U.S. Federal Agencies Spending New Funding To Bring Biofuels To A Commercially Viable Level

The Obama administration has just authorized another $30 million in federal funding to advance biofuel technologies.

A basic model of a biofuel production process. Graphic courtesy of the University of Illinois.

The $30 million in multi-agency funds will be used to match private investments to advance the development and production of commercial-scale drop-in (ready to use) biofuels for primary use in military and commercial transportation.

Last week, a multi-agency teleconference – with senior officials from the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture - announced the funding.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus explained some of the provisions of the funding, saying the funding “will have to be matched at least on a one-to-one basis,” and justified the need for biofuels says that they “will reduce the need for foreign oil, which is a significant and very well-recognized military vulnerability.”

Mabus was candid in saying that right now we give our foreign oil suppliers “too much of an input on whether our ships sail, our aircraft fly, or our surface vehicles operate, and that one of the ways this happens is that every time the price of oil goes up a dollar a barrel, it costs the Navy an additional $30 million in fuel. We have faced price spikes this year going into the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

President Barrack Obama also similarly said last April that the “Department of Defense estimates that for every dollar increase in the price of a barrel of oil, we incur an additional $130 million in fuel costs.” 

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Federal/Private Sector Pooling Together Nearly $4 Billion For Energy Upgrades To Buildings

The Obama administration has just set a plan to partner with private industry to provide energy upgrades for buildings nationwide.

Graphic courtesy of Columbia Law School.

Nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private financing will go toward the initiative over the next two years. The investment will include a $2 billion federal commitment to make energy upgrades in federal buildings.

The energy upgrades to federal buildings are expected to be made under the government’s Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC) program. Under the program, new energy efficient equipment will be installed in those buildings at no up-front costs to the government, said the administration during the announcement of the plan.

The costs of the improvements will be paid over time with the energy savings on utility bills, added the administration.

The plan was announced at a White House press event by President Barack Obama, who was joined by former President Bill Clinton, as well as about 60 CEOs, mayors, university presidents, and labor leaders from around the country.

The private sector participation is part of the Better Buildings Challenge, which is part of the Better Buildings Initiative that was launched by the president in February 2011.

The purpose of the Better Buildings Initiative is to support job creation in the private sector through investments in upgrades in commercial and industrial buildings, with the goal of making U.S. buildings 20 percent more efficient over the next 10 years.

The members of the private sector present at this event have committed to contributing the remaining $2 billion of the $4 billion investment.

The private sector financing is expected go toward energy upgrades in facilities including hospitals, universities, community colleges, school buildings, industrial buildings, and municipal buildings.

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New Kansas Biomass Facility To Make Ethanol from the Non-Edible Plant Parts of Staple Food

Image courtesy of http://solar.calfinder.com.

A long-held problem with biofuels has always been that making them requires displacing land use and resources that would otherwise go to making food crops.

Well now, Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, with a new finalized loan guarantee of about $132 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, may have found one viable solution to the land resource problem.

Construction has just begun on a new facility that’s expected - when operational – to produce yearly about 23 million gallons of ethanol fuel from plant fibers including: wheat straw, corn stover (leaves and stalks), switchgrass, and sorghum stubble.

The facility is expected to convert about 300,000 tons of this “crop residue” per year to generate the desired annual ethanol volumes.

“The plant will also utilize the same biomass feedstock to produce 20 megawatts of electricity, adequate to power the ethanol production operations, and help make the facility even more energy efficient and environmentally friendly,” added Abengoa.

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New Lithium Ion Battery Facility to Bring Hundreds of Jobs to Connecticut

First Global Hawk Block 20 flight with a Yardney lithium ion battery used for both emergency power in a loss of power event, as well as main power for specific on board systems. The photo is courtesy of Yardney Technical Products, Inc.

PAWCATUCK, Conn.-Joining together to expand their presence in the United States electric auto industry, Coda Automotive and Yardney Technical Products, Inc. have entered into a joint venture to form Coda Battery Systems LLC, which will design, manufacture, and sell automotive-grade lithium ion battery power systems.

The manufacturing facility will be in Enfield, Conn., with funding coming in part from a stimulus grant through the U.S. Department of Energy. The Coda Battery facility expects to employee about 600 U.S. workers in manufacturing positions.

“This Connecticut factory and the hundreds of new manufacturing jobs it will create are only the beginning of our long term plans,” said Kevin Czinger, president and chief executive officer of newly formed Coda Automotive, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based manufacturer and distributor of all-electric, highway capable vehicles.

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Auto Battery Cell Alliance Works On Proposal for Federal Investment in Research and Development

The movement of these lithium ions happens at a fairly high voltage, so each cell produces 3.7 volts. This is much higher than the 1.5 volts typical of a normal AA alkaline cell that you buy at the supermarket and helps make lithium-ion batteries more compact in small devices like cell phones. Graphic provided by HowStuffWorks.com

CHICAGO - The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture, formed last month, is working on a proposal to the federal government for investment as part of the development of one or more manufacturing and prototype development centers across the United States, which will be shared by the Alliance members.

“The Alliance will develop and operate a state-of-the-art manufacturing foundry that will permit any U.S.-based battery companies to design, test, and manufacture proprietary and semi-proprietary large format lithium-ion battery cells that power next generation motor vehicles,” said Carlos Helou, president of Grep International, a Darien, Ill.-based consulting firm in the energy arena, and an advisor to the Alliance.

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