Green Options

Editor’s Note: I’m in Houston, TX, this week, celebrating the International Year of the Planet by posting on topics covered at the first ever joint meeting between the American societies of Soil Science, Geology, Crop Science and Agronomy. With a significant focus on biofuels, this conference should be rife with interesting materials.

In a wide-ranging session on Tuesday dealing with global biofuel, food security and poverty issues, there was plenty for the presenters to disagree about — but the one thing they could all concur on was that the biofuel genie is out of the bottle and he’s here to stay.

Several times during the session the presenters highlighted the fact that biofuels have finally brought an inherent value to agriculture that was previously missing. This, more than anything else, is why biofuels are not going to go away. Up to now, the lack of agricultural value has caused a deep deficiency in the level of funding and investment that governments worldwide have provided for their agricultural security and infrastructure.

A report from the “Office of Biobased Technology from the University of Michigan”, says that the United States lacks the standards to ensure that producing biofuels from cellulose won’t cause environmental harm.

After its successful launch of the first commercial scale algae biodiesel plant in the U.S., PetroSun is setting its sights on a new partnership to develop an algae biofuel facility in China.

Shanghai Jun Ya Yan Technology Development Company has developed an agreement with PetroSun whereby it will provide $40 million (US) for the construction of an algae farm facility inside China and split profits with PetroSun 50/50 in exchange for PetroSun’s propriety technology and expertise.

Along with planned ethanol and biodiesel output, the press release states that the facility will be producing “other commercial products” from the algae. I’m guessing that means livestock feed supplements made from what’s left of algae carcasses after they’ve been squeezed for oil and turned into ethanol — but maybe they have another surprise up their sleeves?

A coal fired power-plant in Oregon has started a pilot project to curb pollution by using algae to harvest greenhouse gases and make fuel and other useful products.

The power plant in Boardman, Oregon, is the state’s only coal-fired facility — and also the the state’s largest single emitter of carbon dioxide. To deal with this problem, Portland General Electric and Columbia Energy Partners have started a pilot project to turn the otherwise nasty emissions into biodiesel, ethanol, and even livestock feed.

In a country where Corn is King, you would assume that rural ranchers and farmers in our countries corn belt would vote for a president who is Pro Ethanol.

Citing higher oil and grain prices, the French Government said it will phase out tax breaks for biofuels by 2012.

Osage BioEnergy announced that it will break ground next month on its Appomattox Bio Energy plant, a 65 Mgy (Million Gallons per Year) barley ethanol plant that will be the largest in the US.

Editor’s Note: This post was provided by one of our paid sponsors, the Ethanol Promotion Information Council (EPIC). EPIC is a nonprofit alliance of ethanol industry leaders who have come together to grow consumer demand for ethanol energy through targeted marketing.

The Ethanol Promotion Information Council (EPIC) is working to get the word out that ethanol is actually helping to keep gas prices lower. The following is from an interview with Toni Nuernberg, executive director of EPIC.

If you’ve been exposed to the media lately you’ve probably heard the phrase “renewable fuels.” What exactly are renewable fuels? According to Wikipedia, “renewable fuels are alternative fuel sources such as biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel -e.g. soy, vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant greases-) or hydrogen.” Texas Governor Rick Perry recently petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower ethanol mandates, saying that the production of ethanol was causing food and fuel prices to go up. The EPA rejected Gov. Perry’s request in August, saying that the Renewable Fuels Standard “remains an important tool in our ongoing efforts to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.”

U.S. ethanol producers are being hit by a one-two punch: Hurricane Ike-related damage is softening demand for the alternative fuel while rising corn prices are increasing operating costs.

Last week, Hurricane Ike left many US oil refineries hobbled in its wake — including the nation’s largest biodiesel refinery. As a result, oil production is down.

Demand for ethanol in the US is closely tied to oil production because of the federal ethanol-gasoline blending mandate. So as oil production has fallen, so has ethanol demand.

At the same time as Hurricane Ike was downing oil refineries, corn futures — essentially the betting on whether or not the price of corn will rise or fall in the coming months — have risen dramatically due to the volatile financial markets and a general upward trend.

Using microscopic metal particles, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that plant-based sugar can be converted to gasoline to be used in current engines. The substance is cleaner-burning than petroleum-based gasoline and more stable than ethanol.

According to a sweeping report released by the Center for American Progress and authored by researchers from the UMass Department of Economics, if the US government were to invest $100 billion dollars over two years in six key areas of green and sustainable development — including advanced biofuels — the result would be the creation of 2 million high-paying jobs across nearly all sectors of employment.

This represents four times the amount of jobs that would be created if that same $100 billion were invested in the oil industry for things like more offshore drilling. It also represents significantly more jobs of much higher diversity, pay, and longevity than were created by the $100 billion spent last April so that all us ‘mericans could all get our $600 tax rebates.