The 2011 National Biodiesel Conference has been a great one according to everyone I have spoken with. To wrap things up I spoke with Donnell Rehagen, COO, National Biodiesel Board. He says that we had approximately 1,100 in attendance and it looked like business was getting done. Yesterday NBB held its annual membership meeting and approved projects and a plan … Read More

I want to say a big thanks to New Holland for their support of the Biodiesel Conference Blog and in particular Gene Hemphill, past Eye on Biodiesel Award winner. I spoke with Gene about New Holland’s support for the industry. He reminded me of a trip I took with him and NBB CEO Joe Jobe to Jay Leno’s Garage where … Read More

Manning Feraci is the Vice President for Federal Affairs for the National Biodiesel Board. He took the stage during our last general session to talk about advancing to the next level of effectiveness in the capitol halls of America. Some current resources regarding legislative issues are available on the NBB website: * Renewable Fuel Standard – RFS-2 Action Center * … Read More

The full governing board of the National Biodiesel Board took the stage today for a little recognition during our general session. You can find a list of them on the NBB website. 2011 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

The “Eye on Biodiesel” Awards were presented today during our last general session at the conference. I’m going to list them with their comments from the stage starting with the Inspiration Award. Accepting was Nick Portonova. Inspiration: Deer Valley Unified School District. This Arizona school district began its biodiesel program in 1999, long before the fuel was a known quantity. … Read More

During the second general session we heard about the role of government policy in advancing biodiesel from a panel of experts. Participating on the panel were moderator Shelby Neal – National Biodiesel Board; Eric Bowen – Renewable Energy Group Inc./California Biodiesel Alliance Chairman; Ed Hegland – Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council/NBB Past Chairman; Steven Levy – Sprague Energy; Rebecca … Read More

The Chairman of the National Biodiesel Board is Gary Haer, REG. Before he took the stage I spoke with him and he says that everyone is upbeat here at the conference and excited about the prospects in 2011. He says the RFS provides a demand that biodiesel will fill as the only advanced biofuel. He also says that NBB will … Read More

Educational sessions are an integral part of the National Biodiesel Conference. The sessions are broken up into different interest areas. As time allows I hope to feature a few interviews from these sessions. Technical Track The technical track is targeted primarily to engineers, chemists and other technical professionals. Sessions will cover subjects from a research perspective and will serve as … Read More

Inside the trade show during lunch you can find some very interesting biodiesel powered vehicles. The showcase session included comments from various auto company and vehicle representatives, some of whom are revealing their latest products here at the show. The vehicles themselves will be on display throughout the show so if you haven’t stopped by take time to visit. Pictured … Read More

The keynote speaker at the opening general session this morning was Michael Shermer, Skeptic Magazine. It was important to hear how pseudo science can so easily affect public opinion. It was also entertaining to hear and see some of his examples. After the session I spoke with Michael and asked him to summarize a key point he made in his … Read More

At this year’s conference we got a repeat of last year’s petroleum industry experts panel. Included are Ron Marr – Minnesota Soybean Processors; David Blatnik – Marathon Petroleum Company; John Cusick – Morgan Stanley Capital Group.; Bruce Heine – Magellan Midstream Partners; Jim Lelio – Kinder Morgan Pipeline Group and C. Mike Reed – NIC Holding Corp. They discuss the … Read More

Our opening general session is now taking place and NBB CEO Joe Jobe just left the stage. Joe gave us a rousing opening speech and I’ve recorded it for you so that you can listen or download below. Joe says the conference will rock and he hopes that all the attendees will have opportunities to conduct some real business as … Read More

During the Super Bowl party you could support the National Biodiesel Foundation in several ways that included buying raffle tickets for a post-half time raffle. Also in progress is a silent auction for some very incredible items like an autographed album by the Beatles. If you’re at the conference the silent auction runs through Tuesday. Hint, hint. I spoke about … Read More

The 2011 National Biodiesel Conference is underway and the party has started. The Super Bowl Party that is. Before the game the CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, Joe Jobe, played meet the press in the media room. He’s seen here being interviewed. I spoke with him to get an “advance” look at this year’s conference. Joe starts out by … Read More

It is time to start thinking about the next National Biodiesel Conference, coming up February 6-9 in Phoenix. Registration is now open with special early bird discounts until available until November 19. The theme of the 2011 conference is “Advance” – reflecting the fact that biodiesel is classified as an advanced biofuel by EPA under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2). … Read More