Recently in Diesel Fuel Category

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct05) authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy to issue loan guarantees to eligible projects that "avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases" and "employ new or significantly improved technologies as compared to technologies in service in the United States at the time the guarantee is issued".

Early Commercial Use

Title XVII of EPAct05 provides the basis of DOE's program. This title provides broad authority for DOE to guarantee loans that support early commercial use of advanced technologies, if "there is reasonable prospect of repayment of the principal and interest on the obligation by the borrower." Loan guarantees will be another tool that DOE will use to promote commercial use of innovative technologies. This tool is targeted at early commercial use only, not energy research, development, and demonstration programs.

DOE believes that accelerated commercial use of new or improved technologies will help to sustain economic growth, yield environmental benefits, and produce a more stable and secure energy supply.

The US Department of Energy is expected to open the window in 2009 to apply for federal loan guarantees on loans to wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and other renewable energy projects that use commercially proven technologies.

In the first round, the Department evaluated loan guarantee pre-applications for projects that employed technologies in the following areas:

1. Biomass
2. Hydrogen
3. Solar
4. Wind and Hydropower
5. Advanced Fossil Energy Coal
6. Carbon Sequestration practices and technologies
7. Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
8. Alternative Fuel Vehicles
9. Industry Energy Efficiency Projects
10. Pollution Control Equipment

Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP)

This new program--called the "Financial Institution Partnership Program" or "FIPP" because of the key role played by private lenders-- differs substantially from the prior program that guarantees repayment of loans to projects that use innovative technologies. It will use radically different processes than those used so far to apply, evaluate, rank and award guarantees for projects.

The department will release a set of rules for the loan guarantee program at the same time it opens the window--and anyone who wants to apply is expected to have negotiated his or her loan first with a bank or insurance company and then the lender will apply to DOE for a guarantee.

Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20585
www.lgprogram.energy.gov

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which we've discussed before, is a gyre of floating garbage in the Northern Pacific estimated to be twice the size of Texas.

Project Kaisei is a nonprofit group of scientists and ocean lovers set up to study the North Pacific Gyre and the plastic debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture it and to study possible processing techniques that would allow the recycling of captured materials into diesel fuel.

With funding for Project Kaisei from the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), the project launched its first research expedition, comprising two boats, which set sail on Aug. 2nd and 3rd from San Diego and San Francisco.

Project Kaisei will examine the largest area of the Plastic Vortex, an ocean gyre, situated to the North East of Hawaii, and approximately five days by boat from the United States (San Francisco area). The expedition will consist of a large pass through the Plastic Vortex, with the aim to collect and study plastic and other debris forms from the ocean in order to showcase some of the new technologies that will be used for processing and recycling.

"We are very excited to be supporting Project Kaisei's first research expedition to the North Pacific Gyre," said Dominique Maguin, BIR President. "The Project Kaisei team has ambitious plans, which are fully in line with BIR's mission to increase recycling and recyclability. Our members across the globe are providing industry with nearly 50% of the raw materials needed, and we can still increase this figure. The collection of waste can be improved and the recycling activities are indispensible for saving energy, gas emissions and natural resources. It is of paramount importance to leave a safe, clean and welcoming planet for future generations.

"Project Kaisei represents an innovative constructive approach to addressing a problem that would not have been there if recycling had been promoted and implemented by all nations. We believe that by collaborating together it will bring benefits to both of our organizations, as well as for the whole planet."

 "Together with the scientific endorsement and ongoing collaboration of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, BIR's sponsorship provides us with the necessary resources to carry out our mission this summer. We hope to be able to come back with answers to the many questions surrounding the large volumes of waste in the ocean, the damage it causes to the ocean ecosystem and the ways to fight it," says Doug Woodring, Project Kaisei's Co-Founder and Project Director.

Why is the Plastic Vortex a problem?

Plastics and other wastes in the oceans:

• Can kill marine life;
• May be entering our food chain (studies on this issue will be undertaken by the Project Kaisei Science Team and other researchers);
• Continues to increase due to poor waste management practices on land and sea; and
• Can have a negative effect on people's health and safety.

It is estimated that over 60% of the plastic and other wastes (including rubber and aluminum) in the ocean come from land-based sources, and once in the sea, they are at the mercy of the confluence of tides, currents and winds because they are buoyant. Over time through exposure to the sun and heat, some plastic materials can disintegrate into ever smaller pieces due to weather and UV impact.

You can follow the expedition via Google Earth.

Air Resources Board adopted a regulation that will implement California Governor Schwarzenegger's Low Carbon Fuel Standard calling for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from California's transportation fuels by ten percent by 2020.

The new regulation is aimed at diversifying the variety of fuels used for transportation. It will boost the market for alternative-fuel vehicles and achieve 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020. ARB representatives describe the measure as the most important early-action called for under AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act (Nunez, 2006).

"The new standard means we can begin to break our century-old dependence on petroleum and provide California with greater energy security" said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "The drive to force the market toward greater use of alternative fuels will be a boon to the state's economy and public health - it reduces air pollution, creates new jobs and continues California's leadership in the fight against global warming."

According to ARB analyses, to produce the more than 1.5 billion gallons of biofuels needed, over 25 new biofuel facilities will have to be built and will create more than 3,000 new jobs, mostly in the state's rural areas.

Production of fuels within the state will also keep consumer dollars local by reducing the need to make fuel purchases from beyond its borders.

The regulation requires providers, refiners, importers and blenders to ensure that the fuels they provide for the California market meet an average declining standard of 'carbon intensity'. This is established by determining the sum of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, transportation and consumption of a fuel, also referred to as the fuel pathway.

Economic mechanisms will allow the market to choose the most cost-effective clean fuels (those with the lowest carbon intensity) giving California consumers the widest variety of fuel options.

Seeking to enhance private sector and federal investment into alternative fuel production and distribution, California is also providing funding to assist in the early development and deployment of the most promising low-carbon fuels. The Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program, AB 118 (Nunez, 2007), managed by the California Energy Commission, will provide approximately $120 million dollars per year over seven years to deploy the cleanest fuels and vehicles.

Regulators expect the new generation of fuels to come from the development of technology that uses algae, wood, agricultural waste such as straw, common invasive weeds such as switchgrass, and even from municipal solid waste.

The standard is also expected to drive the availability of plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel-cell powered cars while promoting investment in electric charging stations and hydrogen fueling stations.

California's Governor issued the executive order requiring a low carbon fuel standard in early 2007. It directed the state to drive down greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector which accounts for 40% of the state's total greenhouse gas emissions.

The regulation is designed to increase the use of alternative fuels, replacing 20 percent of the fuel used by cars in California with clean alternative fuels by 2020, including electricity, biofuels, hydrogen and other options.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

Clemson International Center for Automotive Research, has served as a hub and a symbol of the South's emergence over the last two decades as a powerhouse in automotive manufacturing.

A 2007 industry-wide event, part of the Tennessee Valley Corridor Southeast Partnership, was designed to bring together the region's collective transportation research talent to focus on ways to support continued growth of the automotive industry.

The gathering was symbolic of a growing realization that in matters of economic development, the South has learned the importance of teamwork. In the case of transportation, this regional teamwork has resulted in the cooperation of lawmakers, business leaders and research institutions on a broad array of initiatives, from creating new fuels to helping the world's auto manufacturers build lighter, stronger, more energyefficient cars and trucks.

ORNL Leader in Transportation Research

Oak Ridge National Laboratory for years has been the leader in transportation research for the Department of Energy's energy efficiency programs. More recently, the Laboratory has sought to connect to the growing automotive presence in the Southeast. The region is now home to 3,000 automotive suppliers and 10 major automotive assembly plants including Toyota in Kentucky and Mississippi; BMW in South Carolina; Ford in Georgia; Mercedes, Hyundai and Honda in Alabama, as well as Saturn and Nissan—which recently relocated U.S. headquarters to Nashville—in Tennessee.

Universities and ORNL Provide Research for Supply Chain, Sustainable Manufacturing, Heavy Vehicle Research, Power Electronics, Engines and High-Performance Materials

Surrounding these plants is a set of universities that, along with ORNL, represent extensive expertise in supply chain management, sustainable manufacturing, heavy vehicle research, power electronics, engines and high-performance materials. In 2007, ORNL and the University of Tennessee, along with six southern research universities, announced the Automotive Research Alliance, a regional effort to provide southern automakers access to unique research capabilities.

Research capabilities outside automakers' own R&D organizations are crucial to development of new technologies and products, says Tom Bologa, vice president of engineering, United States, for BMW of North America. 

Detroit Center Coordinates ORNL, DOE, DOD and Automotive Suppliers

Although the South's largest research laboratory, ORNL is not restricting automotive research efforts to the Southeast. The Department of Energy recently announced an initiative headquartered at automotive supplier Delphi Automotive's former R&D center in Detroit that pulls together ORNL, DOE, the Department of Defense and a consortium of automotive suppliers. Called USAutoPARTs, the effort will provide both expertise and facilities to second- and third-tier automotive suppliers, most of which cannot afford a program of in-house research.

SOURCE: ORNL overview of automotive alternative energy research

Further proof that the pioneering spirit is alive and well in The Last Frontier, the City of Unalaska’s Department of Public Utilities is the first off-grid* power plant in Alaska to install fuel saving technology that is expected to save over 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel emissions from entering the atmosphere this year. In addition to reduced emissions, the fuel consumption savings can be passed on to consumers through lower costs to generate electricity.

“The more fuel prices rise, the greater the savings we will pass on to our customers by using this fuel saving technology,” said Dan Winters, the Director of public utilities at the City of Unalaska’s Department of Public Utilities. “We made a commitment to this community to operate our generators in the most cost efficient manner possible and in doing so, go green and stay green, and this is a great solution to help clean up the environment while simultaneously reducing our fuel consumption and costs.”

The fuel saving technology is called the Etorus FE, and it is changing the way diesel engine operators save on fuel consumption and costs, while reducing greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions. It is currently being used throughout the world to reduce fuel consumption and emissions in a number of applications, including fleet trucks, buses, locomotives, generators, boilers, furnaces, marine vessels and heavy off-road construction and mining equipment. For more information, visit http://www.etorus.com/how.html

“This technology is different from any other fuel saving device. It causes clustered fuel molecules to temporarily repel each other, resulting in a greater surface area that is exposed to oxygen at the point of combustion,” explains chemist Robert E. Yelin, Ph.D., an environmental management consultant and Etorus, Inc. advisory board member who helped develop the technology.

“Studies document how this technology causes some saturated aliphatics to release hydrogen gas and form unsaturated aromatics. The hydrogen gas that results from the formation of the unsaturated ‘double bonds’ complements the increased oxygen at the point of combustion, providing an additional combustion source to the fuel, which further aids in providing a more complete and efficient fuel burn.” The turbulence caused by the Etorus FE internally enhances these reactions, Dr. Yelin adds. For more information, visit http://www.etorus.com/tech_write_up.html

“Our initial response was that this was just another snake oil product, but when we further investigated, read the research results, and then checked the company’s references, we decided to try it,” said Jim Fitch, the City of Unalaska’s power plant supervisor. “We continually monitor our fuel consumption by employing advanced technology including flow meters, and after the first week, it had dropped by more than 5%, which is a huge savings when you use more than 2 million gallons of fuel every year. At today’s fuel prices, this translates to $0.20 per gallon in fuel savings for our city, which will amount to about $2 million over five years. We were so excited when we first saw the results that we kept checking every hour to see how much more fuel we had saved. Now after four months, we are consistently saving over 5% in fuel consumption and costs while reducing our emissions.”

For more information about the City of Unalaska, visit http://unalaska-ak.us

*Off-grid refers to self-sufficient utility power made available in urban areas by means other than reliance on large public utilities.