Come get your fill of Flex Fuel E85 and Biodiesel B20 at Propel’s new Clean Fuel Point in Sacramento @ Mak’s Valero station, 1101 Broadway. During the Grand Opening event, try $10 of Flex Fuel E85 or Biodiesel B20 for FREE!
The Grand Opening celebration goes from Tuesday, September 11 through Friday, September 14, 10am – 7pm. Hope to see you all there!
Posted in Biodiesel, Ethanol, Events, Flex Fuel, Flex Fuel E85, Propel Biofuels, Propel Customers, Retail locations, Vehicles
Tagged alternative fuel, american fuel, American made, biodiesel driver, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, diesel, domestic fuel, E85, E85 driver, ethanol, flex fuel tahoe, ford diesel, ford ffv, global warming, Green Business, Jetta TDI, low-carbon fuel, propel, Propel customer, Propel Fuels, renewable fuel, Volkswagen TDI
Christmas trees are collected curbside in San Francisco. Credit: SFGate.com
In many American cities, nothing quite marks the end of the holiday season (or the beginning of the New Year) like gutters strewn with discarded Christmas trees.
But for the past 25 years, the city of San Francisco has been breathing new life into these signs of yester-yule with Recology’s “Treecycling” Program — an initiative that not only rescues Christmas castoffs from the local landfill but goes one step further by chipping the trees into valuable biomass, which can be used for things like renewable fuels.
According to Bob Besso, Recology’s waste reduction and recycling manager, who spoke with the Bay Citizen about the program, more than 500 tons of Christmas trees were collected in San Francisco in 2010.
Because of fir trees’ high acid content, they shouldn’t be mixed with regular compost, so turning the trees into wood chips is the preferred, if not perfect, alternative.
While the chipping process does result in air pollutants, it’s superior to allowing the trees to decompose, which would produce methane and 21 times the gases associated with chipping, according to Kevin Danaher, outreach and communication program manager with San Francisco Department of the Environment.
Perhaps the best solution for a city constantly on the cutting edge of eco-friendly practices? Renting fresh, if unconventional, Christmas trees that can be replanted following the holiday season through organizations such as Friends of the Urban Forest (the program was so popular, it sold out in 2011).
Still, fans of tradition and the environment can rest a little easier knowing that the fresh-cut variety can fuel more than the holiday spirit thanks to Treecycling efforts. To learn more about the program and to read the full story, vist The Bay Citizen online.
This is not your granddady’s diesel pickup truck. The Hajek Motor’s Ford F250 Super Duty powertrain truck recently broke the land speed record for diesel vehicles on the Bonneville Saltflats–then they filled ‘er up with Biodiesel B20, turned around, and broke the record again!
The previous speed record was set by a BMW motorcycle at 130 mph. The Hajek Ford F250 had slight modifications to upgrade the fuel injectors, fuel system, and turbocharge, but was otherwise mostly stock. Running petroleum diesel, the truck reach over 177 mph, but with biodiesel B20 they smashed the record, reaching speeds over 182 mph.
Depending on the feedstock, biodiesel delivers greater energy density than petroleum diesel. According to the National Biodiesel Board, the B20 used by Hajek was produced by a Missouri biodiesel plant and purchased and donated by the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council.
Read more from Autoblog.
Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Quality, Biodiesel Research, Driver Testimonials, Feedstocks, Green Business, News Links
Tagged alternative fuel, B20, bio-diesel, Biodiesel, Biodiesel B20, biodiesel driver, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, diesel, domestic fuel, Ford B20, ford diesel, Ford F250, low-carbon fuel, next generation fuel
This month marks the start of the FREEDOM Film Tour - a nationwide tour of screenings for the new, renewable fuel-focused documentary FREEDOM.
The latest labor of love from filmmakers Josh & Rebecca Tickell – the duo behind the 2008 award-winning documentary FUEL – FREEDOM takes place in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Moved to action by the physical and emotional impact of the spill, Josh and Rebecca take an international journey to investigate alternatives to fossil fuels.
As Patrick Robinson of the West Seattle Herald writes in the film’s first review:
“FREEDOM makes a completely compelling case that by converting our dependence on oil to a literally home grown source of energy we achieve several goals. First we improve our economy by spending energy dollars here, second we create more jobs, third we base our energy needs on a renewable resource (corn and biomass), fourth we reduce our impact on the environment.”
After kicking off in the Pacific Northwest, the tour will make its way - via the ethanol-fueled FREEDOM Bus – down the coast of California this week before heading through most major cities from Phoenix to Washington DC.
Propel is excited to join Josh, Rebecca and company in celebrating FREEDOM at its San Diego, CA, premiere tomorrow, August 12th, at the AMC Mission Valley theaters at 7pm. To join us at this screening, visit the San Diego premiere Facebook page.
For more information on FREEDOM, to view a full tour schedule or to buy the DVD, visit the FREEDOM Film online - and be sure to connect with fellow FREEDOM fans on Facebook.
Earlier this month. President Obama announced a a goal to reduce petroleum imports by one-third by 2025. As reported by Ethanol Producer Magazine, Propel Fuels discusses the role of fueling infrastructure in President Obama’s plan.
“The key to both fleet usage of the fuels and meeting President Obama’s goals is infrastructure,” Propel CEO Matt Horton is quoted as saying in the article. “We’ve got the vehicles today for high blend ethanol, we just need more incentive to build out the infrastructure and we’ll be there.”
To check out the full story, visit Ethanol Producer Magazine. Curious if you can help offset imported petroleum by filling with E85? Visit Propel’s Flex Fuel Vehicles page online, or find a Clean Fuel Point near you.
Judith Canales, Administrator for Rural Business and Cooperative Programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), stopped by Propel Fuels’ Oakland, California location to promote access to renewable fuel. Administrator Canales highlighted the beneficial economic and environmental impacts of American-produced biofuels.
Administrator Canales emphasized that a thriving domestic fuel industry will benefit the US economy. “The USDA is committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in rural America and we believe a strong renewable fuels industry, including convenient access to these fuels, is critical to this goal,” said Canales.
The USDA plans to increase access to domestically produced fuels by helping to fund the build out of 10,000 renewable fuel pumps across the country over the next five years. Retailers selected to receive USDA funds have yet to be determined.
“Propel shares the USDA’s vision for quickly increasing consumer access to renewable fuels in order to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, boost local economies, and reduce emissions,” said Jim Iacoponi, Vice President of Operations of Propel. “Through a partnership between private investment and public funds, Propel will continue to build the critical link between California’s drivers and the next generation of fuels.”
More on Administrator Canales’ visit to Propel:
Posted in At the Pump, Big Oil, Biodiesel, Flex Fuel, Flex Fuel E85, Green Business, Retail locations
Tagged alternative fuel, Biodiesel, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, domestic fuel, E85, ethanol, Green Business, green jobs, Judith Canales, low-carbon fuel, propel, Propel Fuels, renewable fuel, renewable fuel infrastructure, USDA
Plans for a biodiesel plant at Pier 92 in San Francisco have finally gained approval from the city’s Port Commission. The plant will produce 10 million gallons of waste-grease biodiesel each year, creating local production jobs as well as locally-produced, renewable fuel.
The plant will be in an old rendering facility run by Darling International, who has been in operation on the pier since the 1960s. The facility is already equipped to create tallow from grease and other waste products. The switch over to biodiesel production will include new odor-regulation devices and alert systems.
Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Feedstocks, Green Business, Green House Gases (GHG)
Tagged alternative fuel, Biodiesel, biodiesel production, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, diesel, domestic fuel, Green Business, low-carbon fuel, san francisco biodiesel, waste feedstock, waste grease biodiesel
New Leaf Biofuel is a waste-source biodiesel production company located in San Diego, CA. Propel had the opportunity to tour the New Leaf facility earlier this week.
Jennifer Case, CEO of New Leaf, hosted the facility tour, walking through the production process of using waste-oil and waste-grease refined into quality biodiesel fuel ready to put straight into tanks. New Leaf collects waste oil and grease from local San Diego restaurants to use as the feedstock for their biodiesel production.
New Leaf is a great example of a local producer working within a community to process waste products into quality renewable fuel.
Learn more about New Leaf Biofuels.
Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Biodiesel Quality, Biodiesel Research, blog, Feedstocks, Green Business, Vehicles
Tagged alternative fuel, Biodiesel, biodiesel driver, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, diesel, domestic fuel, Green Business, low-carbon fuel, next generation, next generation fuel, propel, waste feedstock
Of all the tons of corrugated cardboard recycled by the Cedar Rapids paper mill in Iowa, 5 percent of fibers from old containers cannot be recycled, which equates to about 50,000 tons of paper waste ending up in a landfill every year. Fiberight LLC plans to change this.
Fiberight has partnered with International Paper Cedar River to convert waste paper into cellulosic ethanol fuel. The clean tech company converted a first-generation corn ethanol plant in Blairstown, Iowa into a cellulosic ethanol production facility.
According to Todd Olstad, the paper mill’s operations manager, “through Fiberight’s new facility, we can now be assured that whatever recycled fiber can’t be made into new packaging can be used to create green energy, while helping us offset our disposal cost.”
By 2011, Fiberight’s facility will reach a final commercial production capacity of about 6 million gallons of cellulosic fuel per year.
Read more about Fiberight’s cellulosic fuel plant.
UC Davis test plot yields for advanced biofuel crops prove fruitful.
Findings from a three year switchgrass trial have shown increasing yields, from twelve to eighteen tons per acre depending on the site. Several switchgrass varieties were tested at facilities in El Centro & at UC Davis. Switchgrass has the potential to be a whole-plant cellulosic ethanol feedstock and is considered an important crop for the future of renewable fuels. The hardy grass begins its annual growth in the spring and can grow 4-7 feet tall. Leaves measure 30-90 centimeters in length.
Switchgrass uses C4 carbon fixation which means it is fairly efficient in the photosynthesis process and tolerates drought and high temperatures. The grass has low fertilizer requirements and grows well on marginal land.
Many of these hearty crops can grow on marginal lands and have the potential to produce biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol, and provide a new revenue source for American framers.
Read more about advanced feedstock research from Western Farm Press.
Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Biodiesel Research, Ethanol Research, Feedstocks, Green Business, News Links, Next Generation Feedstock, Uncategorized
Tagged advanced biofuel, alternative fuel, Biodiesel, biodiesel driver, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, ethanol, Green Business, low-carbon fuel, next generation, next generation fuel
The U.S. Air Force plans on using domestically produced Camelina-based jet fuel supplied by Sustainable Oils. The Defense Energy Support Center agreed to use 100,000 gallons through 2010 with the possibility for using another 100,000 gallons in the following two years.
Camelina is a non-food oilseed crop grown in parts of Oregon, Washington and Montana. In addition to the high quality of fuel produced from camelina, it can reduce carbon emissions by more than 80%.
“This is a great opportunity for Montana farmers to not only drive additional revenue, but also participate directly in decreasing our country’s reliance on foreign oil,” said Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer in the press release. “I know our agricultural community is up to the challenge to supply our armed forces with camelina-based fuels.”
Read more from Sustainable Oils.
Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Biodiesel Quality, Biodiesel Research, Emissions, Feedstocks, Green Business, News Links, Next Generation Feedstock
Tagged alternative fuel, alternative jet fuel, Biodiesel, biofuel, biofuel feedstock, camelina fuel, domestic fuel, feedstock, low-carbon fuel, Sustainable Oils, Targeted Growth
