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Hutchinson
salt mine first to take biodiesel underground
HUTCHINSON, Kansas, January 4,
2005 (ENS): The Hutchinson Salt
mine in Hutchinson, Kansas is the first
mine of any kind in the United States to
use 100 percent biodiesel fuel called B100
to power its machines underground.
Biodiesel is a renewable, alternative fuel
to petroleum diesel and is made from soybeans
grown in the United States as well as other
fats and vegetable oils. It burns cleaner,
reduces emissions like particulate matter
by 47 percent and cuts carcinogens 80 to
90 percent. Biodiesel is sulfur free, non-flammable
and biodegrades faster than sugar.
“We use B100 biodiesel in everything
underground that runs on diesel,”
said Max Liby, vice president of manufacturing
for the mine. “The main benefit is
we’ve cleaned up soot in the air and
have cut particulates."
"Workers, particularly the operator
of the loaders, like the soy biodiesel much
better because they say particulates do
not get in their nostrils and the air is
noticeably cleaner," said Liby.
"Also, lubricity is much greater than
if we used regular diesel fuel, so the injector
pumps and injectors work more efficiently.
The soy biodiesel actually cleans the injectors,”
he said.
The Hutchinson Salt Company’s main
product is highway salt for icy weather.
Clients include the states of Missouri,
Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Illinois, and
the city of Chicago.
The salt mine is one of more than 500 fleets
using biodiesel fuel. That number is expected
to continue to rise, in part due to a biodiesel
tax incentive bill that became law on January
1. The tax incentive is expected to make
biodiesel more accessible to the general
public as it will narrow the cost gap between
biodiesel and regular diesel fuel.
“Biodiesel is a great fuel for use
inside mines,” said Harold Kraus,
soybean farmer and a director of the National
Biodiesel Board, an industry association.
“It is made from a natural product,
so the air mine workers breathe from B100
is also natural. Besides cutting emissions,
biodiesel also has a pleasant odor when
it burns,” he said.
“Soybeans are important to Kansas
not only for the vegetable oil biodiesel
comes from, but also for the animal industry,
as Kansas is the largest producer of packed
beef in the United States,” Kraus
said.
“The animal industry is the largest
user of soybean meal, for its feed, plus
the waste fat from animals can be made into
biodiesel,” he said.
Other biodiesel users include the Missouri
Department of Transportation, all four branches
of the military, NASA, Harvard University,
the National Park Service, U.S. Postal Service,
and L.L. Bean. About 300 retail filling
stations make various biodiesel blends available
to the public, and more than 1,000 petroleum
distributors carry it nationwide.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2005/2005-01-04-09.asp#anchor4
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Banner year
forecast for wind power
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, December 23, 2004
(ENS): Wind power in North America will grow
at a record pace next year, finds a new study released
today by Emerging Energy Research (EER), a Cambridge
research and advisory firm.
"Wind plants are no longer the relics of environmental
activism in the 1980s," says William Ambrose, president
and founder of EER. "Wind power has now become
mainstream for U.S. and Canadian utilities."
While not all North American utilities have turned
on to wind energy technology, a growing number are beginning
to purchase substantial amounts of wind power, and others
are experimenting with new projects. These and other
findings are contained in "US/Canada Wind Power
Markets and Strategies, 2004-2010," EER’s
newest study of wind power growth.
The factors driving the growth of wind energy are many
- state and provincial renewable portfolio mandates
in the U.S. and Canada and the growing competitiveness
of wind technology as compared to rising natural gas
prices.
Failure by the U.S. Congress to renew the production
tax credit, a renewable energy incentive, at the end
of 2003 resulted in a complete shutdown of wind energy
projects in 2004.
Passage of a bill re-authorizing the production tax
credit in October restarted some of those projects but
the future is still uncertain as current tax credit
is due to expire at year-end 2005.
If the tax credit is not extended, the market is expected
to spike in 2005, as projects are accelerated to meet
the deadline, but will come crashing to a halt in 2006.
"If we can stabilize the regulatory environment,"
says Ambrose, "the industry would scale dramatically,
creating thousands of U.S. jobs in manufacturing, engineering,
and construction; reducing our dependency on foreign
and polluting energy; and ultimately rendering wind
power as a low cost energy source."
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), an industry
group, says wind power accounts for less than one percent
of the electricity generation in the United States,
but it is increasingly competitive in many areas with
other forms of electricity generation.
Wind power has become the fastest growing type of generation
in the United States, averaging over 23 percent growth
annually in the past five years, says the AWEA.
GE Wind, the only wind turbine manufacturer with full
scale facilities in North America, has emerged as the
dominant market leader. GE Wind has benefited from the
weakness of the dollar against the euro, providing it
with a decided cost advantage vis-à-vis its European
competitors, according to EER.
World market leader Vestas of Denmark has recently
announced plans to establish a manufacturing facility
in 2005 after having abandoned similar plans in 2003
when the production tax credit was allowed to expire.
Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa is in the process
of selecting a site in Pennsylvania for a blade plant.
For more information, visit: www.emerging-energy.com
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2004/2004-12-23-09.asp#anchor3
EPA buys three
years worth of biomass power
WASHINGTON, DC, December 23, 2004 (ENS):
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signed
a three year deal to buy electricity generated by the
burning of waste paper pulp. The electricity will power
the agency’s facilities in Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina.
The contract, signed November 1, but made public only
Wednesday, commits the EPA to purchase 100 million kilowatt
hours (kWh) of power in the form of renewable energy
certificates in each of the three years.
The waste pulp is generated from the operations of
the Weyerhaeuser paper mill in Port Wentworth, Georgia.
The electricity was procured through Unicoi Energy Services
by the Defense Energy Support Center, a branch of the
military that provides the Department of Defense and
other government agencies with fuel.
The largest EPA Green Power procurement to date, the
amount of power covered by the 100 million kilowatt
hours of renewable energy certificates is equivalent
to the energy consumed by 3,680 homes each year.
The EPA defines Green Power as electric power derived
from renewable resources such as wind, sun, and biomass
- including burning of wood waste, plant materials and
landfill gas.
Currently, the EPA annually purchases more than 220
million kWh of Green Power for 26 of its facilities,
laboratories and offices, across the nation, and Green
Power now accounts for 77 percent of EPA’s estimated
national electricity consumption.
In announcing the new power purchase on Wednesday,
the EPA mentioned that its purchases of green power
were mandated by White House Executive Order 13123 "Greening
the Government through Efficient Energy Management."
Signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999, the Order
requires that federal agencies reduce their greenhouse
gas emissions 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2010.
The Order encourages all federal agencies to expand
the use of Green Power by developing renewable energy
projects, supporting the development of renewable projects
by others on federal land and purchasing electricity
from renewable energy sources.
Green Power sources have lower emissions than fossil
fuel generating plants, and generally have less adverse
impact on the environment.
For more information on EPA’s Green Power program
in general, go to: http://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/greenpower.htm.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2004/2004-12-23-09.asp#anchor4
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