Biodiesel Conference Blog

There’s a few times in your life when you get to see a true living legend in person. This morning was one of those occasions as I watched Astronaut Jim Lovell talk to a captivated audience of biodiesel industry folks at the morning general session of the 2008 National Biodiesel Conference and Expo.

Talk about an inspirational speech! The man, who defied all odds and led his crew from a sure icy death in the vacuum of space when the Apollo 13 mission to the moon had a massive equipment failure, held the audience spellbound for more than 50 minutes as he told the story of how they overcame great adversity to make it back safely to the Earth.

“Always Expect the Unexpected”

Lovell talked about how his team on the spacecraft moved quickly to preserve their dwindling resources so at least they would have a shot at making it home. But they were not alone. There was help back at Mission Control.
Listen to Lovell’s account and how he relates it to the biodiesel industry overcoming unforeseen circumstances:

“I Shouldn’t Be Here.”

Lovell told this morning’s gathering that he should not be there except for the teamwork, dedication and ingenuity of those involved. And he reminded the audience that they could choose to be one of three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.
Listen to Lovell’s inspirational closing here:

In just a few hours, we should start getting the results of the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, as voters in 24 states go to the polls to decide who will be the Democratic and Republican standard bearers for the November 2008 general election.

This morning at the opening session of the 2008 National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in Orlando, Fla., Gene Gebolys, the chairman of the NBB’s Regulatory Committee opened that meeting reminding the audience how important the day is to the future of the biodiesel industry.

“The direction that this country will take depends on what happens today. Our industry is at a crossroads. We need to be successful now more than any other time in our industry’s history,” Gebolys told the crowd.
Hear Gebolys’ comments here:

He was joined on stage by Manning Feraci, the NBB’s director of governmental affairs, and Lisa Ryan with the NBB’s political action committee.

Feraci said it is the “big three” in Washington that will determine biodiesel’s future in this country: the renewal of the federal tax incentive that keeps biodiesel competitive with petroleum, the CCC Bioenergy program, and the new Renewable Fuels Standard that will target biodiesel production at 500 million gallons a year in 2009 and a billion gallons a year by 2012.
Listen to Feraci and Gebolys discuss the big three:

Ryan stressed the importance of going all out to be successful politically this year. “We cannot have a half-baked effort going forward if we really want this to be successful.”
Listen to Ryan’s comments here:

All three stressed the importance of working as a team to get Washington to give the biodiesel industry what it needs to be viable.

A new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) shows the quality of biodiesel has made significant gains from just a couple of years ago.

During a session completed just moments ago at the 2008 National Biodiesel Conference and expo here in Orlando, Fla., Teresa Alleman, a senior chemist with NREL says 90 percent of the biodiesel her lab tested met national fuel quality standards.

“We hit some of the most important (specifications) for engine operability, and we were able to sample about 70 percent of the producers in the market. The high success rate of meeting the specifications is good news for the industry,” Alleman said.

She says they tested specifications such as flash point, free and total glycerines, metals, water and sentiment levels, and oxidation stability… just to name a few. Alleman says a previous test in 2005 showed a 15 percent failure to meet specifations and 59 percent off specifications in 2006… although she points out the 2006 number was from jobbers and terminals, not at the producer level.

She hopes this new report will give consumers more confidence in biodiesel.

“I happen to drive a diesel Jeep, and this tells me that when my husband fills up (with biodiesel) before he picks me up from the airport to get home, I will get home!”

Listen to the whole interview with Alleman here:

Now here is a real biodiesel champion.

Last night, the NBB honored staff member Lola Helming, with the Dedicated Service Award. Helming has been the office coordinator for 15 years and was NBB’s first official employee. Most who have contacted the NBB headquarters have received Helming’s warm greeting, and she has helped to keep the office running smoothly from biodiesel’s research days to the half-billion gallon industry it has become.

Congrats to Miss Lola!

Universal Studios announced today that it will increase the amount of biodiesel it is using at the popular Orlando theme park.

In a press conference today at the 2008 National Biodiesel Conference and Expo, David Winslow, Senior Director Engineering and Environmental Sustainability Technical Services, for NBC Universal, says the park is converting the ourboard engines that take guests from the park’s hotels to the attractions to B20 biodiesel. In addition, the percentage of biodiesel will be moved up to B50 and possibly even as high as B100 down the road.

The resort has already been running biodiesel in all of its mobile diesel engines, including its work trucks and employee shuttles. Winslow says the expansion of the use of biodiesel is only natural. “It’s the right thing to do for our environment. The resort is running cleaner, smoother, and greener thanks to biodiesel.”

So when guests go to see the Jaws attraction, they’ll be able to jump out of their skin as the mechanical shark makes his deathly lunge fueled by biodiesel.

I went to Universal just a few minutes ago to see firsthand how they are using the green fuel. Although Jaws was closed for scheduled maintenance, I still got to see behind the scenes where they fill up all of the vehicles with B20 biodiesel.

Check out this short movie I made (not quite Spiderman, but I’m working on it!).

Also, you can hear all of Winslow’s press conference he held today here:

Country music singer Michael Peterson likes to look at things just a little differently and in today’s general session he entertained the crowd with a sweet song about life “From the Grave to the Cradle.”

Michael is a great advocate for biodiesel and he is a wonderful entertainer and all around nice guy. He is preparing for a new tour that’s all about making a difference in the world and he promises to be talking about biodiesel wherever he appears. Check out the tour site myreallifetour.com.

You can listen to Michael’s song here:

National Biodiesel Board Vice Chairman Gary Haer says he is amazed at the turnout for this year’s National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida. He says the thousands of attendees at the event seemed to be determined to take on the challenges that are ahead.

Haer, who is also a VP of Sales and Marketing for Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group, has a producer’s perspective on the biodiesel industry. I had the chance to chat with him for a few minutes about where he says the industry heading.

First of all, he says there is a real void in the number of people who are trained to work with biodiesel. That’s why he was happy about this week’s announcement that the U.S. Department of Labor has joined with his company to come up with a curriculum to ramp up training and share Iowa’s industry expertise. Iowa Biofuels Training International (IBTI) is pairing up with educational institutions and biofuels producers with potential green collar workers. The programs are designed to train individuals for full-time ethanol and biodiesel laboratory, maintenance and operations positions.

Of course, the biggest issue facing the industry right now (and of course, the buzz around the conference) is the high cost of feedstocks. “We are faced right now with very high feedstock costs that are making profit margins compromised and sacrificed. It’s very difficult to find those opportunities for profitable sales today.”

He says the next 12 months will be very challenging, but he’s optimistic after that. “Then I think the market will make some adjustments. We’ll see some new feedstocks, new research that will level the playing field, and the market will sort those things out as we get into 2009,” Haer noted.

He adds that 2009 is when the Renewable Fuels Standard really gets going for biodiesel with a government standard of a billion gallons a year to be produced in the next few years.

You can all of my interview with Gary Haer by clicking here:

The fifth annual “Eye on Biodiesel” awards were presented today at the conference general session.

Two Florida-based industries were presented with top honors. Florida Power and Light received the “Initiative” award for using B20 in their entire diesel fleet of almost 2500 vehicles. Director of Fleet Services George Survant, here with Joe Jobe, accepted the award.

In addition, NBB presented the Pioneer award to NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center for switching to B20 in 2003 in its fleet of 144 diesel-powered vehicles. Bruce Chesson with NASA Transportation was spotlighted for his work and he accepted the award on-stage from NBB Chairman Ed Hegland, NBB CEO Joe Jobe and country music singer Michael Peterson.

Other awards presented included the Impact award, which was presented to GROWMARK, Inc., for demonstrating its ongoing commitment to the advancement of the biodiesel industry. The company’s bidiesel sales grew from 10,000 gallons in 2000 to an estimated 22.7 MILLION gallons in 2007. GROWMARK’s marketing manager for alternative fuels Mark Dehner, pictured here with Michael Peterson, accepted the award.

The National Oilheat Research Alliance received this year’s Industry Partnership award for its efforts in Bioheat heating oil education. NORA president John Huber accepted the award, pictured here with Ed, Joe and Michael.

The Inspiration award this year went to David E. Harris Jr., general manager of transporation services for Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Harvard made the switch to B20 five years ago and now fuels 68 vehicles with the blend. Harris meets with potential biodiesel users, represents Harvard at biodiesel evetns and its the leading member and Harvard representative on the EPA’s Greater Boston Breathes Better program. He is pictured here with Joe.

Tom Smallwood of the US Marine Corps accepted the “Influence” Award from Michael for use of biodiesel in the Marine Corps. Under Tom’s leadership, use of biodiesel has skyrocketed since 2001. Ninety percent of Marine Corps bases now use biodiesel.

Finally, Cummins, Inc. was presented the “Innovation” award for the company’s multi-year research efforts on engine compatibility with biodiesel blends which led them to be one of the first companies to support the use of biodiesel blends in their diesel engines. Edward Lyford-Pike accepted the award on behalf of Cummins.

Read the NBB press release here.

One of the things the National Biodiesel Board is showing folks at this year’s convention (and outside the convention for that matter) is how biodiesel performs as well as, if not better than, any petroleum diesel out there.

To prove the point, the board has a “Ride-and-drive” event where the general public can get behind the wheel of a 2008 Dodge Pickup, a Jeep Cherokee, or a Volkswagen TDI and truly see for themselves how well these vehicles perform on the greener biodiesel.

One of those taking up the offer was country music star Michael Peterson, who took the Dodge Pickup around the block.

Here’s a quick video I shot as he returned from the ride and had some great comments about how well it performed: