AvailableGreenEnergy

Posts Tagged ‘renewable-fuel’

AltAir Fuels this week announced it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with more than 14 major airlines, led by the ATA, from the United States, Mexico, Canada and Germany to negotiate the purchase of up to 750 million gallons of renewable jet fuel and diesel derived from camelina and produced by AltAir Fuels. The renewable fuel, to be produced at a new facility in Anacortes, Washington, would replace about 10 percent of the petroleum fuel consumed annually at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Government of Canada will award up to C$72.8 million (US$67.8 million) to Husky Energy to support the production of ethanol at its Minnedosa plant. Proposed regulations will require 5% renewable fuel content based on the national gasoline pool by 2010 and 2% renewable content in diesel and heating oil by 2011 or earlier, subject to technical feasibility. To meet these requirements, it is expected that Canada will need close to three billion liters of renewable fuels by 2012. The Husky subsidy is part of the government’s ecoENERGY for Biofuels program designed to support reaching the renewable fuels target by providing operating incentives to encourage greater production of renewable fuels. The Government of Canada plans to invest up to C$1.5 billion over nine years through the ecoENERGY for Biofuels program. The Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan also dedicates C$1-billion to the Clean Energy Fund and C$1 billion for the Green Infrastructure Fund to provide additional economic stimulus.

LiveFuels, Inc. hopes to make a renewable fuel using processed algae-fed fish. The company–who develops renewable algae-based biofuels–has a test facility in Brownsville, TX. At the location they have 45 acres of open saltwater ponds which will be used for optimizing the algal production. Most algae-to-biofuel companies are limited to monomcultures of algae, but LiveFuels plans to grow a mix of regional species in low-cost, open-water systems. The algae will be “harvested” with filter-feeding fish and other aquatic herbivores. Read more of this story »

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy , responded to the publication of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) peer review study of the proposed international land use change (ILUC) provision in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) rule ( earlier post ) by calling for Congress either  to repeal the ILUC provision or to require a review by the National Academy of Sciences. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2) defined within the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires biofuels to meet specified life-cycle greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to qualify. The law specifies that life-cycle GHG emissions are to include “ direct emissions and significant indirect emissions such as significant emissions from land use changes, as determined by the Administrator. ” Depending upon the assumptions and boundary conditions set in the ILUC evaluation, the result can dramatically increase the calculated GHG footprint of a biofuel—especially corn ethanol—far offsetting the presumed greenhouse gas benefits of its use. ( Earlier post .) Growth Energy is an association of US ethanol producers. According to Buis, the peer review underscores Growth Energy’s position that there is no universally-accepted scientific model for measuring indirect land use changes. We need to stop this nonsense. This is the most bizarre concept I have ever seen. EPA’s peer review proves that too much uncertainty about the economic modeling, data and science exists to allow this to ever become regulation. Even the peer review committee could not agree. That’s why we need Congress to act today to pass legislation either repealing this flawed concept, or adopting the provision recently passed by the House of Representatives to require a thorough review by the National Academy of Science [sic] . —Tom Buis The Growth Energy stance reflects an increasingly sharp response by the ethanol industry to the impending incorporation of indirect land use change effects in the lifecycle assessment for biofuels, both in the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard and in the US Renewable Fuel Standard.  Shortly before the EPA’s release of the peer review, the Renewable Fuels Association released a statement calling suggestions by EPA and CARB officials that biofuels are the only type of fuel that cause any noticeable indirect, market-mediated impacts “ a laughable assertion ”. In only singling out biofuels in their analyses of indirect effects, both EPA and California have overlooked the enormous secondary impacts of our continued dependence on oil. “Every single energy decision we make carries with it indirect economic, social, and environmental impacts,” said RFA President Bob Dinneen. “While the indirect, ripple impacts of our dependence on petroleum fuels are often well hidden, to ignore them altogether is irresponsible policy and questionable science.” Accompanying the statement was a picture of oil wells burning in Iraq in 1991. The RFA followed that up later in the week with a second statement asserting that CARB and EPA failed to evaluate indirect petroleum GHG emissions related to reconstruction of Iraq and protection of the US oil supply. This was accompanied by a picture of convoys entering Iraq from Kuwait. If we are going to count the angels on the head of a pin when it comes to GHG emissions from biofuels, then we mustn’t ignore the significant outlay of resources to secure and protect our supplies of oil. If only those vehicles were running on Iraq’s abundant solar energy. But, they are all powered by fossil fuels, just like the destroyers and other sea vessels needed to protect the free flow of oil. All that combustion of fossil fuels must certainly come at an environmental price. —Bob Dinneen

DMC Green , Inc. has opened the first electric vehicle charging station in West Sacramento, CA. The DMC-owned charging station, featuring a Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Networked Charging Station, is the first of 40 DMC charging stations now in contract scheduled for installation throughout California. The West Sacramento station—Harbor Point ’76—also offers E-85 ethanol and biodiesel under the DMC brand as part of DMC’s ongoing program to green-retrofit existing gas stations throughout California. DMC Green is in the business of the research, development and installation of proprietary alternative/renewable fuel delivery systems for the consumer at point of purchase. In conjunction with this activity DMC Green builds, retrofits and rebuilds existing fuel stations using “green” LEED building standards. DMC’s standard fuel offering includes ethanol, bio-diesel, electric charging and hydrogen. DMC Green is a LEED- registered member of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil production and algal biotechnology company, was awarded a $789,697 Biosynthetic Transportation Fuel Production grant from the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research ( PIER ) program. The award will further Solazyme’s research and development of a clean, renewable fuel from cellulosic feedstocks with associated economic benefits and local employment opportunities. The PIER Program Opportunity Notice (PON) announced that up to $1.65 million was available for PIER project funding. Nearly half of those funds were awarded to Solazyme. Solazyme has already produced laboratory scale quantities of oil from multiple cellulosic feedstocks, including switchgrass, miscanthus, sugar beet pulp, corn stover and sugarcane bagasse, and has identified a number of algae strains that grow on these types of feedstocks. The grant supports the company’s ongoing efforts to: Evaluate and procure local cellulosic sugars Identify and optimize algal strains for oil production from cellulosic sources Convert algal biomass to oil Develop a commercialization plan and roadmap for Soladiesel

Who needs a gas station to fill your tank with ethanol? Not you. GreenHouse has just announced the E-Fuel MicroFueler , a portable in-home micro-refinery system that turns organic waste into ethanol. The first installation of the E-Fuel MicroFueler was in the home of none other than basketball great Shaquille O’Neal, who lives in Pacific Palisades a subdivision in LA. The E-Fuel MicroFueler coverts the organic waste into ethanol for about two-thirds the cost of gasoline. The final product is E100 (100 percent ethanol) which burns cleaner emitting significantly less emissions into the air. The only vehicles designed to run on E100 are the IndyCars which in 2007 became the first motorsports league to sanction a renewable fuel . Read more of this story

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota has been awarded a subcontract by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to help produce jet fuel from algae. The effort is being funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is a continuation of the first successful production of 100% renewable fuel for the U.S. military by the EERC.

Renewable Fuel Company Improves Data Replication, Saves Money by Migrating to Cost Effective MPLS