NC Alt Fuels

Fighting Oil Addiction: North Carolina 18th Most Vulnerable State

2009-08-13T11:00:00.003-04:00

Natural Resources Defense Council, August 11, 2009

America's addiction to oil continues to threaten not only our national security and global environmental health, but also our economic viability. NRDC analyzed how heavily drivers in each state are affected by increases in oil prices and ranked states on their adoption of solutions to reduce their oil dependence -- measures they are taking to lessen their vulnerability and to bolster America's security. NRDC found that rising gas prices, combined with economic downturn, are making people more vulnerable to changes in oil prices. But many states are taking significant steps to reduce oil dependence through smart clean-transportation policies.

Our analysis shows that:

Oil dependence affects all states, but some drivers are hit harder economically than others.
The trends in states' vulnerability to oil price increases over the past couple of years are not encouraging -- drivers in every state were more vulnerable in 2008 than they were in 2006.
While some states are pioneering solutions and many are taking some action, a fair number of states re still taking few (if any) of the steps needed to reduce their oil dependence.

By promoting clean vehicle and fuel technologies as well as transportation alternatives, states can reduce oil dependence. These measures can, in turn, create clean energy jobs, reduce vulnerability to fuel price hikes, and lessen air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

North Carolina drivers spend 5.93% of their income on gasoline, or approximately $2041.98, making it the 18th most vulnerable state.

You can read the entire study here: http://www.nrdc.org/energy/states/files/states.pdf

NC company to make 500 hybrid buses for Seattle

2009-08-10T14:07:00.003-04:00

Seattle pi, Associated Press, August 7, 2009

A North Carolina manufacturer is building 500 hybrid transit buses for Seattle - an order that will make the company the largest hybrid bus maker in the world.
Greensboro-based Daimler Buses North America said Friday that King County Metro in Seattle ordered 500 of the diesel-electric buses, with options to buy 200 more. The first batch of 93 buses to be delivered in 2010 will cos tnearly $46 million.
When the new order is filled, there will be nearly 3,000 hybrid Daimler buses in use in North America.
Daimler Buses manufactures transit buses, motorcoaches and shuttle buses.

North Carolina awards $950,000 in "Green Business" grants to 14 firms

2009-08-10T12:49:00.002-04:00

Local Tech Wire, August 7, 2009

North Carolina awarded $950,000 in "Green Business Fund" grants to 14 companies Friday as Gov. Bev Perdue signed legislation that moved the State Energy Office to the Department of Commerce from the Department of Administration.
Firms working on biofuel, battery solar energy and a variety of other so-called green technologies were selected.
The biggest grant of $99,486 went to Semprius, a startup focused on solar cells. Semprius is based in Durham.
In 2008 in the first year of hte program, the state awarded 13 grants worth nearly $1 million. Grants ranged in size from $18,000 to $100,000. The grants with detailed description of each program as provided by the governor's office:

Aerofab Manufacturing Corp., Apex - $45,435
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, Lenoir - $81,000
Centralina Council of Governments, Charlotte - $85,000 - Greater Charlotte Region Biofuel Facility: "Brown" grease is waste oil from food preparation. It often is responsible for clogging sewers, causing overflows. In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, brown grease contributes to more than 55% of sewer overflows. The grant will help develop a Greater Charlotte Region Biofuel Facility that will turn brown grease from the region into bioful that can be used by consumers.
Clean Marine Solutions, Wilmington - $84,602
CPS biofuels Inc., Raleigh - $50,000 High Performance Biofuel Product Dervice from Biodiesel Waste: This project develops a fuel additive made from glycerol, a waste product of biodiesel production. The additive improves fuel economy in gasoline and diesel engines by increasing octane.
EnSolve Biosystems, Inc., Raleigh - $50,000
FLS Energy Finance LLC, Black Mountain - $60,000
Innova Homes LLC, Asheville - $51,160
InnovaTech Inc., Research Triangle Park - $53,317 Cost Effective Harvesting of Algae in Phytobioreactor Bio-fuel Systems: The grant funds development of a prototype phytobioreactor - a large tank for growing algae - to harvest algae for use in biofuel production. This project will increase the efficiency of algae-to-biofuels conversion.
Microcell Corp. Raleigh - $80,000
NC State University Solar Center, Raleigh $95,000
Semprius Inc., Durham - $99,486
Vesture Corp., Asheboro - $75,000
Visible Energy Inc., Durham - $40,000

North Carolina State Senate Moves Ahead on Local Sales Taxes

2009-08-06T15:59:00.002-04:00

Transport Politic, August 6, 2009

Following an April vote in the House, the Senate appears to be close to allowing the Triangle and Triad to fund new transit systems.
After years of controversy revolving around the regressive nature of sales tax increases, the North Carolina State Senate yesterday tentatively approved a measure that would allow citizens in the Triangle and Triad metropolitan areas the right to vote to increase their local sales taxes by $0.005 on every dollar to pay for transit improvements. Mecklenburg County, which includes the state's largest city (Charlotte), has been taxing itself a similar amount since 1998 after the legislature allowed it and it alone to expand its tax base. The bill, if approved later this week as expected, will also allow less urban areas in the state to push sales taxes by $0.0025 to fund transportation.
The measure passed the state house in April and will let the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill in the Triangle and Greensboro and Winston-Salem in the Triad construct ambitious transit networks, but only if the citizenry of their surrounding counties can be cajoled into voting for tax increases. The state will require all counties wishing to fund transit to conduct local referenda before the sales taxes can be implemented. Votes are expected in 2010 if the economy improves sufficiently.
A DMU regional rail system connecting Raleigh and Durham came close to receiving federal funds in the early 2000s, but it was shot down because of Washington's strenuous cost-efficiency regulations. A new regional advisory commission released a report in 2008 proposing an even more ambitious project, with lines reaching 50 miles through the Triangle region. New streetcars could serve the downtowns of the two inner cities, and many more buses would extend through what is one of America's fastest growing regions. A $0.005 sales tax would be an efficient way of funding the new network.
Meanwhile, Greensboro and Winston-Salem have been planning a new light rail connector between each downtown, though their project is not as far advanced. The new tax, if approved, would allow planning and construction to go ahead.
Each region, however, is sprawling and will have a hard time meeting the cost-effectiveness guidelines required by the Feds because of likely low ridership compared to proposed lines in other cities. This barrier could be insurmountable unless they significantly reform their land use policy to encourage dense, station-oriented growth. Without money from Washington, both the Triangle and the Triad will be doomed to smaller and less effective transit lines.

Duke Energy seeks federal funds for "smart grid"

2009-08-06T15:41:00.003-04:00

Business First of Louisville, August 6, 2009

Duke Energy Corp. Thursday applied for $200 million in federal infrastructure funds to develop a "smart grid" in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
The company also has sought $14 million in federal funds for smart grid transmission lines in North Carolina and South Carolina.
The smart grid allows utilities, such as Duke, to send signals to specially equipped appliances over transmission lines. The signals allow the utilities to tell the appliances to operate using less power during peak consumption times.
The U.S. Department of Energy will award $4.5 billion in smart grid grants nationwide, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke (NYSE: DUK) intends to transform its entire electricity-delivery infrastructure into a smart grid system, the company said in a news release.
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U.S. Pumps $2.4 Billion in Creating a Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Base & Thousands of Jobs

2009-08-05T16:02:00.003-04:00

MYGreen Education and Career, August 5, 2009

Further accelerating the manufacturing and deployment of electric vehicles, batteries, and components here in America, and creating tens of thousands of new jobs, President Obama today announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
These projects, selected through a highly competitive process by the Department of Energy, will accelerate the development of U.S. manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles, helping to establish American leadership in creating the next generation of advanced vehicles.
....
Energy Secretary Steven Chu, whose Department selected the 48 winners, visited Celgard, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to announce a $49 million grant for the company to expand its separator production capacity to serve the expected increased demand for lithium-ion batteries from manufacturing facilities in the United States. Celgard will be expanding its manufacturing capacity in Charlotte, North Carolina, and nearby Aiken, South Carolina, and the company expects the new separator production to come online in 2010. Celgard expects that approximately hundreds of jobs could be created, with the first of those jobs beginning as early as fall 2009.
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Public Transportation Bill One Step Closer to Law

2009-08-04T15:58:00.002-04:00

The Progressive Pulse, August 4, 2009
Stephen Jackson

A bill granting local governments the option of placing a public transportation sales tax referenda before votes sailed through Senate Finance today.
H148 allows Triad and Triangle counties to place a half cent sales tax referendum on the ballot as Charlotte has on two occasions in the past decade, with the remaining 94 counties granted a quarter cent local option referendum. The bill also allows all counties in North Carolina, providing they operate or have within their boundaries a public transportation system, to levy a $7 local vehicle registration fee to be used for public transportation. The bill also establishes a non-highway equivalent of the Highway Trust Fund to be used to match local (and federal) public transportation monies, as well as provide grants to ports and rail operations. The fund will be (no surprise given the economy) initially un-funded.
After a build-up of some months, the vote on H148 was anti-climatic. After the House easily passed the bill in April, budget difficulties and several false alarms when the bill was pulled from the Senate Finance Committee agenda at the last minute, promoted doubts that the bill would get a hearing on the Senate side this year.
Thanks to the perserverance of the bill sponsors and key advocates, a hearing of a little over 10 minutes with just two questions was all it took for the bill to leap to the Senate Finance hurdle. It now goes before the full Senate possibly as early as tomorrow as legislators struggle to pass the budget and get out of Raleigh before next week.
The vote came as a pleasant surprise to advocates for the bill who spent hours leading up to the vote shoring up support and worrying about possible opposition from influential Senators and opposed to local option sales taxation. That oppoisition did not materialize in the face of a broad, bi-partisan and well-organied coalition of supports and legislators. Those sick of waiting for the bus or train are hoping that the Senate floor vote is as clear cut.

Perdue Appoints Transportation Board Members

2009-08-04T15:55:00.003-04:00

Politics.MyNC.com, August 4, 2009
Jennifer Wig
NBC17

Gov. Bev Perdue today appointed John Collett, Leigh Harvey McNairy, Major General Hugh R. Overholt, Wanda J. Proffitt, Charles D. Watts Jr. and Ralph Womble to the N.C. Board of Transportation.
Read More about the new board members

North Carolina State Releases First Greenhouse Gas Inventory

2009-08-04T15:42:00.002-04:00

Campus Technology, August 4, 2009
Dian Schaffhauser

North Carolina State University has released its first greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory -- about 14 months after initially signing onto the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. Compiling the GHG inventory is the first step in developing a Climate Action Plan (CAP), as laid out by the Climate Commitment. Signatories are given about nine months after their start date to submit their first greenhouse gas report, a deadline missed by the university, which committed on May 15, 2008.
The inventory, which measures emissions for 2008 on multiple campuses and satellite offices, serves as a benchmark against which future emission reduction efforts will be measured. The major sources of emissions include electricity (53 percent), natural gas (22.5 percent), community (12 percent), and refrigerants (6 percent).
Among peer institutions, the inventory found that North Carolina State's emissions were comparable with some of the environmentally conscious East Coast schools and are in line with current trends.
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2010 Nissan Leaf electric car: In person, in depth - and U.S. bound

2009-08-03T10:37:00.006-04:00

AutoBlogGreen, August 1, 2009
Chris Paukert

It would be easy to paint Nissan as late to the burgeoning U.S. green party, as the company essentially only counts the Altima Hybrid to sell among its alt-fuel offerings - and that sedan utilized technology borrowed from Toyota, and it's only sold in a few states in small volumes. While that may be the case, Nissan says their near-term prospects are really quite different. While the company has admittedly been cautious in marketing alt-fuel vehicles in North America, they have been hard at work developing electric vehicles - as well as the advanced lithium-ion batteries to support them - since 1992. What's more, officials say they are now singularly well-placed to leapfrog "transitional" powertrain solutions like gas-electric hybrids in favor of genuine zero-emissions vehicles, and they are promising that their first pure-electric car will reach U.S. shores late next year.
That car, the Nissan Leaf, is the reason we find ourselves in the company's brand-new Yokohama headquarters today. Designed as a four-to-five seat, front-drive C-segment hatchback, Nissan says the Leaf is not just for use as a specialty urban ranabout, but rather, it was designed as an everyday vehicle - a "real car" whose 160-kilometer+ (100 mile) range meets the needs of 70% of the world's motorists. In the case of U.S. consumers, Nissan says that fully 80% of drivers travel less than 100km per day (62 miles) making the Leaf a solid fit for America's motoring majority, even taking into account power-sapping external factors like hilly terrain, accessory draw, and extreme temperatures.
...
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?
While Nissan promise to deliver the Leaf to its first American customers in late 2010, it isn't immediately clear where it wil be made available, to whom, and how. By that we mean the zero-emissions vehicle will likely be marketed in selected stateside cities that have already committed to building some of the necessary infrastructure to support electric vehicles, and the Leaf likely won't be available for purchase, it will probably be a lease-only proposition - at least initially.
Officials are still working out the speicifics on a global market-by-market basis, but in the U.S., at least, they are aiming for a cost similar to their midsize Altima offering - persumable after all local and federal government incentives for ZEV are factored in. Initial allotments of the Leaf will probably be leased, with the batteries also being a leased proposition, minimizing consumers' up-front risks for adopting this new style of vehicle and allowing for easier, more cost-effective upgrades as technology improves. As has been done with other automakers' alternative energy pilot programs in the past, the Leaf will probably be distributed to fleets and very select customers at first - a more widespread commercial push isn't expected until 2012.
As stated earlier, the Leaf will probably be initially marketed in those U.S. cities that have committed to building the necessary infrastructure to support EVs - places like Phoenix and Tuscon in Arizona; San Diego and Sonoma County in California; Raleigh, North Carolina; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Seattle, Washington. Nissan says it has established 27 partnerships with local governments around the world, and more are on the way. If you're outside such areas, Nissan says it won't discourage you from becoming an owner/lessee, but obviously home charging will need to be sufficient.
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Congress scrambles to fund "cash for clunkers" program

2009-08-03T10:26:00.004-04:00

Citizen Times, August 1, 2009
Jon Ostendorff

Car dealers in Western North Carolina waited Friday for word on whether the government would pour an additional $2 billion into the popular "cash for clunkers" car purchase program.
Called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, the program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, in exchange for scrapping their old vehicle.
The program was rescheduled to last through Nov. 1 or until the money ran out, but few predicted the fund would run out so quickly. The original $1 billion in funding was expected to generate up to 250,000 new car sales.
The U.S. House passed a bill Friday that shifted $2 billion from an energy loan program that was part of the economic stimulus plan passed earlier this year. The bill was approved on a vote of 316-109.
Getting Senate approval could be a bigger challenge.
Manger dealers didn't start selling under the program until Monday because of a lag in getting the rules from the federal government.
Within a week, the money was gone.
"We had a good time with it," said Tommy Waigand, manager of Hunter Nissan Lincoln Mercury in Hendersonville. "It has gotten a lot of people in off the street that wouldn't have come in to buy a car."
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Triangle left out of latest NCDOT awards

2009-08-03T10:19:00.004-04:00

Triangle Business Journal, July 31, 2009

There won't be any new transportation stimulus love for the Triangle this month.
Gov. Bev Purdue's office said Friday that the North Carolina Department of Transportation had awarded 15 contracts - including seven new stimulus projects - totaling $29.3 million for highway and bridge projects across the state. But none of hte contracts were for work in the Triangle.
The seven recovery projects awarded are located in Anson, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Dare, Forsyth and Hyde counties. The eight other projects awarded are in Brunswick, Cherokee, Cumberland, Iredell, McDowell, Pitt, Rowan and Rutherford counties.
Five additional projects were let to contract in July. NCDOT said that four of them will be awarded if the low bidder demonstrates that it has met "good faith effort" requirements in attempting to reach the disadvantaged business enterprise goals set forth in the contracts. None of those projects are in the Triangle, however.
The bids on the fifth project - which is for the resurfacing work in Haywood and Jackson counties - exceeded the NCDOT engineer's estimate by more than 21 percent. The bids were refected, and the project will be rebid at a later date, NCDOT said.
The bids received on all 20 projects advertised came in more than 15 percent - or about $6.5 million - below NCDOT estimates.

Car dealers hope Cash for Clunkers drives up sales

2009-07-27T16:54:00.002-04:00

News 14 Carolina, July 24th 2009
By Miracle King

The government's new Cash for Clunkers incentive program has buyers driving off car lots in droves. The program - formally called the Car Allowance Rebate System - encourages car buyers to trade in older, gas-guzzling vehicles for brand new fuel-efficient ones.
The program started Friday and is not only meant to help the environment, but also car dealers, buyers and North Carolina's economy.
"We have about 600 dealerships in North Caorlina, every one of which is ready to sell a new car and get that old clunker off the road," Bob Glaser, president of the North Carolina Auto Dealers Association, said.
The program helps shoppers buy or lease a more environmentally-friendly vehicle when they trade in a less fuel-efficient car or truck. But not all trade-ins will qualify.
"If it's [an improvement of] at least four miles to the gallon, they get $3,500. If they pick a car ou that gets [an improvement of] 10 milers to the gallon or more, they get $4,500," Todd Holmes, general manager at Leith Honda in Raleigh, said.
And there are more stipulations. The car has to be drivable with at least a years worth of insurance history. It can't be more than 25 years old. You have to purchase a new car when you trade, and the retail price of your new car can't exceed $45,000.
Though the ride may be a little bumpy for buyers, dealerships have finally gotten their safety belt to help them from flying off this crashing economy.
"Our average sales in North Carolina were about 33,000 to 35,000 a month, and with the economic downturn in the fourth quarter of 2008, our vehicle sales have dropped at about 20,000 units per month," Bob Glaser, with the North Carolina Auto Dealers Association, said. "That's about a 40 percent decrease in the state of North Carolina, so we are very pleased to have the Cash for Clunkers program in effect."

U.S. Auto Sales May Reach 10 Million Pace This Month

2009-07-24T16:40:00.003-04:00

Bloomberg, July 24, 2009
Alex Ortolani

U.S. sales of cars and light trucks may reach a 10 million annual pace in July for the first time this year, helped by a $1 billion government program to get less fuel-efficient vehicles off the road.
The so-called "cash-for-clunkers" program "is being viewed by automakers as having the potential to drive a meaningful uptick in sales over the final week of he month," Rod Lache, a New York-based analyst at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a report yesterday. He estimated a 10.2 million sales rate.
The pace has been no higher than 9.9 million in any other month this year, as the recession damped consumer confidence and credit tightened. The federal program, implemented today under a law that took effect July 1, provides a credit of as much as $4,500 for buyers who trade in older vehicles to be scrapped for new models with higher fuel economy.
Edmunds.com, an auto-information provider, and market-research firm J.D. Power & Associates also estimated that the July pace will top 10 million, which would be a sign that sales are coming off a bottom. Automakers sold 13.2 million vehicles last year, and averaged 16.8 million from 2000 through 2007.
General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and other automakers will report July sales on August 3. The June seasonally adjusted rate was 9.7 million.
The July pace may be almost 10.5 million, Edmunds.com estimated in a statement yesterday. The Santa Monica, California-based firm cited "glimmers of hope in the economy" and the cash-for-clunkers effort.
"The program will boost automotive sales and remove some of these vehicles that need to come off the road," said Rachel Richards, vice president of retail strategy for dealership owner Sonic Automotive, Inc. in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sonic, the third-largest U.S. auto retailer, will soon introduce a Web site to explain the federal program to consumers and will work with the company's dealerships on how to administer it, Richards said in an interview today.
"There are a lot of steps that automotive retailers need to handle to make sure they get their money from the government," she said.
J.D. Power estimated a 10 million rate and credited an increase in sales to fleet customers such as rental-car companies and government agencies. The firm, based in Westlake Village, California, based its projection on sales data through July 15 from more htan 10,000 dealerships.
The federal program has "potential for increased sales in the short term" as some automakers boost incentives to match the government credit, J.D. Power said today in a statement. Chrysler Group LLC announced such offers on July 22.
"Many consumers don't understand the specifics of the program," and sales to individuals this year may be "only incrementally affected," said Gary Dilts, J.D. Power's senior vice president of global automotive operations.
J.D. Power and Edmunds.com both had predicted that the rate for June would exceed 10 million.

Raleigh shop wins work to install fuel system at state's port

2009-07-24T16:35:00.004-04:00

Triangle Business Journal, July 24, 2009

The Raleigh office of Jones and Frank Corp. has won a $126,000 contract to install three biodiesel tanks and the related fuel systems at two North Carolina ports, the North Carolina State Ports Authority said in a statement.
Two of the biodiesel tanks - one 20,000-gallon tanks and one 10,000-gallon tank - are for the Port of Wilmington. The company will install a 10,000-gallon tank at the Port of Morehead City.
A North Carolina Clean Air grant is funding $104,000 of the cost, while ports authority revenue will pick up the remainder.
The ports authority board of directors' executive committee approved the contract earlier this month. Norfolk, Va.-based Jones and Frank Corp. is a petroleum equipment distributor and service provider. It has nine offices, including the ones in Raleigh and Charlotte.

North Carolina Roadmap to Electrifying Transportation Meeting Announcement

2009-07-22T16:02:00.001-04:00

Interested in air quality, energy security, and the future for electric vehicle transportation in North Carolina? You're invited....

Charting the Course for Electric Transportation
July 28th, 2009
1:00pm-4:00pm

Agenda includes:

Vehicle and infrastructure updates
Education, legislation, and funding opportunities
Project Get Ready/Raleigh Get Ready
Open discussion on opportunities, challenges, and the course ahead

Speakers include:

Robert Underhill, Advanced Energy
Mike Rowand, Duke Energy
Anne Tazewell, NC Solar Center
Mike Waters, Progress Energy
Vikram Rao, Research Triangle Energy Consortium

RSVP by noon July 27th, 2009 to chelsea_conover@ncsu.edu to participate online.

Alternative energy summit discusses benefits of greener fuels

2009-07-22T15:57:00.000-04:00

WWAY TV, July 20, 2009

A year ago gas prices reached four dollars per gallon and consumers were calling for alternative sources of energy. Monday at UNCW, Representative Mike McIntyre hosted an alternative energy summit; an effort to keep southeastern North Carolina on the cutting edge of cleaner, greener fuels.
"We've got to be preparing now for the future and how to deal with getting away from being dependent on foreign oil," said McIntyre.
Summit speakers mentioned the potential energy benefits in the ocean, biofuels, and solar power that are abundant in our area. McIntyre said, "It can help provide jobs for people who can go to work and help convert these resources into energy for practical use."
Demonstrations are already taking place locally. The North Carolina Farm Center has received funding to show the effectiveness of Biochar, a product to help crops grow in sandy soil. "That whole marketing of Biochar, would be a wonderful clean, green economy for North Carolina," described Richard Perritt of the NC Farm Center for Innovation and Sustainability.
Progress Energy has already started work on a solar powered plant off of Highway 421, in response to a law requiring utility providers to start producing renewable energy sources.
"It means there are a lot of oppourtnities. It also means that our children will live a lot cleaner life than we have been living," added NC Farm Center for Innovation and Sustainability's Roger Sheats.
Brunswick Community College and UNCW are one of the leaders in the research on alternative fuels. The two colleges are conducting experiments that would turn algae, found in local bogs and swamps, into a source of energy.

NC firm completes FedEx trucks converted to hybrid

2009-07-21T15:34:00.001-04:00

The Associated Press, July 21, 2009

FedEx Express is taking delivery of more than 90 delivery trucks a North Carolina company converted from standard diesel-powered vehicles to electric hybrid trucks.
The delivery giant's vehicle fleet vice president on Tuesday sends the trucks journeying from Charlotte to California. They'll be used in LA, San Diego and San Francisco.
FedEx has been using hybrid trucks for more than 5 years, but these are the first switched from conventional to hybrid power.
Can-Am Custom Trucks Inc. co-owner Terry Potts said the Charlotte company completed the conversions with parts supplied by Gaffney, S.C.-based Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. and Eaton Corp.

Bio Solutions Manufacturing, Inc. to Collaborate With Wake Forest University

2009-07-21T11:01:00.001-04:00

Marketwire, July 20, 2009

Bio Solutions Manufacturing, Inc. together with Hammerhead Engineering LLC, has been working jointly with Wake Forest University, (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) one of the nation's leading research institutions, in validation of a Wake Forest technology to viably pre-treat liquid brown grease into a reduced FFA (Free Fatty Acid) feedstock. This feedstock is the raw material that will be use for further conversion into B100 biodiesel, by the Bio Diesel Fuel Production Facility which Bio Solutions Manufacturing plans to build and operate in the near future. Historically, FFA conversion has been the stumbling block in being able to viably produce biodiesl from liquid brown trap grease.
Hammerhead Engineering LLC is on schedule to deliver a completed pretreatement process and engineering design for a production facility capable of producing 6,000 gallons a day of B100, a biodiesel fuel, which meets ASTM standards. This process wlil offer the municipal waste water treatment market a viable solution to dispose of both brown and black grease by converting this organic waste into B100.
Conversion of this waste grease in this manner will eliminate the need for incineration of land disposal methods, provide a more environmnetally friendly solution, deliver a renewable energy source and reduce fuel costs to municipal agnecies in mutually beneficial partnering arrangements.

Study Finds Environmental and Tailpipe Pollutants Benefits in Using Biodiesel in Construction Vehicles

2009-07-21T10:53:00.000-04:00

Green Car Congress, July 19, 2009

Using biodiesel in construction vehicles offers promising environmental benefits in terms of reduced tailpipe emissions as well as reductions in fuel cycle emissions of selected pollutants, according to a new study by researchers at North Carolina State University. A paper on their work was published July 16 in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The researchers developed an updated and modified life cycle inventory (LCI) to estimate fuel cycle energy consumption and emissions of selected pollutants and greenhouse gases. Key improvements in the LCI included an update of combusion emission factors based on 2006 US national average emission rates; comparison of pre-NSPS (New Source Performance Standards) and NSPS-compliant soyoil plants; and the use of portable emission measurements system (PEMS) data for real-world tailpipe emissions factors based on 15 nonroad diesel vehicles: five backhoes, four front-end loaders, and six motor graders.
Vehicle emissions scenarios included: baseline petroleum diesel (PD) in-use measurement data based on PEMS; estimated B20 vehicle emissions based on EPA's engine dynamometer data; and estimated B20 vehicle emissions based on NREL's chassis dynamometer data.
Life cycle fossil energy reductions are estimated at 9% for B20 and 42% for B100 versus petroleum diesel based on the current national energy mix. Fuel cycle emissions will contribute a larger share of total life cycle emissions as new engines enter to the in-use fleet.
Seven scenarios were use in the LCI analysis.
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Could $20-Per-Gallon Gasoline Make Us Happier?

2009-07-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

NPR, July 16, 2009

When it's time to fill up the gas tank, many fear the price of gas will return to the $4-a-gallon days of last summer.
But according to author Chris Steiner, our lives would be a lot happier and healthier if gas prices rose into the double digits.
Steiner explains himself, and the title of his book: $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline will Change Our Lives for the Better.

Excerpt from book:

There's something guttural, something personal, about the price of gas. Even though we've pared our driving, there's a feeling that there's more to this, more than $2 versus $4, more than the price of our weekly fill-up. At the gas pump, we're egregiously offended by big numbers and comforted by small ones. Big numbers make us sick. But why?
The price of commodities, the price of nearly everything we use in abundance, has shot up in the last five years. So what makes gasoline so special? We don't have the same visceral reaction to, say, the price of grain - even though it goes into half of everything we eat and its price has more than doubled in recent years. Why does gasoline set off different, shriller alarms than other things we consistently buy? Perhaps that's our human intuition - an evolved sense that there's more to a situation than the mere face of it. It turns out that our intuition, honed by millennia of survival, is quite canny. The inexorable rising price at the pump represents several worlds of change beyond smaller cars and cumbersome gas station charges.
The price of oil - and thus, gasoline - affects our lives to a degree few realize. It's not just the BP or Shell portion of your Visa bill. It's the bricks in your walls, the plastic in your refrigerator, the asphalt on your roads, the shingles on your roof, the synthetic rubber in your ball. With every penny that gasoline moves up, so, too, does the price of most things we consume. Stop what you're doing. Look around. Look at your desk, at your shoes, at your shirt, at your windows, your kitchen - how much of it comes from oil? More than you think. Look out you window - look out at the world - how much of it owes its existence to oil? Again, more than you think. The United States imports 67% of its oil, but only 40% of that goes into our vehicles' fuel tanks. The rest is used to make, fortify, and shape just about anything you can imagine.
But there's more to this than the price of our stuff. The mounting cost of gas will dictate cultural changes, housing changes, civic changes, education changes - it will leave nary a sport on the globe, or how we live, unchanged. There will be pain involved in our adaptaions, yes, but not all of the change we face is gloomy. In fact, many people's lives, including many Americans' lives, will be improved across a panoply of facets. We will get more exercise, breathe fewer toxins, eat better food, and make a smaller impact on our earth. Giant businesses will rise as entrepreneurs' intrepid minds elegantly solve our society's mounting challenges. The world's next Google or Microwoft, the next great disrupter and megacompany, could well be conceived in this saga. It could be a battery company, a breakthough solar outfit, or a radically innovative vehicle manufacturer. This revolution will be so widespread and affect so many that it will evoke the Internet's rise in the late 1990s.
Read More

Thirteen Businesses in Three States Receive Green Plus Recognition

2009-07-10T13:22:00.000-04:00

Green Plus, July 9, 2009
By Kirsten Hausman

Four North Carolina Businesses Become Green Plus Certified - Including Bland Landscaping, a commercial and residential landscaping company in Apex, NC.

"Bland Landscaping... requires monthly community service by all of its senior management and has noteworthy programs to engage all of its employees in the success of its business. 'The future of any business will impend on its ability to be a responsible corporate citizen that makes a positive impact on society while earning a profit,' said co-owner Kurt Bland. 'Using the Green Plus tools and pursuing the certification, business owners are empowered to better guide their organizations along the path of long-term success. We are proud to be part of the most recent Green Plus graduating class,' Bland concluded."
...
"Since 2005, Bland Landscaping has implemented a variety of environmental and social initiatives to reducecosts to the company, improve the lives of its employees, clients, vendors and reduce waste to the environment. Among other environmental initiatives, Bland Landscaping uses hybridized 4-mix engines instead of traditional 2-cycle engines when purchasing handheld tools, has an extensive recycling program, uses vehicles powered by B20 biodiesel, and uses environmentally friendly pesticides. Bland Landscaping also prides themselves on social initiatives such as mandatory paid community service days each month, cultivation of elementary school gardens, and Habitat of Humanity landscaping projects. Bland Landscaping is committed to a triple bottom line approach where people, profit, and planet are equally emphasized."

U.S. EPA's Region 4 Awards More than $1.9 Million in Recovery Funding to the ALA of the Upper Midwest to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs

2009-07-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

EPA News Release, July 10, 2009
In a move that stands to create jobs, boost local economies, reduce diesel emissions and protect human health and the environment for people of the Southeast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $1,921,768 to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest to assist trucking companies in replacing older, more polluting vehicles and installing idle-reducing battery-powered air conditioners. This clean diesel project will create jobs while protecting the Southeast's air quality.
....
This project will reduce diesel emissions from approximately 180 vehicles in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee by replacing older trucks with vehicles using cleaner diesel technologies and installing battery-powered air conditioners in existing trucks to reduce engine idling. It is estimated that the project will result in emission reductions of 864.9 tons of nitrogen oxides, 19.7 tons of particulate matter, 2.3 tons of hydrocarbons and 9.5 tons of carbon monoxide.

Read More...
Details on EPA's implementation of ARRA in Region 4

NCSU researchers land $1.3 million grant for advanced battery research

2009-07-09T11:43:00.000-04:00

WRAL Local Tech Wire, July 8, 2009

Researchers at North Carolina State University will look for ways to improve the batteries in hybrid electric vehicles thanks to a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The funds were directed to NCSU's Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management, or FREEDM, Systems Center.
The FREEDM Center was created last year through a five-year $18.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
Xiangwu Zhang, assistant professor of textile engineering in NC State's College of Textiles, will lead the study. Also participating will be Alex Huang, the FREEDM Systems Center director, as well as Peter Fedkiw and Saad Khan, of the College of Engineering.
Zhang and other will focus on so-called "electrospinning technology" that will integrate lithium alloy and carbon into novel composite nanofiber anodes, NCSU said. These anodes will hold more energy, cost less and tolerate abuse better than materials found in existing batteries, according to the university.

Duckweed "Quacks" Volumes of Potential

2009-07-09T11:31:00.000-04:00

From Ethanol Magazine
By Bryan Sims

The drive to develop sustainable nonfood, starch-based ethanol feedstocks and more efficient conversion processes is intensifying as the U.S. attempts to reduce ethanol's carbon footprint by transitioning from corn to cellulosic ethanol. That has prompted researchers at North Carolina State University to take a closer look at plants, such as duckwee, that could be a potential feedstock for ethanol production.
Duckweed has traditionally been studied becuase of its inherently rich protein content at 30% to 35% on a dry-weight basis. the purpose was to explore whether duckweed could be a protein source for animal and human food. A growing interest in sustainable ethanol feedstock development, however, has researchers exploring the plant's starch content.
NCSU researchers Anne-Marie Stomp, associate professor of forestry, Jay Cheng, professor of biological and agricultural engineering, and Mike Yablonski, post-doctoral research associate, are discovering that duckweed can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and could be used to make ethanol. They have determined that duckweed grown on swine wastewater can produce fice to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to Stomp, who co-authored the research with Cheng.
The research, funded by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, was presented at the annual conference of the Institute of Biological Engineering in March in Santa Clara, California.
"The original investigations focused pretty much entirely on the protein side," Stomp says. "At the time all of that work was being done, there was no compelling economic reason to domesticate this plant because we had plenty of other plant protein sources in grains and legumes. Back then, the prices of those grains and legumes were low and the market was fully supplied."
The one challenge that has impeded duckweed's progress in becoming a sustainable, dedicated energy crop for biofuels production or being used as a bioremediator for farm or city wastewater treatement operations is the fact that it wasn't domesticated. "The trick to domesticating duckweed is going to be how much it will cost per ton to grow this stuff," Stomp says, adding that data on ecnomic feasibility will be released later this year. "That number provides a threshold for commercial viability," she adds.
Cheng and Stomp are currently developing a pilot-scale project to further investigate the best way to establish a large-scale system for growing duckweed in animal wastewater, and then harvesting and drying the plant. "We're actually exploiting a lot of existing technology used in the food industry, because duckweed is like a slurry," Stomp says. You can pump it, sieve it and do other things."
Read More Here

McDonald's Deploys Plug-In Car Charging Station

2009-07-06T11:24:00.000-04:00

HybridCars.com, Sunday July 5, 2009

The McDonald's restaurant in Cary, NC will become the first location in the fast food restaurant chain in more than a decade to offer electric car recharging. The deployment of a ChargePoint charging station for plug-in vehicles is part of the Cary restaurant's efforts to go green. Ric Richards, the independent owner of the McDonald's, is building the new restaurant with eco-friendly materials and technologies.
"Our customers will have a dedicated place to park and recharge their vehicles," said Richards. "McDonald's is enabling a better environment for future generations by supporting zero-emissions transportation infrastructure." The new "green" McDonald's in Cary will open on July 14.
A McDonald's location in Phoenix, AZ installed a charging station in the late 1990s to accommodate a previous wave of electric cars. There are also plants to install plug-in car charging stations at McDonald's locations in Sweden.
Widespread adoption of plug-in cars will partly depend on the establishment of convenient recharging locations where drivers live and work. ChargePoint and other providers are installing its first charging stations to anticipate the introduction of electric cars and plug-in hybrids-not expected in significant numbers until 2011 or later. Analysts forecast that as many as 1 million charging stations will be installed throughout the US by 2015. ChargePoint is a private fee-based network of charging stations, providing grid access and related services for owners of plug-in cars.
Read More...

Biodiesel Sector at Disadvantage in N.C., Says Proponents

2009-07-06T10:16:00.000-04:00

From Triangle Business Journal, Friday July 3
By Frank Vinluan
North Carolina's goal of boosting in-state biofuels production is hitting a speed bump.
The state has a target for 10 percent of all liquid fuels sold in the state to be made in North Carolina from renewable sources by 2017. But incentives in other states make North Carolina's biodiesel comparatively more expensive, leading distributors to go out of state to buy their renewable fuel.
Meanwhilte, some North Carolina biodiesel producers are running on fumes as they produce below their capacity and cast about for ways to compete. Zack Hamm, president of Triangle Biofuels in Wilson, says he wonders if he can make it through the summer.
"We're not that far from shutting down," he says.
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The North Carolina Biomass Roadmap, written by the North Carolina Biomass Council at the request of the State Energy OFfice, recommends that North Carolina displace 10% of its gasoline and diesel fuel consumption by 2017 using in-state biomass resources while incorporating energy efficiency measures, and states that it is possible to do so using exisiting resources.

Grant aims to help clear diesel pollution

2009-07-02T10:35:00.000-04:00

From the Charlotte Observer, Wednesday July 1 2009
By Bruce Henderson

Mecklenburg County will get $1.1 million in federal money to help stanch pollution from diesel engines, the Environmental Protection Agency says.
While Mecklenburg's air pollution focus for years has been on highway traffic, diesel emissions from trucks, buses and off-road equipment such as bulldozers also play a big role.
Off-road machines, fueled by gasoline or diesel, release about a third of the county's vehicle emissions of ozone-forming nitrogen oxides. They emit three-quarters of the tiny particles, or soot, that have been linked to heart and lung problems and premature death.
The EPA grant, part of the federal economic stimulus package, will expand a diesel-pollution program that Mecklenburg County has operated for two years, said Leslie Rhodes, the county's mobile source program manager.
The program aims to replace old, high-polluting diesel engines in off-road construction machines in Mecklenburg and six surrounding N.C. counties.
The new money will enlarge the program to 13 counties, including some in South Carolina, and add on-road diesel vehicles and stationary equipment such as generators. Those counties are expected to fail a new ozone standard the EPA adopted last year.
Mecklenburg will work with regional councils of government to distribute the grant money, Rhodes said.
The EPA said that $1.1 million will be enough to replace at least 28 diesel engines and retire six or more pieces of equipment. That would reduce nitrogen oxides releases in the area by 166 tons a year, the agency said, and lower particle emissions by 10 tons.
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Mecklenburg County will use the money to expand its GRADE (Grants to Replace Aging Diesel Engines) program.
On April 16th, the North Carolina Solar Center Clean Transportation team awarded the Mecklenburg County Air Quality GRADE program an NC Mobile CARE Award for being the first local government incentive program to reduce air pollution from off-road construction equipment.
Visit the Mecklenburg County Air Quality home page to apply for grant money once the funds have been distributed.

Biofuels: just in time production article in the park guide

2006-06-26T15:14:00.000-04:00

Biofuels: written by Thomas Bean a just in time production

refer to link line above for on-line article published in summer 2006 The Parkguide

Research and development into methods of “cleaning up” fuels such as coal and oil and into the development of bio-based fuels have been going on for years. However, costs were always cited as one of the obstacles that prevented the integration of such fuels into our daily lives. The argument was simple: coal, gas and petroleum products were abundant and cheap. We don’t need alternatives. Recent breakthroughs and innovations have begun to reduce those costs…some say just in time.

Gas prices have gone back up and are expected to remain high during the summer traveling season. The continued instability in the Middle East and in other oil-producing parts of the world will only put more pressure on those prices. Hurricane Katrina exposed some potential weaknesses in the distribution system for petroleum. These and other factors make the research and development of cleaner fuels in the Triangle area more important than ever before.

“The landscape has changed and it’s not going to change back,” says Raghubir Gupta, executive director of clean fuels research at Research Triangle Institute (RTI). He cites three reasons that developing clean fuels is more important now than ever before.

National security and fuel usage are linked as never before. Dependence on foreign oil has much more signifi cant implications in the post 9-11 world.
The demand for energy on the global market is increasing like never before. Energy usage in countries like India and China is skyrocketing.
Global climate change from the use of fossil fuels must be addressed.
“There is a tremendous amount of opportunity to increase the usage of renewable fuels,” shares Anne Tazewell of the N.C. State Solar Center. “Before we’ve had the issue of improving air quality. Now energy security and dependence on foreign oil have come to the forefront, especially since 9-11.”

Local companies and organizations such as RTI, Novozymes and Piedmont Biofuels are recognizing these opportunities and moving to meet these new needs. Businesses such as United Energy, which owns twenty-three Crown gas stations in the Triangle area, are taking the fi rst steps to introduce these fuels to drivers.

“We see so much research and development going on in this area, and there seems to be a number of projects starting to make fuels on a commercial level,” explains Katy Ansardi, executive director of Sustainable North Carolina. “The next challenge is to incorporate new fuels into the existing infrastructure.”

RTI is involved in research in cleaning up existing fuels like coal and the use of new fuels such as hydrogen cells. The institute’s focus is on finding ways to commercialize new developments as quickly as possible.

“All our projects have an industry component,” Gupta adds. “We work with industry at the very early stages and look at what parts of a project can be commercialized the quickest.”

RTI has been actively researching clean coal technology with the U.S. Department of Energy for more than 20 years. The goal of that research has been the conversion of solid coal into synthesis gas (also known as syngas) to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of petroleum. In 2005 RTI researchers developed T-2749, a material that removes sulfur from coal at a greatly reduced cost. RTI partnered with Eastman Chemical Co. to use T-2749 at Eastman’s plant in Kingsport, Tenn.

The U.S. is the “Saudi Arabia of coal,” says Gupta, so new technology to clean up coal is a great way to reach the goal of a 25 percent reduction in fuel imports.

RTI is also involved in developing new technologies to use and store hydrogen for electric power and for transportation fuel. Additional funding from the Department of Energy allows RTI and industry partners to create new ways to purify hydrogen using nanostructured membranes and new ways to store hydrogen.

Novozymes, one of the world’s leaders in developing enzymes and microorganisms for commercial use, has developed an enzyme that can break down starch in corn stalks and husks and convert it to sugar that can be fermented and used to produce ethanol. A recent breakthrough at Novozymes has decreased the costs associated with producing fuel from more than $6/gallon to less than $2/gallon. That breakthrough has sparked a national effort to develop an integrated design for producing the fuel using enzymes; the ultimate goal is to reduce or eliminate dependence on foreign oil. This new effort – which was endorsed by President George Bush in his 2006 State of the Union – includes the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Novozymes, Abengoa Bioenergy and federal officials.

“We believe North Carolina is a place that could become energy independent,” explains Yokima Cureton, spokesperson for Novozymes. Current farming operations produce enough cellulosic waste to provide for North Carolina’s energy needs. Such a transition would have additional economic benefits for the state.

“North Carolina currently spends about $5 billion each year for petroleum, but all of that money leaves the state because there is no production or refining capability here. “Biofuels can be made here, so the funds to pay for them stay in-state,” Tazewell points out.

Ethanol is already being used in cars in many parts of the country, including North Carolina. E85 is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol with 15 percent gasoline. Some cars can use E85 but few gas stations sell it. E10, a mixture of 10 percent ethanol with gasoline, can be used in almost any car. In what a company official called a very successful trial period, United Energy in Raleigh sold E10 at its 23 Crown gas stations in the Triangle area during much of 2005 but had to stop because of supply instability and pricing concerns.

“We are looking at biodiesel from a sustainable point of view. We would rather see 100 plants that produce 1 million gallons than one plant that produces 100 million gallons.” – Lyle Estill, president of Piedmont Biofuels
“RTI has been actively researching clean coal technology with the U.S. Department of Energy for more than 20 years.”

“We liked selling it and the public liked buying it, but demand is really going up” shares Haddon Clark, vice president at United Energy. “When it gets more plentiful, we’ll probably go back to it.”

United Energy has also sold biodiesel, which replaces traditional diesel fuel. While supplies are not as volatile as ethanol, the company has stopped selling biodiesel, at least for now. “We are looking at both ethanol and biodiesel in the future,” Clark added.

Supplying biodiesel is a passion for Lyle Estill of Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro. The company sells biodiesel to consumers in the Triangle who use it in their diesel automobiles, but has also sold to the Town of Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Zoo.

“We have a narrow and intense market niche,” Estill says. “We have a bunch of users who want to be petroleum free.” The company is building a plant with a capacity of 1 million gallons. The goal is to draw all the feedstocks – oils such as chicken fat, beef tallow and waste vegetable oil that are used to produce biodiesel – from within 100 miles of the plant.

“We are looking at biodiesel from a sustainable point of view,” Estill elaborates. “We would rather see 100 plants that produce 1 million gallons than one plant that produces 100 million gallons.”

With energy prices likely to stay high or possibly increase further, research, development and commercial use of biofuels and clean fuels is likely to continue to meet the demand. “I don’t know of many (dealers) who are scared of ethanol or biodiesel,” Clark says. “When they become more plentiful, I think our industry will be all over it.”

“Our next challenge is to integrate biofuels into our existing infrastructure,” explains Garrett Screws, corporate affairs liaison with Novozymes. “We need to increase production, solve the transport issues and provide incentives for retailers to sell the fuels. But it’s very exciting to see this much interest and excitement in developing biofuels.”

Alt Fuels Comes to Southern Pines

2006-06-02T08:38:00.000-04:00

Support this station- tell your friends to spend their petro dollars getting renewable fuelblends at:
America’s Fuel (B20, E10 & E85)
801 SW Broad St
Southern Pines, NC 28677
910-692-7337

Alternative fuels get traction

By Taft Wireback
Staff Writer Greensboro News & Record
Southern Pines -- Dale Ross likes the lower cost per gallon and the higher octane. He likes ethanol's environmental benefits.

But the Charlotte resident said that's just part of what brought him to the new America's Fuel station here last week to fill up with E85, the fuel made almost completely from fermented corn.

The big reason?

"I try to use it whenever I can because it's made right here in America," Ross said. "So, hopefully, that means none of my money is going to the Mideast."

The new station is the first in North Carolina, and possibly the United States, to sell only alternative fuels. One blend is a form of ethanol that all gasoline-powered cars can use. Another is suitable only for "flexible-fuel vehicles" such as Ross' Chevy Tahoe. The third is a biodiesel mixture appropriate for most diesel engines.

The station is a hopeful sign that North Carolina is joining the fledgling movement to make the nation more energy independent. A range of similar alternative fuels is available in the Charlotte area and in the Triangle.

The Triad doesn't have any such outlets yet, according to the state Solar Center at N.C. State that promotes the use of renewable fuels. But the Shelby-based distributor who supplies the Southern Pines station says he is looking for retail partners in the Greensboro area.

Meanwhile, the owner of the new America's Fuel station 80 miles southeast of Greensboro said he invested in alternative fuels because it's a good business opportunity with a product whose time has come.

"We're much too dependent on foreign oil," said America's Fuel owner Bill Smith, who also owns a Ford dealership in Southern Pines. "These fuels are certainly not a complete fix. But it's a great band aid for the immediate future."

The savings for E85 users in Southern Pines on Wednesday was a dime per gallon compared with regular unleaded. Last year, E85 customers were saving 25 cents per gallon or more, but ethanol supplies have tightened in recent months, said Ray Thomas, the Shelby distributor.

Alternative fuels already have a solid track record in North Carolina with state and local governments. State government began experimenting in 1990. The state's motor fleet now includes more than 5,500 cars and trucks using E85 or compressed natural gas.

There are an estimated 8 million "flexible-fuel vehicles" in the United States, more than 102,500 of them in North Carolina. Owners are often unaware of their cars' versatility because alternative fuels haven't been widely available.

The federal government has been encouraging auto manufacturers to make the flexible-fuel vehicles for nearly a decade. But the program did not require a matching source of E85, so millions of the vehicles have never used it.

That could be about to change because of rising gasoline prices, sent through the roof after Hurricane Katrina last year and more recently by jitters about the escalating global demand for crude.

Suppliers bring most ethanol and biodiesel into North Carolina by rail, truck and barge from producing states, particularly in the Midwest.

By late next year, North Carolina could be an ethanol producer. At least two companies have plans to build plants in eastern North Carolina and say they hope to start making ethanol by the end of 2007.

Not everybody is certain about alternative fuels, particularly ethanol. Critics note the short-lived popularity of gasohol, an ethanol mix that gained notoriety 30 years ago after the Arab oil embargo of that era drove up prices.

Then, high concentrations of ethanol caused problems in cars not built to handle it.

That's one reason many retailers are leery of E85, said Gary Harris of the N.C. Petroleum Marketers Association. He said ethanol also delivers fewer miles per gallon, with some users reporting losses up to 25 percent. Biodiesel stands a better chance of acceptance because it's easily used in current service-station equipment.

Red Council, who owned the America's Fuel station for nearly 53 years as a gasoline-only retailer for Exxon, was on hand last week to greet customers returning to the same pumps now filled with an entirely different fuel.

He remembered that in the station's early days customers could buy five gallons of gasoline for a dollar. Those were exciting days to be in the business, Council said, but it's also nifty being involved in something that could take the energy industry in a new direction.

"I just hope it makes them Arabs mad," Council said.

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or twireback@news-record.com

Click on Link line above for on line article
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright © 2006
The News & Record
and Landmark Communications, Inc.

Biodiesel Billboards

2006-04-20T13:52:00.000-04:00

Grant Will Promote Biodiesel via Billboards

The NC Solar Center's Clean Transportation program at NC State University was approved two years funding from the NC Soybean Producers Association to conduct a biodiesel marketing and research project. Nearly $20,000 will be issued in year one for billboards designed to educate North Carolina's motoring public about biodiesel. An additional $35,000 is being contributed as cost share by the NC Outdoor Advertising Association (NCOAA).
"The program's success really stems from the cooperation and contributions from all of the partners involved. We are very fortunate to have the NC Soybean Producers Association's interest in promoting biodiesel, and NCOAA's generous donation of the billboard space throughout the state," said Bryan Roy, the Solar Center's project manager for the campaign.

Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in diesel engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is easy to use, biodegradable, non-toxic and virtually free of sulfur and aromatics.

New sites carrying biodiesel have recently opened in Charlotte and Shelby, and a truck stop with six B20 (20 percent Biodiesel/80 percent petroleum diesel) pumps also recently opened off I-77 in Statesville at Homer's Truckstop. Large in-state production of soy diesel is slated for the near future as well. However, in order to attract other marketers to offer new sites and for current stations to prosper, sales must increase.

NCOAA will donate the display space of six large vinyl billboards located near major highways where stations have chosen to sell biodiesel, and 30 poster billboards that will display a message to the motoring public about the benefits and availability of biodiesel.

The campaign will start in April and run through the end of the year. Billboards will highlight the NC Soybean Producers Association's website, www.ncsoy.org, which features basic facts, retail locations and distributors of biodiesel around the state. A link will also be added to the Solar Center's Clean Transportation program webpage to provide information resources on the characteristics and benefits of biodiesel. A student of the College of Management at NCSU will research the effectiveness of the billboard campaign using the website traffic along with other various surveying methods.

The second year will feature a "Bioheat is Better" campaign to increase the awareness and use of Biodiesel blended heating oil. Bioheat, or fuel oil blended with soy biodiesel, is an environmentally preferable choice for consumers and attractive for fuel distributors alike due to a federal tax incentive that provides a one dollar per gallon credit for every gallon of soy biodiesel blended with heating oil. The Clean Transportation Program will oversee the design of brochures and organize meetings geared toward heating oil fuel distributors, facilities managers and the general public.

B20 Now Avialble In Asheville

2006-04-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

Blue Ridge Biofuels is now offering B20 at its west Asheville fueling station. We will continue to offer B99.9 (B70 during winter) and continue our commitment to support the B100 community.

This is the first public B20 pump in western North Carolina!
Our multi-product pump, located at 405 Haywood Road, now dispenses B20, B50, and B85.
B85 will soon be replaced by B99.9.

Blue Ridge Biofuels believes that displacing as much petroleum as possible is the best service we can offer to move closer towards petroleum independence. We believe that many fleets will up their tolerance to higher blends as time goes on and hope that we can be instrumental in encouraging higher blend use in fleets currently willing to use B20.

Blue Ridge Biofuels
109 Roberts Street
Asheville, NC 28801
voice (828) 253-1034
fax (828) 253-3015
www.blueridgebiofuels.com

Ethanol Article in Fortune Magazine

2006-01-26T12:31:00.000-05:00

Very interesting article. Hopefully NC will soon be boasting an ethanol plant or two..
Click on " link" line above for on line article or read below

How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!
Stop dreaming about hydrogen. Ethanol is the answer to the energy dilemma. It's clean and green and runs in today's cars. And in a generation, it could replace gas.
By Adam Lashinsky and Nelson D. Schwartz
January 24, 2006: 4:09 PM EST

(FORTUNE Magazine) - You probably don't know it, but the answer to America's gasoline addiction could be under the hood of your car. More than five million Tauruses, Explorers, Stratuses, Suburbans, and other vehicles are already equipped with engines that can run on an energy source that costs less than gasoline, produces almost none of the emissions that cause global warming, and comes from the Midwest, not the Middle East.

These lucky drivers need never pay for gasoline again--if only they could find this elusive fuel, called ethanol. Chemically, ethanol is identical to the grain alcohol you may have spiked the punch with in college. It also went into gasohol, that 1970s concoction that brings back memories of Jimmy Carter in a cardigan and outrageous subsidies from Washington. But while the chemistry is the same, the economics, technology, and politics of ethanol are profoundly different.

Instead of coming exclusively from corn or sugar cane as it has up to now, thanks to biotech breakthroughs, the fuel can be made out of everything from prairie switchgrass and wood chips to corn husks and other agricultural waste. This biomass-derived fuel is known as cellulosic ethanol. Whatever the source, burning ethanol instead of gasoline reduces carbon emissions by more than 80% while eliminating entirely the release of acid-rain-causing sulfur dioxide. Even the cautious Department of Energy predicts that ethanol could put a 30% dent in America's gasoline consumption by 2030.

We may not have to wait that long. After decades of being merely an additive to gasoline, ethanol suddenly looks to be the stuff of a fuel revolution--and a pipe dream for futurists. An unlikely alliance of venture capitalists, Wall Streeters, automakers, environmentalists, farmers, and, yes, politicians is doing more than just talk about ethanol's potential. They're putting real money into biorefineries, car engines that switch effortlessly between gasoline and biofuels, and R&D to churn out ethanol more cheaply. (By the way, the reason motorists don't know about the five-million-plus ethanol-ready cars and trucks on the road is that until now Detroit never felt the need to tell them. Automakers quietly added the flex-fuel feature to get a break from fuel-economy standards.)

What's more, powerful political lobbies in Washington that never used to concern themselves with botanical affairs are suddenly focusing on ethanol. "Energy dependence is America's economic, environmental, and security Achilles' heel," says Nathanael Greene of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a mainstream environmental group. National- security hawks agree. Says former CIA chief James Woolsey: "We've got a coalition of tree huggers, do-gooders, sodbusters, hawks, and evangelicals." (Yes, he did say "evangelicals"--some have found common ground with greens in the notion of environmental stewardship.)

The next five years could see ethanol go from a mere sliver of the fuel pie to a major energy solution in a world where the cost of relying on a finite supply of oil is way too high. As that happens, says Vinod Khosla, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who has become one of the nation's most influential ethanol advocates, "I'm absolutely convinced that without putting any more land under agriculture and without changing our food production, we can introduce enough ethanol in the U.S. to replace the majority of our petroleum use in cars and light trucks."

Filling up on ethanol isn't new. Henry Ford's Model Ts ran on it. What's changing is the cost of distilling ethanol and the advantages it brings over rival fuels. Energy visionaries like to dream about hydrogen as the ultimate replacement for fossil fuels, but switching to it would mean a trillion-dollar upheaval--for new production and distribution systems, new fuel stations, and new cars. Not so with ethanol--today's gas stations can handle the most common mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, called E85, with minimal retrofitting. It takes about 30% more ethanol than gasoline to drive a mile, and the stuff is more corrosive, but building a car that's E85-ready adds only about $200 to the cost. Ethanol has already transformed one major economy: In Brazil nearly three-quarters of new cars can burn either ethanol or gasoline, whichever happens to be cheaper at the pump, and the nation has weaned itself off imported oil.

And have you heard about GM's yellow gas caps? In the next few weeks the auto giant is set to unveil an unlikely marketing campaign drawing attention to E85 and its E85-ready cars and trucks like the Chevy Avalanche. They will sport special yellow gas caps, and if you already own such a vehicle, GM will send you a gas cap free. California governor and Hummer owner Arnold Schwarzenegger is backing a ballot initiative that would encourage service stations to offer ethanol at the pump. Even big oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil are funding ethanol research. Says Beth Lowry, GM's vice president for energy and environment: "People's perception used to be 'The agricultural lobby is very interested in it.' Now people are waking up and saying, 'This isn't just about the Midwest. This is about the U.S. as a whole.' " Adds Daniel Yergin, one of the country's top energy experts: "I don't think I've seen so many kinds of renewable energy fermenting and bubbling as right now. The very definition of oil is broadening."

Not that ethanol will replace gasoline overnight. There are 170,000 service stations in the U.S.; only 587 (count 'em!) sell E85. To refine enough ethanol to replace the gas we burn (140 billion gallons a year) would require thousands of biorefineries and hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet one of capitalism's favorite visionaries is convinced that very soon filling up on weeds and cornhusks will be no more remarkable than tanking up on regular. Says Richard Branson, whose Virgin Group is starting an ethanol-inspired subsidiary called Virgin Fuels: "This is the win-win fuel of the future."

BARRELS FROM BUSHELS

In Decatur, Ill., nobody is waiting around for the future; demand for ethanol from corn is booming right now. This grain-elevator-dotted town is home to agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland, which makes it the capital of the old-school heavily subsidized U.S. ethanol industry. On a blustery January day, the air is thick with fog, sleet, and condensation from the corn mills on the 600-acre complex next to ADM's corporate office. Outside the ethanol plant, the air smells like grape juice gone bad. Inside, with its giant vats and fermentation towers, the biorefinery resembles a winery, but it's much noisier.

ADM used to call itself "Supermarket to the World." Today, reflecting its emergence as an alternative-energy supplier, it boasts of being "Resourceful by Nature." The company created the corn-ethanol industry when Jimmy Carter asked it to in 1978--the oil-shocked President wanted a homegrown alternative to gasoline. ADM now pumps out more than a billion gallons of ethanol per year. While the fuel accounts for just 5% of the company's $36 billion in annual sales, analysts estimate that it generates 23% of ADM's operating profit. Says Allen Andreas, the courtly 62-year-old CEO: "We've always been feeding people and looking for better alternatives; now we're doing the same thing in energy."

ADM aims to be a big player in what Andreas calls the shift "from hydrocarbons to carbohydrates." But for now it's ignoring E85 and cellulosic ethanol in favor of keeping pace with demand that is already booming. Corn ethanol's main use is as an additive that helps gasoline burn more efficiently. ADM sells nearly its entire output to oil companies, which use ethanol as a substitute for MTBE, a petroleum-based additive that is toxic and is now banned in California and 24 other states. With two billion gallons of MTBE still in use annually and 25 states that have yet to ban it, the ethanol industry could grow 50% simply by replacing MTBE.

In September, ADM announced a nearly 50% expansion project, or 500 million new gallons of annual production capacity. Archrival Cargill is belatedly ramping up ethanol production, and new entrants are using private capital to build ethanol plants. The only publicly traded pure-play ethanol maker, Pacific Ethanol of Fresno, plans to build five plants in California and has raised a total of $111 million, including $84 million from Bill Gates. (For a guide to playing the ethanol boom, see Investing.) All told, the planned projects represent a nearly $2.6 billion investment and will increase U.S. ethanol capacity by 40%.

Other major players are making long-term ethanol bets. Ford is working with VeraSun, a startup in South Dakota, to promote E85 fueling stations. Shell is the primary backer of Canada's Iogen, which is attempting the first large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol--the kind made from cornstalks and grasses--at a pilot plant in Ottawa (see following story, "Biorefinery Breakthrough"). Exxon Mobil has pledged $100 million to Stanford University for research into alternative fuels. The oil giant's new CEO, Rex Tillerson, visited the campus last year to hear what researchers are cooking up. Biology professor Chris Sommerville says the change in the industry is palpable: "I went to six scientific conferences on biofuels last year; the previous 29 years I didn't go to any."

The biggest alternative-fuels player of all, of course, is Uncle Sam. Oil refiners receive a 51-cent tax credit for every gallon of ethanol they blend into their gasoline. That alone will cost taxpayers more than $7 billion over five years, estimates the Congressional Budget Office. The U.S. has also funded research into biodiesel, which uses deep-fryer grease and other nontoxic ingredients to replace regular diesel fuel. (See box at left.) But ethanol will never really take off unless consumers demand it, and while the U.S. industry still relies on taxpayer largesse, Brazil has leaped to the next step: a profitable free-market system in which the government has gotten out of the way.

HOW BRAZIL BEATS THE U.S.

Near the prosperous farm town of SertÃ£ozinho, some 200 miles north of SÃ£o Paulo, the fuel that will fill the tanks of nearly three million Brazilian cars in a few months is still waist-high. Lush sugar-cane fields stretch as far as the eye can see, interrupted only by the towering white mills where the stalks of the plants will be turned into ethanol when the harvest begins in March.

Brazil boasts the biggest economy south of Mexico, and with annual GDP growth of 2.6%, it is a powerhouse you might expect to consume growing amounts of oil, coal, and nuclear energy. But Brazil also happens to have the perfect geography for growing sugar cane, the most energy-rich ethanol feedstock known to science. And so, for Brazil's 16.5 million drivers, there is ready access to what's known in Portuguese as Ã¡lcool at nearly all of the country's 34,000 gas stations. "Everyone talks about alternative fuels, but we're doing it," says Barry Engle, president of Ford Brazil. Ethanol accounts for more than 40% of the fuel Brazilians use in their cars.

While oil frequently has to be shipped halfway around the world before it's refined into gasoline, here the sugar cane grows right up to the gates of SertÃ£ozinho's Santa Elisa mill, where it will be made into ethanol. There's very little waste--leftovers are burned to produce electricity for Santa Elisa and the local electrical grid. "The maximum distance from farm to mill is about 25 miles," says Fernando Ribeiro, secretary general of Unica, the trade association that represents Brazilian sugar-cane growers. "It's very, very efficient in terms of energy use."

Although Brazilians have driven some cars that run exclusively on ethanol since 1979, the introduction three years ago of new engines that let drivers switch between ethanol and gasoline has transformed what was once an economic niche into the planet's leading example of renewable fuels. Ford exhibited the first prototype of what came to be known as a flex-fuel engine in 2002; soon VW marketed a flex-fuel car. Ford's Engle says flex-fuel technology helps avoid problems that had plagued ethanol cars, such as balky starts on cold mornings, weak pickup, and corrosion.

Consumers loved flex-fuel because it meant not having to choose between ethanol and gas models--memories were still fresh of the 1990 sugar-cane shortage, when ethanol-car owners found themselves, well, out of gas. Today "nobody would buy an alcohol-only car, even with tax incentives," says sales manager Rogerio Beraldo of Green Automoveis, a sprawling dealership in SÃ£o Paulo. "Brazilians are traumatized by our earlier experience, when supplies ran out. But with flex-fuel, there's no risk of that."

With Brazilian ethanol selling for 45% less per liter than gasoline in 2003 and 2004, flex-fuel cars caught on like iPods. In 2003, flex-fuel had 6% of the market for Brazilian-made cars, and automakers were expecting the technology's share to zoom to 30% in 2005. That proved wildly conservative: As of last December, 73% of cars sold in Brazil came with flex-fuel engines. There are now 1.3 million flex-fuel cars on the road. "I have never seen an automotive technology with that fast an adoption rate," says Engle.

Ethanol's rise has had far-reaching effects on the economy. Not only does Brazil no longer have to import oil but an estimated $69 billion that would have gone to the Middle East or elsewhere has stayed in the country and is revitalizing once-depressed rural areas. More than 250 mills have sprouted in southeastern Brazil, and another 50 are under construction, at a cost of about $100 million each. Driving to lunch at his local churrasco barbecue spot in SertÃ£ozinho, the head of the local sugar-cane growers' association points to one new business after another, from farm-equipment sellers to builders of boilers and other gear for the nearby mills. "My family has been in this business for 30 years, and this is the best it's been," says Manoel Carlos Ortolan. "There's even nouveaux riches."

The key to Brazil's success is that consumers are choosing ethanol rather than being forced to buy it. Brazil's military dictators tried the latter approach in the 1970s and early 1980s, by offering tax breaks to build mills, ordering state-owned oil company Petrobras to sell ethanol at gas stations, and regulating prices at the pump. This bullying--and cheap oil in the 1990s--nearly killed the market for ethanol until flex-fuel came along. The regime wasn't good for much, says consultant Plinio Nastari, but it did create the distribution system that enables drivers to fill up on ethanol just about anywhere.

Even though the U.S. will never be a sugar-cane powerhouse like Brazil, investors now view Rio as the future of fuel. "I hate to see the U.S. ten years behind Brazil, but that's probably about where we are," says one shrewd American freethinker, Ted Turner.

ETHANOL FINDS A GODFATHER

There are venture capitalists, and then there's Vinod Khosla. A co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a partner at Kleiner Perkins, he was an early backer of Juniper Networks, whose technology helped end decades of dominance by traditional telecom manufacturers. A lean, 50-year-old native of India, Khosla says, without a hint of modesty, "I love the challenge of breaking monopolies."

Frustrated that Kleiner Perkins wasn't taking enough risks after the dot-com crash, Khosla opted out of Kleiner's most recent fund and started his own group, Khosla Ventures. He'd been dabbling in environmentalism but never expected to become an investor. Brazil's success, however, made him wonder about ethanol's U.S. potential. "I spent two years trying to convince myself that this was never going to be more than another minor alternative fuel," he says. "What I discovered was that ethanol might completely replace petroleum in this country. And a lot of countries. This was a great shock to me."

Pretty soon Khosla was surprising plenty of others. He put together a PowerPoint presentation, "Biofuels: Think Outside the Barrel," which he fires up on a moment's notice. He has made the pitch on ethanol to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and elsewhere in the White House. He is also behind California's upcoming ballot initiative to fund a subsidy for gasoline retailers that add E85 fuel pumps. "Getting distribution going is the real problem," says Khosla. "We need to increase blending and then introduce E85 pumps, and the possible will become the probable."

His conversion to energy investing is part of a Silicon Valley trend, as VCs seek the rapid growth and giant markets that computers once offered. VantagePoint Venture Partners in San Bruno, for instance, established a fund called New Energy Capital that invests in ethanol, wind power, and other energy projects. Nth Power, a San Francisco energy-investment firm, estimates that $700 million of the $21 billion flowing into venture funds last year were earmarked for "clean technology" startups.

CELLULOSE NIRVANA

No one, not even a professionally optimistic VC, thinks we're anywhere near getting rid of gasoline. The oil superstructure is simply too efficient and too entrenched to just go away. Nor could corn ethanol generate enough fuel to run America's cars, pickups, and SUVs. Already ethanol gobbles up 14% of the country's corn production. Converting a bigger share into fuel would pinch the world's food supply--a favorite objection of skeptics. Critics also contend that producing fuel from crops consumes more energy than it yields. On this topic of endless Internet bickering, the Energy Department recently reported, "In terms of key energy and environmental benefits, cornstarch ethanol comes out clearly ahead of petroleum-based fuels, and tomorrow's cellulosic-based ethanol would do even better."

Because cellulosic ethanol comes from cornstalks, grasses, tree bark--fibrous stuff that humans can't digest--it doesn't threaten the food supply at all. Cellulose is the carbohydrate that makes up the walls of plant cells. Researchers have figured out how to unlock the energy in such biomass by devising enzymes that convert cellulose into simpler sugars. Cellulose is abundant; ethanol from it is clean and can power an engine as effectively as gasoline. Plus, you don't have to reinvent cars. Ratcheting up production of cellulosic ethanol, however, is a gnarly engineering problem.

The onus now is on companies like Genencor, a Palo Alto biotech. Its biological enzymes are used to break down stains in Tide detergent and achieve just the right distressed look in blue jeans. But making underpants whiter and denim bluer is nothing compared with breaking America's longstanding addiction to gasoline. The best way to do this would be to bring down the cost of ethanol to the point where consumers clamor for it. Before flex-fuel engines came along, Brazilians would mix their own rabo de galo (cocktail) of ethanol and gasoline when filling up, simply because it was cheaper than straight gas. Genencor says its enzymes have cut the cost of making a gallon of cellulosic ethanol from $5 five years ago to 20 cents today. Now refiners have to learn how to scale up production. Canada's Iogen is the furthest along in commercialization; another hopeful is BC International, a Dedham, Mass., company that's building a cellulosic ethanol plant in Louisiana.

There's still a role for government--and we don't mean more handouts for corn growers or distillers. The recently enacted energy bill takes steps in the right direction, like mandating the use of 250 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year by 2013, but much more can be done. Easing the tariff of 54 cents per gallon on imports of ethanol from Brazil and other countries would certainly help. Because sugar cane generates far more ethanol per acre than corn, Brazil can produce ethanol more cheaply than the U.S. Not only would importing more of it broaden access to ethanol for U.S. buyers, but it would also make it cheaper for the ultimate consumers--us. That in turn would spur demand at the pump and encourage service station owners to offer ethanol more widely. What's also needed is for someone big--like Shell or BP, which tout themselves as green companies--to commit to cellulosic ethanol on a commercial scale. Shell's bet on Iogen is minuscule compared with the $20 billion it plans to spend on producing oil and gas off Russia's Sakhalin Island.

Of course, the timing of when ethanol goes from dream to reality isn't just a matter of an investment here or a subsidy there. It took decades of ferment in Brazil before serendipity in the form of high gas prices and flex-fuel engines made ethanol an everyday choice for consumers. But the sooner we start, the greater our ability to shape a future that's not centered on increasingly expensive oil and gas. It's not as if gasoline demand is going to go down: As long as the Chinese and the Indians want our lifestyle--and they do--you can forget about oil at $10 or even $20 a barrel. Whatever the technological challenges, a world of abundant, clean ethanol is suddenly looking a lot more realistic than a return to the days of cheap, inexhaustible oil.

FEEDBACK alashinsky@fortunemail.com; nschwartz@fortunemail.com; sbrown@fortunemail.com

NC Senator Stan Bingham is driving on veggie oil

2006-01-02T17:24:00.000-05:00

See following brief published in the Raleigh News and Observer. We met with Senator Stan Bingham ( Republican/Davidson Co)a while back and encourged his interest in used vegetable oil as fuel for his car AND additionally explained that his support and interest in utilizing biodiesel as well asstraight vegetable oil would go a long way in raising awareness about this alternative fuel.
In my option straight vegetable oil (SVO) is a good idea and works well for the do it yourself types but biodiesel offers more promise for more widespread use.
Biodiesel offers numerouns benefits over SVO such as:
~ requires no conversion of diesel vehicle ( unlike SVO operated vehicles which must be modified)
~ has endured Tier 1 and Tier II EPA health effects testing ( the only fuel that has undertaken this rigourous testing
~ undertaken numerous emission tests
~ won the endorsement of major auto manufacturers
Still its a great step that Sen Bingham has undertaken in converting his car to run on SVO and he should be commended for his concerns about the environmenet and our reliance on imported oil

Legislator to drive veggie carJanuary 2, 2006
www.newsobserver.com/102/story/384082.html

While the rest of us watch gasoline prices rise and fall, Sen. Stan Bingham is keeping an eye out for burned hush puppy residue that could foul his fuel. When the legislative session starts next year, Bingham plans to make his commute from Davidson County to Raleigh in a Volkswagen Beetle that runs on vegetable oil.

Other drivers won't be close enough to smell the french-fry odor, but they'll be able to spot the message on the sides of Bingham's blue car: "Hello soybean and good-bye OPEC. Powered by soybean oil."

Bingham, a Republican, said the car is his protest against high oil prices. He likes it that it is easy on the environment.

The car runs on both diesel and the vegetable oil Bingham gets free from a local restaurant. It's stuff the restaurant usually has to pay to get hauled away, he said. Bingham uses diesel to start the car, then switches over to grease.

He gets 40 miles per gallon on oil, and he figures that fuel costs for his Raleigh commute will cost him next to nothing. There's a side benefit for passersby who like smelling fried food.

"My little dogs love this car," he said.

Gaston County Schools Make Biodiesel for Buses

2005-12-14T16:08:00.000-05:00

Gaston Schools lead the way with biodiesel
Click on LINK above for article and photos

With fuel costs rising and thecall for environmental awareness,
the Gaston County School System has taken the lead as they begin production of biodiesel fuel for theirfleet.Used vegetable oil from the schools food service department is combined with methanol and sodium
hydroxide creating a chemical
reaction that produces biodiesel
fuel. That fuel can be combined
with diesel to create a biodiesel
blend.
The Gaston County Schools’
Transportation Department produced
its first
biodiesel fuel
in mid-
October using
the recycled
oil. Two local
restaurants,
The Shrimp
Boat and
China King’s
Buffet, have
already joined
in partnership
with the system
to donate
used vegetable
oil. The system hopes to get
other local restaurants to provide
used oil.
Superintendent Ed Sadler says,
“It’s a win, win situation—the benefits
for the environment are tremendous
and economically it will save
us thousands of dollars. We are
extremely proud of our transportation
department for being on the
cutting edge in producing biodiesel
fuel by recycling used oil from our
nutrition department.”
Gaston County Schools is the
first district in the state to produce
its own biodiesel fuel. Using the
clean burning, alternative fuel reduces
air pollution and decreases
the school system’s dependency on
petroleum based fuels. “It is a
rather simple process,” said assistant
transportation director Grady
Truett, who is coordinating the innovative
effort.
School
officials began
researching
and
studying the
idea of producing
biodiesel
fuel
last spring.
Members of
the Transportation
Department
worked
closely with
the Centralina
Centralina Clean Fuels
Coalition to learn about the benefits.
The district uses about 300,000
gallons of diesel fuel a year for bus
transportation. As the 6th largest
school system in the state Gaston’s
206 buses travel 11,000 daily.
A program of Centralina Council of Governments in cooperation with
Catawba Regional Council of Governments
November, 2005
Containers used to produce the fuel were donated by Ices, Inc.,
Stanley.
Initial production is planned for
12,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel
this year for a savings valued at
$30,000 to the system. Production
of each gallon costs the system 60
cents, a tremendous savings over
the current price of diesel fuel.
Over the next two years, the
district plans to expand the process
to more than 60,000 gallons a
year or about 1/5 of the fuel the
system uses for a savings of
$150,000 at current prices.
Gaston’s Transportation Department
was recently chosen as
one of the Top 10 School Bus
Fleets Across America. Their efforts
will be featured in the November
2005 edition of School Bus
Fleet.

Make Your Own Biodiesel -FuelMeister Biodiesel Processing Kit- NC Dealers

2005-11-29T22:03:00.000-05:00

The FuelMeister is for folks that don't want to take the time to get the various hardware compenents together neccesary to make biodiesel. You still need to get the oil, methanol and catalyst!
With the Fuel Meister you can make up to 40 gallons of biodiesel in your garage, back yard, porch...just about anywhere!
FuelMeister claims:
~ 1 hour hands on time per batch
~ 70 cents per gallon in materials
~ handles most vegetable oils
~ no pouring or hand mixing liguids
Click on link line below title to go to Fuelmeister website

Following is annoucment for Dec 10 biodiesel workshop and contact info for NC Fuelmeister dealers....

YOU’re Invited !!!! …Come make biodiesel…. Learn about purchasing your own batch biodiesel processing unit…

What: Biodiesel processing workshop

When: December 10 9:00-2:00 ( breakfast and lunch provided)

Where: 1469 Beulah Rd. Clinton NC (Leave Clinton on hwy. 701 S. go approx. 4 miles to John Mark Rd. (BIG SIGN)

Turn right, go to stop sign,turn right and go approx. ½ mile and Williamson Greenhouses are on the right) .

Who: Michael Johnson, Williamson Greenhouses

Cost: $30.00 ( subtracted from cost of biodiesel processor if purchased after workshop)

Questions: Call 1-800-752-2954. or email: michaeljohnson@intrstar.net

Register by Dec 2

Learn more about the Fuelmeister biodiesel processor at:

http://biodieselsolutions.com/home/home.asp

NC FuelMeister Dealers
Williamson Greenhouse
1469 Beulah Rd
Clinton, NC 28328
Contact: Michael Johnson
Email: Michaeljohnson@intrstar.net
Phone 910-590-2633 or 1-800 752-2954

Cowee Harmony Gardens
301 matlock Creek Rd
Franklin, NC 28734
Contact Paul Goodman
Email: biodiesel@matlockcreekfarm.com
Phone 828-524-0725

Full Circle Industries
PO box 812
Hillsborough, NC 27278
Contact: Shar Olivier
Email: greengirlguru@yahoo.com
Phone: 919-347-1371

Asheville CNG Station opening NOV 30

2005-11-28T11:53:00.000-05:00

Asheville's compressed natural gas stations grand opening is Nov 30th at 2PM at the station located at 45 McCormick Place

Station is:
~ centrally located in downtown Asheville, easily accessible from Interstates I-240, 40 & 26
~ Open 24/7 , accepts Mastercard and Visa

Show your support and plan on attending if you can

Hats off to the City of Asheville for joining other clean air leaders in NC that are operating CNG stations. Click on link line above for NC Division of Air Quality website to find other station locations in NC and learn more about CNG. Not only in CNG cleaner, it helps diversify our fuel supply, a very important consideration given the current energy picture. See following news clip:

Plenty of Oil – It’s Just Not Cheap. NGVs Viable Solution Now
Source: Denver Post via Calstart
Tuesday, 22 November 2005
USA, Colorado

A gathering of more than 400 scientists, oil-industry analysts, energy investors, environmentalists and public officials in Denver last week expressed a consensus: the world is not running out of oil, reports The Denver Post. The problem is the world is running out of cheap oil, and even Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan told Japanese business executives that although the global economy has been expanding, "the recent surge in energy prices will undoubtedly be a drag from now on."

Greenspan's comments apparently sparked a flurry of discussions, with some suggesting a 'Manhattan Project' approach to energy development and others defining the current alternatives as being a) pray for a warm winter, or b) a recession.

While some promoted increased fuel efficiency as a solution, Kelli Kammerer of Honda is reported as saying the best approach is to encourage progress toward development of hydrogen-cell vehicles by investing in intermediate technologies, such as natural-gas vehicles and hybrids.

Almost everyone was apparently in agreement with Randy Udall, director of the Community Office for Resource Efficiency in Aspen and one of the organizers of the Denver World Oil Conference. "Washington has been on a long holiday from reality," Udall said. "We've designed our whole world based on $20-a-barrel oil. It's not suited to $60-a-barrel oil." When oil hits $200 a barrel, which even the experts in the industry see coming soon to a gas station near you, the nation will need a better plan. –

More info: Calstart

Tell your friends about new B20 & E85 pumps

2005-11-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

Statesville now has 2 B20 station, one being Homer's truck stop with 6 B20 pumps! See photo.Six new B10 pumps have opened in Roanoke Rapids area just last week. Plus Charlotte area now has 3 E85 pumps and Shelby has 2. See complete list of retail sites below.

RETAIL BIODIESEL PUMPS

Fuel Land #2 ( 4 B20 pumps)
10222 Johnston Rd.
Charlotte, NC 28210
Phone: 704-543-4600 Gasland USA #7 (B20)
1801 E Dixon Blvd.
Shelby, NC 28152
Phone: 704-484-9175
Gas-Up (B99)
405 Haywood Rd. (just off I 240 at Exit 2)
Asheville NC 28806
Phone: 828-252-5589 New Dixie Mart # 2, ( B10)
11 Hwy 158, Intersection NC 46 & NC 158,
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870,
Phone: 252-535-2674

New Dixie Mart # 13, (B10)
142 Julian Allsbrook Hwy,
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870,
Phone: 252-537-1589
A Double A Enterprise, (B10)
122 Roanoke Avenue (NC Hwy 48),
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870,
Phone: 252-537-0100

Amsterdam Mini Mart, (B10)
103 NC 46, Intersection NC 46 & NC 301, Garysburg NC 27831,
Phone: 252-538-0266
Jackson Mini Mart, (B10)
308 Jefferson Street (NC Hwy 158),
Jackson NC 27845,
Phone: 252-534-0481 (Re-opening early 11/05)

Bounds Oil Co. (B10)
Div of New Dixie Oil, Corp.,
Seaboard, NC 27876,
Phone: 252-589-4571
Oakboro Oil Company (B20)
Manager: David Heath
104 N. Main Street
Oakboro, NC 28129
Phone: 704-485-8018
E-mail: dlheath@carolina.rr.com
www.oakborooil.com

Penn Mart (B20)
1600 S. Main Street
Salisbury, NC 28144
Owner: Steve Jarrett
Phone: 704-636-0592 Exxon (B20)
Contact: Edward Holmes
4401 Roxoboro Rd (at N Duke St)
Durham, NC 27704
Phone: 919-471-6924
I-40 BP (B20)
1975 Old Mountain Rd
Statesville, NC 28677
Phone: 704-873-5588 Gasland USA #3 ( B20, E85, E10)
919 S Lafayette St
Shelby, NC 28152
Phone: 480-9733

BP #4 (B20)
531 Roosevelt Blvd ( Hwy 74)
Monroe, NC 28111
Phone: 704-289-5438 Homer's Truck Stop of Statesville (Exit 146 on I-40) six B20 pumps
306 Stamey Farm Rd
Statesville, NC 28677
Phone: 704-871-8008

Ethanol sites
Ray Thomas Petroleum, Inc
1629 S. Lafayette St.
Shelby, NC 28152
Phone: (704) 482-0351
or (800) 262-5453 P.C. Mart - E10 & E85 ( near I 77 exit 6A .2mi from exit)
211 East Woodlawn Road
Charlotte, NC 28211
Phone: 704-527-9133

Caton's Grocery- E10 & E85
5416 Statesville Rd
Charlotte, NC 28269
Phone: 704-535-7182
Homer's Truck Stop of Statesville (Exit 146 on I-40) E85 & E10 & six B20 pumps
306 Stamey Farm Rd
Statesville, NC 28677
Phone: 704-871-8008

Gasland USA #3- E10, E85 & B20
919 S Lafayette St
Shelby, NC 28152
Phone: 704-480-9733
Gasland USA #7 E10, E85 & B20
1801 E Dixon Blvd
Shelby, NC 28152
Phone: 704-484-9175

Fuel Land #2 - E10 & E85 & B20 (has 2 fuel islands 2 four product pumps)
10222 Johnston Road
Charlotte, NC 28210
Phone:704-543-4600

plus ALL CROWN STATIONS in the TRIANGLE REGION are selling E10

Biodiesel Blending at PA petroleum terminal- will NC be next?

2005-11-01T10:07:00.000-05:00

We need this kind of biodiesel blending capablity at a petroleum terminalin NC to encourage more widespread use and distribution. See press release below from PA.

PA Governor Rendell Leading Efforts to Lessen Nation's Dependence on Foreign Oil
Friday October 28, 10:30 am ET
East Coast's First State-of-the-Art Biofuels Injection Facility will Replace 3.2 Million Gallons of Foreign Oil, Save $6 Million in Imported Fuel Costs

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell continued his efforts to help reduce Pennsylvania's dependence on foreign oil today and keep the state at the forefront of promoting alternative energy. The Governor opened the East Coast's first state-of-the-art biofuels injection facility in Middletown, PA, 14 miles southeast of here.
The plant will replace 3.2 million gallons of foreign oil with domestically produced biodiesel. It will also keep about $6 million worth of energy dollars in the commonwealth by reducing the state's need to purchase imported fuels.

"Pennsylvania is changing the way America produces fuel," Governor Rendell said. "This project is a perfect example of how we can make ourselves more secure at home and grow our economies by embracing clean energy sources that are produced right here. The benefits include greater energy independence, a cleaner environment and more jobs for our residents.

"We cannot afford to wait for the federal government to establish a policy that supports our businesses and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. We are acting now to solve our energy problem and keep tens of millions of dollars here that might otherwise go to import foreign oils," Governor Rendell said.

The facility marks a new era in biofuels distribution, supporting one of the best innovations of agriculture, domestic resources and energy efficiency by putting in place the infrastructure needed to make a variety of cleaner- burning, blended, products - from biodiesel to home heating oil - commercially available on a larger scale.

"I am committed to bringing back our energy independence," Governor Rendell said. "In Pennsylvania, we're going to continue supporting innovative ideas that put our citizens to work and help to keep our own energy dollars here."

Governor Rendell made the announcement at Petroleum Products Corp. in Middletown, Dauphin County. The facility - constructed by PPC, the state's largest pipeline terminal - was financed in part by Manheim-based Worley & Obetz with $219,908 from the Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant Program. The project is a joint venture of PPC, Worley & Obetz and Independence Biofuels Inc., which will help to accommodate the marketplace's growing demand for the soy-based fuel.

The injection facility enables any company that fuels its vehicles at the terminal to blend diesel fuel, or heating oil, at a variable rate with biofuel, all at the touch of a button. A computer allows customers to pull up to a terminal and dial-in the specific proportion of biodiesel their vehicles require. The product will be seamlessly blended before it reaches the truck.

Injection blending is more exact, efficient and convenient than "splash" blending, when, for example, diesel and biofuel are poured separately into a tanker truck in various proportions and allowed to mix during transport.

Biofuel is a blend of biodiesel with petroleum distillate, such as traditional diesel fuel or home heating oil. Biodiesel is a domestic, renewable fuel derived from refined natural oils like soybean oil and can be used in any concentration and with any petroleum-based distillates with little or no modification to the vehicle or heating system.

Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty noted that biodiesel blends reduce emissions of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and air toxics normally found in diesel fuel. In its first operating year, Worley & Obetz's new facility will annually avoid 207,500 pounds of carbon monoxide and 17,845 pounds each of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide emissions.

The economic and environmental benefits of the new technology are many. Pennsylvanians now spend some $30 billion per year on imported energy fuels. However, using and developing homegrown energy sources and supplies, such as soybeans grown by Pennsylvania farmers, local and regional economies will enjoy a "multiplier effect" that can yield significant economic benefits. Because biofuels can be produced from homegrown feedstock, increasing the use of biofuels grown here will support farmers and keep energy dollars in Pennsylvania.

"With energy prices rising, these cleaner, home-grown, fuels are more than cost competitive, they make absolute sense," Governor Rendell said. "Now is the time to invest in projects that use the state's indigenous resources to produce our own fuels, enhance national security and spur economic growth. Biofuels can help us grow our way to greater energy independence."

This project is among a number of initiatives that Governor Rendell has put in place to promote advanced energy projects in the state. The Governor's successful and visionary leadership in building a clean energy future was recognized recently by former President William J. Clinton in the Inaugural Clinton Global Initiative, an international summit.

Governor Rendell has made Pennsylvania a frontrunner in addressing the country's dependence on foreign oil by supporting the nation's first-ever waste-coal-to-diesel plant and creating a fuel consortium that will purchase nearly all of the cheaper, cleaner diesel fuel that will be produced at the Schuylkill County facility. The plant, which is being built by Waste Management and Processors Inc. of Gilberton, Schuylkill County, will use waste coal to produce as much as 40 million gallons of clean-burning diesel annually. Construction of the Mahanoy plant will create as many as 1,000 jobs. Operating the plant will produce another 600 permanent high-paying positions. The company expects to break ground and start construction as early as Spring of 2006.

Nationally syndicated business and financial columnist Lou Dobbs praised Governor Rendell recently on his CNN news program for his national leadership on energy initiatives. Additionally, Barron's, one of the nation's premier financial weekly magazines, and Bloomberg News, highlighted the Governor's leadership in creating the buyers' consortium.

Pennsylvania is now home to one of the nation's most progressive alternative energy portfolio standards, ensuring that 18 percent of all energy generated comes from clean, efficient sources by the year 2020. Pennsylvania is one of two states with a portfolio standard that includes energy efficiency. Benefits include $10 billion in increased output for Pennsylvania, $3 billion in additional earnings and between 3,500 and 4,000 new jobs for residents over the next 20 years.

Governor Rendell's Growing Greener II initiative provides significant resources to build on the success of other energy initiatives, including up to $10 million annually for the newly revitalized Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority. PEDA has up to $1 billion available to provide financing to help build clean power and fuel plants. In June, PEDA awarded its first $6.5 million to finance 16 clean energy projects that promote applied energy research, provide financial incentives for the deployment of clean, alternative energy projects and encourage investment in Pennsylvania's energy sector. These projects will create as many as 450 permanent and construction jobs, including 327 full-time jobs if research projects are successful.

The Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant Program funds projects that build markets for advanced and renewable energy technologies that use biomass, wind, solar, small-scale hydroelectric, landfill methane, energy efficiency, coal- bed methane and waste coal. The program has awarded $10 million and leveraged another $26.7 million in private funds since its inception in May 2003.

Governor Rendell also signed an executive order, "Energy Management and Conservation in the Commonwealth," ensuring maximum efficiency in energy management and conservation in state facilities through the implementation of a centralized energy strategy. This measure will decrease energy consumption and energy costs and promote a cleaner environment.

The Governor enacted an expansion of the state's Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant Program, which invests in enhancing the infrastructure necessary to expand the state's capacity to produce alternative fuels. AFIG also helps residents purchase alternative-fuel vehicles and finances related fuel projects to create new markets that can have measurable impacts on pollution reduction, environmental protection and economic growth.

More recently, Governor Rendell announced a plan to replace some 25 percent of the state's vehicle fleet with hybrids by 2011.

For more information on these energy initiatives, visit the state's Web site at http://www.state.pa.us, Keyword: "DEP Alternative Energy." For more information on the Stay Warm PA program visit http://www.staywarmpa.com.

The Rendell Administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. To find out more about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his weekly newsletter, visit his Web site at: http://www.governor.state.pa.us.

CONTACT: Kate Philips, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, +1-717-783-1116, or Kurt Knaus, DEP, +1-717-787-1323.

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Source: Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

Local Food / Local Fuel : Piedmont Biodiesels Story

2005-10-26T08:40:00.000-04:00

I'd like to post more success stories like this.....

Local Foods/Local Fuel
Pittsboro, NC-- October 18, 2005-- Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO), a distributor of locally-grown organic produce, announced today that it was switching its fleet to biodiesel fuel.

ECO is a farmer-owned business that focuses on delivering local harvests to grocery stores and fine dining establishments throughout the area. Their slogan is "Your local farm to table connection."

"Biodiesel is made in America," said Sandi Kronick, ECO's founder. "It comes from the farm, like the rest of our products. We want to do everything we can to promote sustainability for the American farmer."

The fuel for ECO's switch over will be provided by Piedmont Biofuels, also of Pittsboro.

"Biodiesel is a clean burning, renewable fuel that can improve both our air quality and our local economy," said Lyle Estill, of Piedmont Biofuels. "We are delighted to welcome Eastern Carolina Organics to our growing list of biodiesel users."

"Piedmont Biofuels is a natural match for ECO's operations," said Kronick. "ECO works to promote regional food security through utilizing local family farmers to meet Americans' demand for high quality, nutritious produce while Piedmont Biofuels is doing the very same thing to power our regional transportation needs. Together, we are building the infrastructure to support our thriving urban regions by protecting the rural nature of our beautiful state."

ECO leases from Salem National Leasing, a truck leasing firm that is familiar with biodiesel and pleased to see it incorporated into ECO's operations.

The tank where ECO will fill up is in Pittsboro, and is a twelve volt, off-grid system that is powered by solar energy. It is one location on the B100 Community Trail that winds its way across the Triangle, from Moncure to Pittsboro, to Carrboro, to Durham to Hillsborough.

"We are seeing an increasing number of fleets and enterprises like ECO joining the B100 Community," said Estill, "Everyone from green design-build operations like BuildSense in Durham to federal agencies like the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in RTP have signed up in the past month or so."

Evan Ashworth, a member of Piedmont Biofuels who keeps the trail supplied with fuel said, "Every gallon of biodiesel used by organizations like ECO represents a gallon of fuel that we do not have to import from OPEC. This is where American energy security and independence begins."

Contact:

Sandi Kronick Eastern Carolina Organics 919-824-5238

sandi@easterncarolinaorganics.com

Lyle Estill, Piedmont Biofuels 919-321-8260

lyle@biofuels.coop

Buncombe County B20 Pump Opening

2005-10-14T10:39:00.000-04:00

Click on Link line above for link to story in Ashville Citizen Times

Buncombe County pumping biodiesel for fleet
by Dale Neal, STAFF WRITER
published October 14, 2005 7:40 am

ASHEVILLE - Buncombe County will join Clean Cities coalitions across the United States at 2 p.m. today to simultaneously pump a gallon of alternative fuel into a county vehicle to celebrate the displacement of a billion gallons of petroleum – enough to fuel 2 million cars for one year. The celebration will be held at Buncombe's own bio-diesel tank located behind the County Transfer Station on Hominey Creek Road.

In January, the Solid Waste Division of Buncombe County Government started work on using bio-diesel fuel for county vehicles that run on diesel. With a grant of $29,655 from the State Energy Office through the N.C. Solar Center's Alternative Fuel Incentive Project, the county installed a biodiesel storage tank and dispensing pump. All county-operated ambulances, landfill machinery and other diesel run vehicles will now run on B-20, a form of bio-diesel fuel. The result is a 20 percent reduction in the local government's dependence on fossil fuels with every gallon pumped. It also means that all county diesel vehicles will have an adequate supply of fuel in times of emergency.

Bio-diesel is a cleaner burning diesel replacement fuel made from natural, renewable sources such as new and used vegetable oils and animals fats. B-20 is 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent regular diesel and reduces vehicle emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide up to 20 percent. Biodiesel is domestically produced thereby helping reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil and helping to boost the agricultural sector of the economy. "We are so proud to be a part of this effort and are working on other ways to improve our environment" said Bill Stanley, County Commissioner.

When asked about the Clean Cities Billion Gallon Celebration, Bill Eaker, Coordinator of the Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition, said that "The coalitions helped achieve this by implementing alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, fuel blends, heavy-truck idle reduction applications, and general fuel economy improvements to help reduce the nation's need for imported oil." The local coalition is working with government and private sector fleet managers to implement bio-diesel and other alternative fuel projects. For more information, call Eaker at 251-6622.

Contact Dale Neal at 828-232-5970 or via e-mail at dneal@ashevill.gannett.com.

Statesville Truck Stop Starts Selling E85 & B20 story & Invite to Grand Openings

2005-10-10T08:28:00.000-04:00

See following story published in Statesville Landmark & Record. Click on Link line above to link to on-line version. Although the author got some of the information wrong( that ethanol is more efficient than gasoline and biodiesel) its great that Homer's Truck Stop is starting to get some press. This station is BIG news for North Carolina.

Readers please show your support of renewable fuels by planning to attend and/or passing along this invitation to the Grand opening for Statesville and Charlotte B20 and E85 stations.

YOUR'RE INVITED- November 3rd for the grand openings of Charlotte and Statesville Biofuels Station

10:00 for Charlotte opening at:

Fuel Land #2 - E10 & E85 & B20 (has 2 fuel islands 2 four product pumps)

10222 Johnston Road
Charlotte, NC 28210
704-543-4600

2:00 at:

Homer's Truck Stop of Statesville (Exit 146 on I-40) E85 & E10 & six B20 pumps

306 Stamey Farm Rd
Statesville, NC 28677
704-871-8008

Truck stop offers an alternative choice of fuel
By Anna Kaplan
Record & Landmark
Saturday, October 8, 2005

With their work boots and Carolina drawl, Homer Prevette and Bob Brawley don’t come across as your typical environmentalists.

But the owner and manager, respectively, of Homer’s Truck Stop on Stamey Farm Road, are working to make the station a center for alternative fuels and environmentally friendly choices for truckers and other motorists.

They offer E85 and B20 fuels, which are an ethanol and gasoline mixture and a soy-based biodiesel, respectively. Soon, they will also offer IdleAire services, which provide electricity and telecommunication services to trucks so they don’t have to idle for long periods of time.

“We want to help American farmers and cut our dependence on overseas oil,” Prevette said.

“Through the years, gas prices gave people a taste for reality,” Brawley added. Now, customers are more curious about alternative fuel options than ever before.

E85 is 85 percent ethanol, generally made from corn, and 15 percent gasoline. Vehicles that run this biodegradable fuel help reduce hydrocarbon, benzene and carbon dioxide emissions, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition’s Web site.

Only select cars are designated to use E85, mostly larger American cars like General Motors and Ford models. A car needs a stainless steel fuel line in order to not be corroded by the ethanol, while most fuel lines are made of rubber and non-stainless types of steel, Brawley said.

However, not all E85 customers heed the warning.

“We have people putting this in their ’68 Mustangs, and they’re proud of it,” Brawley said.

One loyal customer fills his ’86 Ford Ranger pickup with the ethanol-based fuel, which brings the truck’s gas mileage up to 18 miles per gallon, according to Brawley. Gas mileage rates depend on the car, but the ethanol does tend to be more efficient.

It’s also cheaper: $2.87 per gallon when regular gasoline is $3.09.

B20 is made from 80 percent regular petroleum diesel and 20 percent biodiesel, a clean-burning, low-emission fuel made from vegetable oil byproducts, according to the National Biodiesel Board Web site.

Unlike the E85, B20 costs the same and gets the same gas mileage as regular diesel, but the environmental effects make it a better choice.

“Biodiesel has very positive qualities for our economy because we’re utilizing plant products that are grown domestically,” said Jim Rogers from Hickory, who has a diesel engine in his Volkswagen that he fills with B20.

Homer’s Truck Stop started selling the E85 several weeks ago, and biodiesel several weeks before that. About 15 people buy the E85 per day, many of them people passing through town who already know the station sells alternative fuels.

The biodiesel is much more popular due to its versatility. All diesel engines can use it, although some truck drivers don’t have permission from their companies and have to call in to get the purchases approved, Brawley said.

“We have people calling us to make sure we do have the biodiesel. Customers hear about it on Sirius radio, and they try it out,” he said.

Another alternative fuel the station may offer in the future is E10, which has a lower ethanol level and is more compatible with gasoline engine. Their distribution company, Thomas Petroleum in Shelby, does not carry it yet, Brawley said.

He and Prevette said they hope that one day, there will be government incentives for gas stations to carry alternative fuel.

In addition to alternative fuel, Homer’s Truck Stop will soon have IdleAire services, which pump heat, air conditioning, electricity, telecommunication and wireless Internet into the cabs of trucks so they don’t have to idle all night and pollute the air.

The project, funded completely by the Colorado-based company and requiring no money from either Iredell County or Homer’s Truck Stop, was approved by the Iredell County Commission on Tuesday.

“This will save millions of barrels of diesel fuels and will be better for the environment," said county attorney Bill Pope.

IdleAire will be available for use in about two months at 100 sites at the truck stop. More than 250 trucks come through the station every day, Brawley said.

But the appeal of IdleAire and alternative fuels goes beyond truckers.

“There are two classes of people doing this,” Brawley said. “There are the educated people who are concerned about the environment, and the working class people looking for price.”

Staff Writer Carrie Sidener contributed to this article.

Energy Value of Ethanol article in RMI newsletter

2005-10-02T14:11:00.000-04:00

Click on Link above for on line article at Rocky Mountain Institute website

Setting the Record Straight on Ethanol

Focusing on the Nexus of the Agriculture and Energy Value Chains
by Nathan Glasgow and Lena Hansen

Ethanol, which can be substituted for or blended with gasoline, has traditionally been produced from either corn or sugarcane feedstocks.

Biofuels, and specifically ethanol, have been the subject of a great deal of criticism in recent months by detractors claiming that more energy is required to produce ethanol than is available in the final product, that it is too expensive, and that it produces negligible carbon reductions. These critiques are simply not accurate. State-of-the-art technologies have been competently forecasted—even proven in the market—to produce ethanol that is far more cost-effective and less energy-intensive than gasoline. We'll explore why, and why the critics have gotten it wrong.

When we say biofuels, we mean liquid fuels made from biomass—chiefly biodiesel and ethanol, which can be substituted for diesel fuel or for gasoline, respectively. The technology used to produce biodiesel is well understood, although its biomass feedstocks are limited and production today is fairly expensive. We will instead focus on ethanol, which we believe has significantly greater potential.

Ethanol, which can be substituted for or blended with gasoline, has traditionally been produced from either corn or sugarcane feedstocks. In fact, Brazil currently meets more than 25 percent of its gasoline demand with ethanol made from sugarcane. (The sugar is so cheap that the resulting ethanol sells in New York for $1.10 a gallon—with about 81 percent the energy content of a gallon of gasoline—after paying a 100 percent duty, illegal under WTO rules, to protect U.S. corn farmers. Undeterred, the Brazilians are merrily expanding their ethanol exports to Asia.) Even gasoline in the United States contains, on average, 2 percent ethanol (used as a substitute for MTBE to oxygenate fuel). American ethanol is almost exclusively made from the kernels of corn, accounting for about 7 percent of the corn crop. But conventional processes and feedstocks used to make ethanol are not feasible in the United States on a large scale for three reasons: they're not cost-competitive with long-run gasoline prices without subsidies, they compete with food crops for land, and they have only marginally positive energy balances.

Happily, in addition to starch-based feedstocks, ethanol can be produced from "cellulosic" feedstocks, including biomass wastes, fast-growing hays like switchgrass, and short-rotation woody crops like poplar. While not cost-competitive today, already observed advances in technology lead us to believe that in the next few years, ethanol made from these crops will become cost-competitive, won't compete with food for cropland, and will have a sizeable positive energy balance. Indeed, because these crops are expected to have big biomass yields (~10–15 dry tons/acre, up from the current ~5 dry tons/acre), much less land will be required than conventionally thought. Further, cellulosic ethanol will typically have twice the ethanol yield of corn-based ethanol, at lower capital cost, with far better net energy yield.

A common complaint about ethanol is that the quantity of feedstocks is limited and land used to grow feedstocks could be put to better use. For cellulosic feedstocks, the situation is quite the contrary. Cellulosic feedstocks are plentiful: for example, municipal and agricultural wastes can be used to create ethanol, with the positive side-effect of reducing the quantity of waste we must dispose of. Using waste to produce fuel has the clear benefit of a virtually free feedstock, and because energy is generally expended to create the product, not the waste, this type of ethanol obviously has a positive energy balance.

Not quite as obvious is to what extent dedicated energy crops can be used to produce ethanol. We believe the answer is straightforward. Research by Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows that dedicated energy crops can be grown without competing with food crops because they can be grown in marginal areas unsuited for food crop production, or on about 17 million acres of Conservation Reserve Program land that is currently being withheld from agricultural use.

Cellulosic crops have additional environmental benefits for several reasons. First, because crops like switchgrass are deep-rooted perennials, growing them actually prevents soil erosion and restores degraded land. For this same reason, cellulosic crops also have significantly lower carbon emissions. While corn-based ethanol reduces carbon emissions by about 20 percent below gasoline, cellulosic ethanol is predicted to be carbon-neutral, or possibly even net-carbon-negative.

We can't remember how many times we've been asked the question: "But doesn't ethanol require more energy to produce than it contains?" The simple answer is no—most scientific studies, especially those in recent years reflecting modern techniques, do not support this concern. These studies have shown that ethanol has a higher energy content than the fossil energy used in its production. Some studies that contend that ethanol is a net energy loser include (incorrectly) the energy of the sun used to grow a feedstock in ethanol's energy balance, which misses the fundamental point that the sun's energy is free. Furthermore, because crops like switchgrass are perennials, they are not replanted and cultivated every year, avoiding farm-equipment energy. Indeed, if polycultured to imitate the prairies where they grow naturally, they should require no fertilizer, irrigation, or pesticides either. So, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, for every one unit of energy available at the fuel pump, 1.23 units of fossil energy are used to produce gasoline, 0.74 of fossil energy are used to produce corn-based ethanol, and only 0.2 units of fossil energy are used to produce cellulosic ethanol.

Critics further discount cellulosic ethanol by ignoring the recent advancements of next-generation ethanol conversion technologies. A recent example that has received significant attention is David Pimentel's March 2005 paper in Natural Resources Research, which argues that ethanol production from cellulosic feedstocks requires more fossil energy to produce than the energy contained in the final product. However, Pimentel bases his analysis on only one technology used to produce ethanol, ignoring two other developing technologies. His chosen conversion technology, acid hydrolosis, is the least efficient of the three.

A superior option, thermal gasification, converts biomass into a synthesis gas composed of carbon oxides and hydrogen. The gas is then converted into ethanol via either a biological process using microorganisms or a catalytic reactor. Both of these processes show good potential for increased energy yields and reduced costs by using cellulosic feedstocks. This conversion technology is currently being tested in pilot plants in Arkansas and Colorado.

Still better, enzymatic reduction hydrolosis already shows promise in the marketplace. Such firms as Iogen and Novozymes have been developing enzymes, and "smart bugs," that can turn biomass such as corn residues (leaves, stalks, and cobs) into sugars that can then be converted into ethanol. Historically, the biggest cost component of this technology was the creation of enzymes. Earlier this year, though, in combination with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Novozymes announced a 30-fold reduction in the cost of enzyme production in laboratory trials. Expected benefits from this process include low energy requirements, high efficiency, and mild process conditions. A pilot plant exists in Ontario and another is planned in Hawai'i. The first commercial-scale enzymatic reduction hydrolosis plant is scheduled to be built and operational by Iogen within two years, producing ethanol at a targeted cost of $1.30 per gallon.

No matter which of these conversion technologies ultimately wins, it is clear that cost-effective and efficient ethanol production from cellulose is on the horizon—which is good news for the United States, where mobility consumes seven of every ten barrels of oil we use. Our voracious appetite for that oil comes at a cost—we have to buy it, we have to deal with the pollution that comes from using it, and, because 12 percent of our oil comes from the Middle East, we have to defend it. Because mobility consumes 70 percent of the oil we use, mostly by burning gasoline, it's the first place to look for a solution.

Our recent publication Winning the Oil Endgame (www.oilendgame.com) shows that the critical first step to reducing our oil consumption is tripled automobile efficiency—which can improve safety, maintain or improve performance and comfort, and repay its extra cost (if any) within two years at today's U.S. gasoline prices. But there's no reason to stop there. Using biofuels instead of gasoline to power our cars has the potential to displace 3.7 million barrels per day of crude oil—that's a fifth of our forecasted consumption in 2025, after more efficient use. In fact, an 85/15 percent blend of ethanol/gasoline in the tank of RMI's designed 66-mpg SUV would result in the vehicle getting ~320 mpg per gallon of fossil fuel burned (because the majority of fuel burned is ethanol).

Clearly, focusing on the nexus of the agriculture and energy value chains will create huge opportunities for business and huge wins for our country. The critics simply have it wrong.

Nathan Glasgow and Lena Hansen are researchers/consultants at RMI.

More to Explore:

Winning the Oil Endgame (www.oilendgame.com) and the associated Chapter 18 Biofuels Technical Annex (id.).

U.S. Department of Energy, Ethanol: The Complete Energy Lifecycle Picture at:
www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/pdfs/program/2005_ethanol_brochure.pdf.

P.C. Badger, Ethanol from Cellulose: A General Review at:
www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-017.html.

News about biodiesel plant plans in Sampson County

2005-09-28T10:52:00.000-04:00

Click on Link above for story and photo in Fayetteville News

BIODIESEL START-UPS

State funds 3 plants

By Claire Parker
Staff writer

AUTRYVILLE - A Sampson County company has received more than $165,000 in state money to start one of the first biodiesel production facilities in North Carolina.

Staff photo by Marc Hall
Charles Jackson holds a container full of biodiesel fuel in a soybean field near his offices in Sampson County. Soybeans are the primary ingredient in the fuel.
Filter Specialties, Inc. in Aurtryville, is one of three businesses to receive State Energy Office money for biodiesel equipment and start-up capital.

Charles Jackson, owner of Filter Specialties, said he will open the biodiesel refining facility in his oil and oil filter recycling business on Maxwell Road in western Sampson County by mid-2006.

The Cumberland County school system - with almost 500 diesel-burning buses - could provide a market for the fuel.

Jackson is surrounded by an abundance of ingredients that can be used to make biodiesel fuel - animal fats and soybeans.

Filter Specialties is in the state's largest hog-producing county and is just a few miles from Cargill's soybean processing plant on River Road in Cumberland County.

"We are strategically located," Jackson said. "This will plant the seed and show people that something besides petroleum will work."

Anne Tazewell, alternative fuels manager at the N.C. Solar Center, said North Carolina is a leader in the use of biofuels but there are no production facilities in the state.

"It's all the more reason to begin developing theses resources here," Tazewell said.

She is working with Jackson and engineers at N.C. State university to design the plant.

Tazewell said biodiesel is a more environmentally friendly fuel, but should not be confused with fuels that are purely vegetable oil. Jackson will be making a fuel that is a blend of petroleum and organic sources.

"You have to convert your vehicle to run on vegetable oil," she said. "Biodiesel is a seamless alternative fuel source."

Investment goals

Cynthia Moseley, program manager at the State Energy Office, said the investment into building biodiesel facilities in North Carolina is a way to increase the supply and lower costs.

Jackson is hoping that higher petroleum prices and increased tax credits will encourage people to switch to biofuels.

"The biggest drawback now is the price," Jackson said.

Tazewell said biodiesel is typically 20 cents higher per gallon than tradition diesel fuel. But, a tax credit to stations that stock biodiesel and the increasing costs of petroleum have made the costs almost equal.

"It changes daily, but the price now is about the same," Tazewell said.

That is good news for one potential biodiesel user.

Cumberland County Schools has a fleet of 485 buses that run on diesel fuel.

James E. Bush, transportation supervisor for the school system, said it looks like biodiesel is the best replacement for diesel.

"We are looking for grants to buy biodiesel for the whole fleet which could reduce emissions and dependency on diesel," Bush said.

The school system's annual budget for fuel is fixed, so Bush said it will take grants to afford biodiesel if the price stays above regular diesel fuel.

It's a project worth looking into, he said.

Staff writer Claire Parker can be reached at parkerc@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3582.

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Copyright 2004 The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer (http://www.fayettevillenc.com)

Biofuels Point of View Editoral

2005-09-14T16:02:00.000-04:00

POINT OF VIEW EDITORIAL
Click on LINK for link to N&O

Published Raleigh News & Observer: Sep 14, 2005

Shifting into biofuels gear

By ANNE TAZEWELL

RALEIGH -- If anything good can come from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and those $3 a gallon pump prices, I hope it's that North Carolina really wakes up to the foolishness of putting all our eggs in one basket and begins to get serious about diversifying our fuel supplies.

Our state spends over $5 billion annually on fuel imported from other states and countries, many of them hostile to U.S. interests. The U.S. transportation sector (cars, trucks and buses) is 97 percent reliant on petroleum, a dwindling resource that's largely responsible for our urban air quality problems as well as more far-reaching concerns such as global climate change. We can better serve our economy, environment and our health if we devote just a fraction of this money to developing renewable fuels -- such as biodiesel and ethanol.

North Carolina has been called the "Saudi Arabia of biomass." We can make our own fuel rather than send so many of our energy dollars out of state.

Biodiesel, a diesel replacement fuel, can be made from agricultural products such as soybean oil, animal renderings and waste vegetable oil. Ethanol, a gasoline replacement, is an alcohol fuel that's now primarily made from corn. Novozymes North America, based in Franklinton, is leading the way to enzymatic processes that will provide for the commercial production of ethanol from agricultural waste products such as corn stalks.

We've got to get on the train with them and others like the Grain Growers Cooperative, Blue Ridge Biofuels, Filter Specialty and our own Piedmont Biofuels that are working to build the state's first biodiesel processing plants. In addition to actively supporting these and other researchers and producers of biofuels with grants and production incentives, we need to encourage the use of these cleaner burning fuels in our vehicles.

E10 (10 percent ethanol) is a high octane fuel that can operate in any gasoline vehicle. The Crown stations in Raleigh (owned by United Energy, Inc) are offering E10. Support them and know that at least 10 percent of the money is helping to ensure the future of a Midwest farmer, not a Middle Eastern sheik.

E85 (85 percent ethanol/15 percent gasoline) can operate in many makes and models of flexible fuel vehicles( FFVs) on the road today. FFVs are available to the purchaser at no extra cost because, ironically, auto manufactures earn credits by producing them to offset their poor average fleet fuel economy ratings. There are over 4 million E85 FFVs in the country, but only one service station in North Carolina offering E85 to the motoring public -- the Gasland No. 3 in Shelby. We can change that by asking our neighborhood service stations to start offering these fuels.

Biodiesel is having the most success to date in finding its way into the public's tanks. There are cooperatives making their own fuel and there are pumps offering B99 (99 percent biodiesel/1 percent diesel) to members and municipal governments like Carrboro. In addition, three service stations in Garner, Durham and Cary are selling B20 (20 percent biodiesel/80 percent petroleum diesel), with a few others scattered across the state. The most recent addition is an independently owned truck stop just off Exit 146 near Statesville. Homer's has six B20 pumps, with E85 and E10 pumps on the way. We need more!

Biodiesel reduces harmful emissions such as particulate matter, which is being linked to increases in respiratory and heart diseases. Biodiesel also greatly reduces toxic emissions such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a probable carcinogen. Ethanol also emits fewer dangerous chemicals such as benzene and carbon monoxide. Both biofuels will help curb our emissions of carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas and source of global warming. A full life cycle analysis by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture concluded that biodiesel can reduce carbon dioxide emissions 78 percent as compared to diesel fuel. It also has the greatest energy balance ratio of any fuel -- every unit of fossil fuel energy that goes into producing biodiesel yields 3.2 units of energy output.

Biofuels help the four E's -- our energy supply, economy, emissions and environment. Whereas catastrophic hurricanes and spiraling fuel prices are surprisingly linked through global climate change and our fossil fuel dependence, biofuels and other transportation alternatives can serve as a fulcrum to lift our state and nation to a more sustainable future.

(Anne Tazewell is Alternative Fuels Program manager at the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University. On Sept. 21 a Refueling America workshop and luncheon will be held at N.C. State's McKimmon Center in Raleigh, part of a week-long Energy Independence Days series sponsored by the Solar Center and 20 other organizations. Registration and information are at www.trianglecleancities.org)

2005 NC Alt Fuels Legislation

2005-08-31T11:49:00.000-04:00

2005 NC Legislation Focuses on Transportation Fuel Diversity, Encourages Energy Independence
North Carolina will benefit by legislative actions undertaken by the General Assembly to support renewable fuels and advanced technology vehicles, reduce harmful transportation related pollutants and diversify fuel supplies. The U.S. transportation sector is 97% reliant on petroleum and transportation emissions are a significant contributor to the State’s air quality problems.

Section 19.5, a provision in North Carolina’s 2005 state budget, requires state fleets to achieve a 20% reduction or displacement of current petroleum use by 2010. This provision will spur the use of alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol; non-petroleum based lubricants, hybrid electrics and other fuel efficient vehicles. All state agencies, universities and community colleges that operate a fleet of over 10 state owned motor vehicles are required to comply with the new requirement and report annually by September 1st to the State Energy Office, Department of Administration.

S1149- an Energy Credit Banking and Selling Program Fund Bill- enables the State Energy Office to generate funds for expanded use of alternative fuels and other projects approved by the Energy Policy Council through the sale of excess Energy Policy Act credits. The Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992 requires the state to purchase alternative fuel vehicles. Credits earned by exceeding EPAct requirements may be sold to other U.S. entities and carry a monetary value between $750-$1,200. The state has earned excess credits through use of B20 (a blend of 20% biodiesel 80% petroleum diesel) by the NC Department of Transportation and E85(a blend of 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) by the State Motor Fleet Management. This bill also expands and extends through 2011 tax credits for renewable energy property and equipment. Eligible technologies for the 35% tax credit include biodiesel and ethanol production, anaerobic biogas, wind and solar energy.

H 1336 bans methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in North Carolina by 2008. MTBE is a petroleum derivative added by refiners as an oxygenate for gasoline. It is a ground water containment and classified by the U.S. EPA as a probable carcinogen. Ethanol is a non toxic, renewable replacement for MTBE. North Carolina is the first state in the SE to ban MTBE. H1336 requires the Secretary of the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the NC Commissioner of Agriculture to engage other states- Alabama, Gerogia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia- to study the feasibility of a coordinated phase out.

Three other bills supported by the Triangle Clean Cities coalition and other alternative fuel advocates await action by the General Assembly. S1150/H1296 – Renewable Fuels Motor Fuels Tax Exemption- removes the state motor fuels tax, currently .27 per gallon, in proportion to the amount of biodiesel or ethanol blended into petroleum fuel. S1038/H1595- Mobile Source Emission Reduction Program- generates revenue to provide grants for alternative fuel related projects through a vehicle surcharge added to annual motor vehicle registration fees that’s based on a vehicle’s fuel economy and emissions ratings. S1015/H1766 provides a tax credit to NC businesses and individuals that purchase hybrid electric and alternative fuel vehicles.

See Link line under title for-
Bill look up at : http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/homePage.pl

# # # # #
For more information :
Anne Tazewell
NC Solar Center
919.513.7831
anne_tazewell@ncsu.edu
www.ncsc.ncsu.edu

Hoke County Ethanol plant

2005-08-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

See August 23rd article about Clean Burn Fuels LLC, a Chapel Hill based company, that plans to build an ethanol plant in Hoke county.

2005 US Energy Bill highlights

2005-08-18T12:44:00.000-04:00

Vehicle Tax Credits

Buying hybrid electric vehicles and vehicles with cleaner burning diesel engines, known as advanced lean-burn engines, can earn you a tax credit of up to $3,400. The credit is largest for the vehicles that save the most fuel, but the credit will phase out shortly after an automaker sells 60,000 eligible cars. Tax credits of up to $4,000 are also available for alternative fuel cars. Businesses can earn the same tax credits, as well as credits of up to $12,000 for buying large hybrid vehicles, such as buses, and up to $32,000 for the purchase of large alternative fuel vehicles. And although fuel cell vehicles are not on the market yet, the act also establishes tax credits for these vehicles. See "Energy Bill Signed" on the DOE Web site and the Alliance to Save Energy press release.

For more information, see pages 1332 to 1433 of the full 1,724-page energy act (also referred to as the "conference report"), which is available as a "Featured Item" on the Web site of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as a 2.6-MB PDF file. The Web site also features an 8-page summary by fuel and a 17-page summary by title. See the Senate Committee Web site.

Biofuel Requirement and Tax Incentives Included in Energy Act

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which President Bush signed on August 8th, sets a new national minimum requirement for the use of biofuels, particularly ethanol. The new "Renewable Fuels Standard" requires that gasoline sold in the United States contain a total of 4 billion gallons of biofuels in 2006, increasing to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012. The standard provides greater flexibility for refiners by allowing renewable fuel credits and by eliminating the reformulated gasoline oxygenate standard.
The bill allows a credit of 2.5 gallons for every gallon of ethanol produced from wastes or cellulosic (woody) biomass sources. A recent report by DOE's Energy Information Administration analyzed a similar requirement and found it had a negligible impact on fuel prices. See the report.

Should you install a refueling station for alternative fuels at your home or business, you can earn a 30 percent tax credit (this sounds unlikely for the home, but Honda is now offering home natural gas fueling stations in California). The credit applies to fueling stations for ethanol, natural gas, compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, and biodiesel blends containing at least 20 percent biodiesel. The act also extended tax incentives for fuel distributors that blend biodiesel into their diesel fuel. See the press releases from the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Biodiesel Board (PDF 22 KB).

The act also requires federal alternative fuel fleets with flexible fuel vehicles (vehicles that can be fueled with gasoline or alternative fuels) to actually use alternative fuels, provided they are reasonably available and not unreasonably expensive. Currently, many federal fleets are buying the flexible fuel vehicles but fueling them only with gasoline or diesel fuel. See pages 682 to 1724 of the energy act (PDF 2.6 MB).

Thanks to:

J. David Dunagan, Project Officer
U.S. Department of Energy
Southeast Regional Office
david.dunagan@ee.doe.gov
http://www.eere.energy.gov/regions/southeast

For information provided in this post

Advanced Vehicle Research Center secures funding

2005-08-17T08:38:00.000-04:00

North Carolina to Host New Automotive Test Center with Hydrogen Refueling Station and Fuel Cell Test Site

Northampton County, NC - Aug. 12 A combination of state and local investment has been secured to develop an independent automotive proving ground in Eastern North Carolina. Northampton county will provide the 630-acre site as part of an economic development initiative. Start-up funding was authorized by the North Carolina General Assembly in August of 2005. Initial financing and incentives are placed at a value of approximately $7.5 million.

As a non-profit, independent testing facility, the Center will be designed to provide a number of resources at a reasonable cost to users in the general automotive, motorsports, and alternative fuel development sectors.

Initially, the Center will include a 3.2 mile (5 km) high speed test track, offices and garages, dynamometers and engine test cells. All facilities may be rented or leased by users of the facility.

The Center will also feature a hydrogen refueling station and test facilities for fuel cell development.

Located less than a mile from Interstate 95, just a few miles south of the Virginia/North Carolina line, the AVRC will be easily accessible for clients in the Mid-Atlantic States.

Stage one of the project is planned to be completed in 3Q06 with the facilities mentioned above. Future development will include a road and handling course, additional labs and education center, wind tunnel, and other facilities requested by users and members of the Center.

Further information may be obtained at the AVRC web site, www.avrnc.com .

Renewable Fuels soon at NC Truck Stop

2005-08-16T10:15:00.000-04:00

Thomas Petroleum is planning to supply a Statesville truckstop location on I-40 with 6 lanes of B20 biodiesel. Fuel is expected to be in place for sale in the next week or two. They are just waiting on the stickers to place on the pumps. Eventually this location will have ethanol ( E85 and E10) available as well.

Please help get the word out about this and feel free to get in touch with Jason Wager (JWager@centralina.org) or Chad Ertel certel@thomaspetroleum.com at Thomas Petroleum for more information.
We are seeking billboard ads for this location on I-40 (bio-diesel, renewable fuels, American made, etc.).

This is great news and we really need to help Thomas Petroleum and Renewable Fuels for America get the word out.

Homers Truck Plaza
386 Stamey Farm Rd
Statesville
NC
704-871-8008

2005-08-10T09:20:00.000-04:00

This is growing concern about biodiesel prices. The federal blenders tax credit has done little to bring down cost for end users as evidenced by this chart from Va Clean Cities. I intend to create one for North Carolina and anticipate that it will reveal much the same.

Demand is simply outstripping supply. We need to get some production facilities up and running in NC. Hopefully that would help the tight supply and high price situation, although this is not any guarantee if demand is rising across the country. 80% of the biodiesl being produced in VA is being sold out of the state.

Welcome

2005-08-09T20:51:00.000-04:00

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