This webinar will summarize findings from 16 breakout sessions held over the two day span (link to background material, presentations and the conference agenda here: http://sentech.srahosting.com/CTAB/). Subject matter experts who chaired the sessions will weigh-in on how the DOE Biomass Program can most effectively guide R&D in the future to help advance the commercial biofuels industry.  READ MORE

…Dr. Susan Pond of the Dow Sustainability Program at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre offers a full recap of the highlights, including presentations from CAAFI chief Rich Altman, Tom Hicks and Chris Tindal of the US Navy, Andrew Lawson, CEO MBD Energy; Steve Rogers, CEO of Licella; and Gevo’s Jack Huttner.

The full conference report is downloadable here.

READ MORE

Excerpt from report:  I was instigator and Chair of the Forum because I saw the maritime sector as being relatively neglected in the world of advanced biofuels.  As Bo Ellehave from Maersk told the Forum “things used to be simple. Fuel costs used to be low and predictable. Environmental regulation for shipping used to be limited and manageable. CO2 emissions used to be a non-issue for shipping. One size fits all used to be the paradigm for marine fuels.”

Not any more.

…Non-negotiable constraints are that the fuels must seamlessly “drop-in” to and be interchangeable with petroleum in existing supply lines, ships, aircraft and all other vehicles, have price parity to petroleum, and have “ground to tail pipe” green house gas emissions no greater than petroleum and preferably much less.  Allies intending to obtain fuel from or supply fuel to the U.S. Navy tankers will need to be interoperable.

The Great Green Fleet, the emblematic plank of the Navy’s strategy, is due to set sail in 2016 and re-fuel with 50:50 blends of advanced biofuels in ports around the world, including Australia. The Great Green Fleet will need 8 million barrels of advanced biofuels, approximate half for its planes and half for its ships.

…The U.S. Navy has 285 ships; the commercial shipping company, Maersk, has 600 ships.  Bo Ellehave outlined the voyage that Maersk is taking to achieve 25% reduction in relative CO2 emissions by 2020 (compared to 2007) efficiency improvements and to drive SOx emissions towards zero.  They include alternatives to current bunker fuels. Maersk has an active testing program with companies developing advanced biofuels.

…Just when we thought we had all the answers, Arnauld Filancia, Wartsila Corporation, blew us out of the water with tranche of new questions.

Wartsila is looking forward and describing “alternative, plausible futures” through company’s Shipping Scenarios 2030 (http://www.wartsila.com/shippingscenarios).

Why should ships need any liquid fuel? Why not have ships powered by Flettner rotors to harness wind energy? Why not have ocean-going, unmanned ships running on solar power and biogas continuously harvesting algae into barges? Why not have ships offload fresh water produced during en route by desalination?

The world needs more economically and environmentally efficient shipping.  We have many viable solutions which also make good business sense. Now it’s time to set sail for the new horizon.   READ MORE

The CLEAN DEFENSE SUMMIT will provide the latest details on multi-billion-dollar opportunities in clean defense from top Pentagon officials, local military base commanders, procurement and acquisitions officials, and other key decision-makers. The SUMMIT will feature a variety of settings to introduce you to key decision-makers. These include multiple General Sessions; a Clean Defense Exhibition; excellent networking opportunities; and a Clean Defense Leadership Roundtable.  READ MORE

Policy Day is also good exercise. The auto show uses two large halls in different buildings of the Walter Washington Convention Center. Twelve presentations are made at twelve different locations. Wear good walking shoes.

Here are some sketches on biofuels, electric cars, Administration policy, and the new “color of the year” gleaned during Policy Day.

Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and International Affairs, David Sandalow speaking at the DC Auto Show Policy Day.

View from the Obama Administration on Biofuels

The Administration sent three representatives: Secretary of Transportation, Ray La Hood; Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and International Affairs, David Sandalow; and Margo Oge, EPA Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

With 2012 being an election year all the Administration speakers focused on the same talking points. Obama saved the auto industry. Obama saved the economy by saving the auto industry. And America will be driving “zero-emission” electric cars to meet the proposed 2025 fuel economy goal of 54 mpg. The role of biofuels you might ask?

DOE Assistant Secretary David Sandalow’s presentation started with the “Obama saved the auto industry” boilerplate and segued into how the Department of Energy was critical to that success. He talked about DOE’s work with low temperature combustion and light weight materials and the jobs being created by battery factories funded with DOE grants and loans. (While he was speaking on January 26th, Ener1 Inc., a battery manufacturer that had received $118 million in DOE grants was filing for bankruptcy.) He then explained that the new cornerstone of Obama’s energy policy, cheap natural gas, which the President focused on in his State of the Union Address, was only possible because of the fracking technologies that had been developed with DOE research and funding. When his talk was finished, the word biofuel had still not been uttered.

In the Q&A session he was asked if the absence of biofuels in his presentation meant a policy change or was it an oversight? Sandalow quickly said it was an oversight, no policy had been changed and that advanced biofuels were “very important.” I hope the DOE speechwriters remember that in the future.

Natural Gas Cars are Back

Honda, always a cutting-edge company, showed they understand which way the wind is blowing in the Obama Administration.

Blue is the New Green

Many articles about the zeitgeist of the 2012 election campaign, as well as the Occupy movement, have noted that “green” isn’t IN anymore. Apparently the focus groups used by some of the automakers delivered the same message. Three manufacturers that formally touted their commitment to the environment; VW, Mazda, and Hyundai used the color Blue to describe their formerly green initiatives.

VW promotes pedal power.

Perhaps the weirdest presentation was that of VW. Instead of focusing on the greater use of the very fuel efficient TDI diesel technology in cars like the Jetta or the Tennessee manufactured CC, the US President of VW turned the presentation over to an organization called Bikes Belong Foundation. We were then told about the wonders of cycling, most of all the ability to stop child and teenage obesity. Somehow or another VW was going to contribute to making cycling safer and that was their new Blue strategy.

Being a cynical sort I had to ask a guy wearing a VW America badge if they were going to buy a bicycle manufacturer like Trek. He made a wry smile.

The Blue Oval is Still Green

Green Car Journal's Ron Cogan presents the 2012 Green Car Vision Award for the C-MAX Energi to Ford's Sue Cischke.

While some manufacturers would not even say the word green, the presentation at the Big Blue Oval, aka Ford Motor, was pure green. The theme of their presentation was a thank you and fond farewell to Susan Cischke, VP for Sustainability, Environment, and Safety Engineering who was retiring.

Cischke had been with Ford through the bad days and helped steer the company to its current rousing success. Without a US government bailout, in case President Obama forgot.

Ford's Ecoboost engine.

After the awards and thank you’s, Cischke took the crowd through Ford’s Green future. Not only did it include the expected electric and plug-in hybrids, but, by sheer numbers, it meant the Ecoboost engine. Readers of Advanced Biofuels USA know this technology gets the highest efficiency possible from light-weight small displacement internal combustion engines by applying a combination of turbocharging, direct fuel injection, variable valve and ignition timing, and computer controls.

Basically, this is an engine that would be at home in a Grand Prix racer or in a Le Mans prototype.

Ecoboost-powered Foci: One for the track (L) and one for the road (R). Same engine in each.

Ford is offering three different Ecoboost engines in everything from the F-150 pick-up to the Focus and they promise 1.5 million Ecoboost engines annually by 2013.

This is a massive sea change in what the general public thinks of as basic car engine.

Why is Ford doing this? The improved mileage needed to meet 2015 and 2025 fuel economy standards. Not only is the engine more efficient and powerful, but it is also lighter than the engine it replaces. Less weight means even a smaller engine and transmission can be used. This technology reverses the thirty year trend of heavier vehicles requiring even bigger, less efficient engines.

1.5 Million Ford Ecoboost engines PER YEAR by 2013.

What does this mean for the advanced biofuel industry? The Ecoboost type engines attain their maximum efficiency at high compression ratios. To operate at high compression ratios requires high octane fuels. (Link to the article about engine design) Ethanol has an octane rating of over 102 while regular gasoline has an octane rating of 87. An E-30 mixture would meet Ecoboost engine requirements without losing mileage due to other properties.

EPA is proposing new fuel specifications this year that would apply to the new fuel economy regulations. They are referred to as “Tier 3 specifications.” Do not be surprised if you see automobile manufacturers, as well as other major players, in the near future calling for a new requirement that would include both a higher octane rating and a provision that it could be met with about 30 percent ethanol. Moving from 10 percent to 30 percent ethanol and assuring that the increase would come from non-food sustainable “total-biomass” ethanol would take advanced ethanol from being “vaporware” and turn it into a reality.

The turbocharger for GM's Ecotec engines.

GM Runs Silent as Well as Deep

While Ford is spearheading the Ecoboost revolution and getting almost all the press, both good and bad, General Motors has been bringing their version, the Ecotec, to market in almost a stealthy manner.

GM quietly began to offer the engine as an option on the 2011 Buick Regal. It is now available in the 2012 Chevy Cruz, and by 2013 it will be offered in a number of Chevy and Buick models. By 2015 it looks like Ecotec will be as much of GM’s basic engine technology as the Ecoboost will be for Ford.

Parallel Universes

By this time on Policy Day I think you can see two different universes being presented. On one hand you have the Administration still adamant that electric cars are “zero-emissions” (Even if they are powered by coal or natural gas electricity?) and that 1 million Americans will be driving them by 2015 (Fewer than 8,000 Nissan Leafs were sold in 2011.).

On the other hand, you had some motor vehicle manufacturers saying electrics or plug-in hybrids were not in their plans to meet the 2025 fuel standards: Mazda and Hyundai; and other manufacturers focusing on advanced internal combustion engines after having spent loads of R&D money on electrics: GM and Ford.

This all came together in two presentations near the end of the day.

At the Mazda exhibit, after their spokesperson said they could meet future fuel economy standards without plug-in hybrids or electrics, a consultant with the international market research firm HIS showed some very telling graphs on sales trends.

The key points were:

1) people do not like hybrids, hybrid market share has fallen over the past three years to about 2 percent in 2011;

2) electric car sales did not meet goals anywhere worldwide in 2011 and the “1 million by 2015” goal that Obama set is going to be missed by a large margin;

3) significant fuel economy benefits are coming from people trading in large SUVs for smaller “Cross-Over” models; and

4) diesels are picking up sales in the US.

This was a clear picture of the “reality based” future.

Good bye from a nice friendly car in DC.

Right after this presentation Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood assured everyone that 1 million Americans would be driving electric cars by 2015 and that battery manufacturing and the building of the smart grid needed to power the electric cars would be creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. This was a clear picture of the “political rhetoric based” future.

I thank the folks who put together Policy Day at the Washington DC Auto Show. I think I now have a much better idea on where the US automotive world is headed.

All photos by Robert Kozak.

One such case is the Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), the Department of Energy’s (DOE) breakthrough clean technology R&D program. It’s a fresh and nimble organization that operates at the intersection of fundamental and applied clean energy research aimed at solving key clean technology challenges. And there has been vigorous discussion on many well-known features ARPA-E borrowed from the DARPA model, namely its high-risk investments, its unique recruitment and temporary program management structure, and its collaboration with academia and industry.

But there are a number of significant features of DARPA not widely discussed in the policy sphere that could be important to ARPA-E moving forward. In addition, ARPA-E has adopted new features independent of the DARPA model, given the unique demands of the clean energy technologies and of the established energy sector. Understanding features of both agencies is vital for ensuring that ARPA-E continues to spur breakthrough energy innovations in the future.

To explore these issues and to discuss different ways of organizing public R&D institutions, ITIF is holding a forum on applying the DARPA concepts to energy innovation. The forum will include Bill Bonvillian, of MIT’s Washington Office and Dick VanAtta, of IDA to discuss their findings from a recent study on the ARPA-E and DARPA models, recently published in the Journal on Technology Transfer. Providing commentary and a discussion on the ARPA-E model will be Peder Maarbjerg, Assistant Director for External Coordination at ARPA-E and Ilan Gur, Senior Advisor for Commercialization at ARPA-E.   READ MORE

Speakers will provide an overview of opportunities that show promise for the biomass industry for 2012 and beyond, encompassing the power generation, biofuels, fuel preparation, and gasification subsectors. Time will be allocated for questions/discussion from the national audience.

Call Times:
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Eastern
11:00 am – 12:30 pm Central
10:00 am – 11:30 am Mountain
9:00 am – 10:30 am Pacific
8:00 am – 9:30 am Alaskan

Co-Chairs:
Bill Holmberg, Biomass Coordinating Council
Michael Zimmer, Thompson Hine LLP

Speakers:
Peter O’Keefe, Leaf Clean Energy
Jordan Collins, ML Strategies
John May, Stern Brothers
Carol Burke, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Q & A Submission:
Q & A session will follow the speakers’ presentations. Please use the “ask question” button on your webinar screen to submit your questions.

How to Join:
To participate in this webinar, please register online. The webinar instructions will be emailed to you. There is a $30.00 administrative fee to participate. ACORE member discount applies.   READ MORE

Bad Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) have already cost private industry hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and absconded revenue. On top of EPA-imposed penalties, oil companies and brokerages have to return to the market in search of legitimate RINs to replace those they thought they had on their books.

Don’t become a victim to fraudulent rip-off schemes that put you in double jeopardy when it comes to compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard and civil suits from your trading partners.

At this Emergency Webinar you’ll learn how to:

• Sniff out bogus RINs when they are offered.
• Avoid EPA Clean Air Act fines of as much as $37,500 per violation per day.
• Stay ahead of changes in the EPA Moderated Transaction System (EMTS),
  the federal central bank for RINs.
• Structure your RIN deals to be ironclad and bulletproof.
• Get out of a bad situation with fraudulent RINs before the end-February
  reporting deadline.
• Understand what bad RINs mean for this year’s Renewable Volume Obligation
  and future years.
• Limit your liability if you unknowingly passed along a bad RIN (at least one
  lawsuit has already broken out between market players).
• And more!

EPA has made it clear that industry is on its own for policing the RINs system. But how can you protect yourself from such schemes without knowing the tools that are available to you?

Attend this highly informative 90-minute webinar and hear from leading experts on RIN law, the EPA’s Moderated Transaction System and the proper workings of the RIN marketplace.  READ MORE   Download Webinar

…From the number of different utilization approaches alone, the outlook for 2012 cannot be defined by one pathway as that feature panel showed, rather it needs to include everything from nutraceutical use to fish feed to algae crude oil.

…Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also provided a clear vision regarding algae’s potential in relation to fossil-based energy. “Americans have shouldered these costs (oil subsidies) for too long,” she said. “Those companies no longer need those tax breaks and we can’t afford them with the debt we are facing. This isn’t about whether those oil companies deserve a profit. It’s a question about whether the American people should pay the cost of providing preferential tax treatment to the five largest oil companies in the U.S., which have racked up almost $1 trillion in profits over the last decade.”

…(Dan) Schroen (of Life Technologies) is developing a kit that would help anyone interested in algae development. A simple catalog order can provide researchers with consistent products, including robust strains that have not been damaged by genetic drift, and vector maps that are up to date, all of which can be customized for specific strains, making the path to commercialization much quicker.

…Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance, also agreed with (Bill) Shireman (president and CEO of Fortune 500), pointing out the importance of stakeholder involvement early on, as well as the development of common sustainability standards created by all stakeholders as a common point of reference when speaking about an algae-related business. http://biorefiningmagazine.com/articles/5952/four-days-in-the-algae-epicenter

• Has politics given up the targets fixed in the coalition treaty (e.g., that of reviving the pure biofuels market) or can concrete activities still be expected in the remaining short period of time?
• Do the present targets and projects provide a reliable basis for future plans of the biofuels sector?
• Will the quota system by replaced by GHG based regulations in the foreseeable future?
• Why does politics not really respond to the German pioneering role in the sustainable production of biofuels?
• What consequences emerge for the government from the current discussion about ILUC?
• When will the fuels strategy which the government has been preparing for some time be presented and discussed in public?
• How does the government view the further development of the „second generation fuels“, and what approaches should be encouraged in the government’s view?

A revised Renewable Energies Act has been adopted in the electricity sector. Politicians generally agree that the heat sector is in urgent need of redevelopment. Appropriate measures are being discussed between the government and the states. But, apart from the definition of medium and long-term objectives as far as the share of renewable energies is concerned, do the factions in the Bundestag Parliament have visions of how mobility should be organized in the future? This Congress should send strong and clear signals for this to the government and the Parliament.

In addition to this, the ambitious Congress program gives reason to hope that additional information and proposals from science, industry and the practical activities in the vegetable oil, bioethanol and biodiesel sectors will make a contribution to strengthening and supporting the entire biofuels market. And, of course, as in the past, participants and visitors will exchange opinion and experience, especially also during the social gathering in the evening of the first Congress day at the „nature.tec – exhibition for bioenergy and primary raw materials“ at the Green Week.  READ MORE