Union (EU) officials will meet to discuss allegations by the EU that Indonesia is illegally subsidizing biodiesel exports to Europe. The Jakarta Post reports says the Indonesians are confident they’ll be cleared of any wrongdoing:

An investigation initiated by the European Commission in November said that Indonesia had illegally subsidized its biodiesel producers.

The EU has accused the Indonesian government of imposing low export taxes on biofuel exports, making local biofuel products cheaper than those produced in the EU.

It was also alleged that the government provided local producers a subsidy of between Rp 2,000 (21 US cents) and Rp 3,000 per liter for domestic biodiesel.

[Indonesian Trade Ministry trade safeguard committee director] Ernawati told reporters that there was a big hole in the EU’s argument, claiming that low export taxes for biodiesel were part of a government strategy to boost the downstream industry, which no way aided local biodiesel producers.

“We impose different tariffs on various products. We impose higher export tariffs for raw materials and lower tariffs for processed products. We want to boost downstream products,” Ernawati added.

The government subsidy, according to Ernawati, was actually only Rp 1,000 per liter and was given to boost domestic consumption of the eco-friendly fuel. She claimed that the subsidy did not affect the price of Indonesian biodiesel in the international market and that the subsidy had been given only when biodiesel prices were higher than that of regular diesel fuel.

The EU is also accusing Indonesia and Argentina of dumping biodiesel in the EU market by selling it at lower prices than available locally.

Biodiesel, International

BioProcess Algae Awarded $6.4M Grant

Joanna Schroeder

BioProcess Algae has been selected to receive a grant of up to $6.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as part of an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery Bioprocess Algae's Growth Systemproject related to production of hydrocarbon fuels meeting military specification. The project will use renewable carbon dioxide, lignocellulosic sugars and waste heat through BioProcess Algae’s Grower Harvester(TM) technology platform, co-located with the Green Plains Renewable Energy’s ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa.

“BioProcess Algae was the only algae platform chosen to be a part of this project by the DOE,” said Todd Becker, President and CEO of Green Plains. “This project will link our commercial scale platform for growing and harvesting algal biomass with technology partners for conversion into advanced biofuels. While this is a project for the development of drop-in biofuels, we continue to focus our technology for growing and harvesting algae for feed, food or fuel.”

The project will demonstrate technologies to cost-effectively convert biomass into advanced drop-in biofuels and the recipient is required to contribute a minimum of 50 percent matching funds for the project.

Tim Burns, President and CEO of BioProcess Algae added, “We believe our Grower Harvester platform will be vital in the development of this project with the DOE. For this project, we will integrate low-cost autotrophic algal production, accelerated lipid production, and lipid conversion in an effort to develop a cost-effective advanced biofuel for military needs. This development is consistent with our current plans to build the next phase of Grower Harvester reactors in Shenandoah.”

advanced biofuels, algae, Renewable Energy