GoodFuels
Domestic Energy Production
by Jackie Helling on Feb 5, 2009RFA releases new ad
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has released their newest video today, entitled “Right Here, Right Now”.
The video focuses on the important role ethanol is playing in our nation’s economic, energy and environmental future by creating jobs, developing new technologies, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Quick Shot
by Jackie Helling on Feb 4, 2009Brewer to turn beer into ethanol fuel
CNET has this story today:
Sierra Nevada Brewing company has signed with a home ethanol maker to produce ethanol from “bottom of the barrel” beer.
E-Fuel on Tuesday said that the beer company will start testing EFuel’s refrigerator-sized portable ethanol refineries in the second quarter of this year using discarded beer yeast as a feedstock for ethanol.
Sierra Nevada every year generates 1.6 million gallons of “bottom of the barrel” beer yeast waste, which it now sells to farmers as feed. The MicroFueler will be able to raise the alcohol content in that mix to 15 percent and remove water.
Sierra Nevada plans to use the ethanol for its own vehicles at first, then expand distribution from there.
In a statement, Sierra Nevada Brewing president and founder Ken Grossman said the MicroFueler has the potential to improve the environment by reducing waste and to make fuel domestically.
What a cool way to produce renewable fuel. The more sources we have to produce ethanol from, the better.
Domestic Energy Production
by Jackie Helling on Feb 3, 2009Verenium to open industrial grade plant in FL
Biofuel maker Verenium will break ground on its first industrial-grade cellulosic ethanol plant
later this year in Florida. Most ethanol is made from high-sugar plants, like corn, but cellulosic ethanol is made from plant cellulose, the kind of vegetation we generally don’t eat. That could mean a lot of cheaper ethanol, sooner — made from stuff we’d normally discard anyway.
This is great news for the development of cellulosic ethanol. Several other plants are opening up across the country, too.
To date, there have been plenty of cellulosic ethanol test plants, but Verenium lept ahead of the pack by being first to be able to scale their test plant up into commercially viable levels of production.
The plant will crank out 36 million gallons of ethanol a year at its peak — to put that in perspective, we burn about 460 million gallons of gasoline equivalents every day in the U.S.
This should help displace even more gasoline imports than we do now, putting the country on a safer, cleaner, more renewable path. Congratulations, Verenium!
Balanced Research
by Jackie Helling on Feb 2, 2009DOE, USDA announce funding for biofuel projects
Late last week, the US Department of Energy and the US Department of Agriculture announced that they would
be setting aside up to $25 million for the “research and development of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bioenergy, and high-value biobased products”
“These projects will be among many Obama Administration investments that will help strengthen our economy and address the climate crisis. A robust biofuels industry – focused on the next generation of biofuels – is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing our addiction to foreign oil and putting Americans back to work,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
The funding will be available for “institutions of higher education, national laboratories, federal research agencies, state research agencies, private sector entities, or non-profit organizations”. Amounts awarded can range from $1 million to $5 million.
USDA and DOE are issuing this joint funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for several types of projects aimed at increasing the availability of alternative renewable fuels and biobased products. The projects will aim to create a diverse group of economically and environmentally sustainable sources of renewable biomass. Advanced biofuels produced from these types of sources are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 50 percent.
Ethanol News- Oil prices, weak dollar caused food price rally: study | Reuters.com
- Pennsylvania Bets on Biofuels
- AgWeb Blogs - Biofuel Chaos is Good Chaos
- VOA News - UN Reports Rising Energy Prices Spurs Green Gold Rush
- E85 Sales on the Rise
- Perry's airfare paid for by Poultry leader | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
- Unleashing the power of corncobs - BostonHerald.com
- The Canadian Press: Harper says biofuels likely a small factor in rising cost of food
- Alabama Economist: Corn Is Not the Primary Cause Of Food Price Spikes
- Perry requested ethanol waiver after $100,000 gift to GOP group | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle