Biodiesel Coops Conference - July 15-16 Colorado

Local Biodiesel: A Biodiesel Co-ops Conference

July 15-16

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

We are organizing a biodiesel groups/co-ops conference in Colorado near
Denver this summer, at Colorado School of Mines . This event will
present stories and information about homebrewing in groups, as well as
distribution, advocacy, small-scale biodiesel business, and other kinds
of biodiesel group activities.

Web page (still in progress, check back for a list of participating
groups/speakers)
www.b100.org

We'll put up a registration page this week and will keep you informed
about developments for this event. In the meantime, there is an
announcements-only mailing list (ie not a chat list) for anyone who
wants to receive updates by email- at
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/biodieselconference

At this event, presentations will discuss homebrewing and the law,
technical topics relevant to homebrewers and small-scale biodiesel
businesses, organizational aspects of biodiesel co-ops/biodiesel
clubs/biodiesel outreach groups, oil collections and other feedstock
availability issues, cooperating with other biofuelers in your local
community, commercial biodiesel distribution, taxes, bulk-buying clubs,
educating others in your community about biodiesel, and many other
topics. Best of all, we have an extensive lineup of speakers who are
coming to present 'case studies' about their local efforts in biodiesel
groups- telling the story of biodiesel grassroots efforts in North
America from their own experience.

Official conference session themes are:
case studies,
biodiesel education and advocacy,
distribution,
homebrewing and the law,
feedstock (oil supply),
and technical topics

We want to hear from you! If you have biofuels group experience and
would like to speak at one of our panel discussions (Case Studies) or
lead a discussion session that fits into the above themes, please get in
touch: conference@b100.org . You do not need to be an experienced public
speaker (that's why some of the presentatoins are moderated panels, to
help get non-professionals speaking about their experiences, and we can
help you organize your presentation).

This event is organized by people who've been involved with the Colorado
biodiesel organizations at Denverbiodiesel.org, Boulderbiodiesel.com,
Colo School of Mines Student Council on Sustainability, along with many
others from outside of Colorado: various members of the BIodieselbasics
and Biodiesel Yahoogroups, Utah Biodiesel Co-op, folks from Biofuel
Oasis and Berkeley Biodiesel Collective, and more from around the
country. I'll update the 'who we are' section of the web page soon with
all the guilty parties' names.

The conference will be held at Colorado School of Mines.

Conference accommodations:
We have (optional) dorm housing available Friday-Sunday (unfortunately
can't provide dorm rooms for couples as the school segregates dorm rooms
by gender- we'll try and make a list of hotel accommodations for those
who won't stay in the dorm) and we will be serving breakfast and lunch
as part of the event and using the mealtimes and the evenings as
additional networking opportunities.

Cost: We are charging only as much as the space rental will cost us, and
expect that the weekend's registration costs will be under $100
including dorm housing. We should have more details on the exact amount
on the website within a couple of weeks.

Discussions and networking:
The event will be discussion-based, with audience participation
encouraged for the speakers' sessions, and we will provide ample
opportunity for networking and social time so you can get to meet each
other and share ideas.

Assorted info for those making travel plans:
There will be a free Friday night introductory session for the local
general public, which would run around 6-8 and kick off the event,
although it is not listed on the conference web page yet. Actual
conference orientation/dorm room check-in will take place at the Atrium
tea/refreshments social after this Friday event. (you can also check in
on Saturday morning). Friday evening will be a mellow 'social' before
bedtime, and Saturday night will be a larger party for which we're
renting a facility on campus, with some kind of entertainment. Sunday
night you're on your own as most folks are likely to travel back then.

For more information, join our updates list at:
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/biodieselconference
or email conference@b100.org

Biodiesel Coop conference in July

Hi- This just in from Girl Mark- sounds pretty cool...

Several biodiesel advocates and I are organizing a conference this
summer, to focus specifically on biodiesel co-ops- for example: groups
such as homebrew groups, advocacy/education groups, and small
distributors/bulk buy co-ops. SVO 'group' topics are welcome though to
my knowledge it has not been attempted as often as biodiesel group activity.

We're hoping that this conference may make it easier to share
information about what has worked or not worked for biodiesel co-ops-
for instance, homebrewing in groups has proven to be very difficult but
has a lot of potential if done right, and continues to be attractive as
fuel prices climb higher.
Also, many past biodiesel events have focused mostly on the biodiesel
industry or on lobbying/legislative efforts, while there is also a
strong movement toward 'local', non-industry activity across the United
States that now makes biodiesel available in many communities.

Currently we're talking to a university near Denver- if held there, the
conference would be in mid-July, and will include optional dorm housing
(under $30 a night) and cafeteria meals ($21 a day for all meals). We're
hoping to make the actual event admission price inexpensive as well-
event costs should be minimal outside of classroom rental and handouts
printing costs. Denver is cheap to fly to from most other airports, and
there are many 'tourist' attractions nearby at that time of year for
those who would like to travel with their families on vacation. There
are a number of small producers and homebrewers in the Denver/Boulder
area, and they have had several years of experience to share- groups
like Boulder Biodiesel, which formerly had a retail space for commercial
fuel distribution and homebrewing/education, and CU Biodiesel, a campus
group at CU Boulder.

We are proposing the following 'tracks' for conference sessions to fall
into:

a. 'case studies' track in which members of biodiesel co-ops present what their groups do and how it has worked for them

b. a 'technical track/homebrewing groups track', in which groups who homebrew could discuss the production technology/techniques that makes 'homebrewing in co-ops/groups' work efficiently,

c. an 'education track' covering topics specific to biodiesel groups who do public advocacy and education, and

d. a 'distribution track' covering groups who sell or group-purchase commercial biodiesel together.


I am interested in finding people to present 50-minute sessions for
those tracks- you do not have to be an experienced public speaker to
make an impact at this event- we really need to hear about your
real-world experiences in biodiesel groups, and most sessions are likely
to incorporate a lot of 'question and answer' discussion with the
audience . Sessions can be lead by multiple people , for those of you
new to public speaking who would like a little help organizing your
audience. I've been having off-list discussion of this with a number of
biodiesel co-op members for a few months now, and it looks like we
should have quite a few who can make it at that time of year and would
be available to speak. Also, the 'track' structure is very tentative and
open to change if someone comes up with a better idea for structuring
the event differently. If you have a biodiesel community topic you'd
like to cover which falls outside the track structure, please submit it
anyway.


For discussion of organizing the Localizing Biodiesel event, I have
started a thread for organizers/suggestions:

http://forums.biodieselnow.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11044
please post suggestions and ideas there. I'll be posting updates there
and at these Yahoogroups, as they become available.

For those who want to be on a mailing list for updates only without
participating in day-to-day conference planning discussion, I have
started an announcements-only mailing list (no discussion so you aren't
flooded with unwanted email) at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biodieselconference . There will be under
5 messages a month with updates about event details, as they become
available.

We will have a web page at www.boulderbiodiesel.com soon.



thank you,
Mark

biodiesel from algae

Following links in a couple of articles, I came upon one about Green Fuel Technologies, a company that is working to use smokestack emissions to feed algae that will produce oil that will be made into biodiesel! You gotta love it! They were featured on the program Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda, and have more info about their methods on their site: http://www.greenfuelonline.com/technology1.htm

This week I also heard about a WA state company that wants to go into alternative fuel production, including biodiesel: http://www.chemconcorp.com/

CA. Sustainable Biodiesel Summit

This summit will be occurring right alongside the National Biodiesel Board big meeting.. wish I could go, but that's when my workshop is!

Sustainable Biodiesel Summit:
Sustainability and Localization of the Biodiesel Industry

February 3, 4, 5, 2006
SanDiego InnSuites
2223 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92104

SBS Tentative Agenda & Speakers

Friday Feb. 3rd
2-5pm Registration
6pm Dinner at nearby reasturant to meet and talk with participants.


Saturday, Feb. 4th 8:30am-6pm
8-9am Registration
8:30-9am Bio101 for Beginners
9-9:45am Sustainability and Localization of the Biodiesel Community
10-10:45 Biodiesel Educaton & Outreach
11- 12:30pm Taxes/Federal Incentives
12:30-1:30pm Lunch (on site)
1:30-3pm Biodiesel Legislation's Effect on the B100 Market: Real
World Examples
3-4:30pm Emmissions
4:30-6pm Fuel Quality
7pm-11pm Dinner/Entertainment


Sun. Feb. 5th, 2006 9am-4pm
9-10:30am Feedstocks
10:30- 12pm Production
12-1pm lunch (on site)
1- 2:30pm Distribution of biofuels
2:30-4pm Diesel Passanger Vehicles



Presenters
(this list will grow with additional speaker confirmations)
Eric Bowen - SF Biodiesel Coop- www.sfbiofuels.org
Kent Bullard - Sustanable Options, SoCalBUG, LA Biodiesel-Coop.org - www.sustainableoptions.com
Jim Burns - UC San Diego L3 Research, Inc - www.L3research.com
Rachel Burton, Leif Forer, Lyle Estill - Piedmont Biofuels -
www.biofuels.coop
Kai Curry - FryAway Veggie Fuels - www.fryaway.com
Tom Durbin - UC Riverside CE-CERT - www.cert.ucr.edu
Charles Ehrlich - Cooperative Community Energy - www.ccenergy.com
Charris Ford - Grassolean - www.grassolean.com
Dan Freeman - Dr. Dan's Fuelwerks -www.fuelwerks.com
Kimber Holmes - Biofuel Station, BCC - www.paxfuel.com
Emily Bockian Landsburg - Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel -
www.fryodiesel.com
Kumar Plocher - Yokayo Biofuels - www.ybiofuels.org
Jennifer Radtke - Biofuel Oasis - www.biofueloasis.com
Daniel Sherwood - University of Ottawa -
www.genie.uottawa.ca/~dube/biodresearch
Shaine Tyson- Rocky Mountain Biodiesel- www.rockymtnbiodiesel.com
Randal von Weddle - CytoCulture - www.cytoculture.com

To register please go to our website for information, discounted rooms available thru tomorrow Jan 15th.
http://www.biodieselcouncil.org/html/register.html
$100 Registration fee can be mailed in post marked by Jan 28th or $125 purchased at the door. A work-trade reduced fee option is available.

This year's NW Biodiesel Forum- March 18

...is shaping up to be a great one, and the biggest yet. One of the hangars at Warren Magnuson Park will be the location, which can hold up to 800 people! There will be panels on everything biodiesel-related, plus lots of hands-on stuff going on. Keep an eye on the nwbiodiesel.org for updates. Let me know if you have volunteer energy or ideas for speakers or workshops... biolyle@gmail.com

oil heating with bio- Genesse offering B20

This just in from Kevin from NW Biodiesel Network: "Genesee Fuel is now selling B20, and, if you buy a new Thermo-Pride furnace between now and end of Feb., you can get $300 off the price if you switch to BioD! They have a $200/off coupon for a new thermo
pride furnace generally in there, too." Also, biodieselwarehouse.com has a home-heating oil Webster pump available for sale.

classes, news

First, my Experimental College class is nearly full, so if you're interested sign up soon, or consider the Phinney class the following Saturday.

Today, KUOW radio's "The Conversation" did a show about biodiesel, since the WA legislature convened today to consider Gov. Gregoire's and others desire for a renewable fuels standard of 2% biodiesel in all WA state biodiesel, and $17 million in biodiesel production loans. The show featured Patrick Mazza from Climate Solutions, who has a new publication called: "The New Harvest: Biofuels and Windpower for Rural Revitalization and National Energy Security," which has some great information. Also, Martin Tobias, CEO of Seattle Biodiesel, provided a nice rebuttal to David Pimental, a Cornell prof who claims that biodiesel isn't energy efficient. Martin points out that Pimental is funded by the oil industry, and that his is about the only study that doesn't say that biodiesel produces more energy than is required to produce it. The National Renewable Energy Lab showed that you get 3.2 times as much energy out as goes into production of biodiesel, taking into account all farm inputs, transportation, etc.
Listen to the show at: http://www.kuow.org/theconversation.asp

breaking emulsion

Yesterday I washed my biodiesel a bit too long on the first wash and it emulsified. I had heard you could break an emulsion by adding glycerin. I tried it on a small batch and it worked! You could see the white emulsion curdle up, and what was left was glycerin on the bottom and what I assume is biodiesel on top- emulsion gone. So I added the glycerin to the large batch, and it also worked. I'm glad to know of this method.

home heating biodiesel- new pump

This post came via Girl Mark about a pump that can be used with B100 in home heating oil systems:

Bioheat users and interested persons:

There is now an affordable B100 compatible pump available that will
allow you to use B100 in your home furnace. Most of you use the
standard B20 to B30 blend that is compatible with your furnace seals.
This new little replacement unit is only $93.36 and will allow you to
step up your blend without worrying about your furnace seal material.

Check out the link below for more information.

http://www.websterfuelpumps.com/biopump.htm

Webster Bio Fuel Pump - P/N M34DM-3

Hope this excites some of you heating your homes.

Biodiesel, wood, and solar are the few readily available renewable
choices for home heating. Its now simple to turn that old oil hog
furnace into a greener heating machine.

For more tips on saving energy, try American Home Shield.

Puget Sound Clean Cities Meeting on Nov 16

I attended this meeting, and am posting the official notes below. I also took notes and may be able to answer specific questions if you email me.

PSCCC ANNUAL MEETING 2005
BIOFUELS IN WASHINGTON STATE
November 16, 2005
Meeting Notes
Agenda:
-Welcome and Agenda Overview: Mark Brady (Coordinator, PSCCC)

-Update on Senator Cantwell’s Activities: Bill Dunbar (State Director, Sen. Cantwell)

-Overview of West Coast Collaborative and Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s Diesel Emission Reduction Efforts: Peter Murchie (EPA) and Dennis McLarren (PSCAA)
-Update on State Legislature Activities: Representative Jeff Morris
-Panel Discussion on Biodiesel Quality Control: Kim Lyons (WSU Energy Program), Steve Hennessey (City of Tacoma), Steve Krueger (Washington Department of General Administration), Mark Tegen (Pacific Functional Fluids), Leland Tong (National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission)
-Presentation on the State of the Coalition: Mark Brady (Coordinator, PSCCC)
-Presentation of Coalition Awards: Dave Kerrigan (City of Seattle)
-Grant and Funding Discussion: Roxanne Dempsey (US Department of Energy, Western Regional Office)and Ann Byfield (Washington Department of Ecology)
-Status of Ethanol in the Northwest: Mark Brady (Coordinator, PSCCC)

Notes:
Mark Brady welcomed everyone to the meeting, quickly went over some logistical matters and went through the day’s agenda. He then introduced Bill Dunbar, Senator Maria Cantwell’s State Director, who was there to speak about the Senator’s efforts around biofuels and related energy issues. Bill described the Senator’s efforts to encourage Washington farmers to grow the feedstocks for biofuel refiners as well as encouraging the construction of plants to produce the fuel. Bill also described some of the provisions of the recently passed federal Energy
Policy Act and what these may mean to the biofuel industry, including tax incentives for the production of alternative fuels and purchase of alternative fuel vehicles. He also described some of the Senator’s other energy work, such as fighting to prevent oil drilling in ANWR and fighting increased tanker traffic in Puget Sound.
Peter Murchie of EPA Region 10 and Dennis McLarren of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency provided a description of their organizations’ efforts to reduce diesel emissions. Peter Murchie described the West Coast Collaborative, which is a partnership of federal, state and local government; the private sector; and environmental groups in California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Canada and Mexico committed to reducing diesel
emissions. The Collaborative was a new concept that is now being duplicated in other regions, which are all working under US EPA’s National Clean Diesel Initiative. Peter briefly explained some of the group’s activities and described a recent round of funding designed to leverage money provided by US EPA with other monies to achieve significant emissions reductions up and down the coast. Finally, Peter explained that additional moneys were appropriated in US EPA’s 2006 budget and announcements would be made soon about processes to apply
for these funds. Dennis McLarren described the Air Agency’s efforts to reduce diesel emissions, particularly the Agency’s Diesel Solutions program. This voluntary effort brought ultra-low sulfur diesel into Western Washington well before EPA mandates and convinced a wide range of public and private fleets to retrofit diesel vehicles to achieve considerable emissions reductions. Another aspect of the effort is the Clean School Bus Program that has retrofitted over three-quarters of the existing school bus fleet statewide. The Diesel Solutions
program has been so successful that it has served as a model for similar programs in other areas of the country. State Representative Jeff Morris spoke next. Jeff chairs the House Technology, Energy & Communications Committee, sits on the Transportation Committee and chaired the recent joint House-Senate legislative work session on alternative fuels. He described some of the things that might happen in the upcoming legislative session and discussed the implications of the short-session on efforts to pass legislation. Jeff explained that there
was a lot of interest in biofuels so there may be a variety of proposals. In addition to legislators’ efforts, the Governor’s office is preparing a package that will likely include biofuels. There will be an effort to harmonize people’s different plans prior to the start of the session to allow enough time to pass legislation. This is particularly a concern with the upcoming session because it is only 60 days, which will require fast movement to get legislation through. Jeff expected some state funds to be used for research relating to biofuels, particularly to explore the possibility of using oilseed crops for both biodiesel and ethanol. Oil from the seeds would go into
biodiesel production; residual plant material would be used in cellulosic ethanol production. An oilseed crusher was another possible state expenditure. Jeff also described a couple of potential future efforts – first, a project to evaluate the feasibility of an alternative fuel highway through Western Washington to join with similar efforts in California and British Columbia and, second, the potential use of carbon dioxide mitigation funds from future power plant construction for transportation projects.
Following a break, the panel discussion on biodiesel quality began. Kim Lyons of the WSU Energy Program served as moderator of the discussion and set the stage for the discussion. He stated that some users around the region had recently run into problems with biodiesel use and that no one was quite sure what was the cause of the problems. He then asked each panel member to introduce himself and tell a little bit about his experience with
biodiesel. Steve Hennessey of the City of Tacoma was the first to speak. He explained that he has been using B20 in garbage trucks for approximately four years. The first three years were great. In February 2005, problems started with black slime in filters that was determined to be a glycerin problem. Trucks were breaking down around the City so they temporarily stopped using biodiesel and demanded additional quality control measures at the rail car entry point including a small lab. The program was restarted and ran until last week when similar
problems surfaced again so they re-suspended the program. At the time of the meeting, they were awaiting test results to decide how to proceed.
Next, Steve Krueger briefly described the State’s new fuel contract that includes two tiers of biodiesel: B#1 and B#2. Steve said that his market research identified two likely customer sets for biodiesel on the State’s contract: one that was happy with biodiesel as it was and another that had experienced some problems. The two tiers ofbiodiesel quality were designed with these two customers in mind. B#2 is essentially biodiesel that is readily,
commercially available right now. B#1 requires additional quality control measures, including BQ-9000 certification for producers, in an attempt to provide additional assurances to customers who cannot afford to have vehicles go down. Steve expects that as the bugs are worked out of the biodiesel market, the two tiers will not benecessary because the readily-available biodiesel will be of high enough quality to satisfy all customers.
Mark Tegen spoke next. He explained that he had been involved with biodiesel since 1996. At that time he was receiving about one railcar per year of biodiesel; today, he receives three to four railcars per week. The biodiesel comes both from World Energy and West Central Soy. Mark explained that there had been a tremendous learning curve in the best way to handle biodiesel through all parts of the supply chain. At his site he has an on-site lab, he
has a testing regimen for rail cars and he stores the biodiesel in a heated storage tank until people come to pick itup. He said the next step was to install a 2 µm filter press that he expects will substantially reduce problems related to glycerin.
After Mark, Leland Tong of the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission (NBAC) spoke. He gave a brief presentation explaining the NBAC and the rationale behind the BQ-9000 program. In brief, BQ-9000 was intended as a quality philosophy that incorporates ISO 9000 practices with the ASTM standard for biodiesel. The program has three objectives – 1) promote the commercial success and public acceptance of biodiesel, 2) assure biodiesel is produced to and maintained to ASTM specifications throughout the supply chain and 3) avoid
redundant testing throughout the supply chain. Leland explained that there were two possibilities – a BQ-9000 accredited producer of biodiesel and a BQ-9000 certified marketer of biodiesel. Thus, there is no such thing as BQ-9000 fuel. For a full description of the program, visit the website www.bq-9000.org. Leland explained that there were 45 production plants operational right now with 55 more somewhere in the planning process. Current capacity is 270 million gallons per year, which is a 300% increase from last year and it is possible that this number may double again next year. This explosive growth was another driver of the BQ-9000 program.
Following Leland’s talk, the discussion was opened for questions from the audience.
The first question was about biodiesel as a lubricity additive for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). Leland explained that B2 improves ULSD’s lubricity by 67% so that you gain back the lubricity loss from making the ULSD. He said that fuel providers were looking into biodiesel as a possible solution as well as at synthetic additives.
The next person asked about the aging of biodiesel. He explained that he has snow removal equipment that maysit for seven months without being used and he was concerned this was too long for biodiesel to sit. Leland answered that six to eight months is the recommended storage time for biodiesel. As the biodiesel ages, the acid number rises and biodiesel slowly breaks down. Leland explained that petroleum diesel does this as well but the precipitate settles out of petroleum diesel so that the user does not notice. He also explained that people were
working on long-term storage concerns including using stability additives that extend the life to 1.5-2 years. He expects that once the industry identifies the best stability additive and gets widespread approval, these additives will be added at the biodiesel production plant.
An attendee asked Mark Tegen for additional details on his handling of biodiesel. Mark explained that he opens the railcar and uses a bacon bomb sampler to collect samples for basic tests from various depths. the fuel is pumped to tanks that are kept at 110° F for storage until loading into trucks. Trucks are bottom-loaded and driven nearby to have the petroleum diesel added so that mixing is done in the truck. Mark explained that the force of loading the petroleum fuel caused more than enough agitation to mix the biodiesel into the petroleum diesel.
Another attendee had heard that there had recently been problems with fuel that met ASTM specifications and asked how this could happen. In addition, the person asked why there was no specification for blended biodiesel.
Leland said he would need more information to try to diagnose the problem described, but that he had never seen problems with fuel that met ASTM specifications. He suspected that maybe the fuel was out of spec by the time of use. On the second question he said that a specification for a biodiesel blend was very difficult and time consuming but that the effort was underway. Mark explained a little about the ASTM standardization process to help the group understand why a new standard can take so long. Someone asked Steve Hennessey what it would take for the City to restart the biodiesel program. Steve said it would depend on what was identified as the problem. Someone asked if anyone had seen problems at the B5 level. Dennis McLerran explained that King County Metro Transit had problems at the B5 level and that problems had occurred with both high-sulfur diesel and ULSD.
Another person asked about testing of emissions with biodiesel in off-road engines. Leland said that not much work had been done with off-road engines but that he would expect the NOx emissions to be different given the different usage of the engine.
An attendee said he had heard about problems between biodiesel and synthetic lubricity additives and wondered if others had heard this. Dennis McLerran said that his agency worked with ConocoPhillips and US Oil to bring in ULSD approximately five years ago. His understanding was that this had not been an issue. There was one fleet that suspected a problem with the additive but determined that there was transmission fluid in the storage tank that was reacting with the additive to cause the problem. Steve said he had asked this same question in February, which was when he switched to ULSD and was also when he first had a problem with biodiesel. Leland said he had heard of polarity changes between some additives to ULSD that may lead to problems. Another attendee asked about problems with biodiesel compatibility with yellow metal, particularly in heating oil applications. Leland said that that can be a concern because the metal acts as a catalyst to oxidize the biodiesel. The metal is fine but there is an increase in the breakdown of biodiesel and subsequent sedimentation. A big
problem likely would only occur if fuel is stored in parts of the system made of these metals. If the blends are low (B10 or B20) and the yellow metal is not used in areas of fuel storage, then the problem is likely minimal. There was more group discussion of recent problems with biodiesel in the region, and an attendee asked if Europe had seen and/or solved any of these problems given that they use more than the US and often in higher blends. Leland said that he was not aware that they had had these problems and explained some of the differences
between the situation in Europe and the US. He also explained that they were working with some European manufacturers, including Bosch, to ensure products were compatible with biodiesel. The discussion closed with an attendee pointing out that he uses approximately 60,000 gal/yr of biodiesel and that his experience has been great. Others echoed this position and said that the discussion was not meant to be negative but part of an effort to ensure biodiesel use continues to grow and is successful so that a few problems do not cause a backlash against the fuel. The meeting broke for lunch. Mid-way through lunch, Mark Brady gave a presentation on the state of the Coalition. This included an introduction for non-members on what the Coalition is, what it does, who are members and how to become a member. The presentation also included some highlights of the successes the Coalition has had in the recent past and upcoming efforts.
Next, the Coalition presented two awards. Prometheus
Energy received the 2005 Alternative Fuels Sustainable Commitment Award for the company’s efforts to increase the use of natural gas in the transportation sector. In addition, the company, and Dan Clarkson in particular, are active on the Steering Committee of the Coalition. Steve Hennessey received the 2005 Alternative Fuels Spirit Award. Steve has been a member of the Coalition for the past few years and participated extensively in the Steering Committee. Steve is retiring soon so the Coalition wanted to recognize him for all his efforts. Following the awards, Roxanne Dempsey of the US Department of Energy (DOE) gave a brief discussion of the
status of DOE funding for alternative fuel projects. She explained the dedicated money that is available annually only to members of Clean Cities Coalitions. She also explained the current status of provisions of the recent federal Energy Policy Act relating to alternative fuels. She told the group that they should monitor the IRS website for information on tax incentives relating to alt fuels but that new programs that were only authorized in the bill were not expected to have any money appropriated to them until 2007 at the earliest. She explained thedifference between authorized and appropriated so that people can review the bill’s provisions and understand that money is only available when there is an appropriation. Furthermore, something may be authorized but never have funds appropriated for it.
Next, Ann Byfield of the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) gave a presentation on Ecology’s diesel retrofit program for local government fleets. She explained the application process including how they tried to make the process as simple as possible. She told the group that there was $2 million available this year but that additional funds may be made available if the program receives a large response. She explained that Ecology saw applicants to the program as their customers and that they intended to provide very good customer service. The
process would be quick, painless and Ecology intended to pay for any repairs necessary because of the retrofits. Finally, she told the group that applications were due very soon so they should begin now and contact her with any questions.The meeting closed with a discussion of ethanol. Mark Brady explained briefly some of the recent activities in the Northwest around ethanol. He discussed recent and upcoming workshops on ethanol to try to increase interest in
the fuel and bring public-access stations to the area. He described how any vehicle can run on 10% ethanol (E10) and listed the current models that can run on up to 85% ethanol (E85), so called flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). He provided the group with information on CleanFUEL USA’s E85 dispensing equipment that is specifically designed to handle the higher alcohol content of E85. Mark explained that although most ethanol is currently produced from corn from the Midwest, there were new technologies to convert cellulose to ethanol. If successful,
these feedstocks would dramatically lower the cost of the fuel so that it would be considerably less than gasoline at recent prices and produced from local feedstocks. Finally, Mark told the group that although Washington was behind many parts of the country in terms of the use of ethanol, there is now considerable and growing interest in ethanol. He advised contacting him if anyone had interest in FFVs or E85 infrastructure for their fleets.

Diesel models

Looking for a used diesel? Check out this comprehensive list! http://www.gobiodiesel.org/years.html

B20 in LaConner

Here's a nice article about a new B20 pump in LaConner: http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2005/11/17/news/news99.txt

Articles in Seattle PI and Times

Check out these articles in this weekend's papers:

NW loves being green, but biodiesel dream may take a while. Seattle PI. Nov. 19, 2005.

Demand for biodiesel fuel climbs. Seattle Times. Nov 20, 2005.

anti-gel

Today I stopped by Univ. VW which is supportive of biodiesel, wanting to get an anti-gel for the cold weather. They carry Power Service products, and recommended their white bottle supplement which contains an anti-gel. I also noticed the following post on yahoo groups listserve today, about one of their products made for biodiesel in particular. Note that you really shouldn't have to add any of this stuff yet, until it stays close to freezing, and even then only if you're not driving every day. It's the sitting for long periods that's bad. Soon, I'll test some of these products with my home-made bio, and post the results. Anyway, here's that post:

"Our product, Arctic Express Biodiesel Antigel 1:1000, is made to effectively treat Biodiesel blends up to B20. It can be added to B100 and will typically have some effect reducing the pour point by about 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This will help improve the handling of the B100 in winter months. Arctic Express Biodiesel Antigel will have minimal effect on lowering the Cold Filter Plugging Point or its low temperature operability of B100 as measured by ASTM D6251. Arctic Express Biodiesel Antigel is most effective on blends of up to B20 when using soy, rape, canola and vegetable feedstock's and waste vegetable feedstock's. B20 Biodiesel blends are used with #2 Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel or blends of #1 and #2 Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel.Arctic Express Biodiesel Antigel is sold in 5 gallon cases (2 each 2.5 gallon bottles per case) part number 7450-02, in 55 gallon drums, part number 7455 and in 260 gallon totes, part number 7460. The treat rate is one gallon of Arctic Express Biodiesel Antigel to each 1,000 gallons of Biodiesel Blends. Our antigel will typically improve both the Cold Filter Plugging Point(CFPP) and Pour Point(PP) of B20 Blends by 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want to obtain AEBDA then I will need to know what city and state you live in so I can direct you to the appropriate Regional Manager who would be able to direct you to the distributor in his area that can sell you the product. Best regards, Brian Wilson bwilson@powerservice.com Technical Support Power Service Products, Inc

My new blog!

This is my new blog for BioLyle.com.