Burning Bio News

Some errors were found in Figure 1 of our last issue of Burning Bio News. The prices on the right-hand axis had not completely been updated from the earlier version of the chart. All links to this issue have been updated. I apologize for the inconvenience — mj.

The Banning City Council voted unanimously to ban the burning of sewage sludge in the city, effectively killing a controversial biofuels plant. Liberty Energy, a Bakersfield-based company, had proposed to construct and operate a 15-megawatt renewable power generation plant in Banning. The plant would operate using a mix of biosolids (treated sewage sludge) and biomass (green waste). – mj: It is disappointing to see humans resist innovative projects to utilize human sewage. Maybe the citizens of this community have found a way to eat without producing it?

Dynamotive Energy Systems Corp. announced that independent analyses of upgraded BioOil samples from their pyrolysis conversion technology have established the potential for development of synthetic hydrocarbon mobile fuels. Distillation analysis of the samples provided confirmed gasoline, jet, diesel, and vacuum gasoil fractions. Based on initial tests and analyses, the Company currently estimates that it can deliver advanced (second generation) fuels from biomass at a cost of less than $ 2 per gallon of ethanol-equivalent fuel in facilities processing about 70,000 tonnes of biomass per annum (current scale of its 200 metric tonne per day plant).

The revised State strategic plan, which will guide the activities and programs of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture for the next 4 years. The three main priorities are advocacy for the agriculture industry, economic development, and environmental stewardship.

Money is starting to flow from the Energy Department’s $25 billion loan program to develop U.S.-based advanced technology manufacturing capacity for fuel-efficient and battery vehicles, and the first $8 billion round goes to Ford, Tesla and Nissan. Ford will receive $5.9 billion in funding through 2011 to help finance engineering advances to internal-combustion engines and electrified vehicles. Tesla, whose electric Roadster can reach 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, is applying most of its $465 million to production engineering and assembly of its forthcoming-in-2011 Model S sedan. Nissan, the only foreign automaker to get loan funds, will apply its $1.6 billion to producing EVs and battery packs at its manufacturing complex in Smyrna, Tennessee.

One of the provisions of the recently passed House version of the Climate Bill is referred to as ‘Cash for Clunkers.’ The basic premise is to pay folks with older gas guzzlers to exchange them for newer, more fuel efficient cars. The authors list 5 reasons that this policy won’t work like it is planned. The largest one is that people who drive old cars, are happy in their frugality. A Toyota Prius can’t do the same stuff that a 10 year-old Ford pickup truck can do. The article made some good points.

The House on Friday narrowly passed landmark legislation meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create an energy-efficient economy, voting 219-212. President Barack Obama on Saturday urged senators to follow suit. Everyone from small farmers to nuclear energy companies would be forced to reevaluate their place in the new order. Power plants, factories and refineries would feel the first impact if the federal government moves ahead with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by about 80 percent near the end of the century. – mj: this article is about the most balanced that I have read on this event. This is serious politics. It is very complicated and every interpretation is based on different assumptions. One thing is certain. It will force everyone to reevaluate their place in the new order. One other important fact is that this is ‘draft’ legislation. It still has a long way to go to become law. Even further to go before regulations are written and the law is implemented.

Elsevier, a leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, announced the results of its SciVal Spotlight Alternative Energy Research Leadership study. Analyzing the work of 3,000 research institutions from across the globe, the study identifies the top 25, using a new method for determining leadership. Following are the top ranked institutions in the study based on the number of alternative energy research papers produced in distinctive competencies (DCs). The top five institutions (papers published in parentheses) are reported as: 1) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, US (309); National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US (271); Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy, Germany (240); Forschungszentrum Julich, Germany (234); Pennsylvania State University, US (168).

This report, titled”Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standards in the United States,” was developed Green for All, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the University of Massachusetts’ Political Economy Research Institute. The report explores how investments in energy efficiency, clean technology and public transportation can raise the standard of living for everyone in the United States. The full report can be found at http://www.peri.umass.edu/green_prosperity – mj: I haven’t read this yet. My initial sense is that there is some truth in it, but intuitively, building an entirely new economic infrastructure is a very costly business. The crux of the question comes down to whether the new economy is more efficient or not?

Colorado State University is using wood to heat the 38,000-square foot Rocky Mountain Bio-Containment Laboratory on the university’s Foothills Campus (Fort Collins, CO). The wood chips are cheaper than natural gas, so the biomass boiler will save the university $60,000 per year.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate the role of animal manure as a source of fertilizer, and its other uses. About 5 percent of all U.S. cropland is currently fertilized with livestock manure, and corn accounts for over half of the acreage to which manure is applied. Expanded environmental regulation through nutrient management plans will likely lead to wider use of manure on cropland, at higher production costs, but with only modest impacts on production costs, commodity demand, or farm structure. –mj This report is written by smart people using excellent data. There are limits to manure fertilizer and energy use. In the end, both uses will be mixed with other fertilizers and fuels. I haven’t read the entire report yet, but my sense is that high fertilzer prices the last few years have increased the motivation for farmers to utilize manure nutrients beyond what would have been captured in the 2003-2005 production data.

In this issue of Burning Bio News I posted my observations about the proposed EPA revised Renewable Fuel Standards rule (RFS2). A word of warning, …I was pretty disappointed in the rule, but I found that the complications generally emerged from Congress doing a really bad job of providing EPA with a statute that they could work with. Also in this issue of the complementary Burning Bio News, I updated long term files on my weekly energy values. I highlighted diesel/biodiesel fuel energy values for the last 12 months. Enjoy!

A new study, released by a group of government and industry organizations including the Dept. of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board and the Engine Manufacturers Assn., indicates that “clean diesel technologies” used in engines manufactured beginning in 2007 not only reduced certain emissions by 90% over 2004 engines, but “exceeded substantially even those levels required by law. –mj: Now that is what I am talking about! Technology will save us all. Has saved us all! EPA and CARB are both working really hard to create so many hoops that industry can not innovate. When the laws interfere with innovation, all is lost. Efficiency is the key to economic growth AND environmental quality. Someday. Someday, maybe, the industry, lawmakers and regulators will embrace that common goal.

The Future Farm Food and Fuel Facility is being build just across the road from the Baldwin Dairy. The Future Farm Facility will produce lettuce and other vegetables and tilapia using the treated wastewater from the Baldwin Dairy digester. The digester technology used by Baldwin dairy produces effluent that is cleaner than most. They have been in the news in the past because they can not get recognition for the cleanliness of their waste water. Now, with the aquaponics facility across the road, they can use their clean, warm water as an input into further processing.

The City of San Jose, CA, is moving forward on their food and yard waste biogas power plant. The new facility will convert 150,000 tons of biomass/organic wastes into energy and employ 30 people.

Scientists have discovered a remarkable, unexpected and cheap way to store hydrogen fuel– using carbonized chicken feather fibers. The storage of hydrogen requires cost-prohibitive containers. Scientists at the University of Delaware, while using keratin from feathers for microcircuitry, found that the keratin fibers rivaled the strength of nanotubes. In addition to hydrogen storage, the new method could turn 2.7 billion kg of chicken feather fibers produced each year into a number of other eco-products like hurricane resistant roofing, lightweight car parts, as well as the aforementioned bio-based computer circuit boards.

The USDA, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL, will receive $40.1 million in stimulus funding to upgrade the facility that opened in 1940. The lab has developed a number of new food products that have expanded markets for U.S. cereal crops. One of those products, Calorie-Trim, is an all-natural fat replacer. Derived from whole oats and barley, C-Trim contains 20 to 50 percent beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that helps the body regulate blood sugar and lower bad cholesterol, diminishing the risk of heart disease. The funding goes for critical deferred maintenance that addresses mechanical, electrical and plumbing needs at many of our facilities.

Democrats in the House of Representatives on Tuesday said they had reached a deal on difficult agriculture issues in a climate change bill, clearing the way for a vote and probable passage in the chamber this week. It appears that USDA is going to take the lead on emission oversight for agriculture — as it should. It appears that indirect land use issues are on hold as is the EPA Proposed RFS2. – mj: Let us recall that this “deal,” important as it is, represents a proposal for a new law that has yet to be seen in the Senate. It is a long way from actually being a law. Which likely means the EPA will continue to move forward with its proposed rule. This House Deal may never become law. EPA can not just stop. The other fact here is that ‘deals’ trump ’science’ in statutory law. This is a new definition of “political science.” It is science by consensus. Science by deal negotiation. …which disturbs me in no small way.

The VanDerHyde Dairy, Chatham, VA, announced their intention to build a dairy manure digester for their 950 cow dairy. The dairy has applied to USDA for funding. VanDerHyde Dairy has 23 employees and owns 750 acres. It produces 8,400 gallons of milk per day.

Morrill “Mac” Curtis plans to install a biomass boiler on his turkey grow-out operation in Snyder County, PA. The boiler will use 500 tons of manure annually and produce heat and open new markets for the phosphorus in the ash. Tests are being conducted currently to utilize the phosphorus in the ash as a feed ingredient for cattle. The Bio Fuel Boiler Technologies unit, of Beavertown, PA, is designed to burn a variety of fuels, so if the manure supply runs low, wood chips, waste wood, coal or even switch grass can be used as a fuel.