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Countdown on for National Biodiesel Conference Next Month
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 A few days ago we all counted
down to the New Year, but there's still another countdown to go. Another
exciting event will hit in less than a month – the National Biodiesel
Conference & Expo, Feb. 1-4. The San Francisco venue will feature such
highlights as the City’s impressive biodiesel program, with Mayor Gavin
Newsom expected to speak. NBB has also announced that musician Melissa
Etheridge will perform and speak.
Etheridge's soulful, unmistakable voice has made her one of the greatest
all-time female rock icons. But musician Melissa Etheridge also uses her
voice to raise awareness about the ideas she believes in – and that
includes biodiesel. She will address a General Session crowd on her
commitment to biodiesel. Etheridge has earned two Grammy® Awards, and an
Academy® Award. Her Oscar was for "Best Original Song" for "I
Need to Wake Up," which she wrote for the Al Gore documentary, An
Inconvenient Truth. Some of her prolific hits have included "Bring
Me Some Water," "I Want To Come Over," and
"Come To My Window."
Register by Jan. 23 to receive the reduced pre-registration rate. After
Jan. 23, attendees must register on-site at a higher rate.
The 2009 conference promises to offer its valuable educational and
networking opportunities that attendees have come to expect. This year, one
new feature is sustainability sessions supplementing existing educational
tracks. For more information and to register, please visit www.biodieselconference.org.
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NBB Launches BioheatOnline.com to Better Serve Customers,
Dealers
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 With the cold weather season upon
us, the National Biodiesel Board is pleased to announce the launch of
Bioheatonline.com, an exciting new Web site designed to educate customers
and dealers on the beneficial properties of Bioheat® fuel. Bioheat fuel is
an environmentally friendly home heating oil blended with pure biodiesel.
Bioheat oil meets the increasing demand for cleaner and greener home heat.
Bioheatonline.com was created with two goals in mind – to educate home
heating oil customers and dealers on the benefits of Bioheat fuel, and to
provide top-notch marketing tools for local heating oil dealers. With a
simple, video-based approach, Bioheatonline.com
features personable hosts who walk consumers through the basics of
biodiesel and Bioheat fuel while explaining the benefits for our country,
our environment, and our homes.
For heating oil dealers, the site provides technical resources and clear,
concise information about blending and selling Bioheat heating oil. The
site also encourages heating oil dealers to register online to become
Bioheat dealers. Once registered, dealers are given access to
professionally produced advertising and marketing materials, customizable
for their market. In addition to marketing materials, dealers have access
to the Bioheat hotline at 877-B5-1-LINE, where they can discuss technical
and market issues with the industry professionals at Advanced Fuel
Solutions.
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NBB Sets Kraft’s Inaccuracies Straight in USA Today
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The USA
Today published a National Biodiesel Board opinion editorial response that
corrected an assertion made by Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld that "40% of
the food supply is being diverted for biofuels." This is false, and it
gave NBB's response plenty of fodder, especially since Rosenfeld also
called for decisions to be made with "facts and science."
The fact is that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has
said that of the 10.4 billion acres of land that could be used for
agriculture today, only 3.7 billion acres are used for food production. Of
that, only 1 percent is used for biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. NBB's
response is here: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/12/kraft-ceo-sprea.html.
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Sprague Energy and Woolley Fuel Celebrate First N.J. Retail
Station
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 Sprague Energy Corp. announced in
December it is supplying New Jersey's first biodiesel retail station. Its
customer, Woolley Fuel Company of Maplewood, N.J., has begun to offer
biodiesel at its retail station at 12 Burnett Avenue. While some larger
N.J. fleets have been using biodiesel in their commercial facilities for a
number of years, this marks the first opportunity for the general motoring
public to access this beneficial fuel.
"Woolley should be commended for taking the lead in offering this
environmentally friendly fuel to concerned citizens looking to offset our
dependence on foreign oil imports," said Steven J. Levy, Managing
Director at Sprague Energy. "Woolley is currently pumping B5, a 5%
biodiesel blend; they look forward to expanding to B20 in the near future.
Hopefully this will be the first of hundreds of stations carrying biodiesel
throughout the state of New Jersey, joining the 1200-plus biodiesel retail
sites already existing throughout the United States."
Sprague Energy, based in
Portsmouth, N.H., offers clean fuels through its network of terminals in
the Northeast. Biodiesel is the latest addition to a clean product line
that includes ultra low sulfur diesel, Bioheat and ethanol. Sprague was the
first petroleum terminal operator and marketer to earn BQ-9000 Marketer
status under the BQ-9000 quality control program. Sprague Energy is a
member of the National Biodiesel Board.
View
all biodiesel retail fueling sites here.
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Simply Green Opens “Congreenience” Store
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Drive
green, but don't forget the eco-friendly munchies on those longer trips.
Simply Green Biofuels celebrated the grand opening of its New England
“Congreenience” store in December.
Not only does the station feature several biodiesel blends, and ethanol
blends, it also stocks its shelves with locally produced products from
within a 100-mile radius of the Dover, N.H., station. It is the first
all-biofuels station in New Hampshire, as formally recognized by Governor
John H. Lynch.
Andrew Kellar, owner, opened Simply Green Biofuels two years ago to provide
alternative home heating fuel and biodiesel. Simply Green is a distributor
and blender of biodiesel.
Simply Green is working with New England's largest BQ-9000 marketer of
biodiesel, Sprague Energy, to ensure the best level of fuel handling.
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Don’t Miss Out: Join the Biodiesel Alliance to Stay Informed,
Show Support
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As an
active member of the biodiesel industry, we encourage you to take full
advantage of the resources the National Biodiesel Board offers by joining
the Biodiesel Alliance and/or Backers. The Alliance is a diverse coalition
of organizations, agencies and businesses from across the nation who find
common ground in their support for biodiesel fuel. Founded and managed by
NBB, the Biodiesel Alliance supports information sharing and opportunities
to help advance the use of biodiesel. The Biodiesel Backers program is
similar, except it’s for individuals.
Joining is FREE. It is simply a way to express your support for the
increased use of biodiesel fuel and gain more timely access to information
about new developments in the biodiesel industry, regional events of
interest and opportunities to take action in support of biodiesel.
Here's what you can do when you click on Join Biodiesel
Alliance/Backers and follow the directions:
- JOIN the 2,000 Biodiesel Alliance Members
- Register your own organization as
an Alliance Member.
- JOIN the 5,900 Biodiesel Backers as an
individual.
- FORWARD this information to your colleagues
and other contacts, and ask them to do the same!
If
you have questions or need assistance with registering, contact info@biodiesel.org.
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MARC-IV Welcomes Face Familiar to Biodiesel Industry
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 MARC-IV, a longtime consultant to
the National Biodiesel Board, is pleased to announce that a familiar face
to the biodiesel world is joining the company this month. Rebecca
Richardson has an extended history in both commodity-based association
management and the biodiesel industry. MARC-IV welcomes Richardson’s
efforts, which will focus on fuel quality, state governmental affairs,
technical support to state initiatives, and providing membership support
and service to NBB members.
Based in Illinois, Richardson recently completed an eleven-year tenure with
the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA), where she held positions as
Communications Coordinator, Director of Operations and most recently
Director of Legislative and External Affairs.
In 2003, Richardson was instrumental in gaining a new state sales tax
credit for biodiesel that mirrored a similar tax credit for ethanol. This
sales tax credit continues to be a significant part of the backbone for
biodiesel consumption in the U.S. Prior to her work with ISA, Richardson
was Director of Education for the American Society of Animal Science and
Education Manager for the American Oil Chemists' Society.
MARC-IV, www.marciv.com, is dedicated
to the commercialization of industrial products from agricultural
resources. Since 1993, they have been instrumental in the research and
market development of biodiesel in the U.S.
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