From bknighton at nc.rr.com Thu Dec 1 09:56:12 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Thu Dec 1 16:10:20 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biodiesel blog aggregator? In-Reply-To: References: <200511151159.jAFBxU4q017008@ms-smtp-02-eri0.southeast.rr.com> Message-ID: <438F0F0C.2000209@nc.rr.com> Does anyone know what happened to http://biodieselblogs.truffula.net/ ? Now it points to an Internet security consulting firm in Oregon > From mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu Thu Dec 1 09:05:52 2005 From: mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu (Mark J Ambrose) Date: Thu Dec 1 16:18:53 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Grant Opportunity: Genomics for Bioenergy Message-ID: <20051201170552.11588.fh052.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Anyone doing research in breeding better plants for biofuels? Here is an interesting opportunity to get funding. Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy: A Joint ResearchSolicitation- USDA, DOE Grant http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/DOE/PAM/HQ/DE-FG02-06ER06-03/listing.html -- Mark From wrenchwench at blast.com Thu Dec 1 22:47:01 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Thu Dec 1 22:47:08 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry Message-ID: ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The American Soybean Association (ASA) today expressed outrage over the announcement that large quantities of biodiesel will be imported to take advantage of the new tax incentive for biodiesel sold in the United States. The U.S. Congress enacted the biodiesel tax incentive to create a new market for U.S. soybean oil and other domestic feedstocks, and to reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil. "Importing biodiesel will only subsidize foreign farmers and biodiesel producers with U.S. taxpayer dollars," said ASA president Bob Metz, a soybean producer from West Browns Valley, S.D. "The Administration and Congress must act immediately to eliminate loopholes that allow foreign biodiesel from exploiting a key part of our national strategy for reducing our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy." ASA's statement came after an announcement by EarthFirst Americas, Inc., that its first shipment of palm oil-based biodiesel from Ecuador had arrived at the Port of Tampa, Fla., and that additional shipments are planned that could total 45 million gallons in 2006, and 100 million gallons in 2007. U.S. biodiesel production in 2005 is expected to total about 30 million gallons, with plans to expand domestic output to 80 million gallons in 2006, and as much as 200 million gallons in 2007. "It was the clear intent of Congress to restrict agri-biodiesel feedstocks to a limited list of vegetable oils and animal fats," Metz said. "ASA vehemently opposed the decision by the Internal Revenue Service to interpret the statute to allow biodiesel made from vegetable oils not specifically listed in the statute, including tropical oils such as palm oil, which are not produced in the United States, to qualify for the tax incentive. ASA now calls on Congress and the Administration to correct this loophole." The growth in anticipated U.S. biodiesel production is the result of enactment of the biodiesel tax incentive in last year's JOBS bill. The incentive provides a $1.00 tax credit for each gallon of agri- biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel. Agri-biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. "ASA also calls on Congress and the Administration to support enactment of a tariff on imported biodiesel equal to the $1.00 per gallon tax incentive for agri-biodiesel," Metz added. "An offsetting tariff, such as used for ethanol, will serve the purpose of the biodiesel incentive in the JOBS bill, which is to enhance U.S. energy independence by encouraging production of domestic biodiesel from domestic feedstocks." From agiles at cape.com Fri Dec 2 09:07:54 2005 From: agiles at cape.com (Allen Giles) Date: Fri Dec 2 09:07:27 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <200512021407.jB2E7PoY017944@kimba.cape.com> This seems well intended, but the hard reality is that soy oil is not being released for biodiesel production today. Independent producers are being asked to pay a premium of up to .05-.07 per pound for access to soy oil. A 15 million gallon facility that does not have direct access to feedstock or financial capability to purchase futures contracts will not be able to compete. The ASA exports far more soybean oil at a lower cost than it makes oil available to biofuels producers in the US. Until the ASA gets committed to biodiesel production, more and more imported biodiesel and veg oil is going to flow into this country. For them to get their shorts all twisted over this is laughable. The ASA needs to sing a different tune. As with most of our fossil fuels, most of our biofuels will come from South America. Citgo; owned by the Venezuela government, is planning on bringing in preblended fuels on a joint venture with Brazilian manufactured biodiesel. There are biodiesel and ethanol plants being built in Egypt and Saudi to preblend and exported to EU and US. -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of Rachel Burton Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:47 PM To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The American Soybean Association (ASA) today expressed outrage over the announcement that large quantities of biodiesel will be imported to take advantage of the new tax incentive for biodiesel sold in the United States. The U.S. Congress enacted the biodiesel tax incentive to create a new market for U.S. soybean oil and other domestic feedstocks, and to reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil. "Importing biodiesel will only subsidize foreign farmers and biodiesel producers with U.S. taxpayer dollars," said ASA president Bob Metz, a soybean producer from West Browns Valley, S.D. "The Administration and Congress must act immediately to eliminate loopholes that allow foreign biodiesel from exploiting a key part of our national strategy for reducing our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy." ASA's statement came after an announcement by EarthFirst Americas, Inc., that its first shipment of palm oil-based biodiesel from Ecuador had arrived at the Port of Tampa, Fla., and that additional shipments are planned that could total 45 million gallons in 2006, and 100 million gallons in 2007. U.S. biodiesel production in 2005 is expected to total about 30 million gallons, with plans to expand domestic output to 80 million gallons in 2006, and as much as 200 million gallons in 2007. "It was the clear intent of Congress to restrict agri-biodiesel feedstocks to a limited list of vegetable oils and animal fats," Metz said. "ASA vehemently opposed the decision by the Internal Revenue Service to interpret the statute to allow biodiesel made from vegetable oils not specifically listed in the statute, including tropical oils such as palm oil, which are not produced in the United States, to qualify for the tax incentive. ASA now calls on Congress and the Administration to correct this loophole." The growth in anticipated U.S. biodiesel production is the result of enactment of the biodiesel tax incentive in last year's JOBS bill. The incentive provides a $1.00 tax credit for each gallon of agri- biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel. Agri-biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. "ASA also calls on Congress and the Administration to support enactment of a tariff on imported biodiesel equal to the $1.00 per gallon tax incentive for agri-biodiesel," Metz added. "An offsetting tariff, such as used for ethanol, will serve the purpose of the biodiesel incentive in the JOBS bill, which is to enhance U.S. energy independence by encouraging production of domestic biodiesel from domestic feedstocks." _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu Fri Dec 2 09:31:41 2005 From: mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu (Mark J Ambrose) Date: Fri Dec 2 12:31:50 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Winterizing B100 in NC Message-ID: <20051202173142.16754.fh052.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Dave -- 1) Most of the biodiesel used in Europe is made from rapeseed (canola) oil. Rapeseed-based biodiesel has a lower gel point than soy-based biodiesel (see my original email). 2) Anti-gel additives seem to work better on rapeseed-based biodiesel than on soy-based biodiesel. 3) In much colder climates you generally start by blending #2 diesel or #1 diesel (kerosene) with the biodiesel in some proportion or other. Then you worry about winterizing the blend if needed. Winterizing such a blend is what most of the anti-gel agents are designed for. The issue here in NC is that our winters are almost mild enough that we don't need to do anything to our biodiesel (and if our tank were heated, we wouldn't need to do any blending, but individual drivers might want to blend in petrodiesel or antigel additives). That being the case, we are looking for the option that is most cost effective and uses the least amount of fossil fuel. -- Mark --------------------------------------------------- This may be a dumb or already asked question, but since a lot of the biodiesel stuff came from Germany, how do they solve the problem, I would think it gets colder over there than here . Please dont flame me too bad. I came ignorance since I am new to biodiesel Dave Rosario From alizard at ecis.com Fri Dec 2 16:24:10 2005 From: alizard at ecis.com (A.Lizard) Date: Fri Dec 2 20:11:51 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Re: Biofuels_Interest_Group Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: <20051202140735.87DF3DE8AB@mail2.blast.com> References: <20051202140735.87DF3DE8AB@mail2.blast.com> Message-ID: <6.0.3.0.1.20051202162222.04fbc890@mail.ecis.com> At 06:07 AM 12/2/05, you wrote: >Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:07:54 -0500 >From: "Allen Giles" >To: >Subject: RE: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax > incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry >Message-ID: <200512021407.jB2E7PoY017944@kimba.cape.com> >In-Reply-To: >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="us-ascii" >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Precedence: list >Reply-To: agiles@cape.com >Message: 8 > >This seems well intended, but the hard reality is that soy oil is not being >released for biodiesel production today. Independent producers are being >asked to pay a premium of up to .05-.07 per pound for access to soy oil. A >15 million gallon facility that does not have direct access to feedstock or >financial capability to purchase futures contracts will not be able to >compete. > >The ASA exports far more soybean oil at a lower cost than it makes oil >available to biofuels producers in the US. Until the ASA gets committed to >biodiesel production, more and more imported biodiesel and veg oil is going >to flow into this country. For them to get their shorts all twisted over >this is laughable. The ASA needs to sing a different tune. Why? From their POV, that subsidy was intended to go into the pockets of corporate farmers like ADM, not jump-start biodiesel. This means that people experimenting with alternate biodiesel sources from WVO to switchgrass have a chance of getting R&D funding. A.Lizard member The Internet Society (ISOC), The HTML Writers Guild. "The responsibility of government for the public safety is absolute and requires no mandate. It is in fact, the prime object for which governments come into existence." Winston Churchill - 9/1936 - speech to the UK Parliament Personal Website http://www.ecis.com/~alizard business Website http://www.reptilelabs.com backup address (if ALL else fails) alizard@gmail.com PGP 8.0 key available by request or keyserver. Download PGP from: http://www.pgpi.org for e-mail privacy. Disaster prep info: http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/y2k.html ***Looking for INTELLIGENT new technology public policy alternatives?*** http://www.ecis.com/~alizard/technology.html From handj at tds.net Fri Dec 2 21:19:09 2005 From: handj at tds.net (jack berry) Date: Fri Dec 2 22:19:12 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] RE: Biofuels_Interest_Group Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: <20051202140733.C59E4DE89A@mail2.blast.com> Message-ID: <20051203031909.MADV23063.outaamta02.mail.tds.net@jacklaptop> Blending fuel 24 degrees? God I feel for you folks in n.c. it was 17 here today and getting colder towards Monday(look at zip code 53405 at www.theweatherchannel.com) we are using homemade b20 not b80 or 90. what a dream that would be. There are blend options on the www.mercedesshop.com website just enter blendeded fuel or blended biodiesel in the search. Also www.biodieselnow has some cold weather biodiesel production discussions. Twenty four degrees? You poor folks have no idea what winter really is.:-) Like I told the folks at a church innor cal when we were there in june....wisconsin cold? No not really. There are 4 or 5 really cold days and all the rest are above zero. Jack Racine wi ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of biofuels_interest_group-request@lists.emji.net Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 8:08 AM To: biofuels_interest_group@lists.emji.net Subject: Biofuels_Interest_Group Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1 Send Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list submissions to biofuels_interest_group@lists.emji.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to biofuels_interest_group-request@lists.emji.net You can reach the person managing the list at biofuels_interest_group-owner@lists.emji.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Biofuels_Interest_Group digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Winterizing B100 in NC (Jim Baron) 2. Distribution Drive purchased by EarthFirst (Richard Carpenter Photography) 3. UA Researchers Create Biodiesel Fuel from Chicken Fat (Rachel Burton) 4. Local OR Winery Offers Free Biodiesel to Employees (Rachel Burton) 5. Re: Biodiesel blog aggregator? (Bill Knighton) 6. Grant Opportunity: Genomics for Bioenergy (Mark J Ambrose) 7. ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry (Rachel Burton) 8. RE: ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry (Allen Giles) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 12:22:46 -0600 (CST) From: Jim Baron To: Mark J Ambrose , Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Winterizing B100 in NC Message-ID: <30861607.1133288567734.JavaMail.root@vms169.mailsrvcs.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 1 >From: Mark J Ambrose >Date: Tue Nov 29 11:34:38 CST 2005 >To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net >Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Winterizing B100 in NC >Folks -- * * * * * > >I am coming to the conclusion that the most cost >effective option for winterizing for this climate is >simply to make a B80 blend with regular #2 diesel or a >B90 blend with kerosene (#1 diesel). Either of these >should give a CFPP of around 24 deg. F. (Considering >how infrequently it gets into the mid-20's here, we >might even be able to get away with B90 with #2 diesel >or B95 with kerosene.) > >Does anyone have any other ideas? > >-- Mark Has anyone done any really scientific tests with the possibility of applying to biodiesel the ancient German/Scandinavian technique of blending a percentage of Regular Unleaded Gasoline into their #2 diesel in the winter (as much as 30% in the subarctic areas)? I know that there are a lot of us blending around 20% RUG into used vegetable oil for the warmer seasons and it seems to blend with vegoil very well and stay a stable mixture, but I've no experience or knowledge at all of what problems the changes transesterification causes in biodiesel might cause if it was blended with RUG. Jim Baron Senex ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 14:00:37 -0500 From: Richard Carpenter Photography To: biofuels_interest_group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Distribution Drive purchased by EarthFirst Message-ID: <4e961f6b0511291100y420c0cdq331327c529ec02f8@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Precedence: list Message: 2 Interesting news item today... Distribution Drive was the distributor of BIOWillie fuels... you know good 'ole home grown good for America biofuels... Today EarthFirst announced they bought Distribution Drive... EarthFirst if you recall was recently in the news for importing something like 245,000 gal of biodiesel from Ecuador. It may be interesting to see how the two interests collide. -Richard -- http://RichardCarpenterPhotography.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:24:37 -0500 From: Rachel Burton To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] UA Researchers Create Biodiesel Fuel from Chicken Fat Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v746.2) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 3 UA Researchers Create Biodiesel Fuel from Chicken Fat Full article: http://www.sflorg.com/sciencenews/scn112905_01.html Excerpt: "We're trying to expand the petroleum base," said Brian Mattingly, a graduate student in the UA Department of Chemical Engineering. "Five to 20 percent blending of biodiesel into petroleum-based diesel significantly reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and we're using a renewable resource. These are just a few of biodiesel's benefits." FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - In the future, fat shaved off chicken breasts and other parts may power automobiles that emit less pollution. Chemical engineering researchers associated with the Mack Blackwell Transportation Center at the University of Arkansas have developed an optimized method of converting chicken fat into biodiesel fuel. The novel project could lead to using chicken fat -- a plentiful, accessible and low-cost feed stock -- as an inexpensive supplement to petroleum-based diesel fuel. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:08:27 -0500 From: Rachel Burton To: biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Local OR Winery Offers Free Biodiesel to Employees Message-ID: <8DC96EFA-B60A-4C16-B777-EB91B7C13122@blast.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v746.2) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 4 The Salem Statesman Journal reported earlier this month that Turner, OR-based Willamette Valley Vineyards is offering 50 free gallons of biodiesel fuel to its employees per month for use in their private vehicles. The Statesman Journal said the company, which currently employs the alternative fuel to power its delivery trucks and tractors, decided to allow employees to use the company biodiesel pumping station in an effort to "go green." Under the plan, the newspaper said employees are allowed to fuel their vehicles from the onsite biodiesel pump during certain hours. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:56:12 -0500 From: Bill Knighton Cc: biofuels_interest_group@lists.biofuels.coop Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biodiesel blog aggregator? Message-ID: <438F0F0C.2000209@nc.rr.com> In-Reply-To: References: <200511151159.jAFBxU4q017008@ms-smtp-02-eri0.southeast.rr.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 5 Does anyone know what happened to http://biodieselblogs.truffula.net/ ? Now it points to an Internet security consulting firm in Oregon > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:05:52 -0800 (PST) From: "Mark J Ambrose" To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Grant Opportunity: Genomics for Bioenergy Message-ID: <20051201170552.11588.fh052.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 6 Anyone doing research in breeding better plants for biofuels? Here is an interesting opportunity to get funding. Plant Feedstock Genomics for Bioenergy: A Joint ResearchSolicitation- USDA, DOE Grant http://www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/DOE/PAM/HQ/DE-FG02-06ER06-03/listing.htm l -- Mark ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 22:47:01 -0500 From: Rachel Burton To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v746.2) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 7 ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The American Soybean Association (ASA) today expressed outrage over the announcement that large quantities of biodiesel will be imported to take advantage of the new tax incentive for biodiesel sold in the United States. The U.S. Congress enacted the biodiesel tax incentive to create a new market for U.S. soybean oil and other domestic feedstocks, and to reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil. "Importing biodiesel will only subsidize foreign farmers and biodiesel producers with U.S. taxpayer dollars," said ASA president Bob Metz, a soybean producer from West Browns Valley, S.D. "The Administration and Congress must act immediately to eliminate loopholes that allow foreign biodiesel from exploiting a key part of our national strategy for reducing our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy." ASA's statement came after an announcement by EarthFirst Americas, Inc., that its first shipment of palm oil-based biodiesel from Ecuador had arrived at the Port of Tampa, Fla., and that additional shipments are planned that could total 45 million gallons in 2006, and 100 million gallons in 2007. U.S. biodiesel production in 2005 is expected to total about 30 million gallons, with plans to expand domestic output to 80 million gallons in 2006, and as much as 200 million gallons in 2007. "It was the clear intent of Congress to restrict agri-biodiesel feedstocks to a limited list of vegetable oils and animal fats," Metz said. "ASA vehemently opposed the decision by the Internal Revenue Service to interpret the statute to allow biodiesel made from vegetable oils not specifically listed in the statute, including tropical oils such as palm oil, which are not produced in the United States, to qualify for the tax incentive. ASA now calls on Congress and the Administration to correct this loophole." The growth in anticipated U.S. biodiesel production is the result of enactment of the biodiesel tax incentive in last year's JOBS bill. The incentive provides a $1.00 tax credit for each gallon of agri- biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel. Agri-biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. "ASA also calls on Congress and the Administration to support enactment of a tariff on imported biodiesel equal to the $1.00 per gallon tax incentive for agri-biodiesel," Metz added. "An offsetting tariff, such as used for ethanol, will serve the purpose of the biodiesel incentive in the JOBS bill, which is to enhance U.S. energy independence by encouraging production of domestic biodiesel from domestic feedstocks." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:07:54 -0500 From: "Allen Giles" To: Subject: RE: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry Message-ID: <200512021407.jB2E7PoY017944@kimba.cape.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Reply-To: agiles@cape.com Message: 8 This seems well intended, but the hard reality is that soy oil is not being released for biodiesel production today. Independent producers are being asked to pay a premium of up to .05-.07 per pound for access to soy oil. A 15 million gallon facility that does not have direct access to feedstock or financial capability to purchase futures contracts will not be able to compete. The ASA exports far more soybean oil at a lower cost than it makes oil available to biofuels producers in the US. Until the ASA gets committed to biodiesel production, more and more imported biodiesel and veg oil is going to flow into this country. For them to get their shorts all twisted over this is laughable. The ASA needs to sing a different tune. As with most of our fossil fuels, most of our biofuels will come from South America. Citgo; owned by the Venezuela government, is planning on bringing in preblended fuels on a joint venture with Brazilian manufactured biodiesel. There are biodiesel and ethanol plants being built in Egypt and Saudi to preblend and exported to EU and US. -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of Rachel Burton Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:47 PM To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The American Soybean Association (ASA) today expressed outrage over the announcement that large quantities of biodiesel will be imported to take advantage of the new tax incentive for biodiesel sold in the United States. The U.S. Congress enacted the biodiesel tax incentive to create a new market for U.S. soybean oil and other domestic feedstocks, and to reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil. "Importing biodiesel will only subsidize foreign farmers and biodiesel producers with U.S. taxpayer dollars," said ASA president Bob Metz, a soybean producer from West Browns Valley, S.D. "The Administration and Congress must act immediately to eliminate loopholes that allow foreign biodiesel from exploiting a key part of our national strategy for reducing our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy." ASA's statement came after an announcement by EarthFirst Americas, Inc., that its first shipment of palm oil-based biodiesel from Ecuador had arrived at the Port of Tampa, Fla., and that additional shipments are planned that could total 45 million gallons in 2006, and 100 million gallons in 2007. U.S. biodiesel production in 2005 is expected to total about 30 million gallons, with plans to expand domestic output to 80 million gallons in 2006, and as much as 200 million gallons in 2007. "It was the clear intent of Congress to restrict agri-biodiesel feedstocks to a limited list of vegetable oils and animal fats," Metz said. "ASA vehemently opposed the decision by the Internal Revenue Service to interpret the statute to allow biodiesel made from vegetable oils not specifically listed in the statute, including tropical oils such as palm oil, which are not produced in the United States, to qualify for the tax incentive. ASA now calls on Congress and the Administration to correct this loophole." The growth in anticipated U.S. biodiesel production is the result of enactment of the biodiesel tax incentive in last year's JOBS bill. The incentive provides a $1.00 tax credit for each gallon of agri- biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel. Agri-biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. "ASA also calls on Congress and the Administration to support enactment of a tariff on imported biodiesel equal to the $1.00 per gallon tax incentive for agri-biodiesel," Metz added. "An offsetting tariff, such as used for ethanol, will serve the purpose of the biodiesel incentive in the JOBS bill, which is to enhance U.S. energy independence by encouraging production of domestic biodiesel from domestic feedstocks." _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group End of Biofuels_Interest_Group Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1 ***************************************************** From texaco at rivnet.net Sat Dec 3 09:43:58 2005 From: texaco at rivnet.net (Al Christopher) Date: Sat Dec 3 09:44:16 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Re: Biofuels_Interest_Group Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: <6.0.3.0.1.20051202162222.04fbc890@mail.ecis.com> Message-ID: <20051203144412.19E28DE4CF@mail2.blast.com> I don't mean to be opening a can of worms with this and it is not intended to be sarcastic or snide, but some of the points in both of these messages (see below) seem to contradict what I thought I knew about biodiesel. My perspective is based on buying, using and selling biodiesel made from soybean oil. I don't have anything against home-brewed or industrial-scale WVO production of biodiesel, but I don't have any experience with it beyond Tickell's video and book. If either of you (A. Lizard, Allen Giles) or anyone else has the time to educate, indoctrinate or just plain disagree with me, I would appreciate it. Sorry, everyone, if this is incorrectly organized. The time line is from bottom to top. Here goes, point by point: 1.) Soy oil is "not being released," or is hard for independent biodiesel producers to get at the fair market price. On the contrary, I thought there was a huge surplus of soy oil, especially in this country. There were 35 million metric tons or about 11 billion gallons -- if my notoriously bad math is correct and 7 pounds per gallon is about the correct weight -- traded last year, according to sales reports you can Google off of the Chicago Board of Trade website. It doesn't seem possible to me that even a huge company could control the price or access to soybean oil. You probably can't buy it in Virginia or North Carolina for the same price that it trades on CBOT, unless you can take delivery in Chicago. But you should be able to buy it in almost any region of the country for the CBOT price plus the cost of freight from Chicago. 2.) "The ASA exports far more soybean oil at a lower cost than it makes oil available to biofuels producers in the US." Commodities are traded on a huge scale between companies and even countries and the price may be based on contracts that span multiple years or decades. A biodiesel producer or group of producers could do the same thing in theory, but the reality is that all of the soybean oil used by the entire biodiesel industry is less than a drop in the bucket relative to soy oil production and sales. An individual biodiesel plant would have about as much bargaining power as I would if I tried to get Wal-Mart to lower the sticker price on my purchase of four AA batteries. 3.) "Until the ASA gets committed to biodiesel production, more and more imported biodiesel and veg oil is going to flow into this country. For them to get their shorts all twisted over this (IRS ruling -- see below) is laughable." I can't think of an organization that has done more to encourage production of biodiesel from soybean oil or promoting the use of biodiesel than ASA and the various state soybean associations. The NBB was founded in 1992 by state soybean commodity groups, who were funding biodiesel research and development programs. The Virginia Soybean Growers Association did virtually all of the early biodiesel development in the state, aggressively supported and assisted the entrepreneurs who built the state's first biodiesel plant two years ago and it continues to use its soybean check-off money to fund rebates to consumers of biodiesel and provide other biodiesel subsidies, to allow school systems to burn B20 in buses, for example. I completely agree that it is laughable to get upset at this early stage about the palm oil-based biodiesel supposedly imported to Tampa FL, but perhaps not for the same reasons. It is not surprising that ASA or US taxpayers in general would be against the concept of a blender receiving the $1 per gallon credit or any credit financed by US taxpayers for biodiesel blends that are imported, if indeed the IRS has so ruled in a way that would apply in this case or similar cases. Even though ASA might have over-reacted, one still has to admire the organization and others who supported the effort to get the biodiesel credit through Congress even though they had to know there was a great risk that the law of unintended consequences could create a monster. What is laughable is the idea that EarthFirst Americas will be able to push aside the domestic soybean oil-based biodiesel industry and market 3 million gallons of biodiesel per month, starting in the first quarter of 2006. And it "expects" to import more than 100 million gallons in 2007, according to the following report by Green Car Congress. Link below: (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/11/earthfirst_impo.html) It is easy to issue a press release (link below) announcing that you are going to become a major player in the international biodiesel industry, and that you have a mysterious new technology that can make biodiesel cheaper than your competitors. (http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/051103/35856.html?.v=1) 4.) "This means that people experimenting with alternate biodiesel sources from WVO to switchgrass have a chance of getting R&D funding." Please explain. Thanks, Al Christopher Green Virginia Kilduff Oil PO Box 292 Reedville VA 22539-0292 -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of A.Lizard Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 7:24 PM To: biofuels_interest_group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Re: Biofuels_Interest_Group Digest, Vol 5, Issue 1 At 06:07 AM 12/2/05, you wrote: >Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:07:54 -0500 >From: "Allen Giles" >To: >Subject: RE: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax > incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry >Message-ID: <200512021407.jB2E7PoY017944@kimba.cape.com> >In-Reply-To: >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="us-ascii" >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Precedence: list >Reply-To: agiles@cape.com >Message: 8 > >This seems well intended, but the hard reality is that soy oil is not being >released for biodiesel production today. Independent producers are being >asked to pay a premium of up to .05-.07 per pound for access to soy oil. A >15 million gallon facility that does not have direct access to feedstock or >financial capability to purchase futures contracts will not be able to >compete. > >The ASA exports far more soybean oil at a lower cost than it makes oil >available to biofuels producers in the US. Until the ASA gets committed to >biodiesel production, more and more imported biodiesel and veg oil is going >to flow into this country. For them to get their shorts all twisted over >this is laughable. The ASA needs to sing a different tune. Why? From their POV, that subsidy was intended to go into the pockets of corporate farmers like ADM, not jump-start biodiesel. This means that people experimenting with alternate biodiesel sources from WVO to switchgrass have a chance of getting R&D funding. A.Lizard _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of Rachel Burton Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:47 PM To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] ASA calls for action to defend tax incentive for U.S. biodiesel industry ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The American Soybean Association (ASA) today expressed outrage over the announcement that large quantities of biodiesel will be imported to take advantage of the new tax incentive for biodiesel sold in the United States. The U.S. Congress enacted the biodiesel tax incentive to create a new market for U.S. soybean oil and other domestic feedstocks, and to reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil. "Importing biodiesel will only subsidize foreign farmers and biodiesel producers with U.S. taxpayer dollars," said ASA president Bob Metz, a soybean producer from West Browns Valley, S.D. "The Administration and Congress must act immediately to eliminate loopholes that allow foreign biodiesel from exploiting a key part of our national strategy for reducing our nation's dependence on foreign sources of energy." ASA's statement came after an announcement by EarthFirst Americas, Inc., that its first shipment of palm oil-based biodiesel from Ecuador had arrived at the Port of Tampa, Fla., and that additional shipments are planned that could total 45 million gallons in 2006, and 100 million gallons in 2007. U.S. biodiesel production in 2005 is expected to total about 30 million gallons, with plans to expand domestic output to 80 million gallons in 2006, and as much as 200 million gallons in 2007. "It was the clear intent of Congress to restrict agri-biodiesel feedstocks to a limited list of vegetable oils and animal fats," Metz said. "ASA vehemently opposed the decision by the Internal Revenue Service to interpret the statute to allow biodiesel made from vegetable oils not specifically listed in the statute, including tropical oils such as palm oil, which are not produced in the United States, to qualify for the tax incentive. ASA now calls on Congress and the Administration to correct this loophole." The growth in anticipated U.S. biodiesel production is the result of enactment of the biodiesel tax incentive in last year's JOBS bill. The incentive provides a $1.00 tax credit for each gallon of agri- biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel. Agri-biodiesel can be produced from vegetable oils and animal fats. "ASA also calls on Congress and the Administration to support enactment of a tariff on imported biodiesel equal to the $1.00 per gallon tax incentive for agri-biodiesel," Metz added. "An offsetting tariff, such as used for ethanol, will serve the purpose of the biodiesel incentive in the JOBS bill, which is to enhance U.S. energy independence by encouraging production of domestic biodiesel from domestic feedstocks." _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From john.bonitz at gmail.com Sat Dec 3 07:49:30 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Sat Dec 3 10:49:31 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Blog Aggregator is down for awhile Message-ID: <84a57a420512030749o18e02ae3v943a851b4dcd1ebe@mail.gmail.com> Hey everyone, I just got word from Forrest English that his blog aggregator is down for awhile. He is in the process of relocating himself cross country, and moving much of his internet content. He's working on it. But it seems he's also preparing to work on some things that may be more urgent, in New Orleans. John ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Forrest English Date: Dec 2, 2005 5:58 PM Subject: Re: hey To: John Bonitz I'm fine, but I'm on my way to New Orleans right now to do volunteer work there (like on a bus for 4 days on my way there). Computer stuff has fallen by the wayside, and I've been trying to migrate things away to new homes, it's just somewhat incomplete right now so a few things are busted. The aggregator is one of the things that is busted. I'll see if I can look into it if we stop for the night somewhere with internet, though more than likely it'll be quite awhile. -- Forrest English PGP Key: http://truffula.net/~forrest/pub.key 8EC5 F031 E8BC 1BA7 B572 5C32 BAF4 2073 F96C 06AC From Trip at netpath.net Sat Dec 3 11:20:58 2005 From: Trip at netpath.net (G.T. Overholt) Date: Sat Dec 3 11:20:56 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] 1982 Mercedes diesel wagon for sale References: <20051202140735.87DF3DE8AB@mail2.blast.com> <6.0.3.0.1.20051202162222.04fbc890@mail.ecis.com> Message-ID: <001e01c5f825$8c4d4600$63c56bd1@Snowcamp1> I am selling a nice 1982 Mercedes diesel wagon (red) with about 188K miles, leather seats, and sunroof. It is in good condition and almost everything on it works. The power antenna does not go up and down (manually only) and at this moment, the blower on the heater does not work right (I'm getting it fixed). Also, the gas gauge shows that the tank is 1/4 full when it is nearly empty. I bought this car because I started making my own biodiesel and wanted a car for my significant other that would run on biodiesel. The car runs really well on biodiesel. We have had a little restructuring in our family unit at this time (shucks, didn't manage the Ozzy and Harriet scenario this incarnation), coupled with shortages in wvo/excess biodisel poduction, resulting in a less workable scenario for the mercedes remaining with us. I'm asking $4500 for the car and will be doing so for the next 30 days. If I don't get a reasonable offer in that time frame I may send out another notice with a lower price. Believe me, if I didn't have to sell it, I wouldn't! I have not yet taken a photo of the car but will his week. Trip From john.bonitz at gmail.com Sat Dec 3 08:27:51 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Sat Dec 3 11:27:52 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] winterizing B100 and Freeze Testing Message-ID: <84a57a420512030827j3a37a720i1da985cffa8c615e@mail.gmail.com> Hey Mark and others, Winterizing B100 is a great topic for this listserve. A freeze test has been done. We hear there is a hodgepodge of info out there about various methods / additives for protecting against fuel-gelling. But nothing very convincing, like a side-by-side freeze test. Recently the Piedmont Biofuels Cooperative has been working on this. Active coop member Don Mueller did an experiment in which he cold-tested three different additives, taking photos and lots of observations. We are working on getting this up on our website , and I think Don was considering putting his report on the Collaborative Biofuels Tutorial as well . Our commercially-made biodiesel is made in Florida from soy oil feedstock, so it's cold weather performance is not very good. We've recently observed wax crystals forming in our fuel, as well as clogged filters and sluggish pumping as a result. So, Don did a freeze test. He tested B100 (as a control), B98 blended with Kerosene, Power Service Diesel Fuel Supplement, and ISO-HEET. He was unable to acquire any Artic Express Biodiesel Antigel, which is apparently reviewed here . Don's experiment was very detailed, with lots of observations, including the note that he would like to look at some other things. So you really need to read his findings in full (along with accompanying photos) once we get them up on our website. But for now, here's part of his initial conclusion: "In my opinion the Power Service Diesel Fuel additive was the clear winner of this test. It had the best cold weather results and required the least amount of substance to be added to the fuel." Hope this helps. -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop From texaco at rivnet.net Sat Dec 3 13:36:44 2005 From: texaco at rivnet.net (Al Christopher) Date: Sat Dec 3 13:36:56 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] winterizing B100 and Freeze Testing In-Reply-To: <84a57a420512030827j3a37a720i1da985cffa8c615e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <20051203183652.AC557DE4CC@mail2.blast.com> In case this helps, here is what Dr. Jon Van Gerpen said about cold flow additives just yesterday in answer to my question about using kerosene in B100 and blends. (I used to have my above-ground tank of B100 in a warehouse, but now it is outside and more subject to gelling.) "For cold flow, we usually add compounds that are similar to what are used for diesel fuels. For example, Power Service has a special version of their Arctic Express additive that is recommended for biodiesel blends. I'm not aware of any additives that do much with B100. I think you need to have a fuel which contains species with a wide spectrum of freezing temperatures for pour point depressants to be effective." Jon Van Gerpen Head, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering P.O. Box 440904 419 Engineering Physics Building University of Idaho Moscow, ID 83843 Phone: (208) 885-7891 Fax: (208) 885-7908 jonvg@uidaho.edu Van Gerpen is in demand as a speaker at biodiesel conferences and has been described as the "guru of biodiesel," a title that he probably would hate. I have been to a couple of conferences where he was featured speaker and he seems like a good guy and a great source of information. I don't have the background to fully appreciate the last sentence of his response, but I don't think it is good news when it comes to finding an existing agent to winterize B100. He probably would like to see Don Mueller's test results and observations when they are ready. I would, also. Al Christopher Green Virginia Kilduff Oil PO Box 292 Reedville VA 22539-0292 888-276-3320 804-453-3255 FAX 804-436-3867 Mobile -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of John Bonitz Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 11:28 AM To: BIG Cc: Don Mueller; Burton@blast, Rachel; Forer, Leif Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] winterizing B100 and Freeze Testing Hey Mark and others, Winterizing B100 is a great topic for this listserve. A freeze test has been done. We hear there is a hodgepodge of info out there about various methods / additives for protecting against fuel-gelling. But nothing very convincing, like a side-by-side freeze test. Recently the Piedmont Biofuels Cooperative has been working on this. Active coop member Don Mueller did an experiment in which he cold-tested three different additives, taking photos and lots of observations. We are working on getting this up on our website , and I think Don was considering putting his report on the Collaborative Biofuels Tutorial as well . Our commercially-made biodiesel is made in Florida from soy oil feedstock, so it's cold weather performance is not very good. We've recently observed wax crystals forming in our fuel, as well as clogged filters and sluggish pumping as a result. So, Don did a freeze test. He tested B100 (as a control), B98 blended with Kerosene, Power Service Diesel Fuel Supplement, and ISO-HEET. He was unable to acquire any Artic Express Biodiesel Antigel, which is apparently reviewed here . Don's experiment was very detailed, with lots of observations, including the note that he would like to look at some other things. So you really need to read his findings in full (along with accompanying photos) once we get them up on our website. But for now, here's part of his initial conclusion: "In my opinion the Power Service Diesel Fuel additive was the clear winner of this test. It had the best cold weather results and required the least amount of substance to be added to the fuel." Hope this helps. -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From vidrinmr at wfu.edu Sat Dec 3 17:08:23 2005 From: vidrinmr at wfu.edu (Robert Vidrine) Date: Sat Dec 3 17:08:27 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Out of the Fryer, Into the Diesel In-Reply-To: <9632F187-465D-4ED2-B10F-D2E20E5016B6@blast.com> References: <3380762.1131387263836.JavaMail.webserv@ipsprod4> <9632F187-465D-4ED2-B10F-D2E20E5016B6@blast.com> Message-ID: <43921757.1080101@wfu.edu> There's actually a little more about this (some of our progress, as well some hopefully humorous and informative ramblings) at: http://wfubiofuels.blogspot.com Robert AKA "OilySOB" On 11/7/2005 1:22 PM, Rachel Burton wrote: >> >> Biodiesel at Wake Forest University. >> >> Headline: WFU looks for ways to better make biofuel >> > Fryer grease has long been used to help feed Southern bodies. Biology > and chemistry teachers at Wake Forest University want us to fuel our > pickups with it, too. The Wake Forest group is working on tests - using > nearly 2,000 gallons of fryer oil donated by the Dixie Classic Fair - > aimed at improving the process of refining biodiesel from used oil. > > >> URL: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite? >> c=MGArticle&cid=1128767991183&pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle >> >> Why not check out our other great articles at http:// www.journalnow.com? >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------- >> DISCLAIMER: While all rights to the article contained in this >> E-mail message are held by Media General Operations, Inc., Media >> General Operations, Inc. is not the sender of this E-mail >> message. Media General Operations, Inc. does not confirm the >> E-mail address of the sender of this E-mail message. >> > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > > From bkingery at southernenergymanagement.com Sun Dec 4 09:52:23 2005 From: bkingery at southernenergymanagement.com (Bob Kingery SEM) Date: Sun Dec 4 09:52:42 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] In-Reply-To: <438B976F.60605@nc.rr.com> Message-ID: <200512041452.jB4Eqa1v017448@ms-smtp-04-eri0.southeast.rr.com> 1987 Mercedes Diesel listed on Craigslist.com http://raleigh.craigslist.org/car/115621533.html Good luck, Bob Kingery From hkfbo at hotmail.com Sun Dec 4 13:46:53 2005 From: hkfbo at hotmail.com (Bo Lozoff) Date: Sun Dec 4 13:46:56 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] kerosene heaters Message-ID: Hey y'all, Does anyone know of any info about running kerosene heaters -- big or small -- on B100? Bo Lozoff From wrenchwench at blast.com Sun Dec 4 19:27:05 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Sun Dec 4 19:28:03 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Brazil Takes the Biodiesel Route Message-ID: <9C90BE70-F416-4B05-BB3E-61AE8B92C5BE@blast.com> > __________________________________________________ > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > Brazil Takes the Biodiesel Route > > Written by Cl?udia Abreu > Tuesday, 01 November 2005 > > Biodiesel in BrazilWhen German engineer Rudolf Diesel took the first > diesel engine to the world fair in Paris, France, at the beginning of > the 1920's, he used peanut oil as a fuel. Eleven years later, despite > using a fossil fuel, he stated: "The diesel engine may also be powered > with vegetable oils, and this will help in the development of > agriculture around the world." > > Diesel was right. With studies showing that the world proven oil > reserves total 1.137 trillion barrels and permit the supply of the > world > demand for another 40 years, and the advancement of the greenhouse > effect, countries have intensified the speed of investment in > production > of biodiesel. > > The European Union (EU) should produce 1 million tons of the fuel this > year. In the United States, mills are spreading. There are now 35 in > operation and 25 are awaiting authorization. > > And Brazil has also entered into the route of biodiesel. Brazilian oil > giant Petrobras alone has announced investment of US$ 145 million, in > five years, in projects connected to the production of the clean fuel. > > The money will be invested in the Guamar? mill, in the northeastern > Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, which is in operation and > has a > capacity for production of 6,000 tons of biodiesel a year, and in > another plant, also in the Northeast of Brazil. > > Other groups like Brasil Ecodiesel and Agropalma, controlled by Alfa > Bank, are also betting on the production of biodiesel. The former has > invested around US$ 4.4 million this year in a mill in the > northeastern > state of Piau?, with a capacity for production of 27,000 tons a year. > The raw material is castor seed and the program generates income for > small farmers in the state. > > Agropalma invested approximately US$ 1.3 million in an enterprise in > Bel?m, capital of the northern Brazilian state of Par?. Apart from > them, > another four biodiesel mills are operating in the country. Production > this year will be around 176,000 tons, according to the National > Petroleum Agency (ANP). > > Investment by Petrobras and by private companies has one objective: > supplying the Brazilian government biodiesel program. The > methodology in > Brazil is similar to that adopted in the EU: a percentage of clean > fuel > to be added to common diesel is stipulated. The Europeans began this > year, using the B2 - 2% biodiesel mixed into the fossil fuel. In 2010, > they should have reached around 6% clean fuel mixed into common > diesel. > > In Brazil, the B2 mixture will be compulsory starting in 2008. "A > total > of 800,000 tons of clean fuel will be necessary to supply the > Brazilian > demand when the law goes into operation," stated Nivaldo Trama, the > president of the Brazilian Association of Biodiesel Industries > (Abiodiesel). > > The intention is to increase the percentage gradually so as to > reach 5% > - B5 - in 2013. According to the federal government, the commercial > use > of B2 will represent an annual economy of around US$ 160 million in > the > import of diesel. > > A study shows that the economy forecasted may start being observed in > January next year. This is due to the fact that through a > resolution by > the National Council for Energy Policies (CNPE), the government of > Brazil has agreed to distribute, trough the B2, the volume of > biodiesel > produced by mills that prove they are buying raw material from family > agriculture. > > Purchases will be made through public auctions organized by the ANP. > Brasil Ecodiesel and Agropalma have already made requests for > participation in these sales. > > *Retake* > > Despite being the topic of the moment when the matter is agro-energy, > biodiesel has been under research in the country since the 1970's. The > fuel is made after a chemical reaction between vegetable oils or fats > and ethanol or methanol. > > At the time, the federal government created a program called Pr?-?leo > (Plan for Production of Vegetable Oils for Energy Use), similar to the > program the government developed for alcohol, Pro?lcool. > > The alcohol program evolved and generated good results, but the > vegetable oil one stalled, and was only restarted in mid 2004, when > president Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva's government gave signs that it > would support enterprises turned to the production of biodiesel. > > Initially the government released a biodiesel program that provided > incentives to those interested in producing the fuel from castor seeds > and oil palm in the poorest regions of the country, the North and > Northeast. > > Around 40 varieties of oleaginous plants were researched, but these > two > were chosen for two reasons: they are well adapted to dry climates and > generate jobs. "It is possible to promote inclusion and social > mobility," stated Andr? Luis Girdwood, a director at Brasil Ecodiesel. > According to the executive, for every three hectares of castor seed > cropland, one direct job is guaranteed. > > *Soy* > > The program, however, has generated the interest of other sectors that > had already been working on research for the production of biodiesel, > like soy farmers. Farmers of the product say that the grain is a good > way for the country to reach the quantity of biodiesel necessary to > run > its vehicle fleet by 2008. > > "With castor seed and oil palm alone, we will not manage to reach the > government target, and the country dominates soy production, has > registered record gains in productivity, and may use the oleaginous > seed > in the production of biodiesel," stated Silvio Rangel, the director of > Ecomat, an industry that develops vegetable oils in the midwestern > Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. > > Nivaldo Trama goes further: Brazil is the only country in the world > that > produces soy 11 months a year. "In Europe they produce for four > months, > and in the United States for five months. Here we currently have three > crops a year, we have raw material for biodiesel practically all year > round," he said. > > This ease in production associated to low cost would compensate the > fact > that soy oil has a lower level of oil (18%) than other oleaginous > seeds > like castor seed (from 45% to 50%), sunflower (38% to 48%), canola > (40% > to 48%) and oil palm (22%). > > Another factor in favor of soy: the cost. According to Trama, castor > seeds cost around US$ 1,000 per ton, whereas soy costs around US$ 250. > Soy oil also has a repressed demand on the foreign market, as it > competes with the palm oil produced by the Asians. > > "And there we can solve another current problem for biodiesel, the > cost > at the pump, as it is more expensive than common diesel," stated > Cl?udio > Zattar, a director at the Ale petrol station chain, the first to trade > biodiesel in Brazil, which hopes to sell 22,000 tons of the fuel > this year. > > According to the executive, the liter of the B2 mixture costs > around US$ > 0,01 more than the common fuel. "This is a barrier. Consumers do not > want to buy biodiesel just because it is ecologically and socially > correct. They also want prices," he said. > > However, to place soy definitely on the route of biodiesel, > businessmen > want incentives from the federal and state government and investment > from foreign companies. The largest share of soy crops in Brazil is in > the Midwest and South, and it is not based on family farming, and > therefore does not receive tax breaks. > > "One possible action in this sector is the federal government > stipulating how much it is going to pay per liter and how much is > going > to be bought. This will make possible the scheduling of investment. So > as to be productive, a soy mill needs to process at least 100 tons a > day," explained Trama. > > Regarding foreign investment, some foreign companies are studying the > Brazilian market. Trama explains that he has already been visited by a > group of German businessmen. The Venezuelan government has also sent > representatives to understand the process for production of biodiesel. > > *This article appeared originally in Anba - **www.anba.com.br* > *.* > > > You can access it at the following url: > http://www.brazzil.com/index.php? > option=com_content&task=view&id=9455&Itemid=76 > > From wrenchwench at blast.com Sun Dec 4 19:30:00 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Sun Dec 4 19:30:15 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] winterizing B100 and Freeze Testing In-Reply-To: <20051204075012.6AB9720029@ws1-1a.us4.outblaze.com> References: <20051204075012.6AB9720029@ws1-1a.us4.outblaze.com> Message-ID: Hey everyone. Don's article is not posted on the blog: http://www.biofuels.coop/blog/archives/000343.html Thanks for your work on this issue Don. Rachel On Dec 4, 2005, at 2:50 AM, Don Mueller wrote: > My test was not complex, but there is no doubt that there were > significant differences between the stock B100 sample and the > samples with additives. My test results are documented in a word > document that is about 1.5 MB due to the pictures. I can email it > to anyone who wants a copy. I will talk to Rachel and John to > determine how to get this where it can be accessed on the internet. > Let me know if you would like me to email you a copy. > > Don > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Al Christopher" > To: "'John Bonitz'" , "'BIG'" > Subject: RE: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] winterizing B100 and Freeze > Testing > Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 13:36:44 -0500 > > > In case this helps, here is what Dr. Jon Van Gerpen said about cold > flow > additives just yesterday in answer to my question about using > kerosene in > B100 and blends. (I used to have my above-ground tank of B100 in a > warehouse, but now it is outside and more subject to gelling.) > > "For cold flow, we usually add compounds that are similar to what > are used > for diesel fuels. For example, Power Service has a special version > of their > Arctic Express additive that is recommended for biodiesel blends. > I'm not > aware of any additives that do much with B100. I think you need to > have a > fuel which contains species with a wide spectrum of freezing > temperatures > for pour point depressants to be effective." > > Jon Van Gerpen > Head, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering P.O. > Box 440904 > 419 Engineering Physics Building > University of Idaho > Moscow, ID 83843 > Phone: (208) 885-7891 > Fax: (208) 885-7908 > jonvg@uidaho.edu > > Van Gerpen is in demand as a speaker at biodiesel conferences and > has been > described as the "guru of biodiesel," a title that he probably > would hate. I > have been to a couple of conferences where he was featured speaker > and he > seems like a good guy and a great source of information. > > I don't have the background to fully appreciate the last sentence > of his > response, but I don't think it is good news when it comes to > finding an > existing agent to winterize B100. > > He probably would like to see Don Mueller's test results and > observations > when they are ready. I would, also. > > > Al Christopher > Green Virginia > Kilduff Oil > PO Box 292 > Reedville VA 22539-0292 > 888-276-3320 > 804-453-3255 FAX > 804-436-3867 Mobile > > -----Original Message----- > From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net > [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf > Of John > Bonitz > Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 11:28 AM > To: BIG > Cc: Don Mueller; Burton@blast, Rachel; Forer, Leif > Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] winterizing B100 and Freeze Testing > > Hey Mark and others, > > Winterizing B100 is a great topic for this listserve. A freeze test > has been done. > > We hear there is a hodgepodge of info out there about various methods > / additives for protecting against fuel-gelling. But nothing very > convincing, like a side-by-side freeze test. > > Recently the Piedmont Biofuels Cooperative has been working on this. > Active coop member Don Mueller did an experiment in which he > cold-tested three different additives, taking photos and lots of > observations. We are working on getting this up on our website > , and I think Don was considering putting his > report on the Collaborative Biofuels Tutorial as well > . > > Our commercially-made biodiesel is made in Florida from soy oil > feedstock, so it's cold weather performance is not very good. We've > recently observed wax crystals forming in our fuel, as well as clogged > filters and sluggish pumping as a result. > > So, Don did a freeze test. He tested B100 (as a control), B98 blended > with Kerosene, Power Service Diesel Fuel Supplement, and ISO-HEET. He > was unable to acquire any Artic Express Biodiesel Antigel, which is > apparently reviewed here > . > > Don's experiment was very detailed, with lots of observations, > including the note that he would like to look at some other things. > So you really need to read his findings in full (along with > accompanying photos) once we get them up on our website. > > But for now, here's part of his initial conclusion: "In my opinion > the Power Service Diesel Fuel additive was the clear winner of this > test. It had the best cold weather results and required the least > amount of substance to be added to the fuel." > > Hope this helps. > > -- > John Bonitz > Silk Hope, NC > www.biofuels.coop > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > > From wrenchwench at blast.com Sun Dec 4 19:33:26 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Sun Dec 4 19:34:05 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] kerosene heaters In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <22211F7F-597B-4097-B574-97309C97486D@blast.com> Hey Bo! Here's a comprehensive link on bioheat: http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_heaters.html Best of luck, Rachel On Dec 4, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Bo Lozoff wrote: > Hey y'all, > > Does anyone know of any info about running kerosene heaters -- big > or small -- on B100? > > Bo Lozoff > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From bknighton at nc.rr.com Sun Dec 4 20:06:34 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Sun Dec 4 20:06:07 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] kerosene heaters In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4393929A.7080405@nc.rr.com> I've used it for most of a fall and winter in a toyotomi om-22 house heater and also a torpedo heater in the shop. Didn't use it all that much in the torpedo heater. It doesn't get that much use. Bo Lozoff wrote: > Hey y'all, > > Does anyone know of any info about running kerosene heaters -- big or > small -- on B100? > > Bo Lozoff > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > > From wrenchwench at blast.com Sun Dec 4 22:47:16 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Sun Dec 4 22:51:32 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biofuels Class Potluck In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6E4C4153-8B47-4C43-B3EA-1976FFB06EC2@blast.com> Hello to the local to the Triangle area biofuelers! You are invited to the bi-annual end of semester biofuels class potluck! Where: Pittsboro Campus- Central Carolina Community College http://www.biofuels.coop/directions.shtml When: Monday, December 5th 2005 6:30pm (class meets at 6pm) What: Bring yourself and a dish to share if you choose Purpose: Community networking around biofuels and enjoy good food together! Thanks and See you soon! Rachel From wrenchwench at blast.com Mon Dec 5 09:58:31 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Mon Dec 5 09:59:08 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Kerosene Heaters References: <272.16f53f4.30c5af2a@aol.com> Message-ID: <524CE478-B553-4385-BCCE-6E05D2E34AC5@blast.com> Begin forwarded message: > From: TILAPIA@aol.com > Date: December 5, 2005 9:56:42 AM EST > To: rachel@biofuels.coop > Subject: Re: Kerosene Heaters > > Rachel: This message bounced, perhaps I'm not authorized to provide > input to your group. Any suggestions? > > Tom Leue > > > > I didn't see the exact answer to Bo's question at the JTF site, so > here is my experience: > Biodiesel resembles #2 oil in viscosity, and kerosene is the same > as #1 oil. This means that kerosene's viscosity is a lot less than > biodiesel's viscosity. Unless heated to 100 degrees F. or more, > biodiesel doesn't do well with most wicks, unless they are the > short ones in a stone lamp, for example. I cannot get cool > biodiesel to travel an inch or more, which is what most kerosene > appliances are designed to require. Perhaps there is a good mixture > of kerosene and biodiesel that could work, or perhaps there is > another heater device that would handle biodiesel. I have been able > to operate a brass stove from India called the Butterfly on both > kerosene and biodiesel. I've got a comparison picture of the two > flames, but don't know how to post it. I know Kerosun heaters don't > run well on biodiesel. > > Tom Leue > > In a message dated 12/4/05 7:34:35 PM, wrenchwench@blast.com writes: > > > >> Hey Bo! >> >> Here's a comprehensive link on bioheat: >> http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_heaters.html >> >> Best of luck, >> Rachel >> >> On Dec 4, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Bo Lozoff wrote: >> >> > Hey y'all, >> > >> > Does anyone know of any info about running kerosene heaters -- big >> > or small -- on B100? >> > >> > Bo Lozoff >> > From SWright at pbmgraphics.com Mon Dec 5 11:02:23 2005 From: SWright at pbmgraphics.com (Wright, Steve) Date: Mon Dec 5 11:00:51 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] kerosene heaters Message-ID: <6FF9A7BA1E1A3D47A9C4B95902395DD91C0BC9@pbmmail.pbmgraphics.com> I purchased an "All Fuel" torpedo heater last week to see how it performed running B100.It was advertised to run on #1 Diesel,#1 Fuel Oil, Kerosene,& Jet A Aviation Fuel. It was 28F the first time that I tried to fire it up on B100.I had to go through the start cycle 4 time before I got it to ignite. It would only run for about a minute before shutting down. After many attempts adjusting fuel pressures high and low I added #2 diesel to create a blend of B50. After returning the fuel flow and pressure settings to the original factory setting I started the heater and it performed satisfactorily for approximately 30 minutes. I have not used the heater since. That's my 2 cents worth. I know that the B100 smell sure beat the diesel blend but it didn't get the shop any warmer. -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of Bo Lozoff Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 1:47 PM To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net; Biofuels_class@lists.emji.net; Info@bullcitybiodiesel.org Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] kerosene heaters Hey y'all, Does anyone know of any info about running kerosene heaters -- big or small -- on B100? Bo Lozoff _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From bknighton at nc.rr.com Mon Dec 5 15:30:54 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (bill) Date: Mon Dec 5 15:30:25 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Kerosene Heaters In-Reply-To: <524CE478-B553-4385-BCCE-6E05D2E34AC5@blast.com> References: <272.16f53f4.30c5af2a@aol.com> <524CE478-B553-4385-BCCE-6E05D2E34AC5@blast.com> Message-ID: <200512051530.55002.bknighton@nc.rr.com> I should add to my reply that neither the OM-22 nor the torpedo heater uses wicks. The OM-22 heats liquid oil in the combustion chamber until it vaporizes. The torpedo heater uses a nozzle and high pressure to atomize. > > > > > > I didn't see the exact answer to Bo's question at the JTF site, so > > here is my experience: > > Biodiesel resembles #2 oil in viscosity, and kerosene is the same > > as #1 oil. This means that kerosene's viscosity is a lot less than > > biodiesel's viscosity. Unless heated to 100 degrees F. or more, > > biodiesel doesn't do well with most wicks, unless they are the > > short ones in a stone lamp, for example. I cannot get cool > > biodiesel to travel an inch or more, which is what most kerosene > > appliances are designed to require. Perhaps there is a good mixture > > of kerosene and biodiesel that could work, or perhaps there is > > another heater device that would handle biodiesel. I have been able > > to operate a brass stove from India called the Butterfly on both > > kerosene and biodiesel. I've got a comparison picture of the two > > flames, but don't know how to post it. I know Kerosun heaters don't > > run well on biodiesel. > > > > Tom Leue > > > > In a message dated 12/4/05 7:34:35 PM, wrenchwench@blast.com writes: > >> Hey Bo! > >> > >> Here's a comprehensive link on bioheat: > >> http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_heaters.html > >> > >> Best of luck, > >> Rachel > >> > >> On Dec 4, 2005, at 1:46 PM, Bo Lozoff wrote: > >> > Hey y'all, > >> > > >> > Does anyone know of any info about running kerosene heaters -- big > >> > or small -- on B100? > >> > > >> > Bo Lozoff > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From hogarth at gmail.com Mon Dec 5 19:28:06 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Mon Dec 5 19:28:08 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Kerosene Heaters In-Reply-To: <524CE478-B553-4385-BCCE-6E05D2E34AC5@blast.com> References: <272.16f53f4.30c5af2a@aol.com> <524CE478-B553-4385-BCCE-6E05D2E34AC5@blast.com> Message-ID: <3889aa560512051628q796d3e27u1932177752d72f46@mail.gmail.com> > > From: TILAPIA@aol.com > > > > ... I have been able > > to operate a brass stove from India called the Butterfly on both > > kerosene and biodiesel. I've got a comparison picture of the two > > flames, but don't know how to post it. Bill and I use Butterflys for most of our cooking, so naturally I was curious and had Tom send me his picture; I posted it on my website: http://colliething.com/ If it's no longer at the top, here is a direct link: http://www.colliething.com/2005/12/survivalist-stuff.html -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From warren.oly at gmail.com Mon Dec 5 16:37:03 2005 From: warren.oly at gmail.com (warren neth) Date: Mon Dec 5 19:35:40 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] WVO Distributors and collection services Message-ID: <6DBD1DFC-75D7-4BF3-807E-C34BEA6767B6@gmail.com> Anyone have contact info on who to purchase bulk orders of WVO from? I'm in Washington state. I'd actually come across a catolog of renderers awhile back, but can't find it now. Was also wondering if anyone has thoughts/numbers/articles on whether it's more feasible to do collection of WVO yourself, or purchase from folks who are already doing the collection? We're wanting to pull together a 200,000 to million gallon a year processing plant. Still figuring out our feedstock situation. Thanks, warren Olympia Biofuels Cooperative From john.bonitz at gmail.com Mon Dec 5 20:45:35 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Mon Dec 5 23:45:34 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] 2 day Biodiesel Homebrew Comprehensive Workshop, Pittsboro, NC - Jan 20, 21, 22, 2006 Message-ID: <84a57a420512052045p18c9fd6do7f2d02489e07ba1f@mail.gmail.com> It's official: "Girl Mark" is coming to Pittsboro, Jan 20, 21, 22, 2006. Mark your calendars now! She will be offering two workshops: One is a 2 hour introduction to biofuels; the other is a two day intensive comprehensive. Descriptions follow. -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop LOCATION: Pittsboro, North Carolina, at Central Carolina Community College & Piedmont Biofuels Friday, January 20, 7-9, Pittsboro, NC: Biofuels 101 presentation, with Maria 'Mark' Alovert, members of Piedmont Biofuels, and local SVO users. This is an optional presentation providing a short overview of biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, the biodiesel industry, and homebrew biodiesel. Cost: by donation. Please email classregistration@girlmark.com to register. January 21 and 22, 10am-4pm, Pittsboro, NC: Two-Day Biodiesel Homebrew Comprehensive Workshop with Equipment Build Cost: $120 for the weekend This hands-on class will teach you how to safely make biodiesel fuel. We'll be making small batches of biodiesel, visiting the Piedmont Biofuels homebrew site, and building equipment for some attendees to take home (additional parts costs for processor kits, and other details to be announced, email classregistration@girlmark.com for more info). BUILDING A BIODIESEL PROCESSOR TO TAKE HOME: Those interested in building their own biodiesel processor to take home will have an opportunity to do so during the two-day course. The cost will be somewhere between $200 and $300 for kits from b100supply.com and utahbiodieselsupply.com We will use the "Appleseed" design, which requires that you provide a new or used electric water heater. Registration: Pick what class you're attending, and send payment and an email requesting registration to me. I expect some classes to fill up, so please check back to this web page for class status: http://girlmark.com/tour2005.html I prefer Paypal payments if possible. I expect some of these classes to fill up early. Send checks to: Maria Alovert, PO Box 2994, Berkeley Ca 94702 Or Paypal (preferred) to me at the account wrench@tinkersworkshop.org (First time users, you do not have to be a Paypal member to use Paypal (it accepts credit cards). Go to Paypal.com, click on 'send money', and enter my address in the recipient field) For any additional information, please email me with the specific classes' date or location in the subject line, to: classregistration@girlmark.com From Cheryl.Ganter at pgnmail.com Tue Dec 6 08:46:44 2005 From: Cheryl.Ganter at pgnmail.com (Ganter, Cheryl) Date: Tue Dec 6 09:34:56 2005 Subject: FW: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Kerosene Heaters Message-ID: <354CA61AEBC6D944B4268F04D429FD868A0C9B@NT000836.oak.zone1.progress-energy.com> Hi all, I have been reading the emails on Kerosene heaters but haven't seen anyone reply that has tried using a Kerosene/Biodiesel blend on the typical Home Depot Kerosene Heater. It has a wick inside and an ignitor. Anyone experiment with this? If so, what were your results? I want to try mixing in biodiesel but am not sure of the percentage of biodiesel I should introduce. Cheryl -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net] On Behalf Of Susan Hogarth Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 7:28 PM To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net; Tilapia@aol.com Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Kerosene Heaters > > From: TILAPIA@aol.com > > > > ... I have been able > > to operate a brass stove from India called the Butterfly on both > > kerosene and biodiesel. I've got a comparison picture of the two > > flames, but don't know how to post it. Bill and I use Butterflys for most of our cooking, so naturally I was curious and had Tom send me his picture; I posted it on my website: http://colliething.com/ If it's no longer at the top, here is a direct link: http://www.colliething.com/2005/12/survivalist-stuff.html -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From wrenchwench at blast.com Tue Dec 6 20:00:51 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Tue Dec 6 20:01:02 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biodiesel workshops announcement Message-ID: Message: 3 Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 22:11:37 -0800 (PST) From: Graydon Blair Subject: Biodiesel Workshops Galore.... Well, here in the United States we're moving into the heart of winter soon. Waste Veggie Oil tends to gel, biodiesel even begins gelling, and, well, it's not all that fun making biodiesl or collecting oil in the cold..... So...what a great time to come indoor's & participate in some great Biodiesel Workshops. For those of you that've been waiting for this to come, now's your chance.... Our favorite Biodiesel Personality, Maria "Mark" Alovert, is hosting a series of biodiesel workshops all across the United States this winter. If you've ever wanted to learn biodiesel production from a seasoned pro, now is the time. Workshops across the country will include: North Carolina - Jan 20, 21, & 22 Atlanta, Georgia - Jan 28 & 29 Houston, Texas - Feb. 11 & 12 Salt Lake City, UT - Feb 24 & 25 You can read more about these great workshops here: http://girlmark.com/tour2005.html Each workshop is slightly different, but most will include a comprehensive class on building a processor and a comprehensive class on brewing biodiesel using an Appleseed Style Processor. Be sure to register now, as these classes usually fill up fast. If you'd like to get started a little earlier, there are a few biodiesel retailers online that sell biodiesel related supplies & equipment. East Coast: B100 Supply - http://www.b100supply.com Biodiesel Warehouse - http://www.biodieselwarehouse.com West Coast: Utah Biodiesel Supply - http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com All three retailer's will ship to anywhere in the United States and Utah Biodiesel Supply even sells internationally. You can also pick up what many of us refer to as "The Bible" of biodiesel homebrewing directly from Girl Mark. It's available at the following link: http://localb100.com/book.html You can also learn more about biodiesel and how it can easily be made using basic plumbing and a water heater for less than $0.80 cents per gallon at the Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial Website: http://www.biodieselcommunity.org So, if the winter has you down, take the time now while it's cold outside to come inside & learn more about this exciting alternative fuel to diesel fuel. Graydon Blair Utah Biodiesel Supply Biodiesel Homebrewing Supplies, Equipment, Literature, Biodiesel Soap, Bumper Stickers, Decals, Information & More http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com http://www.cafepress.com/utahbdsupply graydon@utahbiodieselsupply.com Learn How To Make Biodiesel A Collaborative Tutorial On How To Make Biodiesel http://www.biodieselcommunity.org From john.bonitz at gmail.com Sun Dec 11 18:42:03 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Sun Dec 11 21:42:01 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Coop Refinery Sunday Update AND Interns Party (Tuesday night!) Message-ID: <84a57a420512111842l588f8e37m56e43987d13d1ee6@mail.gmail.com> Well, it's been productive times at the Coop Refinery lately. Recent weeks have brought a new roof to the Tami Tank building, and cob walls are nearly finished (big thanks to Stephen, Rebecca, David, Don, Anjuli and many others). Design of the washwater wetlands has been completed (Thanks Anjuli!). The Board of Directors recently decided to proceed with advertising to hire an Executive Director (contact Rachel fomoinfo). The agricultural greenhouse has been disassembled and delivered to Moncure (huge, gigantic thanks to Screech, now nick-named Squash). Greenhouse footprint was laid out today (thanks Doug, Anjuli, and Screech). Crops are in the ground, both edible and oilseed (thanks Doug, JJ and others!). Tile floor in the newly designated tool & parts room is coming along well (thanks Anjuli, David, Leif, and others). Also, Jess & Matt from Seagrove have been really helpful in recent weeks, in too many ways to list. The Feedstock Solarium is proceeding slowly: Right now we could really use a donation of a set of double-pane glass doors. Give John a call at 919-360-2492. (We might just resort to buying one from Habitat for Humanity.) Today we had visitors from Durham. The 1pm tour was a couple looking to learn more about biodiesel, and looking to buy a diesel car. At 1:30 four grad students from Duke arrived, and were given a spectacular tour by Anjuli. The 3 MBAs and 1 student from the Nicholas School were on a research junket for a class project on alternative fuels businesses. Finally, I'd like to invite everyone out for an Impromptu Interns' Going-Away Party. Come on out to the Co-op in Moncure, Tuesday at 6:30pm, and plan to stay however late your Wednesday schedule allows. Please bring your favorite beverages, or food if you prefer. And bring a friend, but please do RSVP to Anjuli . And dress to party! Warm regards, -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop P.S. Don't forget to let your friends know about these two excellent biofuels learning opportunities! + Register soon for the Intro to Biofuels class at CCCC (starts Jan 9th!). http://www.biofuels.coop/education.shtml + "Girl Mark's" Homebrew & Biodiesel Equipment Building Class (Jan 20-21) http://www.biofuels.coop/events/ Or click here to register... http://girlmark.com/tour2005.html From mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu Mon Dec 12 08:34:26 2005 From: mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu (Mark J Ambrose) Date: Mon Dec 12 11:37:02 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biodiesel/SVO on "The Splendid Table" Message-ID: <20051212163427.11415.fh034.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Sunday, as I was listening to "The Splendid Table," a public redio show about food, I was surprised to hear a piece about "oil wars" (i.e. competiton to get waste vegetable oil) and how the oil is being used as a fuel source. If any one wants to listen to the piece, you can find it at: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/ Under "Cooking in Southwest France December 10, 2005" Click on "Listen to the entire show" and then scroll forward in RealPlayer to around minute 46:20 of the 53 minute show. -- Mark From john.bonitz at gmail.com Tue Dec 13 11:16:44 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Tue Dec 13 14:17:27 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] new oilseed: Cuphea ("koo-FEE-ah") Message-ID: <84a57a420512131116v24477156w83a87f2df406ab12@mail.gmail.com> I just discovered a 'new' oilseed crop that is being examined by Iowa State Univ., and others. It's called Cuphea ("koo-FEE-ah"). "Cuphea is an oilseed crop that offers potential as an ingredient for toothpastes, shampoos and detergents. Cuphea (pronounced koo- FEE-ah) produces a small oilseed that contains high levels of lauric acid and other natural fatty acids. Cuphea's oil offers an alternative for imported coconut and palm kernel oils. Cuphea oil properties are also being researched as an additive for biodiesel with cold flow properties." http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/grainsoilseeds/cuphea.htm The site contains some links to several research papers. -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop From rpace at dot.state.nc.us Thu Dec 15 10:56:23 2005 From: rpace at dot.state.nc.us (Randy K. Pace) Date: Thu Dec 15 16:25:32 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Email Error Message-ID: <43A19227.5020708@dot.state.nc.us> I apologize for the mass email. However, I am trying to register for the January 20-22 biodiesel class with girlmark. But everytime I email her I get a mail delivery error with a m1860019@decker.dreamhost.com. Has anyone been successful in registering yet? From tomjarrett at gmail.com Thu Dec 15 16:50:06 2005 From: tomjarrett at gmail.com (thomas m. jarrett) Date: Thu Dec 15 16:50:10 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] BMW unveils the turbosteamer concept In-Reply-To: <05EA7F4ED0E67C4F8651D90A7FA0E8CF01FBB905@SUSMNREX001.colfaxpumpgroup.com> References: <05EA7F4ED0E67C4F8651D90A7FA0E8CF01FBB905@SUSMNREX001.colfaxpumpgroup.com> Message-ID: <43A1E50E.8070605@alumni.unc.edu> Hey folks I am not sure members of this group noticed this on their Google Desktop side bar this morning or found it prowling the net themselves but I thought it was of interest to this group. Apparently, BMW has developed, to the concept level, a steam driven turbine that supplements power to the drive train of internal combustion engines. The energy for the steam driven turbine comes from scavenging of heat from the cooling and exhaust systems of the internal combustion engine. They are reporting as much as 15% less fuel use with increase in engine performance (10 KW and 20 Nm from a 1.8 liter 4 cylinder gasoline engine) in the concept car (a modified current model 3 series BMW). For the full article please go to http://www.gizmag.com/go/4936/ From john.bonitz at gmail.com Fri Dec 16 14:04:50 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Fri Dec 16 14:04:51 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] neat idea for alternative fuel wash method Message-ID: <84a57a420512161104q36edf59ct58084dad2a6ad748@mail.gmail.com> Hey, Our buddy Eric Henry (of TSDesigns fame, owner of Elsbett Jetta, and founder of the Burlington Biodiesel Coop) shared a neat idea for using Magnesol to wash fuel. His brilliant concept is to push the fuel through the magnesol instead of the other way around. I've had a glimpse of how difficult it is to dig magnesol-mud out of the bottom of the wash vessel. (Our interns David Thornton and Anjuli Munjal have done the worst of the work.) So I think this concept may very well be "borrowed" down in Moncure. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a link to photos: http://burlingtonbiodiesel.org/reactor_ii.htm (Scroll to the very bottom.) -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop From marc at theforestfoundation.org Fri Dec 16 17:15:28 2005 From: marc at theforestfoundation.org (Marc Dreyfors-President) Date: Fri Dec 16 17:18:53 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Durham Juice Box up and running Message-ID: Hey Folks, Hope everyone is running around doing their shopping, with their biodiesel fueled vehicles. Do it for Santa-- even he is implementing "green energy", using a biodigester, methane collection (runs the workshop), no graze program for his reindeer, so I heard! Word is on the Durham tank that the recent no flow problem was a clogged filter. I just changed it and we have a gusher again. My "two-cents" are that a combination of events lead to the problem: We just filled the tank up before the recent cold snap (down to the low 20"s overnight, barely 32 during the day). What happened is that we probably churned up any settled wax crystals or junk (it was near empty when I filled), which in combination with the very cold biodiesel from the tanker truck (sits in the shade) and the cold weather, kept the stuff in the column (highly viscous to begin with because of low Temp.). The next large fill, which came within a few hours, clogged the filter (it had been in for about 400 gallons, way short of the previous filter which went through close to 2500 gals.) I suspect that we will go through filters more now that the cold has hit, because of wax formation. Suggestion going forward is to fill during the afternoon, and watch the weather. Periods of prolonged cold below 32 will increase viscosity and wax crystals. I have put a thermometer out at the pump, and you may want to record the temperature if you have problems pumping, so we can get a better handle on our winterization studies. Our plan is to try several additives over the next few weeks, and you will see the samples out at the tank. Take a look at the current "recipe", and if it's solid, then it is likely the tank won't pump. Thanks for your patience as we are trying to minimize cost, maximize winterization and minimize the amout of petroleum products used (keep the $ out of those guyz hands, while saving our lungs). This is a new frontier for everyone. Of course, we could grid tie, and put a heater in, but that's serious bucks (I will put it on may wish list for Santa). Ho, ho, ho Marc From oakleaf1 at charter.net Fri Dec 16 19:16:38 2005 From: oakleaf1 at charter.net (Randy C Almendinger) Date: Fri Dec 16 19:16:47 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Home Heating References: <6DBD1DFC-75D7-4BF3-807E-C34BEA6767B6@gmail.com> Message-ID: <003001c6029f$262e4520$6401a8c0@RANDY> THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS has information regarding biodiesel for home heating. The link: http://www.motherearthliving.com/issues/motherearthliving/feature/alternative_energy/53-1.html Hope this information is useful. Randy Candler NC From wrenchwench at blast.com Sun Dec 18 09:41:30 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Sun Dec 18 09:42:06 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Advice on emergency gelling problems- a document by Colorado Biodiesel Message-ID: Check out this advice on dealing with fuel gelling with biodiesel. It comes from the Boulder Biodiesel Co-op's webpage, Tom Judd, the author, is a diesel mechanic who runs "colorado biodiesel" and has been involved in biodiesel-specific mechanical issues for years. I met him this summer at the SEI biodiesel workshop and he is well versed in diesel & biodiesel! -Rachel ******************************************* Tom Judd's website: http://coloradobiodiesel.com/ Tom's Advice on Handling Emergency Biodiesel Gelling Problems URL: http://www.boulderbiodiesel.com/tom/Cold/index.jsp When a sudden front of cold weather sets in and your current biodiesel blend is suspected to be too high for the temperature drop, the following can be used as an "emergency guideline" to help avoid biodiesel-related gelling problems. First, For EVERYONE: If you have a block heater USE IT! Second, DO NOT, repeat DO NOT use starting fluid on ANY diesel that has working glow plugs. Period. If you know your glow plugs are not working and you feel you must use a "fluid spray" to help get the engine to run (if it turns over with the starter but will not "fire"), use WD40 (it is a flammable oil, unlike starting fluid which is an EXPLOSIVE!) --------------------------------------------------- If you're not normally prone to gelling: 1) Get some diesel or kero in your tank ASAP. Run the engine a while to get the diesel mixed with your bio blend (independant of blend ratio) 2) Procure some Diesel 911 for your trunk (I normally stock it, or you can get it at Napa, but most likely for a higher price) because you'll eventually be in the next class of people: If you ARE prone to gelling, but are still running: 1) Get some Arctic Express and add DOUBLE the label amount to your tank when topping up with diesel #2. Whatever concentration of bio you have, in these temps, top it up with diesel. 2) Procure some Diesel 911 for your trunk. If you are gelled and cannot start (this means it's directly because of temps, not some other engine issue): 1) DON'T call Tom! (Just kidding, if you truly are stranded, I'll come, but it'll be expensive!) 2) Remove your filter if you know how and use a new filter (if you have one handy - save the old one, it'll be fine when it thaws), if you don't have a new filter handy, empty the fuel out of the old one as best you can (heat and drain if possible) and COMPLETELY FILL the filter with either; Power Service DFS, Arctic Express or Diesel 911 (best choice), replace filter. Use 1/2 bottle of Diesel 911 in the tank and top with diesel #2. 3) Make sure your battery is charged AFTER performing step 2 above and attempt to start the car (do not run the starter for more than about 30 seconds at a time) 4) If the vehicle still will not start after; plugging in for at least 3 hours, charging battery, filling filter with supplements and adding D2 to the tank, THEN call me. Leave a message and I'll get back as soon as I can. With very cold weather (below 10 F), what I'd suggest as a fail-safe blend is Blue Sun B20 with some Arctic Express added to the tank at DOUBLE the suggested ratio for D2 and keep some Diesel 911 in your trunk. If you can afford it, having a 5 gal jug of kero handy is nice insurance. DO NOT use more than 50% kero in your tank though. Disclaimer: The above guidelines are by no means complete or definitive. They were learned from years of experience and customer experience. I am in no way connected with Power Service, but have found their products to be the most efficacious for diesel service (freezer tests, field tests, etc.) From tim_turner at ncsu.edu Sun Dec 18 13:43:41 2005 From: tim_turner at ncsu.edu (Tim Turner) Date: Sun Dec 18 13:43:53 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Advice on emergency gelling problems- a document by Colorado Biodiesel In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43A5ADDD.8020205@ncsu.edu> I have been using my block heater whenever the temperature approaches freezing, but this approach failed me last week when the weather was in the twenties all day. My b100-fueled mercedes started, but failed whenever I tried to accelerate or go up hill. I managed to limp to a station where I added about four gallons of petrodiesel, after which it ran ok. I would really prefer to run b100 all the time. Does anyone have experience with the use of fuel additives without resorting to a bio/petro mix? That would warm the cockles of my cold little purist heart. I'm considering adding SVO-style preheat just for cold-weather b100 use. Thoughts? Tim Rachel Burton wrote: > Check out this advice on dealing with fuel gelling with biodiesel. > > It comes from the Boulder Biodiesel Co-op's webpage, Tom Judd, the > author, is a diesel mechanic who runs "colorado biodiesel" and has > been involved in biodiesel-specific mechanical issues for years. > > I met him this summer at the SEI biodiesel workshop and he is well > versed in > diesel & biodiesel! > > -Rachel > > ******************************************* > > Tom Judd's website: http://coloradobiodiesel.com/ > > > Tom's Advice on Handling Emergency Biodiesel Gelling Problems > > URL: http://www.boulderbiodiesel.com/tom/Cold/index.jsp > > > > When a sudden front of cold weather sets in and your current biodiesel > blend is suspected to be too high for the temperature drop, the > following can be used as an "emergency guideline" to help avoid > biodiesel-related gelling problems. > > First, > For EVERYONE: If you have a block heater USE IT! > > Second, > DO NOT, repeat DO NOT use starting fluid on ANY diesel that has working > glow plugs. Period. > If you know your glow plugs are not working and you feel you must use a > "fluid spray" to help get the engine to run (if it turns over with the > starter but will not "fire"), use WD40 (it is a flammable oil, unlike > starting fluid which is an EXPLOSIVE!) > > --------------------------------------------------- > > If you're not normally prone to gelling: > > 1) Get some diesel or kero in your tank ASAP. Run the engine a while to > get the diesel mixed with your bio blend (independant of blend ratio) > > 2) Procure some Diesel 911 for your trunk (I normally stock it, or you > can get it at Napa, but most likely for a higher price) because you'll > eventually be in the next class of people: > > If you ARE prone to gelling, but are still running: > > 1) Get some Arctic Express and add DOUBLE the label amount to your tank > when topping up with diesel #2. Whatever concentration of bio you have, > in these temps, top it up with diesel. > > 2) Procure some Diesel 911 for your trunk. > > If you are gelled and cannot start (this means it's directly because of > temps, not some other engine issue): > > 1) DON'T call Tom! (Just kidding, if you truly are stranded, I'll come, > but it'll be expensive!) > > 2) Remove your filter if you know how and use a new filter (if you have > one handy - save the old one, it'll be fine when it thaws), if you don't > have a new filter handy, empty the fuel out of the old one as best you > can (heat and drain if possible) and COMPLETELY FILL the filter with > either; Power Service DFS, Arctic Express or Diesel 911 (best choice), > replace filter. Use 1/2 bottle of Diesel 911 in the tank and top with > diesel #2. > > 3) Make sure your battery is charged AFTER performing step 2 above and > attempt to start the car (do not run the starter for more than about 30 > seconds at a time) > > 4) If the vehicle still will not start after; plugging in for at least 3 > hours, charging battery, filling filter with supplements and adding D2 > to the tank, THEN call me. Leave a message and I'll get back as soon as > I can. > > With very cold weather (below 10 F), what I'd suggest as a fail-safe > blend is Blue Sun B20 with some Arctic Express added to the tank at > DOUBLE the suggested ratio for D2 and keep some Diesel 911 in your > trunk. > > If you can afford it, having a 5 gal jug of kero handy is nice > insurance. DO NOT use more than 50% kero in your tank though. > > Disclaimer: The above guidelines are by no means complete or definitive. > They were learned from years of experience and customer experience. I am > in no way connected with Power Service, but have found their products to > be the most efficacious for diesel service (freezer tests, field tests, > etc.) > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From wrenchwench at blast.com Tue Dec 20 10:52:56 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Tue Dec 20 10:53:03 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Agri-Ethanol Announces Location of New Production Facility Message-ID: Agri-Ethanol Products, LLC (AEP) recently announced plans to build a new $150-million ethanol plant near Aurora, NC. According to AEP, ethanol production at the plant will be delivered in two 57-million-gallon-per-year phases. Phase I, which will include ground breaking and construction start-up, is expected to take place during the first quarter of 2006, with approximately $2 million to be utilized through various grant sources from the state to facilitate rail improvements critical to the operation of the plant. AEP noted that the plant will produce 114 million gallons of the alternative fuel per year from more than 20 million bushels of grain. Contact: Terry Ruse, Agri-Ethanol, phone 919-872-6237, website http://www.aepnc.com. From john.bonitz at gmail.com Tue Dec 20 08:12:38 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Tue Dec 20 11:12:44 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] cold-clogged filters Message-ID: <84a57a420512200812t684de81as801678584b4400b4@mail.gmail.com> Hey Marc, If you've not already chucked those cold-clogged filters, you might want to heat them (set them in the sun, on top of your exhaust manifold, etc.). The waxes will readily re-liquify if heated. Thus you might recover the remaining 2000 gals of their usefulness. Or maybe just put them on a shelf for installation come July or August... Happy holidays and a bright solstice to you and MK. John -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC From john.bonitz at gmail.com Tue Dec 20 09:52:13 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Tue Dec 20 12:52:17 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseed production Message-ID: <84a57a420512200952g458922f0m78e650b889e8971a@mail.gmail.com> Hello friends, In my first week-plus here at RAFI (the Rural Advancement Foundation) I have encountered a new idea regarding large-scale oilseed production. It bodes well for such crops and so people who advocate for "America growing our own fuel" might want to keep it in mind. First some background: In US agriculture, historically the challenge has been LIMITING the production of commodities like corn, soy, wheat, etc. Given our huge amounts of arable acreage, and our technical abilites and agricultural know-how, we're so good at growing stuff that if production is not controlled, we are likely to produce such gluts as to make the prices plummet, making farming financially impossible. (Another line of thought in US agricultural policy is that it is a matter of national security that we maintain healthy agricultural productive capacity.) So, US policies have been built mainly to control production of commodities. But this sometimes leads to the various commodity growers fighting against one another. Here's an oversimplified example: Let's say the tobacco growers want to get out of growing tobacco, so they consider growing corn instead. The corn growers get angry because large numbers of acres of new corn production will increase supplies, reduce prices, and cut into the profits of the existing corn-growers. Thus tobacco growers conflict with corn growers, and corn growers conflict with soy growers, and so on. It was pointed out to me that energy crops are a path out of this grinding conflict! If a corn farmer chooses to go into switchgrass production, he's not going to hurt soy growers. If a thousand soy growers choose to go into canola production, they are going to make other soy growers very happy, and the only folks that may be hurt are Big Oil and Big Coal. I'm still thinking though the implications of this. They will be mainly macro-economic (national and international in scope), but I wanted to share the idea. Here's wishing everyone a very happy winter holidays. Bright Solstice, especially! -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop From bknighton at nc.rr.com Tue Dec 20 13:42:04 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Tue Dec 20 13:42:03 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseed production In-Reply-To: <84a57a420512200952g458922f0m78e650b889e8971a@mail.gmail.com> References: <84a57a420512200952g458922f0m78e650b889e8971a@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <43A8507C.1070904@nc.rr.com> It sure does get to be a complicated mess when central planners mess with free markets. In a world where not everyone has enough nutritious food to eat central planners set up systems to damage production and then tariffs to damage the ability to transport surplus to where there is demand. When prices plummet and profitability decreases, production becomes impossible only for the inefficient. The biofuels/solar/alt energy movement seems to respect efficiency and ridicule waste. Why not respect a free market, self-organizing non-coercive process that hones efficiency and punishes waste? This is a method that is found in nature and has shaped all life on earth. There has been support on this list previously for the idea that we need to model our economies on ecosystems. Why not start here? The move from surplus food production to oil seed production could only be a temporary relief for farm lobbies. Sooner or later the surplus food land will be in oil seeds and then the whole ugly cycle of tax, tariff and subsides will be rehashed as farmers clamor for government force to keep others from producing oil seeds. This would lead to less bio-oil and at high prices. Surely US agricultural policy will consider our new green energy crops equally vital to national security. None of this sounds sustainable unless it is meant to sustain waste and coercion. I'm all for growing oil seeds. I'm just criticizing some of the historical background that might be used in an attempt impose an unsustainable form on oil see production. John Bonitz wrote: >Hello friends, > >In my first week-plus here at RAFI (the Rural Advancement Foundation) >I have encountered a new idea regarding large-scale oilseed >production. It bodes well for such crops and so people who advocate >for "America growing our own fuel" might want to keep it in mind. > >First some background: In US agriculture, historically the challenge >has been LIMITING the production of commodities like corn, soy, wheat, >etc. Given our huge amounts of arable acreage, and our technical >abilites and agricultural know-how, we're so good at growing stuff >that if production is not controlled, we are likely to produce such >gluts as to make the prices plummet, making farming financially >impossible. (Another line of thought in US agricultural policy is >that it is a matter of national security that we maintain healthy >agricultural productive capacity.) > >It was pointed out to me that energy crops are a path out of this >grinding conflict! If a corn farmer chooses to go into switchgrass >production, he's not going to hurt soy growers. > > > From hogarth at gmail.com Tue Dec 20 16:08:57 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Tue Dec 20 16:09:01 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseed production In-Reply-To: <84a57a420512200952g458922f0m78e650b889e8971a@mail.gmail.com> References: <84a57a420512200952g458922f0m78e650b889e8971a@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <3889aa560512201308p18ea676dxbd406f7ac52dbe84@mail.gmail.com> On 12/20/05, John Bonitz wrote: > ... > First some background: In US agriculture, historically the challenge > has been LIMITING the production of commodities like corn, soy, wheat, > etc. That is only because our government has pursued such stupid agricultural policy since Roosevelt (and, actually, well before, considering the disastrous Homesteading Act). > Given our huge amounts of arable acreage, and our technical > abilites and agricultural know-how, we're so good at growing stuff > that if production is not controlled, we are likely to produce such > gluts as to make the prices plummet, making farming financially > impossible. This is an economic fallacy. Producing food will NEVER be 'finanancially impossible'. It *can't* be. > (Another line of thought in US agricultural policy is > that it is a matter of national security that we maintain healthy > agricultural productive capacity.) Land can be brought into agricultural production quickly enough that this is not really a concern. Besides, if our government would quit bombing people, we wouldn't have to worry about them not wanting to sell us food. > So, US policies have been built mainly to control production of > commodities. How very Soviet of the government. > But this sometimes leads to the various commodity > growers fighting against one another. Bad government policy (but I repeat myself!) always leads to squabbles over the spoils. > Here's an oversimplified example: Let's say the tobacco growers want > to get out of growing tobacco, so they consider growing corn instead. > The corn growers get angry because large numbers of acres of new corn > production will increase supplies, reduce prices, and cut into the > profits of the existing corn-growers. Thus tobacco growers conflict > with corn growers, and corn growers conflict with soy growers, and so > on. It's called 'cartelization'. The government sets up commodity cartels which try to enlist the government to favor 'their' product. > It was pointed out to me that energy crops are a path out of this > grinding conflict! So is free and open competition. > If a corn farmer chooses to go into switchgrass > production, he's not going to hurt soy growers. > > If a thousand soy growers choose to go into canola production, they > are going to make other soy growers very happy, and the only folks > that may be hurt are Big Oil and Big Coal. Which are equally powerful state-sponsored cartels. -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From marc at theforestfoundation.org Tue Dec 20 17:32:58 2005 From: marc at theforestfoundation.org (Marc Dreyfors-President) Date: Tue Dec 20 17:36:47 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <3889aa560512201308p18ea676dxbd406f7ac52dbe84@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Remember, the "government" is us. Reform the system, that is what is broken. Find leverage points and choke spots. Campaign finance reform may be the first step to a more sustainable world. check out: www.fairvote.org -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net]On Behalf Of Susan Hogarth Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 4:09 PM To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction On 12/20/05, John Bonitz wrote: > ... > First some background: In US agriculture, historically the challenge > has been LIMITING the production of commodities like corn, soy, wheat, > etc. That is only because our government has pursued such stupid agricultural policy since Roosevelt (and, actually, well before, considering the disastrous Homesteading Act). > Given our huge amounts of arable acreage, and our technical > abilites and agricultural know-how, we're so good at growing stuff > that if production is not controlled, we are likely to produce such > gluts as to make the prices plummet, making farming financially > impossible. This is an economic fallacy. Producing food will NEVER be 'finanancially impossible'. It *can't* be. > (Another line of thought in US agricultural policy is > that it is a matter of national security that we maintain healthy > agricultural productive capacity.) Land can be brought into agricultural production quickly enough that this is not really a concern. Besides, if our government would quit bombing people, we wouldn't have to worry about them not wanting to sell us food. > So, US policies have been built mainly to control production of > commodities. How very Soviet of the government. > But this sometimes leads to the various commodity > growers fighting against one another. Bad government policy (but I repeat myself!) always leads to squabbles over the spoils. > Here's an oversimplified example: Let's say the tobacco growers want > to get out of growing tobacco, so they consider growing corn instead. > The corn growers get angry because large numbers of acres of new corn > production will increase supplies, reduce prices, and cut into the > profits of the existing corn-growers. Thus tobacco growers conflict > with corn growers, and corn growers conflict with soy growers, and so > on. It's called 'cartelization'. The government sets up commodity cartels which try to enlist the government to favor 'their' product. > It was pointed out to me that energy crops are a path out of this > grinding conflict! So is free and open competition. > If a corn farmer chooses to go into switchgrass > production, he's not going to hurt soy growers. > > If a thousand soy growers choose to go into canola production, they > are going to make other soy growers very happy, and the only folks > that may be hurt are Big Oil and Big Coal. Which are equally powerful state-sponsored cartels. -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From bknighton at nc.rr.com Tue Dec 20 20:36:20 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Tue Dec 20 20:36:27 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> The government is in no way me. I don't bomb people or even support people who bomb people(US troops) or the demopubs who ask them to bomb other people. I don't put millions of people in slavery(jail) for drug offenses. I don't prohibit gay marriage or prohibit a person from building a home or powering it as they see fit. I don't take taxes and give them out as favors. I don't even have the right to vote! The NC demopublicans took that this year. They dissolved the libertarian party because it didn't get enough votes. It no longer has official status and you can't vote for a libertarian or a green or ANY other third party in NC. You have a simple choice between terrible and horrible. I am worried that any new bioenergy methods will be assimilated into this muck If reforming government is a prerequisite for a sustainable world then I say do away with government. We've never had a moral government in the US. In one form or another they all start wars, support slavery and step on privacy and individual rights. Marc Dreyfors-President wrote: >Remember, the "government" is us. Reform the system, that is what is >broken. Find leverage points and choke spots. Campaign finance reform may >be the first step to a more sustainable world. > >check out: > >www.fairvote.org > > From membender at hotmail.com Tue Dec 20 18:37:47 2005 From: membender at hotmail.com (Michael Bender) Date: Tue Dec 20 21:38:54 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> Message-ID: > The government is in no way me. I don't bomb people or even support [...] Hmm... not to be picky, but I don't remember anyone saying that the government was _you_. Almost no one would say that this or any administration's policies reflect >them<. However, when too many people (on all "sides") end up disliking, distrusting, or just "dissing" goverment in general, it leaves openings for more lousy "un-representatives" to find or buy their way into power. It thereby becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I tend to agree with the sentiment expressed by Marc: >>Remember, the "government" is us. Reform the system, that is what is >>broken. Find leverage points and choke spots. Campaign finance reform >>may >>be the first step to a more sustainable world. Educating half the non-voting (or is it not-even-registered?) populace why it is in their interest to vote would also be a good start. And even if one isn't particularly political or "public", doing small personal things still has its effects. Grass roots activities do have their way of percolating upward when they are based on good, sound ideas (as many "green" ideas currently are)... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Knighton" To: Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 5:36 PM Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction > The government is in no way me. I don't bomb people or even support > people who bomb people(US troops) or the demopubs who ask them to bomb > other people. I don't put millions of people in slavery(jail) for drug > offenses. I don't prohibit gay marriage or prohibit a person from building > a home or powering it as they see fit. I don't take taxes and give them > out as favors. I don't even have the right to vote! The NC demopublicans > took that this year. They dissolved the libertarian party because it > didn't get enough votes. It no longer has official status and you can't > vote for a libertarian or a green or ANY other third party in NC. You have > a simple choice between terrible and horrible. I am worried that any new > bioenergy methods will be assimilated into this muck If reforming > government is a prerequisite for a sustainable world then I say do away > with government. We've never had a moral government in the US. In one > form or another they all start wars, support slavery and step on privacy > and individual rights. > Marc Dreyfors-President wrote: > >>Remember, the "government" is us. Reform the system, that is what is >>broken. Find leverage points and choke spots. Campaign finance reform >>may >>be the first step to a more sustainable world. >> >>check out: >> >>www.fairvote.org >> > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > From bknighton at nc.rr.com Wed Dec 21 00:41:58 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Wed Dec 21 00:41:52 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction In-Reply-To: References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> Message-ID: <43A8EB26.3090105@nc.rr.com> Michael Bender wrote: > > Hmm... not to be picky, but I don't remember anyone saying that the > government was _you_. It was said that the government is us. If I am a member of us then I would also be a member of the government. But I deny this. I am only allowed to vote for candidates that the two war parties approve of. To repeat, there are not currently any third parities allowed on ballots in NC, this applies to national elections too. NC demopubs in the board of elections removed all parties except for the democrats and republicans from the political process this summer. > that However, when too many people (on all "sides") end up > disliking, distrusting, or just "dissing" goverment in general, it > leaves openings for more lousy "un-representatives" to find or buy > their way into power. It thereby becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. > Did you ever think that when you pool the votes of all americans you still might end up with garbage? It's wishful thinking that high voter participation will lead to better government. Americans in general like to drive fat, lousy SUVs and live in similarly wasteful housing. There was broad support for starting a war with iraq, there's broad support for anti-drug laws, forbidding gay marriage and a host of other horrors. A better way would be to let go of centralized planning and forget the balancing act between freedom and security. Just stop asking government for favors, even when it's not on your behalf. Realize that when you request policies you are asking for the use of force and loss of freedom. The massive change that is needed to rework human energy production and use will require liberty. Asking government to tamper with complex economic feedbacks and mechanisms will have unintended results. The people doing the tampering need to be wiser than what they manipulate. You might argue that current or previous or future regimes might have what it takes, but what about the one after that? Will getting 10 or 20 percent more voters fix that? I have to wonder how many examples of exploded wreckage from coerced populations will it take before more people understand that using force to get what you want is wrong? > > And even if one isn't particularly political or "public", doing small > personal things still has its effects. Grass roots activities do have > their way of percolating upward when they are based on good, sound > ideas (as many "green" ideas currently are)... > I completely agree about grass roots efforts. One reason is that they can be accomplished without getting voter approval or tax dollars. Nobody is forced to participate. That's what freedom looks like and it has nothing to do with state coercion. It's fast and flexible. But people trying to improve their energy production and use on a personal level are constantly running against government imposed limits. They end up becoming guerrilla solar and guerrilla B100 or guerrilla alternative building participants. From marc at theforestfoundation.org Wed Dec 21 06:33:02 2005 From: marc at theforestfoundation.org (marc@theforestfoundation.org) Date: Wed Dec 21 08:33:06 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> Message-ID: <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! The original intent of the Founding Fathers has been lost. I agree, a dose of anarchy may be a good thing. I am a firm believer in subverting paradigms as they shift, to keep them shifting as we learn. The purpose of government and civil society is to right wrongs imposed on us by those with more power and resources, accumulated by greed, collusion, etc. Do you expect our churches to lead? The fact that the system has been captured or has strayed is our fault because we have not educated, engaged or taken responsibility for our government, our community. A free market will destroy the planet because of market externalities. If you expect consumers to choose our way to sustainability, it won't happen, or it won't happen at the pace we need. Following your argument of lasseiz faire, Bush's anti-Kyoto position is the right course?! You can't wash your hands of America's policies. Every day is a fight to do the right thing, and I am sure there is more each of us can do every day. How many times have you called your representatives, written, walked into their office, joined with others to create legislation or fight against corruption? I know I don't do nearly enough. It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. It's going to take a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the bastards out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! > The government is in no way me. I don't bomb people or even support > people who bomb people(US troops) or the demopubs who ask them to bomb > other people. I don't put millions of people in slavery(jail) for drug > offenses. I don't prohibit gay marriage or prohibit a person from > building a home or powering it as they see fit. I don't take taxes and > give them out as favors. I don't even have the right to vote! The NC > demopublicans took that this year. They dissolved the libertarian party > because it didn't get enough votes. It no longer has official status and > you can't vote for a libertarian or a green or ANY other third party in > NC. You have a simple choice between terrible and horrible. I am > worried that any new bioenergy methods will be assimilated into this > muck If reforming government is a prerequisite for a sustainable world > then I say do away with government. We've never had a moral government > in the US. In one form or another they all start wars, support slavery > and step on privacy and individual rights. > Marc Dreyfors-President wrote: > >>Remember, the "government" is us. Reform the system, that is what is >>broken. Find leverage points and choke spots. Campaign finance reform >> may >>be the first step to a more sustainable world. >> >>check out: >> >>www.fairvote.org >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > From hogarth at gmail.com Wed Dec 21 10:02:39 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Wed Dec 21 10:02:41 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> Message-ID: <3889aa560512210702m533f14dal9e4dc1d0683f3e36@mail.gmail.com> On 12/21/05, marc@theforestfoundation.org wrote: > Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! It's past time for those who support freedom to make themselves heard. > ... The purpose > of government and civil society is to right wrongs imposed on us by those > with more power and resources, accumulated by greed, collusion, etc. And, of course, to right wrongs committed by those with *less* resources as well - the criminal mind exists at all strata of society. But John Bonitz was talking about the government's forcibly preventing farmers from growing certain crops, or certain amounts of crops. Using force to destroy food production can hardly fall in the 'righting a wrong' category. > Do > you expect our churches to lead? Bill has no church, so the phrase 'our churches' is meaningless to him. I wonder if you are confusing the terms 'lead' and 'rule'. > The fact that the system has been > captured or has strayed is our fault because we have not educated, engaged > or taken responsibility for our government, our community. Responsibility must be asumed voluntarily to be meaningful - if it is imposed it is the same as slavery. Those people who have no interest in running other people's lives ('government') should have their wishes respected so long as they do not aggress against others. > A free market > will destroy the planet because of market externalities. There are two problems with this statement. One is that you have no evidence that it is true, and the other is that there is clear evidence that an interventionist market has proved itself no great friend to the planet, as demonstrated so well in China and the Soviet Union - and in fact, here in the US as well, where the government is the largest polluter in the country. > If you expect > consumers to choose our way to sustainability, it won't happen, or it > won't happen at the pace we need. Your personal belief in immanent doom is no good reason to demand that other people live as you require them to. > Following your argument of lasseiz > faire, Bush's anti-Kyoto position is the right course?! Not true at all. Bush is not at all Laissez-faire - he is the latest in a long line of economic interventionists. To claim that people you have just called 'anarchists' favor the policies of the socialist, interventionist, yes-I'll-say-it, *facist* Bush is a little ridiculous, don't you think? > You can't wash > your hands of America's policies. Every day is a fight to do the right > thing, and I am sure there is more each of us can do every day. How many > times have you called your representatives, written, walked into their > office, joined with others to create legislation or fight against > corruption? I know I don't do nearly enough. The truth is that most people do not have time, energy, or (thank goodness) inclination enough to worry about what other people need to be doing, as they are too busy running their own lives and trying to do what is right themselves to spend effort worrying about making other people do what they think is right. > It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. Democracy is the *problem*, not the solution. Democracy = mob rule. > It's going to take > a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the bastards > out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! Why can't you respect the strategy of self-government, since you call for a 'combination of strategies'? Why can't you respect the right of people to live as they wish without interference from others as long as they harm no one? -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From Trip at netpath.net Wed Dec 21 11:18:37 2005 From: Trip at netpath.net (G.T. Overholt) Date: Wed Dec 21 11:18:40 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> <3889aa560512210702m533f14dal9e4dc1d0683f3e36@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> While we argue about how to save the planet, Republicans march goose step towards its destruction. Here's my answer. Shit is going to hit the fan. Have your own house in order when it does. Then you can be of service to a handful of handpicked others who have asked for your help. Fight maybe one or two local fights of consequence to you. More than that and you have spread yourself too thin. Enjoy the hell out of yourself and don't worry. You deserve it for being the caring, moral human being that you are! Trip ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Hogarth" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 10:02 AM Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction On 12/21/05, marc@theforestfoundation.org wrote: > Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! It's past time for those who support freedom to make themselves heard. > ... The purpose > of government and civil society is to right wrongs imposed on us by those > with more power and resources, accumulated by greed, collusion, etc. And, of course, to right wrongs committed by those with *less* resources as well - the criminal mind exists at all strata of society. But John Bonitz was talking about the government's forcibly preventing farmers from growing certain crops, or certain amounts of crops. Using force to destroy food production can hardly fall in the 'righting a wrong' category. > Do > you expect our churches to lead? Bill has no church, so the phrase 'our churches' is meaningless to him. I wonder if you are confusing the terms 'lead' and 'rule'. > The fact that the system has been > captured or has strayed is our fault because we have not educated, engaged > or taken responsibility for our government, our community. Responsibility must be asumed voluntarily to be meaningful - if it is imposed it is the same as slavery. Those people who have no interest in running other people's lives ('government') should have their wishes respected so long as they do not aggress against others. > A free market > will destroy the planet because of market externalities. There are two problems with this statement. One is that you have no evidence that it is true, and the other is that there is clear evidence that an interventionist market has proved itself no great friend to the planet, as demonstrated so well in China and the Soviet Union - and in fact, here in the US as well, where the government is the largest polluter in the country. > If you expect > consumers to choose our way to sustainability, it won't happen, or it > won't happen at the pace we need. Your personal belief in immanent doom is no good reason to demand that other people live as you require them to. > Following your argument of lasseiz > faire, Bush's anti-Kyoto position is the right course?! Not true at all. Bush is not at all Laissez-faire - he is the latest in a long line of economic interventionists. To claim that people you have just called 'anarchists' favor the policies of the socialist, interventionist, yes-I'll-say-it, *facist* Bush is a little ridiculous, don't you think? > You can't wash > your hands of America's policies. Every day is a fight to do the right > thing, and I am sure there is more each of us can do every day. How many > times have you called your representatives, written, walked into their > office, joined with others to create legislation or fight against > corruption? I know I don't do nearly enough. The truth is that most people do not have time, energy, or (thank goodness) inclination enough to worry about what other people need to be doing, as they are too busy running their own lives and trying to do what is right themselves to spend effort worrying about making other people do what they think is right. > It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. Democracy is the *problem*, not the solution. Democracy = mob rule. > It's going to take > a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the bastards > out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! Why can't you respect the strategy of self-government, since you call for a 'combination of strategies'? Why can't you respect the right of people to live as they wish without interference from others as long as they harm no one? -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From marc at theforestfoundation.org Wed Dec 21 11:45:49 2005 From: marc at theforestfoundation.org (Marc Dreyfors-President) Date: Wed Dec 21 11:49:44 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> Message-ID: Hey Susan, We have had this discussion before. Anarchy and libertarianism are philosophically challenged perceptions of the world. A first assumption that undermines both is that we somehow have free will, freedom, liberty. This is a false assumption (and believe the Founding Fathers missed the boat on this one and is one reason why we are in a dilemma today). The laws of physics, evolution, genetics and interconnected nature of all things (which they did not perceive), dictate who we are and the nature and make-up of our world. The second assumption (that also stems from the first) is that we can live our lives not worrying about what other people do. We all influence, impact and affect each other and thus united through causality of an organic whole. These are universal truths, affecting our politics, health and are core of being human on this planet. There is great irony in this dialogue. The sooner we engage from a place of love, caring and beauty, understanding we are all one and a part of a creative force that is the universe, the better off we will be. The world needs to get to a place of spiritual connection and drop these veils of differences and distorted perceptions. In a sense, this realization may be a freeing process, a liberation of soul and spirit that can never be broken, and from which we can change the world. Never loose hope. Shalom, Marc ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Hogarth" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 10:02 AM Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction On 12/21/05, marc@theforestfoundation.org wrote: > Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! It's past time for those who support freedom to make themselves heard. > ... The purpose > of government and civil society is to right wrongs imposed on us by those > with more power and resources, accumulated by greed, collusion, etc. And, of course, to right wrongs committed by those with *less* resources as well - the criminal mind exists at all strata of society. But John Bonitz was talking about the government's forcibly preventing farmers from growing certain crops, or certain amounts of crops. Using force to destroy food production can hardly fall in the 'righting a wrong' category. > Do > you expect our churches to lead? Bill has no church, so the phrase 'our churches' is meaningless to him. I wonder if you are confusing the terms 'lead' and 'rule'. > The fact that the system has been > captured or has strayed is our fault because we have not educated, engaged > or taken responsibility for our government, our community. Responsibility must be asumed voluntarily to be meaningful - if it is imposed it is the same as slavery. Those people who have no interest in running other people's lives ('government') should have their wishes respected so long as they do not aggress against others. > A free market > will destroy the planet because of market externalities. There are two problems with this statement. One is that you have no evidence that it is true, and the other is that there is clear evidence that an interventionist market has proved itself no great friend to the planet, as demonstrated so well in China and the Soviet Union - and in fact, here in the US as well, where the government is the largest polluter in the country. > If you expect > consumers to choose our way to sustainability, it won't happen, or it > won't happen at the pace we need. Your personal belief in immanent doom is no good reason to demand that other people live as you require them to. > Following your argument of lasseiz > faire, Bush's anti-Kyoto position is the right course?! Not true at all. Bush is not at all Laissez-faire - he is the latest in a long line of economic interventionists. To claim that people you have just called 'anarchists' favor the policies of the socialist, interventionist, yes-I'll-say-it, *facist* Bush is a little ridiculous, don't you think? > You can't wash > your hands of America's policies. Every day is a fight to do the right > thing, and I am sure there is more each of us can do every day. How many > times have you called your representatives, written, walked into their > office, joined with others to create legislation or fight against > corruption? I know I don't do nearly enough. The truth is that most people do not have time, energy, or (thank goodness) inclination enough to worry about what other people need to be doing, as they are too busy running their own lives and trying to do what is right themselves to spend effort worrying about making other people do what they think is right. > It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. Democracy is the *problem*, not the solution. Democracy = mob rule. > It's going to take > a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the bastards > out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! Why can't you respect the strategy of self-government, since you call for a 'combination of strategies'? Why can't you respect the right of people to live as they wish without interference from others as long as they harm no one? -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu Wed Dec 21 09:18:29 2005 From: mambrose at alumni.princeton.edu (Mark J Ambrose) Date: Wed Dec 21 12:18:30 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction Message-ID: <20051221171829.4321.fh045.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Friends -- I was going to weigh in on this subject, and I might just do so if folks get back to addressing farm policy or other things more directly relevant to biofuels. However, at the moment I am asking myself why is this discussion taking place on this list. This is not a political philosophy discussion group. I personally would prefer it if this extended discussion of politics move to private discussion. But that is just my opinion. -- Mark From hogarth at gmail.com Wed Dec 21 13:05:14 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Wed Dec 21 13:05:13 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> <3889aa560512210702m533f14dal9e4dc1d0683f3e36@mail.gmail.com> <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> Message-ID: <3889aa560512211005s45cd6513yb53629fe0597f486@mail.gmail.com> > 12/21/05, G.T. Overholt wrote: > While we argue about how to save the planet, Republicans march goose step > towards its destruction. Here's my answer. Shit is going to hit the fan. > Have your own house in order when it does. Then you can be of service to a > handful of handpicked others who have asked for your help. Fight maybe one > or two local fights of consequence to you. More than that and you have > spread yourself too thin. Enjoy the hell out of yourself and don't worry. > You deserve it for being the caring, moral human being that you are! Bravo! well said! -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From bknighton at nc.rr.com Wed Dec 21 13:15:23 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Wed Dec 21 13:15:29 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <20051221171829.4321.fh045.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> References: <20051221171829.4321.fh045.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Message-ID: <43A99BBB.8070303@nc.rr.com> I might misunderstand the intention of John's starter for this thread. I thought that there was an idea out that biofuels crops could be grown as a crop to reduce competition between other crop factions. There was then debate about the merits of producing these crops in a laize-faire manner or a planned economy manner. It seems like the massive human abuse of environment and energy waste will require a revolution and that vigorous debate about what's to replace our systems is good. I like to think that the biofuels co-op people live a more examined lifestyle. I believe that biofuels people are here because they've looked around and are considering the big picture and what they can do to improve it. I believe this about others even when our conclusions are opposite. The politics of it leak out everywhere. I've hardly seen a B100 driver that doesn't have a "no war required" bumper sticker . My biofuels co-op shirt has something about revolution on it. Then there's the co-op Energy Blog. I wish there was more traffic on this list. There have been some days where there were no posts at all. Mark J Ambrose wrote: >Friends -- > >I was going to weigh in on this subject, and I might >just do so if folks get back to addressing farm policy >or other things more directly relevant to biofuels. > >However, at the moment I am asking myself why is this >discussion taking place on this list. This is not a >political philosophy discussion group. I personally >would prefer it if this extended discussion of politics >move to private discussion. But that is just my >opinion. > >-- Mark >_______________________________________________ >Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list >Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net >http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > > > > From hogarth at gmail.com Wed Dec 21 13:18:09 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Wed Dec 21 13:18:09 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction In-Reply-To: References: <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> Message-ID: <3889aa560512211018q79a59c2bxce2d9d38a21b60ea@mail.gmail.com> On 12/21/05, Marc Dreyfors-President wrote: > Hey Susan, > > We have had this discussion before. Indeed, and a lively one it was, too. This conversation, in one form or another, will continue until the end of humanity, I suppose. > Anarchy and libertarianism are > philosophically challenged perceptions of the world. A first assumption > that undermines both is that we somehow have free will, freedom, liberty. Well, then, I don't see why you bother trying to educate me, as no doubt I am a libertarian simply because of some combination of "The laws of physics, evolution, genetics and interconnected nature of all things," and your efforts are wasted on me. I however, do beleive *you* to be possessed of a (more-or-less free) will, so at least my trying to convince you of the rightness of my thinking makes some sense. You, according to your own beleif, are simply wasting your time trying to convince someone to make different decisions. > This is a false assumption (and believe the Founding Fathers missed the boat > on this one and is one reason why we are in a dilemma today). The laws of > physics, evolution, genetics and interconnected nature of all things (which > they did not perceive), dictate who we are and the nature and make-up of our > world. The second assumption (that also stems from the first) is that we > can live our lives not worrying about what other people do. We all > influence, impact and affect each other and thus united through causality of > an organic whole. Actually here is a philosophical point on which we agree. We *do* exert widespread influence on others through our actions, thoughts, and behaviors. The problem comes when you move from this obviously true statement to the belief that it is right for some people - acting under the control of "The laws of physics, evolution, genetics and interconnected nature of all things" - to make decisions for other people based on the suppostion that they know what is 'best' for the 'oragnic whole'. > These are universal truths, affecting our politics, > health and are core of being human on this planet. There is great irony in > this dialogue. The sooner we engage from a place of love, caring and > beauty, understanding we are all one and a part of a creative force that is > the universe, the better off we will be. I agree with you. I do not, however, beleive that forcing others to do what *I* think best is 'engag[ing] froma place of love, caring, and beauty'. I beleive that such actions amount to treating other humans as vassals or slaves rather than equals. -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From hogarth at gmail.com Wed Dec 21 13:22:18 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Wed Dec 21 13:22:18 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <43A99BBB.8070303@nc.rr.com> References: <20051221171829.4321.fh045.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> <43A99BBB.8070303@nc.rr.com> Message-ID: <3889aa560512211022w254299p531d89d6c79ab7ca@mail.gmail.com> On 12/21/05, Bill Knighton wrote: > ... > It seems like the massive human abuse of environment and energy waste > will require a revolution and that vigorous debate about what's to > replace our systems is good. I like to think that the biofuels co-op > people live a more examined lifestyle. I believe that biofuels people > are here because they've looked around and are considering the big > picture and what they can do to improve it. I believe this about others > even when our conclusions are opposite. ... I share my husband's optimism about our fellows in the biofuels movement, and only wish I could as easily share his tactfulness :) -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From bknighton at nc.rr.com Wed Dec 21 13:40:47 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Wed Dec 21 13:40:43 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescale oilseedproduction In-Reply-To: <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> Message-ID: <43A9A1AF.4030408@nc.rr.com> marc@theforestfoundation.org wrote: >Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! > > There's a couple of more that only speak off list too! I think they don't want to offend. >DO you expect our churches to lead? > Nope. They're all about control. When they have more power the results are mordor style evil. I'm a complete atheist. > A free market >will destroy the planet because of market externalities. > I do worry about this and the time frame you mention. . It's possible that market corrections and all that will take too long and too much will be lost in very enviro-costly feedbacks. I wonder if there's a non-coercive way sustain shared resources? Fishermen are good examples. I think there's plenty of evidence that free market harvesting of fish leads to drastic population damage. But I also note that all of this is taking place on an earth where nearly every country has an abundance of government. > You can't wash >your hands of America's policies. > > I have tried but maybe you are right. My tax dollars, which I hand over without so much as a shot fired are used for the purpose of murdering innocents, polluting the environment and building trillion dollar arsenals. I should make a stand and say "not one more dollar for murder" but I fear the consequences. >It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. It's going to take >a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the bastards >out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! > > > I think it will need to be a real revolution. I don't think the system will grant us permission to change it. They have bombs, torture, wire taps, death penalties and millions of cages to put us in. It's possible that they have bots running through newsgroups key wording for agitators too. From bknighton at nc.rr.com Wed Dec 21 14:19:28 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Wed Dec 21 14:19:59 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] political content-ignore if you don't like In-Reply-To: <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> <3889aa560512210702m533f14dal9e4dc1d0683f3e36@mail.gmail.com> <002c01c6064a$33416c70$6ac56bd1@Snowcamp1> Message-ID: <43A9AAC0.3060405@nc.rr.com> G.T. Overholt wrote: > While we argue about how to save the planet, Republicans march goose > step towards its destruction. Here's my answer. Shit is going to hit > the fan. Have your own house in order when it does. Then you can be > of service to a handful of handpicked others who have asked for your > help. Fight maybe one or two local fights of consequence to you. More > than that and you have spread yourself too thin. Enjoy the hell out of > yourself and don't worry. You deserve it for being the caring, moral > human being that you are! > > Trip I wish you'd said democrats and republicans, too. Who is it that forces home B100 producers in NC to pay a $2000 deposit to the state before they start brewing, presuming they will be guilty of road tax non-compliance? Who is it that puts a strangle on innovative building ideas? The straw bale and cobb structures for tanks at the co-op and Industrial are fascinating. Can I build one in my totally suburban wake county setting to live in? I doubt it. There plenty more examples of how your demopubs punish people for trying to make positive, ecology minded changes. Ouch on all that sarcasm. You might be wishing for just the right mixture of control and personal rights to be maintained forever by a government that will always be just and representative. I think it might be possible for something like that to exist for a while, but not in the long run, not for ever. There's never been a single day like that in america-do you disagree? I can prove it to your satisfaction if so. Susan, I and other liberals don't anticipate an ugly end of civilization. Anarchy has been given a terrible name. It means no government. People mistakenly think it means firebombs and looting. When you see that you are seeing the results of a broken government. That's completely different from NO government. We are looking for a day when %100 of your productivity is yours to fund projects you choose. There will be almost no military, that state won't have the right to kill or put people in cages or draft them into wars. Innovative ideas in energy and housing will be free to flourish or fail on their merits. The way to get there might be to develope a culture of indifference to the state. Disobey. Mix it with an emphasis on ecology and long run considerations. TELL people, set examples. Captivate them with the coolness of what you do. Don't take the lazy way and use mob force. If enough do this then the government will fall when they run out of funding. From wrenchwench at blast.com Wed Dec 21 14:25:57 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Wed Dec 21 14:26:01 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Layoffs loom for NREL Message-ID: <33410666-24C2-424F-BC3E-217789BA3650@blast.com> Layoffs loom for NREL By Katy Human and Kim McGuire Denver Post Staff Writer-------------- next part -------------- Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, created breakthroughs that led to solar panels so thin and flexible they can be rolled onto rooftops. NREL engineers made refrigerators more efficient, wind turbines more powerful and agricultural waste more useful, but today, many of them are facing layoffs, and renewable energy advocates are furious. "There's no excuse for these cuts. You just don't do this at a time when energy is such a big issue," said Scott Sklar, president of the Stella Group, Ltd., a Washington D.C-based energy consulting group. Monday, Dan Arvizu, NREL's director, told his staff that the 28-year- old institute may face layoffs in January because of because Congress had "earmarked" a shift in energy research funds. Instead of the Colorado lab those funds will go to projects in Missouri, Nevada, Massachusetts and other states. U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo., estimated that as many as 100 people at the 930-employee laboratory could lose their jobs. The cuts are likely to be steepest in four research areas - biomass energy, wind, solar and hydrogen fuel. "The irony is we are in a time where the mission of the NREL has never been more important and more appreciated because of the price of natural gas," " said Jim McMillan, manager for the NREL's biomass research group. McMillan's team is involved in figuring out how to make ethanol fuel from waste agricultural products, such as corn stalks and wheat straw. Most ethanol is now made from higher-value corn. Bob Noun, deputy associate director of NREL, said Congressional earmarks in the 2006 budget nearly doubled in value over previous years, removing $163 million from the Department of Energy's renewable program, which fund NREL. Last year, thoseearmarks totaled $92 million, and in 2004, they were about $85 million. Senator Wayne Allard's office singled out Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. for blame, calculating that at least $33.5 million of earmarked renewable energy funds are heading to Nevada projects. Many of the earmarked projects are energy-related, such as $3 million to the University of Nevada for hydrogen power research, said Angela de Rocha, Allard's spokeswoman. "But the point is that NREL was set up as the nation's renewable energy laboratory, and they should be making these decisions, the scientists, not us," she said. McMillan said while employees were disappointed to receive news of the likely layoffs, they weren't surprised. Federal workers at the Golden laboratory have seen serious staff reductions before, during both the Reagan administration and the Clinton administration. In 2001, lawmakers restored money to NREL after the Bush administration proposed cutting about $65 million from the laboratory's budget. The current cuts are estimated at about $20 million. Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or at khuman@denverpost.com. From wrenchwench at blast.com Wed Dec 21 14:29:24 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Wed Dec 21 14:29:26 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] reminder of list rules Message-ID: Welcome to the BIOFUELS INTEREST GROUP listserve. We think it is BIG! This group is here for you, so feel free to ask any question or to discuss anything biofuel related. But before you post, please take a few minutes to read the following rules and guidelines about posting on this listserve. By being mindful of the rules, everyone can have a good time talking about biofuels. The normal rules of civil discourse and netiquette apply to users of the BIG list: Edit your replies. When replying to a previous post, select the meaningful portions, and quote from it, but do not include the entire text in your reply. Use ?in-line,? rather than using ?on-top? responses. Example: Quote from post --your reply Quote from post --your reply ?On-top? responses tend to reverse the conversation, make things exceedingly hard to follow and are commonly ignored by many subscribers Provide links instead of whole articles. If your post is of interest, the reader can link out to it and enjoy it with a browser, rather than using their mail client. Not all text formats appear correctly in all mail clients. Formatting problems can be eliminated by providing links. Keep advertisements to a minimum. A lot of diesel vehicles are traded on this list, which is fine, but the number of posts selling goods and services should be proportional to other contributions you make to the conversation. This is not a commercial list. No inappropriate language or subject matter will be tolerated. If you chose to post something that is inappropriate, you will be permanently banned from the listserve. No warnings will be given. If you have a question about what is inappropriate and what is not, please ask before you post and we will be happy to guide you on this matter. Please try to keep your ?signature? to a minimum. It is extremely difficult to follow posts with short messages and really long signatures. Also, high graphic signatures eat up a lot of bandwidth and slow things down. If you have signatures that fit either of these descriptions, we ask that you modify them when using this list. Please stay on-topic or your post will be deleted. Please keep your post to the topics listed above. Casual conversations between posters will be deleted without notice. We do not use ?chat room? or ?short- cut English" on this list. Posts using, for example, "kewl," "u" for "you," or no capitalization or punctuation will be deleted. While it is true that we do ?lyt ? (luv ya tons), we prefer proper usage. Disagreeing with another poster will inevitably happen. However, ?flaming? another poster will not be tolerated. You can post a dissenting opinion without attacking another poster. If you do, you will be banned. From time to time you will receive messages from the BIG list administrators. These messages will have Please Read in the subject line, and they will notify list users of maintenance, or other issues associated with the list. Please do not post messages directly to the webmaster or administrator. The only exception would be to notify them that there is a technical problem with the list. They are here to make sure things run smoothly and that posters are following the rules -- not to get into discussions/debates with posters. For virus control, the BIG list does not accept attachments. They are stripped off before messages are sent to list members. This way it is not possible to get a virus from the BIG list. From time to time you will receive messages from the BIG list administrators. These messages will have Please Read in the subject line, and they will notify list users of maintenance, or other issues associated with the list. For more information on netiquette, try Ben Goren?s ?Play Nice, Children?: http://www.trumpetpower.com/Rants/Netiquette. We are grateful to Keith Addison for his ?Rules of the List,? which you can visit at: http://wwia.org/pipermail/biofuel/Week-of-Mon-20040906/000005.html Our goal is to further information sharing about biofuels throughout the Southeast and North Carolina. It is important to have a place to network with others who are producing, using or researching biofuels. From bknighton at nc.rr.com Wed Dec 21 14:47:30 2005 From: bknighton at nc.rr.com (Bill Knighton) Date: Wed Dec 21 14:47:40 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Layoffs loom for NREL In-Reply-To: <33410666-24C2-424F-BC3E-217789BA3650@blast.com> References: <33410666-24C2-424F-BC3E-217789BA3650@blast.com> Message-ID: <43A9B152.9080206@nc.rr.com> Rachel Burton wrote: > Layoffs loom for NREL > The cuts are likely to be steepest in four research areas - biomass > energy, wind, solar and hydrogen fuel. At least I can celebrate the hydrogen fuel cuts. I think that's wasted money and has nothing to do with sustainable energy production. Too bad many times the NREL budget will be given to hydrogen fuel researchers through other channels. From leif at biofuels.coop Wed Dec 21 15:09:48 2005 From: leif at biofuels.coop (Leif Forer) Date: Wed Dec 21 15:10:26 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Sweets spur biodiesel reaction References: Message-ID: <1AD5BDDD-C57D-4A47-9592-BF5A5A64148F@biofuels.coop> Sweets spur biodiesel reaction Aimee Cunningham A Japanese research team has created an environmentally friendly catalyst for producing biodiesel, an alternative fuel, from renewable sources. The new catalyst is mainly charred sugars. Biodiesel production typically begins with vegetable oil and an alcohol. A catalyst converts these ingredients into fatty acid alkyl esters, the compounds that constitute biodiesel. The most widely used catalysts are bases, such as sodium hydroxide, that convert 98 percent of the starting materials into the esters. Using a chemically basic catalyst, however, requires additional costly steps, says Michikazu Hara of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The biodiesel must be neutralized with an acid and then purified of the basic catalyst's remains. Hara's team set out to make a catalyst that could be more easily separated from the fuel. The starting material was either sucrose or glucose. The researchers burned a sugar at 400?C and then heated it in sulfuric acid at 150?C, which added reactive sites. The resulting black powder, a form of carbon rich in molecular-ring structures, could be shaped into pellets or thin films. The researchers recovered the prototype catalyst by simply decanting the biodiesel, they report in the Nov. 10 Nature. They used the catalyst repeatedly and reported no loss in its activity. Though easy to employ, the sugary catalyst converted only 20 percent of the starting material into biodiesel fuel. But it may be possible to increase the catalyst's efficiency by increasing the temperature of the biodiesel reaction, says Hara. References: Toda, M. . . . and M. Hara. 2005. Green chemistry: Biodiesel made with sugar catalyst. Nature 438(Nov. 10):178. Abstract available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/438178a. Sources: Michikazu Hara Chemical Resources Laboratory Tokyo Institute of Technology Yokohama 226-8503 Japan http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20051210/note14.asp From Science News, Vol. 168, No. 24, Dec. 10, 2005, p. 382. Copyright (c) 2005 Science Service. All rights reserved. From wrenchwench at blast.com Wed Dec 21 18:30:58 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Wed Dec 21 18:31:00 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Bristol Virginia Utilities making switch to biodiesel Message-ID: Bristol Virginia Utilities making switch to biodiesel Wednesday, December 21, 2005 By RICK WAGNER BRISTOL, Va. - Bristol Virginia Utilities has become the latest among a series of governmental entities and businesses in the region to use environmentally friendly biodiesel. According to Wes Rosenbalm, BVU president and chief executive officer, the choice to use biodiesel was easy to make. "In addition to providing utility services to residents and businesses in this community, we want to make a real impact here. That's why we're exploring many different opportunities right now that will help us do our part to reduce dependency on foreign energy markets and to be more environmentally conscious," Rosenbalm said in a news release Tuesday. Biodiesel is a fuel made from a combination of traditional petroleum- based diesel and renewable resources such as vegetable oils or animal fats. It is biodegradable and nontoxic, and has significantly fewer emissions than strictly petroleum-based diesel when burned. Biodiesel functions in current diesel engines with little to no modifications. According to the National Biodiesel Board, it is a possible candidate to replace fossil fuels as the world's primary transport energy source. BVU is starting its pilot program with a 5 percent biodiesel blend called B5 but hopes to work up to a 20 percent B20 blend by midyear 2006. The biodiesel that BVU uses is made from 100 percent virgin soybean oil. The Tennessee Department of Transportation recently announced it was launching a pilot program this winter to use a B20 biodiesel fuel in on-road diesel vehicles at TDOT maintenance centers in Johnson City and Knoxville. If the vehicles perform well this winter, TDOT plans to start using biodiesel in off-road equipment in the spring and expand biodiesel to other TDOT regions, TDOT officials said earlier this year. According to Knoxville-based East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition and a proponent of biodiesel, fleet users in East Tennessee include BAE Systems in Kingsport, various cities including Bristol and Knoxville, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, farmers cooperatives in Hawkins and Washington counties, the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, and the University of Tennessee. Those with plans to use biodiesel soon, the coalition indicates, include Kingsport, Johnson City, Johnson City Mass Transit, the Washington County Highway Department and Weyerhaeuser in Kingsport. For more information on biodiesel go to the national biodiesel group at www.biodiesel.org, or for information on local fleets and individuals using biodiesel go to the coalition's Web site at www.etcfc.org. The latter includes a list of places where the public can purchase biodiesel. From wrenchwench at blast.com Wed Dec 21 18:37:17 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Wed Dec 21 18:37:22 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Mean Green eyes Memphis for biodiesel plant Message-ID: <7DA30F5C-49DC-4E7C-ADD6-CFAB0AC1037F@blast.com> Mean Green eyes Memphis for biodiesel plant Gibson County lands first facility Christopher Sheffield Mean Green Biodiesel of Tennessee has plans for a biodiesel manufacturing facility in Memphis that would turn waste products into diesel fuel. That's on the heels of announced plans to build a biodiesel plant in Humboldt, located in nearby Gibson County, that would employ 140 and produce up to 32 million gallons of fuel per year. "Memphis is more highly regarded than any place else for us," says Stephen Maupin, chief operating officer of Mean Green. "It's the crossroads of the South and we want to be at the crossroads of the South." Maupin, who was an environmental consultant for 25 years, says an ideal site has already been identified near the International Port of Memphis, but he's had no formal talks with landowners or economic developers about his plans. "We've had those types of companies look at Memphis in the past," says Mark Herbison, senior vice president for economic development at the Memphis Regional Chamber. And the city will "probably see more and more of these as time goes on." But Herbison says he's never recruited a biodiesel company and that he's had no contact with Mean Green or a representative. There is currently no renewable energy company located in Memphis and Shelby County, Herbison says. Maupin says the best feature of the Memphis site is its access to rail, river and interstate traffic. A plant in Memphis would be "marginally different" in that it would be geared toward using more industrial-type waste products and could even get things like "hard greases" from the City of Memphis wastewater treatment system, which are currently being removed and shipped to landfills. "We can turn that into diesel fuel," he says. "We don't have to just use soybean oil." On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy said oil prices are likely to remain above $50 a barrel for the foreseeable future and, thus, result in a greater shift to more alternative energy sources. A recent study by the Energy Department projects that domestic demand for biodiesel could reach 124 million gallons a year. On Thursday, Maupin's company was scheduled to meet with members of the Gibson County Industrial Development Rapid Response Team to work out the details of Mean Green's proposal there, including land and infrastructure needs. By and large, their proposal is simple and asks very little of local government entities, says Jim Blankenship, executive director of the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce The company is asking the county for a five-year abatement on taxes of property and personal equipment, Blankenship says. For a county that has experienced double-digit unemployment and depressed incomes, Mean Green's proposal is welcomed news. Mean Green has proposed building and outfitting, at its own expense, a facility capable of producing 32 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year from such sources as soybean oil, animal fats and corn oils. As part of the project, the company plans to construct a rail yard able to handle 140 tanker cars, a 12-truck terminal and loading and unloading facility, a two-story office, quality assurance laboratory and a soybean extraction facility. The facilities would be located on roughly 50 acres inside the 550- acre Gibson County Industrial Park located northwest of Humboldt. The four-phase project will employ between 110-290. Phase One, expected to come online in 2006, will employ 140 with salaries ranging from $30,000-$80,000 a year, according to the company's prospectus. Mean Green is a division of Mount Arlington, N.J.,-based GreenShift Corp., a publicly traded equity fund with interest in about 10 environmental, energy and technology companies. Mean Green earlier this month proposed building five such facilities in North America shortly after it had announced an agreement to acquire a 30% stake in Maupin's Weakley County-based company, BioEnergy Engineering. According to a company release, as a part of the deal, Mean Green got exclusive rights to BioEnergy's biofuels technologies and a three- year operating lease for BioEnergy's proprietary biodiesel production process. Maupin, 57, an engineer by training, retired to the family farm near Dresden 10 years ago. He started BioEnergy in an old dairy barn and most of his efforts were to help develop a cheaper source of fuel for the farm's old tractors "and figure out a way to cut corners to pay down debt." The $3.20 a gallon for diesel was too high. "We had to come up with something a little better," says Maupin. By taking animal fats, waste cow oats, ordinary cooking oil, soybean oil and linseed oil, he came up his own alternative fuel source. Cost: $0.61 a gallon. But Maupin hopes for more than cheaper fuel with Mean Green's biodiesel plants, particularly the one proposed in Humboldt. There are numerous industries in the biomedical and biochemical fields that could use some of Mean Green's byproducts, chiefly glycerin, and use it as raw material for their products, Maupin says. He believes a 70-acre research and development park will develop around the biodiesel plant by drawing other companies that want to be located "next to a source and use those resources right here in Tennessee." "We're just tired of seeing our brightest and best students having to leave West Tennessee to get a job," he says. "We're at home here." csheffield@bizjournals.com | 259-1726 From hogarth at gmail.com Wed Dec 21 18:49:29 2005 From: hogarth at gmail.com (Susan Hogarth) Date: Wed Dec 21 18:49:28 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] the ethics of self-sufficiency Message-ID: <3889aa560512211549k1fae1700y8d251b43e0a5977c@mail.gmail.com> A quote from Harry Browne that I thought was appropriate to a general discussion about the ethics of biofuels on an individual rather than institutionalized basis: "If you're determined to be altruistic about it, the only way you can be of any good to others is for you to be self-sufficient. The biggest burdens in a crisis are those who were so concerned about the welfare of everyone else that they never provided for themselves." -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ From tbb10785 at hotmail.com Thu Dec 22 02:31:37 2005 From: tbb10785 at hotmail.com (Bruce Brown) Date: Wed Dec 21 21:31:36 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] the ethics of self-sufficiency In-Reply-To: <3889aa560512211549k1fae1700y8d251b43e0a5977c@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Well put Susan, or should I say Harry Browne :-) >From: Susan Hogarth >To: Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net >Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] the ethics of self-sufficiency >Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:49:29 -0500 > >A quote from Harry Browne that I thought was appropriate to a general >discussion about the ethics of biofuels on an individual rather than >institutionalized basis: > >"If you're determined to be altruistic about it, the only way you can >be of any good to others is for you to be self-sufficient. The biggest >burdens in a crisis are those who were so concerned about the welfare >of everyone else that they never provided for themselves." From membender at hotmail.com Thu Dec 22 16:18:03 2005 From: membender at hotmail.com (Michael Bender) Date: Thu Dec 22 19:19:14 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> <3889aa560512210702m533f14dal9e4dc1d0683f3e36@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: There's a lot here that could be commented on at length, of course, but I just want to say/comment_on two things: 1. Democracy does not "equal" mob rule. Direct democracy perhaps, but we live (ideally, anyway) in a _representative_ democracy, which the framers created specifically to avoid mob rule. Unfortunately, direct democracy has still found its way into some state systems in the form of referendums and recalls. That's where the powers and media that be are most able to take advantage of mob mentality (or "popularity contests"), and what has given us (california) schwarzenegger along other constitutionally dubious "laws" passed since the end of the 19th century. and 2. Without getting into them, there are other economic systems outside of the false duality of "free-market/trade" and "interventionist". For example, the country is still benefitting from (some might say still existing because of) many of Roosevelt (FDR)'s policies, which consisted of large public/private works projects designed to sustain a growing population well into the future. Not much to do with trade, and intervention only in the sense of intervening with existing or ascendant fascism of the day. { re: > Democracy = mob rule, and > A free market will destroy the planet because of market externalities. } ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Hogarth" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 7:02 AM Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction On 12/21/05, marc@theforestfoundation.org wrote: > Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! It's past time for those who support freedom to make themselves heard. > ... The purpose > of government and civil society is to right wrongs imposed on us by those > with more power and resources, accumulated by greed, collusion, etc. And, of course, to right wrongs committed by those with *less* resources as well - the criminal mind exists at all strata of society. But John Bonitz was talking about the government's forcibly preventing farmers from growing certain crops, or certain amounts of crops. Using force to destroy food production can hardly fall in the 'righting a wrong' category. > Do > you expect our churches to lead? Bill has no church, so the phrase 'our churches' is meaningless to him. I wonder if you are confusing the terms 'lead' and 'rule'. > The fact that the system has been > captured or has strayed is our fault because we have not educated, engaged > or taken responsibility for our government, our community. Responsibility must be asumed voluntarily to be meaningful - if it is imposed it is the same as slavery. Those people who have no interest in running other people's lives ('government') should have their wishes respected so long as they do not aggress against others. > A free market > will destroy the planet because of market externalities. There are two problems with this statement. One is that you have no evidence that it is true, and the other is that there is clear evidence that an interventionist market has proved itself no great friend to the planet, as demonstrated so well in China and the Soviet Union - and in fact, here in the US as well, where the government is the largest polluter in the country. > If you expect > consumers to choose our way to sustainability, it won't happen, or it > won't happen at the pace we need. Your personal belief in immanent doom is no good reason to demand that other people live as you require them to. > Following your argument of lasseiz > faire, Bush's anti-Kyoto position is the right course?! Not true at all. Bush is not at all Laissez-faire - he is the latest in a long line of economic interventionists. To claim that people you have just called 'anarchists' favor the policies of the socialist, interventionist, yes-I'll-say-it, *facist* Bush is a little ridiculous, don't you think? > You can't wash > your hands of America's policies. Every day is a fight to do the right > thing, and I am sure there is more each of us can do every day. How many > times have you called your representatives, written, walked into their > office, joined with others to create legislation or fight against > corruption? I know I don't do nearly enough. The truth is that most people do not have time, energy, or (thank goodness) inclination enough to worry about what other people need to be doing, as they are too busy running their own lives and trying to do what is right themselves to spend effort worrying about making other people do what they think is right. > It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. Democracy is the *problem*, not the solution. Democracy = mob rule. > It's going to take > a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the bastards > out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! Why can't you respect the strategy of self-government, since you call for a 'combination of strategies'? Why can't you respect the right of people to live as they wish without interference from others as long as they harm no one? -- Susan Hogarth | colliething.com NC Ballot Access Coalition http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From wrenchwench at blast.com Fri Dec 23 08:47:57 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Fri Dec 23 08:47:57 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on largescaleoilseedproduction In-Reply-To: References: <43A8B194.1020602@nc.rr.com> <52854.216.194.122.18.1135171982.squirrel@mail.npsis.com> <3889aa560512210702m533f14dal9e4dc1d0683f3e36@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <640572C2-EC42-4A48-85CC-86A16D4A7BC0@blast.com> Reminder to all, again. Please keep posts biofuels related. On Dec 22, 2005, at 7:18 PM, Michael Bender wrote: > There's a lot here that could be commented on at length, of course, > but I just want to say/comment_on two things: > > 1. Democracy does not "equal" mob rule. Direct democracy perhaps, > but we live (ideally, anyway) in a _representative_ democracy, > which the framers created specifically to avoid mob rule. > Unfortunately, > direct democracy has still found its way into some state systems > in the > form of referendums and recalls. That's where the powers and media > that be are most able to take advantage of mob mentality (or > "popularity > contests"), and what has given us (california) schwarzenegger > along other > constitutionally dubious "laws" passed since the end of the 19th > century. > > and > > 2. Without getting into them, there are other economic systems outside > of the false duality of "free-market/trade" and > "interventionist". For > example, the country is still benefitting from (some might say > still existing > because of) many of Roosevelt (FDR)'s policies, which consisted > of large > public/private works projects designed to sustain a growing > population well > into the future. Not much to do with trade, and intervention > only in the > sense of intervening with existing or ascendant fascism of the day. > > > { re: > > Democracy = mob rule, and > > A free market will destroy the planet because of market > externalities. > } > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Hogarth" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 7:02 AM > Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] thoughts on > largescaleoilseedproduction > > > On 12/21/05, marc@theforestfoundation.org > wrote: >> Man, there are a lot of anarchists on this list serve! > > It's past time for those who support freedom to make themselves heard. > >> ... The purpose >> of government and civil society is to right wrongs imposed on us >> by those >> with more power and resources, accumulated by greed, collusion, etc. > > And, of course, to right wrongs committed by those with *less* > resources as well - the criminal mind exists at all strata of society. > > But John Bonitz was talking about the government's forcibly preventing > farmers from growing certain crops, or certain amounts of crops. Using > force to destroy food production can hardly fall in the 'righting a > wrong' category. > >> Do >> you expect our churches to lead? > > Bill has no church, so the phrase 'our churches' is meaningless to > him. I wonder if you are confusing the terms 'lead' and 'rule'. > >> The fact that the system has been >> captured or has strayed is our fault because we have not educated, >> engaged >> or taken responsibility for our government, our community. > > Responsibility must be asumed voluntarily to be meaningful - if it is > imposed it is the same as slavery. Those people who have no interest > in running other people's lives ('government') should have their > wishes respected so long as they do not aggress against others. > >> A free market >> will destroy the planet because of market externalities. > > There are two problems with this statement. One is that you have no > evidence that it is true, and the other is that there is clear > evidence that an interventionist market has proved itself no great > friend to the planet, as demonstrated so well in China and the Soviet > Union - and in fact, here in the US as well, where the government is > the largest polluter in the country. > >> If you expect >> consumers to choose our way to sustainability, it won't happen, or it >> won't happen at the pace we need. > > Your personal belief in immanent doom is no good reason to demand that > other people live as you require them to. > >> Following your argument of lasseiz >> faire, Bush's anti-Kyoto position is the right course?! > > Not true at all. Bush is not at all Laissez-faire - he is the latest > in a long line of economic interventionists. To claim that people you > have just called 'anarchists' favor the policies of the socialist, > interventionist, yes-I'll-say-it, *facist* Bush is a little > ridiculous, don't you think? > >> You can't wash >> your hands of America's policies. Every day is a fight to do the >> right >> thing, and I am sure there is more each of us can do every day. >> How many >> times have you called your representatives, written, walked into >> their >> office, joined with others to create legislation or fight against >> corruption? I know I don't do nearly enough. > > The truth is that most people do not have time, energy, or (thank > goodness) inclination enough to worry about what other people need to > be doing, as they are too busy running their own lives and trying to > do what is right themselves to spend effort worrying about making > other people do what they think is right. > >> It is time for us to engage and reclaim our Democracy. > > Democracy is the *problem*, not the solution. Democracy = mob rule. > >> It's going to take >> a combination of strategies, top down and bottom up. Throw the >> bastards >> out, step up and reform the system. It is time for a revolution! > > Why can't you respect the strategy of self-government, since you call > for a 'combination of strategies'? Why can't you respect the right of > people to live as they wish without interference from others as long > as they harm no one? > > -- > Susan Hogarth | colliething.com > NC Ballot Access Coalition > http://www.ncballotaccess.org/ > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group > _______________________________________________ > Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list > Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net > http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From wrenchwench at blast.com Fri Dec 23 08:53:35 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Fri Dec 23 08:53:37 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Grease from kitchens finds life in gas tanks Message-ID: <94523146-C790-488C-8267-FE63301C8866@blast.com> Grease from kitchens finds life in gas tanks By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News December 22, 2005 BOULDER - A sustainable energy company shipped 5,000 gallons of fat drained from french fries and other foods to Berthoud on Wednesday, where it will be mixed with diesel for an environmentally friendly fuel. It was the first such delivery for Rocky Mountain Sustainable Enterprises of Boulder, which opened its doors this year. The company has contracts to pick up cooking oil and grease from more than 100 restaurants. The typical restaurant generates about 100 gallons a month, though that can vary from 20 gallons to 400 gallons, depending on menu choices and volume, said Aaron Perry, the firm's managing director. Cooking oil typically ends up as part of the feed for chickens and cows, thereby getting back into the human diet, Perry said, so his company began hunting for alternatives. The federal government gives a 50-cent-per-gallon tax break for using recycled products in fuel blends. With the spike in oil prices, a biodiesel blend is starting to make economic sense, he said. Biodiesel emits few greenhouse gases or particulates. It smells like popcorn or french fries, Perry said. He said, "It's biodegradable, nontoxic and it helps us achieve energy independence," besides boosting local economies. The company takes the cooking oil to its plant in Berthoud, where water and food parts are removed to leave the purified oil. It's then taken to Rocky Mountain Biodiesel, also in Berthoud. That company mixes the purified oil with petroleum-based diesel to make a product called B20 - 20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petroleum diesel. Within a 150-mile radius of Berthoud there are about 20 places - some for government fleets, some for the public - that have B20 tanks, Perry said. Right now, the process is barely breaking even, but Perry expects nonrenewable fossil fuels to continue to rise in price, making the fuel mixture more economically viable. He's hoping to find a Colorado lawmaker who might sponsor a bill to require all diesel products to be at least 2 percent biodiesel, as the Minnesota legislature recently has. Blue Sun Biodiesel, headquartered in Westminster, makes the same B20 product, but starts with virgin oil - rapeseed or soybeans it buys from farmers in Colorado and elsewhere. B20 has performed well in tests with RTD's Skip line in Boulder, said George Douglas, spokesman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratories in Golden. "There are great improvements in most of the pollutants" compared with straight petroleum diesel, Douglas said. "And there have been no maintenance problems." From wrenchwench at blast.com Fri Dec 23 08:57:38 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Fri Dec 23 08:57:38 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] State Biodiesel Legislation Passed into Law Message-ID: <488B6186-1BA0-4FB6-8225-92E264724256@blast.com> State Biodiesel Legislation Passed into Law Wisconsin Ag Connection - 12/22/2005 The proposal that would create statutory definitions of the terms 'biodiesel' and 'biodiesel blend' when they are used for labeling and advertising purposes has been signed into law. On Wednesday, Governor Jim Doyle signed the measure, which was authored by State Senator Rob Cowles and Representative Al Ott, that would require any fuel that is labeled or advertised as 'biodiesel,' to be 100% biodiesel. In addition, if fuel is labeled or advertised as a 'biodiesel blend,' that fuel must be at least 2% biodiesel "In the face of rising fuel costs, the Legislature must focus on promoting the use of alternative fuel sources," Ott stated. "This will involve both large-scale initiatives and taking basic stops like providing statutory definitions of alternative fuels such as biodiesel." "This bill is about giving Wisconsin consumers confidence when they choose to purchase biodiesel fuel products," Cowles noted. "As we see increases in the use of this type of fuel, creating a standard definition is an important step to take." Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel that is produced from domestic renewable resources such as vegetable oil or animal fat. Diesel fleet managers across the country are increasingly concluding that biodiesel is their lowest cost strategy for compliance with state and federal clean air requirements. Biodiesel is a small, but growing industry. In 1999, 500,000 gallons were sold nationwide. In 2003, 25 million gallons were sold in the U.S. The policy is modeled after a similar law in Nebraska. From wrenchwench at blast.com Mon Dec 26 20:54:11 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Mon Dec 26 20:54:18 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Seattle Terminal Operator To Use Biodiesel Message-ID: <387D802D-30F2-4508-BB93-F997D8EC5C3A@blast.com> Seattle Terminal Operator To Use Biodiesel December 22, 2005 By KOMO Staff & News Services SEATTLE - The Port of Seattle and a terminal operator have agreed to buy nearly a million gallons of biodiesel produced in Washington state, according to a deal announced Thursday by Sen. Maria Cantwell. Seattle-based Stevedoring Services of America will use approximately 800,000 gallons of biodiesel at its operations at Terminals 18 and 25. It also plans to increase the biodiesel content of fuel used for dockside loading and container-moving equipment, going from a 2 percent blend to a 20 percent blend within three months. The port expects to use 20,000 gallons of 20 percent blend annually after converting all of its service vehicles. The deal between SSA Marine and the port is the largest venture of its kind, Cantwell's office said. It will also represent the highest concentration of biofuel used in one place in the United States, her office said in a news release. The fuel will be supplied by Seattle BioDiesel, which operates a 5 million gallon-per-year refinery on the Duwamish River. Prices are still being negotiated. "This agreement shows that the Northwest continues to lead the way on reducing our nation's overdependence on fossil fuels," Cantwell said in the release. "The leadership shown by the Port and SSA Marine should serve as a model for all of America's ports. ... We can innovate the way to energy independence." In October 2004, Cantwell convened the BioFuels Business Collaborative - a group of Washington businesses, farmers, investors and fuel consumers - to help create a state biofuels industry. She also lobbied for legislation to accelerate the development of a viable, national biofuels industry. It became law in August as part of the energy bill, and includes a $550 million "Advanced Biofuel Technologies Program," to develop biofuels from farm products. From wrenchwench at blast.com Wed Dec 28 11:39:28 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Wed Dec 28 11:39:23 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Energy grants available for agriculture, small business in TN Message-ID: <5D402ACB-06CA-4F9A-A777-FCF33371416F@blast.com> Energy grants available for agriculture, small business Wednesday, December 28, 2005 By Staff report Tennessee agricultural producers and small business owners are being encouraged to get involved in a grant program that can help them finance energy projects in their operations. In the upcoming year, $23 million in grants will be available for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, according to Mary "Ruth" Tackett, the state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). "Tennessee farmers and business owners should take a close look at this innovative program," Tackett said in a prepared release. "If you are considering any energy efficiency improvements, this program may be able to help you with a portion of the cost. I would encourage anyone with a potential project to call their local USDA Rural Development office for assistance." Energy efficiency projects can include improvements to pumping systems, heating and cooling systems, refrigeration, lighting, motor systems and insulation. In fiscal year 2005, this grant program awarded more than 150 energy grants throughout the United States. For instance, Tennessee BioEnergy Inc. received a $60,000 grant this year - the first award in Tennessee under the initiative - for a project to support local production of biodiesel fuel. The facility is described as one of the first of its kind in the state. Grant funds will be awarded in two funding cycles. First-round applications must be submitted to USDA Rural Development area offices by March 2. Second-round applications are due by June 5. Renewable energy projects can include systems deriving energy from biomass, biogas, geothermal, hydrogen, wind and solar. Agricultural producers and small businesses with projects located in towns of less than 50,000 in population are eligible for the program. Interested applicants should contact their local USDA Rural Development area offices as soon as possible to complete the application process. Area office locations may be found on the Rural Development Web site at www.rurdev.usda.gov/tn or by calling (615) 783-1300. From john.bonitz at gmail.com Wed Dec 28 09:49:07 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Wed Dec 28 12:49:08 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Re: Taxation of biofuels? Message-ID: <84a57a420512280949w4fe21e1l9c60ea6eacbc018a@mail.gmail.com> Hi Will, Thanks for asking about biofuels taxes. I've pulled together a one page explanation of the state taxes, based on our reading of the law. Here is the page on our website. http://www.biofuels.coop/taxes.shtml The way I read it, both biodiesel homebrew consumers and folks burning SVO/WVO must pay the taxes. We asked the State Department of Revenue for comment and they never responded. The coop is currently taking care of all taxes for fuel made at our refinery. We're paying all taxes on the homebrew we make, and if we ever get to selling SVO/WVO we'll pay taxes on it too. The storebought B99.9 is already tax-paid when we buy it. We've offered to make arrangements with coop members who are brewing at home, but have not yet had any takers. We would need to account for these transactions, but are still willing to do this. Hope this helps! John -- John Bonitz Silk Hope, NC www.biofuels.coop On 12/28/05, Will Mackin wrote: > What's the deal with the tax on biodiesel homebrew? I'm hearing mixed > things about it. > > Will > > Begin forwarded message: > > > From: "Michael Garjian" > > Date: December 15, 2005 2:42:00 PM EST > > To: > > Subject: Taxation > > > > I am not aware of any new taxation in the new energy bill. We > > recommend that you simply open a bank account and set aside $18 cents > > per gallon in the event a fuel tax is every assessed. If it is, you > > will have the money. If not, you will have a nice savings account. > > > > Michael Garjian > William A. Mackin, Ph.D. > Biology Department, Elon University > 2625 Campus Box > Elon, NC 27244 > 336-278-6120 From wrenchwench at blast.com Wed Dec 28 16:19:27 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Wed Dec 28 16:19:29 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biofuels program at CCCC Spring Semester Message-ID: <3AC30024-192B-472F-A80E-F4B55EB16C45@blast.com> Are you interested in learning more about Biofuels, alternative energy, and renewable fuel sources? Check out these classes at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, NC this semester! 1. Introduction to Biofuels (AGR 293) Taught by: Rachel Burton and Leif Forer Start date: January 9, 2006 (16 weeks) Class is held Monday evenings from 6-9 PM at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, NC Vegetable oil as Alternative Fuel ? sound far-fetched? A man named Rudolf Diesel was doing exactly this over one hundred years ago. Find out how to make your own biodiesel fuel or convert your diesel vehicle to drive around on a clean, renewable alternative to expensive, highly toxic petroleum. This course will examine the historical precedent of using vegetable oil based fuels, the rise in popularity and dependence on petroleum, delve into the mechanics of diesel engines and vegetable oil fuel systems, explore the chemistry of biodiesel and the related technology, and discuss the environmental, social, and economic implications of using vegetable oil or biodiesel as alternative fuels. In the final third of the course students will work on group projects. This innovative program is the first of its kind in North Carolina and is a new learning experience for those committed to a sustainable future. Learn from experienced instructors. Classroom knowledge is supported by hands-on know-how to nurture local sustainable initiatives. To register call (919) 542-6495 2. Homebrew & Biodiesel Equipment Building Class .....this winter with Maria 'Mark' Alovert: for further info and registration email classregistration@girlmark.com to register, please see end of this announcement. some details: Pittsboro, North Carolina, at Central Carolina Community College/Piedmont Biofuels: January 20, 7-9pm , Pittsboro, NC: General Biofuels Discussion with local users and co-ops across North Carolina. Come join the NC B100 Community! This event will provide a short overview of biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, the biodiesel industry, and homebrew biodiesel. Cost: by donation, please email to register. January 21 and 22, Pittsboro, NC: two-day biodiesel homebrew comprehensive workshop with equipment build 10-4 each day cost: $120 for the weekend this hands-on class will teach you how to safely make biodiesel fuel. We'll be making small batches of biodiesel, visiting the Piedmont Biofuels homebrew site, and building equipment for some attendees to take home (additional parts costs and details to be announced, email me for info) 3. Intro to Renewable Energy Taught by: Jack Martin Start date: January 24th- April 11th Class is held Tuesday evenings from 6-9 PM at Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro, NC To register call Ramona at (919) 542-6495 ext. 223. http://www.cccc.edu/Resources/PDFs/Schedules/SP06_Cont_Ed_Sched.pdf From john.bonitz at gmail.com Wed Dec 28 22:21:39 2005 From: john.bonitz at gmail.com (John Bonitz) Date: Wed Dec 28 22:21:38 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: a friend needs help with veg oil in his home furnace Message-ID: <84a57a420512281921g4e6515e2x767c02b9c1e607dc@mail.gmail.com> Hey folks, My friend Mark could use some help. I've pointed him to the WasteWatts yahoo list, and the VegOilFuel yahoo list. Can anyone else offer some first hand experience? If so, please write to him directly, or post to the BIG list, as he is a subscriber. Thanks, John ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mark Stinson Date: Dec 28, 2005 2:44 PM Subject: Re: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] To: John Bonitz Hi John I need someone interested in helping me finish my furnace . I have a modified burner that burns SVO really hot . I am looking at building a unit to heat my home . I have read the articles on Mother Earth about waste oil burners and carried it to the next step . I need someone with a bit more experience in upper and lower limit heat control and thermostatic controls . Any volunteers ? thanks Mark From wrenchwench at blast.com Thu Dec 29 17:26:16 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Thu Dec 29 17:26:18 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Seattle Bakery Business Switches Entirely to Biodiesel Delivery Vehicles Message-ID: Seattle Bakery Business Switches Entirely to Biodiesel Delivery Vehicles SEATTLE, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- For 11 years they've been the Northwest's bakery "alternative" by serving delicious, European artisan bread comprised of organic ingredients. This month, The Essential Baking Company is taking another alternative to the streets with the use of its brand new fleet of B99 biodiesel delivery trucks. The bakery sold off its entire fossil- fueled fleet in favor of leasing 13 biodiesel-powered trucks. Peter Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer of the 200- employee Essential Baking Company, said that aside from the rising costs of traditional fossil fuels, switching to a biodiesel delivery fleet stemmed primarily from the company's socially responsible and ecologically friendly philosophies. Simply put, "going biodiesel" was better aligned with the brand's core values. Comprising the fleet are nine new Dodge Sprinters, three Ford Cargo E250's, and one Isuzu NPR Box truck. The Essential Baking Company delivers within a 40-mile radius of Seattle. All bakery goods are now delivered using the new biodiesel trucks. Finding local sources for maintenance and fueling for the vehicles isn't as difficult as the average business small might think, say company officials. The Essential Baking Company currently uses Dr. Dan's (Freeman) Alternative Fuel Werks of Ballard for biodiesel fueling, and International Truck Leasing for trucks and service, among others. Recent news headlines have put attention on legislation and political leaders advocating alternative fuel and clean energy resources, but little has been covered on what end users (such as The Essential Baking Company) are doing to take advantage of such alternatives. Since 1994, The Essential Baking Company has set out to preserve, cultivate, and honor traditional methods of food preparation with a commitment to using organic ingredients. The thriving bakery provides a high quality, authentic culinary experience while maintaining the same techniques, service, and values of a small neighborhood bakery. Find fresh artisan breads, European pastries, and luscious desserts, in select supermarkets, restaurants and at The Essential Bakery Cafes at 2719 E. Madison St. in Madison Valley and 1604 N. 34th Street in the Fremont-Wallingford area. For more information, visit http://www.essentialbaking.com. From Brian.Rosa at ncmail.net Fri Dec 30 09:07:47 2005 From: Brian.Rosa at ncmail.net (Brian Rosa) Date: Fri Dec 30 09:07:53 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Seattle Bakery Business Switches En tirely to Biodiesel Delivery Vehicles Message-ID: <8D15541F2E16C84B8BE05C60FF5F038908A10D@exchange.sys.p2pays.org> Hey All, Check out the December 2005 issue of BioCycle Journal (www.biocycle.net). Great article published on Piedmont Biofuels. Congradulations Lyle & Rachel. Brian Rosa, Organic Recycling Specialist NC DENR, DPPEA 919-715-6524 Fax 919-715-6794 email: brian.rosa@ncmail.net -----Original Message----- From: biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net [mailto:biofuels_interest_group-bounces@lists.emji.net]On Behalf Of Rachel Burton Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 5:26 PM To: BIG Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Seattle Bakery Business Switches Entirely to Biodiesel Delivery Vehicles Seattle Bakery Business Switches Entirely to Biodiesel Delivery Vehicles SEATTLE, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- For 11 years they've been the Northwest's bakery "alternative" by serving delicious, European artisan bread comprised of organic ingredients. This month, The Essential Baking Company is taking another alternative to the streets with the use of its brand new fleet of B99 biodiesel delivery trucks. The bakery sold off its entire fossil- fueled fleet in favor of leasing 13 biodiesel-powered trucks. Peter Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer of the 200- employee Essential Baking Company, said that aside from the rising costs of traditional fossil fuels, switching to a biodiesel delivery fleet stemmed primarily from the company's socially responsible and ecologically friendly philosophies. Simply put, "going biodiesel" was better aligned with the brand's core values. Comprising the fleet are nine new Dodge Sprinters, three Ford Cargo E250's, and one Isuzu NPR Box truck. The Essential Baking Company delivers within a 40-mile radius of Seattle. All bakery goods are now delivered using the new biodiesel trucks. Finding local sources for maintenance and fueling for the vehicles isn't as difficult as the average business small might think, say company officials. The Essential Baking Company currently uses Dr. Dan's (Freeman) Alternative Fuel Werks of Ballard for biodiesel fueling, and International Truck Leasing for trucks and service, among others. Recent news headlines have put attention on legislation and political leaders advocating alternative fuel and clean energy resources, but little has been covered on what end users (such as The Essential Baking Company) are doing to take advantage of such alternatives. Since 1994, The Essential Baking Company has set out to preserve, cultivate, and honor traditional methods of food preparation with a commitment to using organic ingredients. The thriving bakery provides a high quality, authentic culinary experience while maintaining the same techniques, service, and values of a small neighborhood bakery. Find fresh artisan breads, European pastries, and luscious desserts, in select supermarkets, restaurants and at The Essential Bakery Cafes at 2719 E. Madison St. in Madison Valley and 1604 N. 34th Street in the Fremont-Wallingford area. For more information, visit http://www.essentialbaking.com. _______________________________________________ Biofuels_Interest_Group mailing list Biofuels_Interest_Group@lists.emji.net http://lists.emji.net/mailman/listinfo/biofuels_interest_group From wrenchwench at blast.com Fri Dec 30 09:07:53 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Fri Dec 30 09:08:03 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] BIODIESEL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCES 2006 CONFERENCE Message-ID: SUSTAINABLE BIODIESEL SUMMIT February 3rd - 5th 2006 San Diego Inn Suites San Diego (Dec 22, 2006) ? The Biodiesel Council of California is hosting the 3rd annual grassroots biodiesel event in San Diego, California. This year?s theme is Sustainability and Localization of the Biodiesel Industry. The Sustainable Biodiesel Summit will be held at the San Diego Innsuites Hotel, February 3rd-5th 2006. First day of sessions for this year?s event will include speakers on the topics: Fuel Quality, Emissions, Federal Incentives/Taxes/ Legislation, and Regional Reports from across the nation. Second day of sessions will focus on the future with topics including: Diesel Passenger Vehicles, Local Feedstocks, Fuel Production, and Distribution. "As we look for solutions to a solvent energy future, we need to see the sustainable choices available to us. The first choice is reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, second is using appropriate renewable energy sources like biodiesel,? said Kimber Holmes, the Executive Director of the BCC. ?The BCC is pleased to help further the efforts of the grassroots biodiesel community by hosting the Sustainable Biodiesel Summit. Our goal is that together we will continue to develop a decentralized biodieselindustry based on local feedstocks, production, and distribution." The Biodiesel Council of California?s mission is to inspire socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable development of the Biodiesel industry in California by educating and organizing the public, by advocating for governmental acceptance of neat (B100) Biodiesel, and by developing and protecting the public Biodiesel supply. Registration Information will be on the website very soon. www.biodieselcouncil.org From wrenchwench at blast.com Fri Dec 30 15:02:55 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Fri Dec 30 15:03:01 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Fwd: Beyond Gasoline NYT-December 30, 2005 References: Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: > > His Car Smelling Like French Fries, Willie Nelson Sells Biodiesel > By DANNY HAKIM > www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/business/30biowillie.html? > pagewanted=2&emc=eta1 > > Willie Nelson drives a Mercedes. > But do not lose faith, true believers. The exhaust from Mr. Nelson's > diesel-powered Mercedes smells like peanuts, or French fries, or > whatever > alternative fuel happens to be in his tank. > While Bono tries to change the world by hobnobbing with politicians > and Sir > Bob Geldof plays host to his mega-benefit concerts, Willie Nelson has > birthed his own brand of alternative fuel. It is called, fittingly > enough, > BioWillie. And in BioWillie, Mr. Nelson, 72, has blended two of his > biggest > concerns: his love of family farmers and disdain for the Iraq war. > BioWillie is a type of biodiesel, a fuel that can be made from any > number of > crops and run in a normal diesel engine. If it sounds like a joke, > a number > of businesses, as well as city and state and county governments, > have been > switching their transportation fleets to biodiesel blends over the > last > year. The rationale is that it is a domestic fuel that can provide > profit to > farmers and that it will help the environment, though > environmentalists are > not universally enthusiastic about it. > "I knew we needed to have something that would keep us from being so > dependent on foreign oil, and when I heard about biodiesel, a light > come on, > and I said, 'Hey, here's the future for the farmers, the future for > the > environment, the future for the truckers," Mr. Nelson said in an > interview > this month. "It seems like that's good for the whole world if we > can start > growing our own fuel instead of starting wars over it." > In some ways, it is a return to the origins of the diesel engine; > some of > Rudolf Diesel's first engines ran on peanut oil more than a century > ago. > Last week, a cargo-loading company that operates in the Port of > Seattle said > that to fuel its equipment next year it would purchase 800,000 > gallons of > biodiesel, most of it a blend known as B20 that is 80 percent > conventional > diesel. As of late September, Minnesota requires almost all diesel > fuel sold > in the state to be 2 percent biodiesel, and Cincinnati started > using a 30 > percent biodiesel blend, B30, in its city buses because of concerns > about > fuel shortages after Hurricane Katrina. > Biodiesel can cost as much as a $1 a gallon more than regular > diesel when > pure, though it is typically sold as B20. Prices vary depending on > volume > and region, and new tax incentives are aimed at closing the cost gap. > BioWillie was selling for $2.37 a gallon yesterday in Carl's > Corner, Mr. > Nelson's own truck stop in Texas that serves as headquarters of his > year-old > company, Willie Nelson BioDiesel. That was just 4 cents more than the > conventional diesel selling at another station nearby. > Mr. Nelson's BioWillie is aimed mostly at truckers and is usually > sold as > B20 (pure biodiesel can congeal in colder climates). BioWillie is > currently > sold at 13 gas stations and truck stops in four states (with Texas > having > the most), and it fuels the buses and trucks for Mr. Nelson's tours. > If BioWillie demonstrates anything, it is that the combination of > Middle > East wars, global warming and rising prices at the pump has led > many people > to offer solutions to the world's energy's squeeze. Depending on > whom you > ask, cars will someday run on hydrogen, electricity, natural gas or > ethanol. > Mr. Nelson is making his bet on biodiesel. > "I don't like the war," he said in the interview. "In fact, I don't > know if > you ever remember a couple years ago, it was Christmas day, and my > son Lukas > was born on Christmas Day, he's like 16 years old, and we were > watching TV > and there was just all kind of hell breaking loose and people > getting killed > and I was talking to my wife, Annie, and I said, You know, all the > mothers > crying and the babies dying and she said, 'Well, you ought to go write > that.' "So I wrote a song called 'Whatever Happened to Peace on > Earth?' " > He began to recite the first verse: > So many things going on in the world, > Babies dying, mothers crying. > Just how much oil is human life worth? > And whatever happened to peace on earth? > "That upset a lot of people, as you can imagine," he continued. > "I've been > upset about this war from the beginning and I've known it's all > about oil." > Every alternative to oil, however, has its drawbacks. Biodiesel > would reduce > most emissions of smog-forming pollutants and global warming gases, > and it > could be used instead of foreign oil. But some studies show that it > increases emissions of one harmful pollutant, nitrogen oxide, and > it could > not be produced in vast enough quantities to supplant oil-based > fuel, or > come close to it, unless the nation starts turning the suburbs over to > farmland. And as with ethanol, producing great quantities of > biodiesel from > corn or soybeans could drive up food prices. > Bill Reinert, Toyota's national manager for advanced technologies, > said in > an interview this year: "I frankly don't see biodiesel being an early > alt-fuel player across a wide swath of geography. It's a boutique > fuel. > There's not enough payoff and not enough people into it." > Peter J. Bell, the chief executive of Distribution Drive, a > distributor of > biodiesel that is working with Mr. Nelson, said of the nation's nearly > 200,000 gas stations, "650 carry biodiesel, so we have a job in > front of > us." Mr. Nelson sits on the board of Distribution Drive's parent, > Earth > Biofuels, a publicly traded company. > Daniel Becker, the Sierra Club's top global warming expert, said he > would > prefer to see wider use of a cleaner alternative fuel, like natural > gas. > Referring to biodiesel, he said, "In order to grow soybeans, you need > multiple passes over the field with diesel tractors, you need a lot of > fertilizer that's energy intensive to produce and, at the end of > the day, > you have a product that is no boon for the environment." > He went on: "If you're going to go to the trouble of using an > alternative > fuel, use a good alternative fuel. If you really want to listen to > Willie > Nelson, go buy one of his records and play it in a hybrid." > Mr. Nelson first heard about biodiesel two years ago from his wife > while > they were staying in Hawaii. He recounted the story. > "My wife came to me and said 'I want to buy this car that runs on > biodiesel, > and I said, 'What's that?' And so she told me, and I thought it was > a scam > or joke or something. So I said, 'Go ahead, it's your money.' " > She bought a Volkswagen Jetta with a diesel engine and started > filling it > with fuel made from restaurant grease. This is not uncommon. Home > hobbyists > make their own biodiesel by collecting used grease from restaurants > and > chemically treating it to turn it into usable fuel, or by > outfitting their > car or truck with equipment to re-form the grease. > "I drove the car, loved the way it drove," Mr. Nelson said. "The > tailpipe > smells like French fries. I bought me a Mercedes, and the Mercedes > people > were a little nervous when I took a brand new Mercedes over and > filled it up > with 100 percent vegetable oil coming from the grease traps of Maui. I > figured I'd be getting notices about the warranty and that stuff. > However, > nobody said anything." > "I get better gas mileage, it runs better, the motor runs cleaner, > so I > swear by it," he added. > How far does he think biodiesel can go? > "It could get as big as we can grow fuel or find different things > to make > fuel from, such as chicken fat, beef fat, add that along to soybeans, > vegetable oils, peanuts, safflower, sunflower," Mr. Nelson said. > O.K.. What about hemp? > "Hemp is a very good one," he replied, not missing a beat. "In > fact, several > years ago, a friend of mine named Gatewood Galbraith was running for > governor of Kentucky and we campaigned all over the state of > Kentucky in a > Cadillac operating on hemp oil. He was trying to get it legalized > in the > state of Kentucky and, of course, he lost, but the cannabis thing > in fuel is > a very real thing." > Mr. Nelson said he did not expect to make much money on his > venture. As he > put it when asked about his Mercedes, "I didn't get it selling > BioWillie, > I'll tell you." > "I hope somebody makes money out of it; I'm sure they will. And > probably > what'll happen is that the oil industry will wait until everybody else > builds all the infrastructure and then they'll come in and take > over," he > said. "But that's O.K. I don't worry about that. As along as the idea > progresses because all I'm caring about is getting it out there and > maybe > helping the country, the farmer, the environment." > Asked if he intended to become a fat cat C.E.O. with a big cigar in > his > mouth, he replied: "I'll give you my part of it. I'll just sign > over all my > earnings and belongings to you right now and I'll sing 'Whiskey > River.' " > One thing is certain: if Mr. Nelson's venture makes any money, none > of it > will go to pay a $16 million tax bill to the Internal Revenue > Service. That > debt, which arose from Mr. Nelson's participation in illegal tax > shelters, > was erased in 1993 with surrender of some property and the profit > from his > album "The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?" > > > **************************VIRGINIA BIOFUELS > FORUM************************** > > Your email address is subscribed to the Virginia Biofuels Forum > mailing list. The list is maintained by Blue Ridge Clean Fuels Inc. > (BRCFI). To UNSUBSCRIBE go to http://www.freelists.org/list/ > biofuels-forum and select that option from the menu. > > PRIVACY POLICY: BRCF does not sell, rent or donate this mailing > list to outside parties. > > List Administrator: BRCFI@earthlink.net > From wrenchwench at blast.com Fri Dec 30 22:19:36 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Fri Dec 30 22:19:34 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Biodiesel Brings Testing Into Focus Message-ID: <45E560B3-D1A7-43B7-B6BB-DFB462BEAEC3@blast.com> Biodiesel Brings Testing Into Focus Test and Measurement World 2005/12/29 00:00:00 Recent soaring energy costs have created intense interest in non- petroleum-based energy sources. One alternative fuel source, biodiesel, offers a homegrown solution for the diesel engine industry. For test providers, the testing associated with diesel engine efficiency and emission particulates could translate into a windfall. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signed a final rule implementing in-use testing requirements for heavy-duty diesel engines. Under a new program, manufacturers will measure gaseous and particulate exhaust emissions from diesel engines using portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) installed onboard the vehicle. Following a pilot highway truck program, the in-use testing will become mandatory in 2007 for highway engines. Globally, similar diesel test programs exist in Europe, Asia, and South America. Additional diesel retrofit and test programs exist in California and Japan. The advent of alternative fuels and the accompanying resurgent interest in diesel engines offers engineering firms growing opportunities in test and measurement. Whether testing for engine efficiency, emission particulates, or other performance diagnostics, reliable test data will hasten adoption of alternative energy practices while reducing dependence on foreign oil. Contact Greg Reed at editor@aatr.net . From wrenchwench at blast.com Sat Dec 31 10:10:37 2005 From: wrenchwench at blast.com (Rachel Burton) Date: Sat Dec 31 10:10:35 2005 Subject: [Biofuels_Interest_Group] Utah Oil Recycling Company Seeks To Produce Biodiesel Message-ID: LINDON, Utah Indian Oil, which recycles motor oil, has applied to operate the state's first biodiesel production facility. The Lindon company has applied to the state Division of Air Quality for permission to produce biodiesel, which is made from used plant and animal oils. John Taylor, a partner in the company, said the facility could be in operation within 60 days. Adam Cowie, planning director for Lindon, said Indian Oil would likely need to apply for a conditional use permit to produce biodiesel in its light industrial zone. The city has not received an application, he said. Andre Shoumatoff, director of the Utah Biodiesel Cooperative, said, ``It's a huge deal, and we are ecstatic about it.'' The Lindon facility would likely produce much more than the estimated 3,000 to 5,000 gallons a week currently consumed in the state, he said. The plant would possibly be able to produce as much as 2.2 million gallons a year. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 requires federal agency fleets to use more alternative fuels and less petroleum to decrease dependence on foreign oil, and in 1998, biodiesel was declared an alternative fuel by the federal government. Biodiesel in Utah currently comes mostly from Las Vegas and Colorado, Shoumatoff said. The fuel is used mostly by companies that operate fleets of trucks, and local consumers include Hill Air Force Base, the Salt Lake City International Airport and the Canyons Resort. Shoumatoff said biodiesel is a boon to farmers, reduces greenhouse gas and sulfur emissions, is a renewable source of energy and is better for car engines than regular diesel. Park City is conducting a pilot program using biodiesel in municipal vehicles, and the U.S. Postal Service, Utah Transit Authority and the Utah Department of Transportation also are conducting pilot programs, he said. About 120 private citizens and small businesses that use biodiesel are registered with the cooperative. Shoumatoff said biodiesel was cheaper than regular diesel fuel during the spike in gas prices over the summer. A Web site for Utah Biodiesel Supply says it can be made for as little as 80 cents a gallon and used in any unmodified diesel engine.