City of Portland Looking at Wind Resource

Picture shown was given to the Tribune "courtesy of" Gorge Community College. That's a real live Oregon wind project sharing agricultural land.

The city of Portland has had a goal of 100% renewable power for a while. As with even homeowners looking at the carbon footprint and energy needs such a task sometimes is easier said than done.

The Portland Tribune reports several interesting facts as it relates to Portland's project.

Not mentioned in the article. The fact that electricity is likely to increase above inflation (actually being a significant driver of inflation in the U.S. economy). The fact that these initial easy to locate and grid-tie wind resources are limited in number. The fact that long-term (over a decade) this investment will save the city a great deal of money and guarantee a longtime resource that will only get more efficient.

Also worth mention is that going for wind today would be the equivalent for investing in hydro seventy five years ago. The resource is limited and the first movers to acquire, tap, an use the resource will likely own it forever.

Its a smart move for the city. Long-term without any CO2 considerations at all it makes sense just to guarantee the city a resource with a set maintenance budget as opposed to commodity pricing.

Presentations on Carbon Trading

Worth note. Many talk about the potential for carbon off-set markets to develop. The problem though is that most of the people talking about these markets don't seem to know the specifics.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the NEBC's Managing Carbon Conference in which a total session was dedicated to the basics of getting green-tag trading projects off the ground. As either a way to mitigate a carbon footprint, finance a needed technology improvement or solely to make doing the right thing more profitable. They cover it.

Worth note. Bill Edmonds of NW Natural. Being a natural gas utility that is following (voluntarily) the lead of the electrical utilities in offering carbon offsets to its customers. This is a leading move by a utility and is nationally significant.

The Powerpoint Presentations are now available online at the NEBC's website. And I recreated the links below.

Carbon Offsets - Buying, Selling and Trading
The ins and outs of carbon offsets: markets, vendors, verification, and pricing.

Moderated by Alex Schay of Carbon Solutions Northwest with a panel of experts providing presentations.

Stephanie Berner White, 3 Degrees (PPT)
Bill Edmonds, Nortwest Natural Gas (Smart Energy Program) (PPT)
Steve Gutmann, EcoSecurities (PPT)
Erica Keeley, The Climate Trust (PPT)

The Managing Carbon Conference is expected to be an annual event. This first attempt being a spectacular success. As someone who is well read on the subject from a lay person's perspective this conference filled in alot of blanks and brought my understanding forward a great deal. I also now am thinking conversantly in how a cabon offset strategy might help finance a utility scale biofuel project. This level of understanding wouldn't have happened without the conference.

Rumor: A major luxery auto maker will go CO2 neutral. I bet BMW.

U.S. House White Paper on Climate Change (i.e. Cap and Trade)

Here it is. I've heard rumblings and talk of rumblings about potential Federal action on climate. From what I heard last week at the NEBC's Managing Carbon Conference this is the lead document to look at. Where the legislation might be going.

The US House Energy and Commerce Committee's White Paper on Climate Change Legislation.

Described in the intro, this 22 page paper is defined as the next step in the legislative process to develop a Federally required cap and trade program.

I realize this far out the sausage making process that is legislation is hard to bet on. Regardless though I can't help but think that this will be the wedge issue up there with abortion and taxes this Presidential election cycle. How pragmatically well done or weakly responded to, this issue could determine which party will hold the White House come January of 09.

Solar Green Tags

Just out...Green Tag prices are dropping! Green Tags are like RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) which are like carbon credits. Basically generating green power is worth something extra, especially to those doing nasty things to the environment...

So, for instance, if you have a grid-tied PV system, in addition to all the pride of owning the system and lowering your power bill, you can also get paid to sell the green "rights" to your juice. BEF and others have been buying green tags for $0.05/kWh. Not bad considering PGE charges $0.093/kWh of the dirty stuff. Combine this with your PV system and you add 50% to your annual savings. (By the way, if the Energy Trust helped pay for your system, you can only claim the tags for the first 5 years...then they get the cash! )

Ok, so the problem is that green tags are going down to $0.02/kWh. You can make a difference and purchase green tags. The more you buy at higher rates, the more people are encouraged to install solar and other good stuff!

Solar concentrators

Interesting new company working on solar concentrating PV. Basically a Fresnel lens (like in a lighthouse light) focuses the sunlight into an intense beam on a small PV cell. The PV cell is specially tuned for this high energy beam. The result is less silicon needed, which drives the currently high costs in PV modules. Of course, the concentrators might add some cost, too. This company is making the concentrators "track" the sun, too, which could add performance.


Seems promising, but far from market. Worse is the aesthetics. 1000 mirrors on your roof anyone? The nice thing about solar PV (like SANYO, SunPower) is that the panels look almost flat in color (blue/black). The result is that they blend in.

Mirrors? not so much. Ok, so what about commericial systems? Yes, that would be more appropriate...

The Bioprocessing Revolution

Mark Zappi has an op-ed piece that popped up on the Biobased News site. Zappi is the dean of Engineering and Director of the Bioprocessing Research Laboratory at the University of Louisiana.

A Peek into the New Industrial Revolution - Bioprocessing

Its worth reading. Spot on explanation in what I see happening as well.

An excerpt below:

The industrial revolution of the 1800’s and 1900’s was based on steel, fossil fuels, bricks, and mortar. Now these are staples in America’s industrial toolbox. However, most experts agree that the next industrial revolution that is just beginning is one that will be based on biology-based materials or biomass.

This revolution will usher in a totally new paradigm in terms of how society views both farm products and our organically rich wastes. Agriculture will diversify from producing only foodstocks to producing both crops for food and crops for chemical production, or in other words, both foodstocks and chemical crops. Chemical companies are investing tremendous monetary and intellectual capital in biotechnology that focuses on harnessing the vast chemical potential of plants. The result will surely be new relationships blossoming between the agricultural and chemicals production industries.

And then Zappi waves a big Louisiana flag around this emerging industry bringing this technological shift's significance home:

And Louisiana? I believe that our great state will continue its leadership role as a source of chemicals and fuel. Louisiana is one of the leading states when considering its capability to produce tremendous tonnage each year of biomass. Given the vast chemical production and supporting transportation infrastructure in place coupled with its highly productive agricultural capability, Louisiana should emerge as a leader in bioprocessing.

This is the first time I've come across Zappi. So far I like what I see and it's definitely worth a Google. I especially love those advocates for bioproducts who bring the new technology into context. Mark Zappi does a great job of doing that in this piece.

Getting started with BioDiesel, The Book.

I'm dialing it in after turkey day. Just throwing up something simple but relevant.

Below is a the link to the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Vehicle Data Center. Probably the single best source of information about biofuels found anywhere on the planet Earth.

The BioDiesel page is where you want to go. This link will take you to an introduction to biodiesel page. Notice the PDF listed (available for download at this site) "Biodiesel Use and Handling Guidelines." This is the introductory users manual for any fleet, individual or policy influencer as it relates to biodiesel.

Consider this book the users guide for biodiesel. Or better yet, the introductory field manual for a fleet user to move towards biodiesel as informed as possible.

This website is also a great starting off point for all things knowable about biodiesel. From power point presentations to research its all there. A cornucopia of dat for those who like to drink information from a firehose.

I'm in Milwaukee, WI. I am staying in a hotel, constructed on top of the hotel, that Teddy Roosevelt was shot coming out of. Though wounded in the chest T-Rex went on to give his ninety minute speech. Starting his speech with the comment: "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

I'm a big fan of historic places and American Presidential history. As a big fan of Theodore Roosevelt this is just icing on the cake for a great trip so far.

I'm off to Wisconsin.

The folks over at Paradigm Sensors were nice enough to fly me out as a speaker later this week for the Wisconsin Clean Cities Coalition. The topics are higher blend adoption (I'm talking B99 by the way) and quality assurance.

If you are curious about this summit check out more at the Wisconsin Clean Cities Coalition website. Or better yet check out the Wisconsin Biodiesel Blog. Its always fun to look at other parts of the U.S. and their programs, efforts, and successes.

Wisconsin background info.

The Good: One of the largest soy growing states in the Union. Wisconsin has an actual Wisconsin Biodiesel Assocation putting a face on the emerging industry. There is no soy crushing in the state though a little refining. The largest user of soy in Wisconsin is for soy-sauce and there is a potential complement between biodiesel and soy-sauce manufacturing (though I don't know the facts about this).

The Could do Better: There is a Milwaukee Biodiesel Coop (though its shut right now from what I understand dealing with Fire Code upgrades). A 45 million gallon a year project just got placed on hold because the soy prices made the bank withdraw support (though I disagree with this analysis but I quote it directly). Also, the largest biodiesel user in the Milwaukee region (from what I'm told) is the city of Milwaukee fleet which has gone forward to B10.

The Needs of Wisconsin: More voluntary adopters of higher blends of biodiesel from local sources (both feedstock and refining). A focus on commercial adoption for large industrial users currently paying extremely high prices for off-road boiler fuels, diesels, and other dirtier CO2 emitters. A regulatory environment that gives biodiesel coops and B99 retail offerings on opportunity to exist.

My Goal: Get a few B99 experiments willing to go forward before I leave. A tall order for only having three days but I've seemed to get lucky in the past. My favorite question to ask when told B99 is too risky or shouldn't be done. "What vehicles do you have exiting service? Those are the ones you should field B99 on."

Being that many fleets have vehicles that are expensed and will be sold for a negligible return on the books this is an easy sell. The redder the neck and greasier the fingernails the more likely a fleet manager is to do it. Especially if they have a racing or custom background. This sales tactic is literally almost a confidence game (though for a good cause). The older the vehicle the better it runs on B99.

Also - on a technology geek note - check out Paradigm Sensors hand held biodiesel specifier. They tell me a beta is due out soon (any day now) and I can't wait to see these in the field. These handhelds will take those of us who need to receive railcars of dubious origin occasionally a tool much farther evolved than the old "pHlip" test.

Europe and Biodegradable Lubes

Lubes and Greases North America covers the emerging European standard for biodegradable and biobased lubes. If you are curious about why biobased lubes aren't tearing up the marketplace like biofuels are the standardization issues of Europe lay some of it out for you. (See page 38 for the start of the article)


As many in the US consider biobased lubes as a potential growth opportunity for the biofuel industry these off the beaten path trade information sources become more an more valuable. Usually the only sources of information about these emerging technologies are found from those making the products and of course the claims about them.


From my understanding biobased lubes stand the best market development placement as one of two things. Hydraulic fluids or heat transfer oils. Lubricating oils require some pretty noxious chemicals and heavy metals to make them function as lubricants in especially in extreme environments (such as a windmill gear box).


So in essence you would be creating hazardous waste (even though the base stock would by biobased) and you would be substantially increasing the service requirements of the equipment. Take for instance gear box applications. With full synthetic petroleum based lubes you have extremely long drain intervals. Especially for remote equipment that is expensive and energy intensive to service. The inconsistency of on road vehicle engines also make the passenger car market also a poor place for biobased lubes.


The easy to reach markets for biobased lubes is in near water applications. Interestingly enough most industrial operations near rivers and water are hydraulic in nature. Moving containers off of ships being the most prominent industrial activity. Biobased lubes being a superior hydraulic fluid in this case.


When looking at biobased lubes look at the application not the market. Common sense goes along way in examining the higher value products of the petroleum world and where biobased substitutes can easily cross over.



Special Note: Please do not confuse biobased lubes with biodegradable lubes. There is a difference. There are petroleum based synthetics that are readily biodegradable on a comparable level with biobased products. These have a much longer track record with performance levels similar to non-biodegradable counterparts. These biodegradable products also have a long track record of comparable performance along no biodegradable lubes.

I'm at a CO2 conference.

Interesting statistic. The City of Portland's recycling program reduces the equivalent of 100,000 vehicles off the road in CO2 terms.

Source: Portland Office of Sustainable Development

My rant about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

USA Today covered hydrogen fuel cell cars and speculates why are they not available. Then they settle on price as the reason. This in turn spurs the rant you see below.

To put it bluntly. Fuel cell technology bores me. It bores me on so many levels. Primarily though its because at my fundamental core I feel like I'm being manipulated every time someone rattles a new fuel cell development in front of me. Like a shiny set of keys dangled in front of a drooling new born the expect me to ooooh. I've yet to be shown a reason to fall in love with hydrogen. Let alone a hydrogen car.

In short; I don't believe in the fuel cell car. I don't believe in the Loch Ness Monster. I don't believe in the existence of Sasquatch. And again - I don't believe the hydrogen automobile making it into Ford or GM showrooms. I'm not in argument that any of the above could exist. I just don't believe they do.

Here is why. Hydrogen has a business model in existence today. It would work exactly the same with the an identical distribution system, the same real estate (only larger tanks) and probably the same regulatory/safety concerns. This business model is propane.

Propane is readily available, reasonably priced, and readily usable by cars on the road. Why hasn't it taken off? It's clean right.

All the problems with propane supplanting gasoline as a motor fuel exist for hydrogen. In fact, any gasoline vehicle can easily be converted back and forth from gasoline, to propane, to gasoline so there are fewer barriers to entry. Though not a true flexible fuel, propane and natural gas will run in any gasoline engine with slight modification. So for hydrogen to be a true fuel paradigm shift it takes something other than emissions to be the motivator. It takes superior technology.

I ask all readers to think critically about what a fuel cell is and does. Think about what it would lend itself best to. It surely isn't a 500 mile round trip on one fill up. Its power generation.

The true value of fuel cell technology isn't in four wheel vehicles. Its in buildings.

For a sedan or pick-up truck to work the big breakthrough for hydrogen isn't actually getting the fuel cell to work well. Hydrogen fuel cells aren't the break through technology that we are waiting for. Its mass produced battery technology, improvements in information technology married to a vehicle, and improvements in what boils down to is essentially a hybrid power train.

I'll say it again. When you look at the hydrogen car the break through technologies have nothing to do with hydrogen. They have to do with a hybrid electric power train.

Contrast vehicle technology with commercial real estate (which doesn't need even close to as much to field this technology). Over 50% of the energy used in the US is in buildings and facilities. Large commercial structures are immense energy users with complex systems, budgets to invest for longterm payback, onsite trained facility personnel, and a complex group of systems all benefiting from combined heat, power, steam, and water.

Fuel cells, as an emerging technology, make sense for buildings and not for mobile vehicles. If for anything the cost of compressing hydrogen into a vehicles tank for a short trip doesn't make sense. The concept of putting gasoline, ethanol, diesel, or biodiesel into a vehicles tank as a source for hydrogen also doesn't make any technical sense . Especially when thousands of commercial facilities already have systems and talented people familiar with reclaiming waste streams for energy and handling emission reduction technology.

To me the only reason hydrogen car research exists is that the US DOE and EPA fund research for hydrogen cars. You also have some extensive large R and D divisions in the auto manufacturers who can throw off a whole host of valuable technologies under the same research framework though without actually delivering a sub $30K hydrogen car. If anything what hydrogen really offers is a black-ops cover for next generation hybrid vehicle technologies.

To me the hydrogen car is a monument to misdirected policy choices. Every time I read about a hydrogen car I get the same feeling I do when seeing Britney Spears motherhood status discussed. I feel like its inconsequential information put forward just for the hope it draws the right number of eye-balls to a television screen or newspaper. Its advertising disguised as news.

Green Star and the "Food vs. Fuel" Debate.

I saw this press release in the Biobased News.

Recently a UN report blasted the effect biofuels would have on food (commonly referred to as the "Food vs. Fuel debate"). From what I understand the biggest criticism being hoisted towards ethanol production's push on recent corn prices. In rebuttal, Green Star Products issues a press release citing soy as an example of a Food and Fuel opportunity.


In short = Green Star blasts ethanol from corn, points to soy as a good feedstock to be developed in farming rotations, and that algae has a huge potential future to make all these issues moot (note that Green Star also has high hopes for algae).

The coolest fact in the press release:

For each bushel (60 pounds) of soybeans produced only 10 pounds of extracted oil is used in making biodiesel. The other 50 pounds (the soy meal) is used to feed the hungry of the world as one of the best high protein foods available.

Fischer-Tropsch and Jet Fuel Research

Recently, there seems to be quite a bit of news around aviation grade biofuels. Primarily the highest profile being Virgin Atlantic Airlines and The U.S. Department of Defense (see Syntroleum).

A biofuel meeting jet fuel specifications is starting to become a holy-grail technology of sorts. On par with ethanol produced from corn-stover. There is a very simple argument that a bio-jet fuel can be classified as a paradigm shifting technology. That if perfected would allow one of the largest energy uses in the first world economies to leap frog beyond petroleum.

The big stumbling block to this paradigm shifting concept is the low tolerances required to operate a plane a mile in the sky. If you can make a jet fuel, as the logic goes, you now can make any fuel. The scale, scope and specifications required offer up aviation as the pinnacle of what a biofuel must be to truly arrive on the world stage.

Essentially its pretty simple. If there is a fuel problem while airborn, as we used to while I worked as a flightline refueler in the Air Force, the crew has the rest of their lives to figure it out. Being the solution development time in this situation is minutes instead of the typical "five years out" a DOE grant holder gets away with the stakes become a little higher.

These are the constraints of aviation fuels (commonly called either Jet-A or the military nomenclature of JP-8). A biofuel/syn fuel must operate at extremely varied altitudes and temperatures (typically -30 degrees Fahrenheit and lower). It must store well and be predictable when aging (i.e. we must be able to give it a shelf life and quality assurance system). The fuel also must have better emissions than petro-Jet A, a similar cost per Btu, and of course the basic consistency regardless of the feedstock the fuel is derived from. You also have specification constraints as well to operate in existing jet turbine engines (i.e. it must look like Jet-A to existing engines; this being expressed typically in specific gravity, cetane, ingrained water content, etc.....).

Enter good old Fischer-Tropsch as the hoped solution. With a product typically called "syn-diesel" this technology is proven but expensive. It also pulls a consistent product out of such feedstocks as coal, agricultural waste, solid waste, and just about anything with a significant Btu content. So like most issues of energy, the issue becomes who can commercially demonstrate the better iteration of a technology invented by old dead Nazis.

A story covering the basics of this ongoing endeavor of the search for a bio-aviation-fuel popped up this morning. Check it out in the Aviation International News online.

Saab's Bioethanol Bet

In the news.

For those of us who follow such things we have heard talk of the Bioethanol Saab for a few years now. Well its debuting in Australia. The first modern E85 designed car rolled out for mass purchasing and marketed as an E85 vehicle.

Very timely given the fact that ethanol is selling for $0.50 a gallon less than petro in many places (no subsidy required).

SIJ Provides Webinars

Pretty excited to see this. The Sustainable Industries Journal (SIJ) is rolling out webinars.

I'm a big fan of webinars in general. The SIJ's parent company Celilo Group has done this in the past with their NW Current franchise as well. The few I've done have been extremely informative and packed with the type of information you usually must spend thousands of dollars to get via traveling to a conference. This in particular being a huge way to add value and spread information for a news provider. Great way to show leadership for a trade journal.

The first one is "Emerging Green Build Products" running later this week on November 14th.

To register go to: www.SustainableIndustries.com/events

Range Fuel CEO Interview

Cleantech.com has an interview with Range Fuels' Mitch Mandrich about the first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant going forward. The planned plant being backed by Kholsa Ventures and billed at 100 million gallons a year at completion with a initial volume of 20 million gallons.



Its always fun to read first hand accounts and opinions from those pushing the initial biofuels business model boulder up that steep hill of cutting edge business attempts. I especially love reading the thoughts of those I.T. and Dot.Com refugees who are making a go in biofuels.

The interview is worth the read. Several mentions of note from the interview:

Range Fuels technology is modular (hence the initial 20 million gallon number with a permitted target of 100 million gallons).

Ultimate goal for Range Fuels would be "a billion gallons really as fast as [they] can."

They want to deploy their modular technology throughout the world (hence its a fairly large scale distributive technology).

Range Fuels technology is multi-feedstock and Mandrich makes mention of it's potential for municipal solid waste.

Range Fuels' funding situation is "fine" according to Mandrich. I guess $50 million in seed funding from the US DOE goes along way.

Plastics back to Petroleum - Plas2Fuel

Want to see something cool? Plas2Fuel out of Kelso, Washington.

They have a technology currently demonstrated that takes any type of plastics (type 1 through 7) and can turn it back into a crude petroleum state. Once liquid this recycled plastic product is ready to be refined into any number of higher value petroleum products.

I was lucky enough to take a tour of their facility and even have a sample of their product sitting on my desk. What makes their process exciting is that most plastics have a chlorine in their make up. This chlorine then becoming problematic any time you burn or attempt to melt plastic in a recycling process (chlorine corrodes most processes). Making the end product of any plastic to petroleum process acidic. They have overcome this.

As they explain their process it seemed pretty simple in concept and complex in application. I may be wrong but I believe Plas2Fuel is using a process similar to "Thermal Depolymerization."

They essentially fill a cartridge container with a mix of any type of plastic. This cartridge is then loaded into their demonstration plant which starts heating up. The process vessel is then turned into an oxygen depleted environment which causes the plastic to return to a crude petroleum state ready for refining into other products.

They get a two grade product out of the process. A thicker crude and a product that looks like petroleum distallate (but they tell me is closer to a gasoline product).

Its always exciting to see technologies like this in my own backyard. Its even better having an inventor living within a phone call to ask questions as well.

Also worth mentioning, a little known fact. The plastics we pay good money to sort out at solid waste transfer stations are typically shipped to Asia. From what I've been told by several reliable sources we pay brokers to move it over seas where our sorted plastic waste is recycled into heat (i.e burned as cheap and dirty fuel).

Question to those reading the blog. If you had a small, low sulfur, high grade feedstock as described above. What would be the highest and best use for the product? Where do you think market development should be.

Motorhead Messiah - Super Diesel Hacker

In that fine tradition of American inventor he hacks, mods, and wholesale upgrades huge monster vehicles into 100+ mpg technical wonders. In this month's Fastcompany they showcase H2's with aftermarket hybrids, turbine jet power trains, and hydrogen horse power.

In short. Just the idea that this guy exists is exciting to any energy geek.

The article leaves me with many questions and of course a few doubts but I'm captivated. For an eternity I have heard stories of the 100 mpg mods that never made it into the mainstream. The stories of high school science teachers who have invented super engines purchased and buried by GM and Ford. Those American super geniuses kept from their well deserved spoils of ingenuity.

This is the first time I have ever seen an actual face and name. More to the point, this is the first time I have ever seen a real person presented to back up the claim. Just makes you want to take a vacation to Missouri.

Tidal Power in the Mainstream News

NBC did an in depth report on Tidal Power. Well done, in depth, and cool graphics.


This type of renewable low-carbon energy holds a huge potential here in Oregon.

Range Fuels Moves Forward with Commercial Scale Cellulosic Ethanol

Saw it at Forbes.com.

Range Fuels is moving forward with the world's first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant. Range is being backed by Khosla Ventures with an undisclosed sum of funding.

How does their process work you ask?

Add $76 million from the US Department of Energy, millions of tons of wood waste from a nearby Georgia timber farming industry, mix wood chips with heat, pressure and steam for 15 minutes, and then turn a syngas into ethanol with a proprietary catalyst which throws off ethanol. Poof, American made cellulosic ethanol (see a nifty interactive diagram of their process here).

The only catch at that point in the process. How much ethanol does the process throw off by volume?

The big issue, as with all energy technologies, isn't if we can do it. It's what cost can we do "it" at. "It" being any technology from hydrogen, to nuke, to cellulosic ethanol.

From what I've been told by more than one company with a "proprietary" cellulosic ethanol concept is that they can make ethanol. Its easy. The issue isn't cellulosic ethanol. Its the volume of alcohol in the beer product produced. "Beer" being the first round of alcohol production which turns fructose into alcohol via yeast.

The production of alcohol prior to distillation into road grade ethanol from cellulose is roughly half of what corn ethanol gets per batch. Additionally there are more steps involved in the process of making cellulosic ethanol over corn/sugar based product. And then there is the productivity of the yeast in a cellulosic plant. Cellulosic ethanol processes get around 3% - 8% alcohol by volume as opposed to the low teens for corn based ethanol.

This lower volume or lower productivity of alcohol raises the energy needs of any plant and slow down the productivity. Even if the feedstock is free the cost of several other steps to get the wood product into a usable form, the lower productivity of the yeast making alcohol, and the additional distillation rounds to get cellulosic ethanol to a 200 proof break the bank.

Good luck to Range Fuels and Vinod Khosla. It's exciting to see this project go forward.

Fw: Biojet

Jet flies on fast-food oil

By AOPA ePublishing staff The day may come when the private and commercial jets crisscrossing our skies run, at least in part, on plant-based fuels that don't contribute to global warming or resource depletion.

That's the goal of pilot and entrepreneur Douglas Rodante who, on Oct. 1, made the first jet flight fueled by 100-percent biodiesel. Rodante and Chief Pilot Carol Sugars first flew a Czechoslovakian-built L-29 aircraft around the pattern before making a 37-minute test-flight at altitudes up to 17,000 feet the following day. The aircraft, which is rated to run on a variety of fuels, including heating oil, required no modifications to run on biodiesel.

This proves that we can implement bio-fuels into our existing air and ground transportation system, Rodante said of the first flights.

Rodante plans to make a cross-country flight from Nevada to Florida at the end of November, as soon as he and his team have satisfied several FAA testing and safety requirements. And they hope to modify a Learjet to make a high-altitude round-the-world flight next year. The test program is being conducted by Green Flight International and Biodiesel Solutions.

So just what was in the biodiesel used in the test flights? Recycled vegetable oil from restaurants that has been treated with an additive to remove the carbon chains. For the longer cross-country flight, the team plans to use canola oil that has been similarly treated, but these aren't the only possible sources of biodiesel.

It's important for people to understand that we can use a lot of different crops to make biodiesel, many of which do not compete with our food crops. There are plants you can actually grow in the desert that would work, Rodante explained.

Even with the promise shown by these initial flights, don't expect to board a commercial airliner running on biodiesel anytime soon. The fuel does have a tendency to gel at cold temperatures and its solvent properties can cause short-term fuel system clogs in vehicles that have previously been used with traditional fossil fuels. But scientists and amateur enthusiasts alike are working to resolve these problems and expect that some mixture of biodiesel and traditional fuel will make its way into the mainstream in coming years.

You don't have to use 100-percent biodiesel, said Rodante. We're doing it to make a point. But if we can implement even a small percentage of bio-fuel into commercial aviation and land transportation, the reduction in carbon emissions would be significant and contribute to alleviating our global warming problems.

October 30, 2007

Australia's Largest Biodiesel Refiner Closes Two Plants

Want to see how not to build an industry? Look at this story found in the Fairfax Digital edition about Australia Renewable Fuels.

One of the largest criticisms of biofuels in the U.S. is its supposed need for subsidy. The fact that the larger biofuel players build their businesses solely on these subsidies as well doesn't help much either. We need to change this emphasis and replace it with a focus on the unique emissions and low carbon benefits of biofuels instead. We should focus our market development on the same approach used by natural gas thirty years ago (the natural gas industry marketed their product as a diversification away from petroleum with better emissions under the Clean Air Act).

I just thought the PR spin of the article was worth note. A business failing to succeed and blaming government for not offering enough support should be pointed at as an abomination to be avoided. Similar to the dot-com era's promise mounting losses as required to build a market, a successful biofuels industry should never expect the support of government. You can't build a market on such ethereal hopes.

When a business fails to establish appropriate cash flow, develop the necessary markets for off take, and maintain a long term relationship for feedstock - its not government's fault. Its the fundamental underpinnings of a flawed business model. One expecting a future grant of utility status to biofuel producers which is extremely unlikely.

Australia's largest biodiesel producer shuts two plants and lays off 30 people. This in the face of world record petroleum prices. The fact that Australian Renewable Fuels cites expensive tallow (or successful competition for feedstocks) as the fault of its own shortcomings is an insult. It should not be tolerated and it definitely should not be pitied.

The management of Australia Renewable Fuels blames high tallow prices for the plant closures. Follow the logic of their argument. A.R.F. is complaining about biodiesel's success with is driving demand for tallow and pushing prices up (they are complaining about the international competition for tallow). High petroleum would also have an economic cross-elastic effect on tallow as a substitute for a whole host of products (so they are complaining about high oil prices which they should be cheering).

Government should be indifferent to a single companies success. The only fault I would accept would be an expectation of a more active government on CO2 emissions (i.e. they bet wrong on a low carbon fuel standard in their business model).

Also worth note. The fact that Australian Renewable Fuels points to U.S. markets (New Mexico in particular) as where to take its imperfect business model on the road shows the importance of biofuel policy that focuses on developing real markets for the product just not a price sensitive substitute with petro.

You can build a $1 tax credit into your business model but from what I've seen the market washes it away (leveling prices out leaving the economics nearly the same). The real focus of our policy shouldn't be price but actual benefits. Biodiesel and ethanol should be the new natural gas type silver bullet for industry. Stable pricing from local domestic suppliers and cleaner emissions.

We need to break from the guaranteed profit expectations currently pervading our industry. In particular as a justification of a business model at every biofuel plant's fundraising pitch.

California Sets a Goal for CO2

Last week the California Energy Commission set a new goal for biofuels and alternative fuel use. This goal is a nonbinding agreement that will hopefully guide future laws to be made. Specifically laws that guide California to the ambitious goal of a 80% drop in CO2 emissions benchmarked at 1990 levels by the year 2050.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle use of alternative fuels, including ethanol and biodiesel, could displace 26 percent of the gasoline and diesel used in California by 2022 and more than 50 percent by 2050, under an ambitious plan approved by state energy regulators this week. Conservation, break through technologies, and better urban planning are expected to get the rest of the way to the goal.

Check out the complete California plan here.