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Reasons to Invest in the Biodiesel Industry
 Biodiesel
Magazine recently covered the 11 reasons to invest in the biodiesel industry in
their F.A.M.E. FORUM Blog. This list provided a variety of reasons from a
growing market, to new industry targets, to fuel quality standards, and more.
What this list represents is not only reasons to invest in biodiesel, but
reasons why America's first EPA designated Advanced Biofuel isn't going
anywhere.
Some of those reasons for investment include:
- Jump in on a growing market: The U.S. biodiesel industry is poised for its
most profitable, successful year yet in 2013 with expected record-breaking
production volumes thanks in part to the increased federal biomass-based diesel
requirement of 1.28 billion gallons (28 percent higher than 2012), the $1 per
gallon tax credit and rebounding D4 RIN prices. In addition, favorable blend
economics indicate that obligated parties under the renewable fuel standard
(RFS2) will find it economically advantageous to blend U.S. biodiesel over
Brazilian sugarcane ethanol to meet their advanced biofuel obligations (2.75
billion ethanol-equivalent gallons), over and above the biomass-based diesel
volume requirements, suggesting the possibility of domestic biodiesel production
significantly exceeding 1.28 billion gallons.
- Sustainable 10-year growth plan: IHS Global Insight conducted a modeling
report for the National Biodiesel Board to help guide EPA with its yearly
biodiesel Renewable Volume Obligation under RFS2 and, in the modeling report,
the group determined that there will be enough feedstock available to reach 3.3
billion gallons of U.S. biodiesel production by 2022.
- Engine makers support biodiesel, why not you? All major OEMs producing
diesel vehicles for the U.S. market support at least B5 and lower blends and 79
percent of U.S. manufacturers now support B20 or higher biodiesel blends in at
least some of their equipment.
For the full list, including the sourced
information to go with it, visit the blog.
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American University Switches to B20 in Campus Shuttles
 Prestigious
American University's switch to biodiesel is the latest example of how nearly
100 Clean Cities programs across the nation help their communities transition to
biodiesel.
NBB has long worked closely with the Department of Energy
Clean Cities Coordinators across the nation, including the Greater Washington
Region Clean Cities Coalition (GWRCCC) that assisted AU. GWRCC's success with
educating fleets has also led the District of Columbia, Smithsonian Institution
and others to run their fleets on biodiesel.
GWRCC used AU's April
announcement as an opportunity to host an educational event for fleets. NBB and
the United Soybean Board assisted by bringing Biodiesel Ambassadors to the
program to share their long-term successes with biodiesel.
Biodiesel
Ambassadors Joe Biluck, Jr., Director of Operations & Technology, Medford,
New Jersey Township Public Schools and Chris Case, retired National Park Service
Facility Manager at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan spoke to the
audience of both public and private sector representatives, including
alternative fuels professionals, fleet managers, students and other interested
parties about their experiences.
The Biodiesel Ambassador program was
established by NBB as a way to engage some of biodiesel's greatest champions as
spokespeople for biodiesel. Currently numbering more than 20, they are
volunteers from a wide range of professions who use their biodiesel expertise to
raise the level of understanding in their communities and nationally. Click here to learn more about the
program.
In addition, NBB Consultant Rachel Burton of MARC-IV Consulting,
gave a presentation on biodiesel quality and the industry's commitment to fuel
quality standards. The United Soybean Board (USB) sponsored the event and is
also working with GWRCC to introduce biobased products to Washington, D.C. area
fleets and facilities.
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NBB
Launches Campaign to Thank GM for Biodiesel Leadership
 NBB recently
launched a campaign through the Biodiesel Alliance program to thank General
Motors (GM) for blazing a new trail for biodiesel support. GM is the first
automaker in the United States to approve the use of 20 percent biodiesel blends
(B20) in a light-duty diesel passenger sedan, the new 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo
Diesel.
Biodiesel Alliance and Backers members are being urged to
thank GM for recognizing the market power of America's Advanced Biofuel -
biodiesel - and being proactive and progressive.
This effort is
designed to let GM and other Original Equipment Manufacturers see the broad
support for pro-biodiesel decisions and continue to move toward greater
acceptance of biodiesel.
If you would like to join in this effort and let
GM know that you appreciate having this new B20 sedan option and that it makes a
difference in your purchasing decisions go on record here.
The Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) predicts that more than 22 new clean diesel
vehicle models will be introduced to the U.S. market in 2013, with diesel
vehicle sales increasing to as much as 10 percent of the American market by
2020.
Read the GM and NBB news releases about the 2014 Chevy Cruze
diesel.
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Biodiesel Has Important Role to Play in Transportation Energy
Diversification
 As the only
commercially available advanced biofuel, biodiesel has an important role to play
in the diversification of our nation's transportation energy supply.
Diversification of transportation energy is key to energy security and market
stability.
These points were underscored during a recent Summit hosted
by Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) in Washington, DC. At the event,
experts made the case that the market alone cannot dictate the development of
new energy technology, given the impact on national security.
The March
19 Summit brought together a panel of experts to discuss the Energy Security
Trust Fund, a proposal announced by President Obama during his State of the
Union address and first proposed by SAFE. The trust fund would use revenue from
expanded oil drilling to support research and development of technologies to
advance oil displacement in the transportation sector. Senator Lisa Murkowski
(R-AK) has also offered a plan to establish an energy security trust
fund.
According to SAFE, commercialization of advanced technology
vehicles powered by non-petroleum fuels, represents a critical long-term
strategy for increasing U.S. energy security and reducing the exposure of the
economy to high and volatile oil prices.
SAFE is a nonpartisan
organization dedicated to reducing America's dependence on oil by educating
policymakers and advocating for comprehensive energy reform. Visit SAFE's website to learn more.
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NBBIT
Maintains No. 1 Biodiesel Site in US, Offers Services to the
Industry
 The IT division
of the National Biodiesel Board, known as NBBIT, is not only responsible for
designing and maintaining the websites that make up the NBB family of websites,
it also provides website/email hosting, website design/maintenance, graphic
design, and other IT services for clients across the country. Led by NBB's IT
Director, Scott Tremain, NBBIT currently manages and maintains more than 120 web
domains.
"Having a full service IT department in-house allows NBB to do
everything needed to keep the NBB family of websites the number one place for
biodiesel information online," said Tremain. "It also allows us to offer those
same valuable IT services to NBB members at a discount."
The family of
websites includes the two flagship sites: nbb.org and biodiesel.org, as well as content specific sites like
bioheatonline.com, biodieselsustainability.com, biodieselautomotive.org,
biodieselfoundation.org,
and more.
In 2012 the NBB family of websites saw more than 586,000
combined visits with nbb.org and biodiesel.org leading the way with more than 266,000
and 174,000 visits respectively.
For a full list of services and for
contact information visit nbbit.com.
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Biodiesel Powers Midway Airport's Rental Car
Shuttles
 Biodiesel is
powering a fleet of white shuttle buses that carries passengers to and from a
new consolidated rental car center at Chicago's Midway Airport. The Chicago
Tribune recently reported that eight rental car companies at Midway are now
operating under one roof at the new facility.
The shuttle buses, which
display the rental car companies' names and logos, transport travelers between
Midway's passenger terminal and the new consolidated rental car center just a
few minutes away via a buses-only road.
Officials hope that the new
five-level, $55 million rental car center will mean less congestion due to
rental car shuttle buses clogging the terminal roadway and shorter waits for
rental car customers.
The Tribune reports that in addition to biodiesel
use in the shuttle buses, the new rental car facility has several other
environmentally friendly features including more than 17,000 square feet of
vegetated roof space to help keep the building cooler in summer and warmer in
winter, solar panels and wind turbines to generate power, a detention basin to
manage stormwater and equipment to collect rainwater for irrigation.
The
rental car companies operating out of the new facility include: Alamo, Avis,
Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, Thrifty and Enterprise.
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Report Says Chevron Shelved Plans for $2.18 Renewable
Gasoline
According to a recent Bloomberg energy report a pathway
to develop $2.18 renewable gasoline may have been put on hold by Chevron due to
an unusually high return on investment threshold. The investigative team of Ben
Elgin & Peter Waldman published an expose on
Chevron trying to undercut California's low-carbon fuel standard. Chevron is
pushing back against the California rule because they say it demands technology
that may not be available in the near term the team details in the report.
However, they go on to detail how the company derailed a technology that would
have been available commercially as soon as next year, according to the
company's own internal documentation.
"We've looked at 100 feedstocks, 50
conversion technologies, worked to shape this law the best we can, and we have
not come up with a solution to be able to comply," said Rhonda Zygocki,
Chevron's executive vice president of policy and planning, in a Feb. 4 talk at
the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. But outside the context of the
California law the outlook was different.
"You can make money today
making advanced biofuels," Bloomberg quoted former Chevron biofuels VP Paul
Bryan in the report. "You just won't make as much money as the oil companies
would like."
The report goes on to detail the project at Chevron,
Catchlight Energy, a joint venture of Chevron and Weyerhaeuser that had pilot
stage technology to make renewable gasoline at $2.18 per gallon.
All of
the details aren't exactly clear on why the project was shelved but more
coverage and analysis can be found at Biofuels Digest.
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