Last chance to register for the National Biodiesel Board Conference and the National Ethanol Conference in Las Vegas, February 4-7, 2013.- The final agenda has been published for the European Algae Biomass Conference April 24-25, 2013 in Vienna, Austria.
- Motorola Mobility has been awarded the WindMade label.
- VIASPACE Inc. has signed a project agreement and received initial funding from Selectra CC of Johannesburg South Africa to grow Giant King Grass.
- Juhl Wind, Inc., has signed an agreement with Honda Transmission Mfg. of America, Inc. to develop, install and operate two utility-scale wind turbines that will generate electricity for the plant in Russell’s Point, Ohio.
- Atlantic Wind & Solar, with affiliate and co-developer Atlantic Energy Ecuador, has received a receipt of notice from the National Electricity Council of Ecuador for two initial photovoltaic projects in the Province of Esmeraldas.
Regional Clean Energy Challenge Winners Named
Aerosol Control Technologies (ACT) of Washington University in St. Louis, has won the $10,000 Missouri Clean Energy Student Challenge. The team will compete for more than $300,000 in prizes in the second annual Clean Energy Student Challenge on April 4, 2013 in Chicago. ACT is developing an advanced particulate matter capture system that will significantly improve diesel engine efficiency using electrostatic precipitators.
“ACT absolutely exceeded expectations and brought a first-class business plan with cutting-edge technology to the Challenge,” said Joshua Campbell, executive director of the Missouri Energy Initiative who held the Missouri competition. “This was their second year and their success clearly demonstrates what a tremendous learning experience it is. They took what they learned last year and created an application that I think could take them to the national competition.”
Applications to the Missouri Clean Energy Student Challenge were submitted in a range of technology areas from waste-to-energy solutions and biofuels to solar cells and new wind energy innovations. As the Missouri winner, ACT will compete in the 2013 Challenge and will receive mentoring and training to prepare business plan presentations to a judging panel comprised of venture capitalists, corporate investors and business leaders. The winner of the 2013 Student Challenge will compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Clean Energy Business Competition in Washington, D.C. this summer.
“The Student Challenge is truly bringing the best and the brightest students from some of our nation’s most prestigious universities to the forefront of the clean energy world,” added Amy Francetic, executive director of the Clean Energy Trust. “They have taken wonderfully innovative technologies and built viable business plans around them.”
Ethanol Industry Responds to API E15 Study
The American Petroleum Institute (API), released a new E15 study today and representatives of all the major ethanol industry associations issued statements. In addition, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) held a media conference to discuss why the study oil-funded study was “flawed” and “misleading”. Ethanol experts Kristy Moore, Vice President for Technical Services for RFA, along with Bob Reynolds, President of Downstream Alternatives, Renewable Fuels, noted that with nearly 100 studies on E15, it is the most tested fuel in the history of the country.
Moore said she recently called the EPA and asked them how many fuel additive applications they get a year and they get more than 500 that would be nearly identical to the E15 additive applications. This has been the norm, she said, since the fuel additive program began in 1974. It is my contention, she continued, and is well documented, that no fuel additive has been studied in history to such as rigorous degree as E15.
The burning question, said Moore, is why are we talking about a specific CRC fuel system report and what is the significance? She said there were a few observations that they wanted to point out including: the two CRC AVFL 15 test programs confusingly utilized very different fuel sets to evaluate fuel systems and the aggressive test fuel formulation and level of ethanol concentration is highly questionable as relevant to E15.
Reynolds pointed out that this study, along with API’s earlier study, selected components that they knew would be sensitive to higher levels of ethanol so you should expect some of the results the study had.
While in general the study was not supportive of E15, Moore said that there were some data gems buried within the research.
Listen to the full press conference here that includes more in-depth discussion of observations made by Moore and Reynolds: Ethanol Industry Responds to API E15 Study
Changing Tunes on Brazilian Ethanol vs. US Biodiesel
A pair of University of Illinois researchers say the reinstatement of the $1 a gallon biodiesel blenders credit has changed the equation back in favor of American biodiesel versus Brazilian ethanol.
Back in December and even earlier this month, Darrel Good and Scott Irwin found that Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, which qualifies as an advanced biofuel under the Renewable Fuels Standard, was a cheaper alternative to American biodiesel to meet RFS obligations. But according to this Biodiesel Magazine article, since the renewal of the biodiesel tax credit and making of the credit retroactive back to 2012, Good and Irwin have relooked at the issue, especially after getting several comments pointing out omissions in their analysis, including the 2.5 percent Ad Valorem tax on Brazilian ethanol:
“The price relationships at the U.S. Gulf on Jan. 10 favored biodiesel blending over the blending of Brazilian ethanol, even without consideration of the opportunity cost of Brazilian ethanol,” write Good and Irwin. “That cost added substantially to the advantage of biodiesel.”
After the more complete analysis of blend economics, Good and Irwin conclude the data suggests an economic advantage to U.S. biodiesel over Brazilian ethanol in meeting the advanced biofuel requirements of RFS2.
“The biodiesel advantage is large and a dramatic change from our analysis [on January 10],” they write. “It also has potentially far-reaching implications for both U.S. corn and domestic fats and oils consumption in 2013.
Good and Irwin also point out that since Brazilian ethanol has to be shipped, that would add to the cost of that fuel.
Bunge, Sofiproteol to Review Joint Biodiesel Venture
Two agribusiness giants from each side of the Atlantic are considering their joint biodiesel venture. U.S.-based Bunge and Europe’s Sofiproteol are reviewing their operation in Europe, according to this Reuters story, as the two look to cut overproduction while demand is weak for the green fuel.
Sofiproteol, owner of the European Union’s biggest biodiesel maker, Diester Industrie, and Bunge have a 60-40 percent deal in a spinoff called Diester Industrie International (DII), which controls plants in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Austria.
“Our wish is to cut our risks and exposure on biodiesel,” Sofiproteol CEO Jean-Philippe Puig told Reuters in an interview.
“They (Bunge) are mainly present in Northern Europe and we are in France and southern Europe. So there are a number of talks going on with them,” he said.
According to Reuters, Bunge wasn’t commenting on the story. But DII stopped production a year ago at its Livorno, Italy, facility and does not plan to restart it. The weak biodiesel sector in Europe has been caused by cheap Argentine and Indonesian imports, and the European biodiesel market has been even further threatened by a change in EU policy that aims to limit the use of oilseeds in fuels.
WSJ Attacks Biofuels, Again
The Wall Street Journal editorial board is attacking biofuels, again. In their opinion piece, “Zero Dark Ethanol,” they write that advanced biofuels have not made much progress in the past six years and the cellulosic ethanol mandate, that was vacated last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals is “only a fantasy mandate will motivate the industry to make enough of a fantasy fuel.”
In response to the article, the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC) says the Journal seems to think that motor fuel markets are free and competitive, and that in the absence of government intervention, fuels like cellulosic biofuels would succeed if worthy. Unfortunately, says AEC, 100 years of direct and indirect subsidies to the oil industry, coming at a time when the U.S. taxpayer also built out most of the large scale infrastructure that the oil industry relies on today to move its product, has largely suffocated the free market principles that would otherwise reward innovation.
AEC continues by saying that in order to fix a broken marketplace, Congress decided in 2007 to forceably diversify the motor fuel marketplace with renewable fuels. And much to the dismay of the oil industry and those who carry their water like the Journal’s editorial board, the program is working. The domestic renewable fuels industry has grown exponentially, despite the global recession, in less than 10 years.
The Journal, adds AEC, is also wrong to assert that “nothing has changed” in the cellulosic biofuels industry. AEC cites their recent progress report released last month, where they say the cellulosic biofuels industry is breaking through at commercial scale.
AEC posits that you would think that a newspaper with the ideals espoused by The Wall Street Journal would celebrate the reintroduction of U.S.-branded competition into a broken marketplace. “You would think they would lament the distortive effects of oil subsidies and question why cheaper alternatives to oil cannot seem to break into the marketplace. In that world, the Journal would be calling for the comprehensive energy tax reform we so badly need to ensure that the next generation of motor fuels are produced by Americans instead of China, India or Brazil. What we do not need is more yellow journalism about ethanol from The Wall Street Journal editorial board.”
Biogas Advocates to Meet in San Francisco
Turning organic waste from a liability into a profitable asset is the theme for the 2nd Annual Anaerobic Digestion & Biogas Conference 2013, May 16-17 in San Francisco. Some of the conference highlights will include tips on how to build a commercially viable anaerobic digestion:
– GET FINANCE FROM INVESTORS by hearing case studies of successful investments which prove commercial viability & long term ROI to potential investors.
– MAKE YOUR ANAEROBIC DIGESTION PROJECT COMMERCIALLY VIABLE by maximizing the value from all revenue streams including fertiliser, gas, CHP and electricity. Understand tipping fee economics and exploit your energy credits.
– UTILIZE A VARIETY OF FEEDSTOCKS FOR BIOGAS SUCCESS by securing long-term feedstock agreements from sorted organic waste & draw higher yields.
– SET UP OPERATIONS & INFRASTRUCTURE with big or small anaerobic digesters in the best locations to drive down costs and combat the NIMBY problem.
– REGULATIONS & PERMITTING Fast track your application and reduce costs by learning what to include in your pitch to agencies.
Speakers and attendees will include industry leaders, as well as government officials, including Chris Cassidy, National Renewable Energy Advisor at USDA.
More information and registration is available here.
Chasing Methane Advocates at Iowa Capitol
There is no age requirement to be an advocate for the environment. During the recent Iowa Wind Energy Day, five young advocates from Chasing Methane, ranging in age from 11 to 13, came to the Iowa Capitol to encourage people to support food waste composting. Why? As Joey Titus, a 7th grader at Southeast Junior High in Iowa City, Iowa said, “Right now the food waste coming from restaurants is going to the landfill which is creating methane and methane is a 25 times more damaging at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.”
When talking about greenhouse gases (GHG), carbon dioxide typically stands center stage, but as Titus points out, CO2 is not near as damaging as methane – a gas created through the decomposition of materials in a landfill.
Titus along with his club members, Andrew Burgess, a 5th grader at Borlaug Elementary, his brother Daniel Burgess, a 7th grader at Northwest Junior High and Ethan Trepka, also a 7th grader at Northwest Junior High, all in Iowa City, formed the group back in August of 2012. Titus’s Dad is the manager of Carlos O’Kelly’s in town, one of the restaurants, along with Applebee’s that participated in food waste audits.
When the Chasing Methane team looked through the trash of two restaurants, they found that combined, they were generating about 2 tons of waste every week, and 75 percent of that waste could be composted, said Titus.
Titus said his group would like to see a statewide composting initiative and even a nationwide initiative because right now this methane is going up and affecting the ozone layer, which is causing global warming, and its effecting all the weather we’re having.
They were on the capitol advocating for a bill that would allow the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to perform audits at restaurants to determine if legislating a statewide restaurant composting program would reduce methane in the environment. Iowa Governor Terry Branstad listened to the pitch right before the team headed down to the capitol refuse center to conduct a waste audit. Hopefully the findings will impact state legislators to be a leading state in passing a methane reduction bill.
As Titus aptly pointed out, not only restaurants create food waste – we create food waste at home as well. With only 50 percent of food that is produced is actually being eaten, he encourages consumers to join the composting revolution. You can do this by composting, joining a composting program and even by becoming a member of Chasing Methane. All ages from all cities around the world are invited to join.
Listen to my full interview with Joey Titus here: Chasing Methane Advocates at Iowa Capitol
See the 2013 Iowa Wind Energy Day Photo Album.
Sweetwater Energy Closes Cellulosic Deal
Sweetwater Energy has announced a 15-year commercial agreement with Front Range Energy to produce cellulosic ethanol at Front Range’s current corn ethanol facility located in Weld County, Colorado. Sweetwater will install its process to convert local biomass, such as crop residues, energy crops, and woody biomass, into sugar that will then will converted to ethanol.
“It’s very exciting to be an early adopter of Sweetwater’s technology and to bridge that gap from grain to cellulosic ethanol,” said Dan Sanders Jr., Vice President of Front Range Energy. “Supplementing our corn with this sugar allows us to displace some of the volatility of the corn market, with the goal of moving a higher and higher percentage of our production to cellulosic. We’ve had great success fermenting Sweetwater’s sugar, and from a business standpoint, we have great confidence in Sweetwater’s management team.”
Sweetwater will place one of its cellulosic facilities near the Front Range site and will deliver enough refined monomeric sugar for Front Range to produce up to 3.6 million gallons of ethanol per year during the initial phase. As the project ramps up, economics will ultimately determine the pace and volume with which Front Range’s corn ethanol facility will migrate to Sweetwater’s cellulosic feedstocks.
“To say we’re enthusiastic about this relationship with Dan and the whole Front Range team is an understatement,” said Arunas Chesonis, Chairman and CEO of Sweetwater. “They’re a progressive team looking to stay ahead of the curve, and that’s a very rewarding mindset to have in a company you’ll be working with for the next 15 years. We’re going to kick this off by replacing about 7 percent of the corn currently processed, and as our partnership grows and we see how well both parties are benefiting from the cellulosic ethanol production, we’ll increase the amount of cellulosic material and really open up the cellulosic markets to Front Range.”
In December 2012, Sweetwater was awarded a patent for the manufacture and deployment of distributed pretreatment units designed for the extraction of sugars from any cellulosic feedstock for the production of ethanol.
Ametis Takes Advantage of EPA Sorghum Pathway
California-based Aemetis is taking advantage of the new EPA approved grain sorghum along with biogas and combined heat/power pathway as part of the Renewable Fuels Standard as an advanced biofuel. The company says this ruling creates a “level playing field” for U.S. ethanol producers by providing the same RIN value that is received by Brazilian sugarcane ethanol producers selling biofuel to the U.S.
Aemetis owns several ethanol plants, one in Keyes, California, that will be able to take immediate advantage of using sorghum as the primary feedstock, said Aemitis Chairman and CEO Eric McAfee. “The high efficiency standards and extra capital investment applied during the retrofit of the facility is now paying off with a rapid transition to the production of Advanced Biofuels at the Keyes plant.”
After an extensive review process, the EPA found that grain sorghum requires significantly less water and less fertilizer than corn, and can grow on land that is not as suitable for growing food crops. Grain sorghum is also drought tolerant due to a waxy covering on its leaves, enabling water to be retained during times of high heat or a lack of water, while still growing to full yield and maturity when rains occur late in the growing season.
According to the company, its 60 mgy capacity Keyes ethanol plant was designed for highly efficient energy use, including natural gas boilers providing steam for process use and powering a steam turbine for process electricity. The existing design and operation of combined heat and power at the biorefinery enables the facility to quickly convert to the use of biogas without permitting delays or equipment installation. In addition, the Aemetis Keyes plant is located about 40 miles from the deep water Pacific port of Stockton, California.
In October of 2012, the company announced that is has imported and successfully processed sorghum from Argentina. The company says its close proximity of the Keyes plant to the Stockton port enables them to import grain sorghum at potentially a significant discount to the price of sorghum produced in the Midwest and delivered to California. However, the company is looking to develop production of grain sorghum in California for 2013 and later harvests.