Institute for Energy Innovation Breaks Ground

Joanna Schroeder

The future Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation is one step closer to reality today at Carnegie Mellon University with the official groundbreaking ceremony. The center will be focused on research and education to improve energy efficiency and develop clean energy sources. The institute was made possible by a lead gift from CMU alumni Sherman Scott (E’66), president and founder of Delmar Systems, and his wife, Joyce Bowie Scott (A’65), a trustee of the university. The institute is named for Sherman’s father, Wilton E. Scott.

A report recently issued by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development highlighted the need for energy-related workers before the end of this decade. One goal of institute will be to develop new innovative energy technologies and create an improved understanding of how to promote wide adoption through better regulation and public policy.

“The Scott Institute is a university-wide effort that brings together more than 100 CMU professors and researchers to solve some of our toughest energy challenges,” said CMU President Jared L. Cohon. “I thank Sherman and Joyce Bowie Scott not only for their generous gift, but also for their vision in helping to create this institute. They realize the fundamental importance of developing sustainable energy solutions for America and the world.”

The institute will support teams of CMU engineers, scientists, economists, architects, policy specialists and others who will collboratively tackle a range of issues, including developing more efficient energy solutions that reduce carbon emissions; smart grid technology to enable the use of large amounts of variable wind and solar power; and new advanced materials and processes to produce and store energy, increase efficiency and reduce waste.

Sherman Scott, who built Delmar Systems into a leader in mooring systems for the offshore oil and gas industry, added, “By bringing together experts from a range of disciplines, Carnegie Mellon is the perfect place to help meet the energy challenges of the future. Energy is a precious resource, and Carnegie Mellon’s systems approach can create solutions that ensure we produce and use energy more efficiently.”

bioenergy, energy efficiency, Solar, Wind

Presidential Candidates Support RFS

Cindy Zimmerman

Both President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney say they support maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard in answers to an American Farm Bureau Federation questionnaire on agricultural issues.

“Our rural communities, farmers, and ranchers can increase our energy independence and boost the transition to a clean energy economy,” Obama responded to a question about energy security and agriculture. “U.S. biofuel production is at its highest level in history. Last year, rural America produced enough renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel to meet roughly 8 percent of our needs, helping us increase our energy independence to its highest level in 20 years. We are increasing the level of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline, and the new Renewable Fuel Standard helped boost biodiesel production to nearly 1 billion gallons in 2011, supporting 39,000 jobs.”

Governor Romney said in his answer that developing our nation’s energy resources is key to the success of the agriculture industry. “The increased production of biofuels plays an important part in my plan to achieve energy independence,” said Romney. “In order to support increased market penetration and competition among energy sources, I am in favor of maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard. I also support eliminating regulatory barriers to a diversification of the electrical grid, fuel system, and vehicle fleet. My policies broadly aim to ensure that all of our energy industries can sustainably become competitive, innovative and efficient.”

Read all the AFBF questions and candidate responses.

Agribusiness, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, politics

Using ‘Old’ Tools For Better Biodiesel

Joanna Schroeder

Findings from studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists, and published in the Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, have shown that “old” stand by techniques could help optimize oilseed yield for biodiesel production. For more than 30 years, near infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy has been used to measure protein, moisture and oil levels in whole grains.

Dan Long, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research leader, is heading up the study to learn how remote sensing tools could assess oil quality and quantity before and after harvest.  ARS is USDA’s main scientific research agency and supports the USA in finding new ways to develop bioenergy.

Long used a special NIR sensor to assess seed oil content in 226 canola samples from Montana, Washington and Oregon. Seed oil concentration is used to estimate extraction efficiency, which is the percentage of oil recovered in relation to the amount of oil in seed.

Using this technique, oil concentration in the samples ranged from 32 percent to 46 percent with an average error of .73 percent. Long believes that NIR sensors could be installed in seed crushing facilities to rapidly and continuously measure the oil content of clean seeds flowing into the expeller, where they are crushed to obtain the oil. Long believes that using NIR to monitor extraction efficiency could enable workers to adjust the choke setting on the expeller to compensate for oil loss in meal.

Improving the oil ratio would boost profits associated with seed processing and lower the costs of oil feedstock that is used to produce biofuel. NIR measurements might also help reduce the number of acres needed for oilseed feedstock production by maximizing seed oil extraction rates in the seed crushing facilities.

advanced biofuels, Biodiesel, Research

Vilsack Frustrated by No Farm Bill

Cindy Zimmerman

Congress left town last week without even considering a new farm bill in the House, leaving the current bill to expire at the end of this month. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said they would deal with a farm bill after the election because he did not believe there were 218 votes to pass either an extension or new legislation.

“It just didn’t have to be,” said a frustrated Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Friday. “They would have had 218 votes if they had worked it. It’s really unfortunate.”

Vilsack believes this is a set back to a thriving rural economy. “Rural America has great momentum that’s been built with record exports, record conservation acres, record expansion in biofuels and biobased products,” he said. “We want to add to that momentum and what we’re doing now is creating this uncertainty which creates a real problem for momentum to continue.”

Vilsack fears that Congress will not pass a new farm bill during the lame duck session, meaning the measure would have to wait until the new Congress, which means the already passed Senate bill would be dead and they would have to start from scratch.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, farm bill, Government, USDA

Solar Cell Reading Light for Children

Joanna Schroeder

As you spend the weekend sprawled on the couch watching football and reading the newspaper, don’t take for granted the light that helps you watch TV and read. In many emerging countries, light is created by burning a kerosene lamp which is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Yet without light, people in third world countries without electricity are left in the dark.

Osei Darwka, president of Ghana Telecom University and a fierce advocate of education, wants every household in his country to replace kerosene –– the fuel commonly used in home lighting –– with a healthier, safer, more environmentally friendly alternative that will allow schoolchildren to read and study in the evening.

The solution? A LED reading light that is eight times more efficient than in incandescent light bulb. The reading light was developed by John Bowers and his team at the University of California Santa Barbara and the Institute for Energy Efficiency. The LED light contains a solar cell that is efficient enough that a small area will provide a sufficient charge for the LED. Just two hours of light each day provides one hour of illumination. And operating with a single rechargable battery means the cost is kept low- much lower than the cost of kerosene.

So far, over 20,000 lights have been sent to 43 countries.

This is just one example of how students, professors and alums of the University of California are recreating “The California Dream” and helping to improve the world. This story is the first in University of California’s “Onward California” series. The episodes feature John Bowers and the value he and his team are bringing to society.

energy efficiency, International, Solar

Energy Mix Must Reflect Future

Joanna Schroeder

A new report released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) argues that European Union (EU) electricity market rules must reflect the energy production mix of the future. This will help ensure a flexible power system with a large-scale uptake of wind power and other renewable energy sources.

The report comes as the Single European Act – creating a single market in goods, capital, people and services – turns 25. However, there is still no single market in electricity. EU Heads of State have agreed that Europe should have an internal energy market by 2014, but the EU is not on track to meet that target.

To this end, the report recommends creating a level playing field for renewable energy sources by tackling structural market deficits such as:

  • Removing regulated prices and excessive market concentration to enable small-  and medium-sized power generators to enter the market.
  • Removing coal, gas and nuclear subsidies before they are removed from mature renewable technologies like onshore wind.
  • Creating functioning markets covering larger geographical regions within Europe so as to reduce the need to balance variable renewables like wind and solar.
  • Developing intraday and balancing markets at national and cross-border levels.
  • Creating new markets for ‘grid support services,’ supporting the functioning of the grid to ensure a secure supply of electricity, instead of introducing market-distorting capacity payments.

“The European wind industry strongly supports the creation of a single market in electricity,” said Paul Wilczek, Senior Regulatory Affairs Advisor, Grids and Internal Electricity Market, at EWEA. “If Europe is serious about decarbonising the power sector in a cost-effective manner, it has to create a market that facilitates this transformation. EWEA’s new report sets out how a single market in electricity could simultaneously create benefits for all producers and consumers and integrate renewable energy sources.”

This October the European Commission is set to publish a communication on the internal energy market which is expected to contain an action plan to take Europe closer to a single energy market.

Electricity, Energy, International, Wind

PTC Stalls, Wind Energy Workers Laid Off

Joanna Schroeder

As the Production Tax Credit (PTC) remains stalled in Congress, worker layoffs in the wind energy industry are rising. The Iowa Wind Energy Association has been forewarning legislators that if the PTC is not extended, thousands of Americans could lose their jobs.  Proof: Siemen’s has laid off more than 400 workers in its Fort Madison wind turbine blade plant. Other companies that have let employees go include Clipper and Vestas among others.

Layoffs will accelerate as many wind farms currently under construction will be completed by December 31, 2012. Without the security of the Production Tax Credit, investors are not moving forward with the monies needed to build or expand wind farms. This in turn dries up demand for the entire wind turbine supply chain.

Iowa leads the nation in the number of people employed with component manufacturers and wind related companies. The industry totaled nearly 7,000 across the state until the layoffs began. Following the Siemen’s announcement, 10 percent of Iowa’s wind energy workforce has disappeared.

On the national level, the failure to extend the PTC could cost as many as 37,000 jobs according to estimates by Navigant Consulting. A delay could reduce the expansion of the wind energy industry between 75 percent to 90 percent compared to previous years.

The lowa Congressional Delegation is leading the effort to expand the PTC in both the Senate and House. Yet the Iowa Wind Energy Association notes that legislators need more help from Senators and Representatives from other states to grow a bipartisan coalition to move the extension forward. This can be done through grassroots efforts including contacting your local legislator to let them know how important the wind energy industry is to America.

Energy, Legislation, Wind

Algae Aviation Facility Lands in Europe

Joanna Schroeder

Lufthansa and Algae.Tec have created a partnership to construct a large scale algae to aviation biofuels production facility. The facility will be located adjacent to an industrial CO2 source. Lufthansa will arrange 100 percent funding for the project and has committed to a long-term offtake agreement of at least 50 percent of the crude oil produced at an agreed upon price. Algae.Tec , who will manage the facility, will receive licence fees and profits from the project.

Recently, the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe released a road map outlining the government and industry-funded research required to make Europe’s Flightpath 2050 vision of reducing CO2 emissions 75% relative to 2000 by the middle of the century, a reality.

The agreement cements cooperation between Algae.Tec and Lufthansa for the industrial production of crude algae suitable for conversion into aviation kerosene and conventional diesel fuels. The algae oil produced in the facility will meet the European Union Renewable Energy Directive and shall be certified according to ISCC – Standard.

advanced biofuels, algae, aviation biofuels

Nissan Leaf Gets Top Rating

Joanna Schroeder

The 100 percent electric vehicle (EV) Nissan LEAF has scored a top rating on TotalCarScore.com as the number one car for commuting. The website scores vehicles based on evaluations from sources such as Consumer Guide, Edmunds.com, MSN Autos, The Car Connection and more. The “10 Best Cars for Commuting” was determined by the vehicle’s total car score combined with its fuel efficiency rating in city-driving conditions.

“What we like about this list is that it truly measures the LEAF in the way it was intended—as a zero-emissions car with no-compromise performance,” said Brendan Jones, director, Electric Vehicle Marketing and Sales Strategy. “Our data shows that Nissan LEAF owners drive an average of 31 miles per day, which makes it a perfect choice to meet the daily driving needs of most Americans.”

The Nissan LEAF uses no gas yet still offers a number of great features including heated front and rear seats, heated outside mirrors, heated steering wheel, Automatic on-off LED Headlights, Navigation system, CARWINGS telematics service, Bluetooth® Hands-free Phone System and XM® Satellite Radio. Not enough? Drivers can add additional features including a Level 3 480V quick charge port, fog lights, photovoltaic solar panel rear spoiler (shown in photo) and RearView Camera Monitor.

Electric Vehicles

Promoting Ethanol at Kansas Events

Joanna Schroeder

The Kansas Association of Ethanol Processors (KAEP) had a great showing during the Kansas State Fair last week. Positive ethanol messages were heard by thousands of attendees through educational materials, displays and videos. The state fair opened with a KAEP sponsorship, allowing the association to greet attendees and drive traffic directly to the KAEP booth. Once there, attendees had a chance to win a Kwik Shop fuel gift card.

In other Kansas news, the Kansas State University football sponsorship is in full swing. Last weekend, several KAEP members, staff and ag partners attended a tailgating event in Manhattan, Kansas prior to kickoff.  Ethanol advocates, including Greg Krissek, with Wichita-based ICM, was on hand to network with fuel retailers (did you know Kansas is the leading state on E15 sales with seven retail stations now selling the ethanol blend?) as well as lawmakers such as U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, about the benefits of ethanol.

The tailgating event is just one part of a season-long Bill Snyder radio campaign promoting ethanol. Radio commercials are airing on KSU’s 33-station network during all home football games as well as during the Bill Snyder radio call-in shows.

biogas, blends, Ethanol