Obama strikes
Sweeping changes ordered in US biofuels policy: "Will not make 36 billion gallon target"
without change; shift to advanced biofuels;
In Washington,the Obama Administration issued a sweeping new set of rules and
directives regarding US biofuels policy , including the release of the revised Renewable Fuel Standard
from EPA, and a new set of "Lead Agency" assignments to support first-generation biofuels while driving
the development and commercialization of advanced fuels, with a forces on drop-in fuels for aviation and
ground transportation.
The announcement followed 14-page report from the Biofuels Policy Working Group -
chaired by Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, Energy Secretary Chu, and EPA Administrator Jackson - that found that
US biofuels targets for 2022 will not be met unless the US government undertakes to re-organize its
development effort. Here are the highlights from the announcements
See
complete story HERE
Algae's Baby Bloomers revisited
After "the summer of algae," a shock, some awe, and a
surge
It was just a few months
ago that expectations ran so high during the "Summer of
Algae " that it seemed as if, any day, the national energy solution
would be announced by an enterprising company, or two or three or 103, who had conquered the problems of
industrializing growth rates and oil extraction like an assault team at Iwo Jima, only "we band of
brothers' would be armed with PhDs instead of M-1 carbines.
But by October, sections of the algal biofuels movement and
industry were dialing down the hype. The other shoe dropped last week with a report in
Environmental Science & Technology, giving poor grades to algae on sustainability grounds. The report
was based on data from the 1970s through the 1990s. The industry erupted in protest at what it considered
inappropriate use of old data.
Complete story here:
Biodiesel produced from saltwater-based Algae could be
cost competitive with petroleum diesel, according to some reports.
Aurora Biofuels, located in Alameda, CA has reported their
18 month pilot project produced 1,000 gallons of ATSM quality biodiesel in Florida open ponds of just 1/8th of
an acre. The company estimates they could grow 6,000 gallons per acre in full production
mode.
A company spokesperson stated, "In the near-term we expect to demonstrate that the economics of
this process can produce biodiesel that is price-competitive with fossil fuels." A 50 acre pond is scheduled
for completion in 2010.
In a similar vein, Australian researchers
just released a
report stating that they have found that biodiesel production for saltwater algae can be
competitive with the production of petroleum diesel. However, they also state that due to the cost of
transporting biodiesel from an algal farm, the best scenario may be to locate an electricity generating
plant in the same vicinity and simply convert the chemical energy into electricity. Creating such a
powerplant would also make new jobs for local workers. (The analysis used an assumption of about 1,000 acres
of ponds.)
And to highlight one last piece of news, researchers in
New York this week reported the development of a new technique which they say can reduce the production cost of algal biodiesel by
40%. Their process is called a 'continuously flowing
fixed-bed' and uses a solid rather than liquid catalyst, which allows the flow of biodiesel to stay
constant. With liquid catalysts each batch is made and then there is a down time of about 30 minutes to
start another flow. The researcher, Ben Wen stated,"This is the first economical way to produce biodiesel from algae
oil".
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Here's a link to the NREL's publication on algae. This is an EXCELLENT resource:
Here is another link to a .pdf on growing Jatropha..also excellent.
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Quotes:
The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry
does not own the sun.
To truly transform our economy, protect
our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make
clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.
BARACK OBAMA, Address to Joint
Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009
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