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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 04 September 2005 |
Although the Australian Tax Office
finally now recognises biodiesel as an alternative fuel, with
concessions available to commercial producers, there are good
disincentives in place for the home enthusiast/producer. The ATO
demands that any quantity of biodiesel made for home use, even the
tiniest sample, must first be tested to see if it meets Australian
Standards, then an excise tax of 38 per litre needs to be paid to the
government (which will be refunded if it can be proved that the home
made biodiesel meets Australian Standards). This prevents the legal
production effectively, as unless a producer only made very large
batches, they will be forced to pay for expensive chemical analysis for
each batch they make. Also, there’s hardly an abundance of Australian
Government/ATO certified biodiesel testing labs lying around waiting
for the home user’s samples.
This has caused the death of what could have been a clean, green
thriving scene, driving all the home enthusiasts underground, even
afraid to talk in public about what they are doing. Promoting the fuel
with all its benefits has been effectively stifled, as few are willing
to stick their neck out to admit to making it.
Shame on our politicians.
There is a group that has formed specifically to fight this. They
argue that home brewed biodiesel should be taxed in the same way as
beer – if you make it for your own consumption and do not sell it,
there is no tax. The group is called Biodiesel Excise Exemption Reform,
or BEER. They have been running a campaign for many years, which has
mostly fallen on deaf ears. Here are some documents that they made for
the purpose of lobbying politicians:
BEER Letter
BEER Press Sheet
Both of these PDF documents are designed as forms for you to add you information and send them on to your MP or senator.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 25 September 2005 )
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Written by Robert
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Thursday, 01 September 2005 |
From:
http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2005/06/university_of_n.html
Biodiesel
from Algae is Here!
17 June 2005
The Energy Blog
This possibility
of attaining self sufficiency in liquid fuels, as
envisioned by
Michael
Briggs of the University of New Hampshire Biodiesel Group, has
been brought a
giant step foreword by the developments of GreenFuels
Technology Corporation
of Cambridge, MA.
GreenFuel's algae bioreactor system produces
high-quality clean air
biofuelsT from algae grown using smokestack emissions.
The company
claims that the fuels prices are competitive with conventional
fossil fuel
products. Biofuels are produced at the same time that emissions
are being
decreased. Using smokestack emissions as its feedstock, a
site-
configurable GreenFuel installation grows a year-round 'cash crop'
of
commercial grade algae. At the same time the process reduces the NOx
by
up to 86% and the CO2 by 40% of the smokestack emissions (2)
The
system's basic unit comprises a series of 8 foot (2.5 meter)
tall
bioreactors, in a unique triangle shape. The triangle legs are
clear
polycarbonate tubes 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) in
diameter,
through which water and algae are continuously circulated. The
hypotenuse
is oriented facing the sun to aid in photosynthesis, and the
horizontal and
vertical legs are often in the hypotenuse's shadow. Fluid
circulation
(flowing
through the lit hypotenuse, then the darker legs, and
back to the
hypotenuse) is balanced to provide optimum light exposure to the
growing
algae. Flue gases are pumped into the base of each triangle, and the
algae
removes the NOx and CO2 as the gas makes a single pass up through
the
triangle. The gases are not recirculated or cycled through more than
one
triangle.(3)
Since August 2004, the GreenFuel team has been
growing algae on the flue
gases from an MIT cogeneration plant, and
harvesting algae 'crops' daily.
Algae reduce NOx day and night, regardless of
weather or lighting
conditions. The process is essentially an effect of the
surface
configuration
of the algae cell walls. Even dead algae can provide
significant NOx
reduction, up to 70 percent. The harvested algae can be used
to generate
renewable biofuel products, meaning an algae-based emissions
reduction
system could theoretically enable a power plant to meet emerging
state
regulations for both CO2 reduction and renewable power
generation.(4)
During tests at MIT, the hypotenuse of the triangle was
exposed to flue gas
with approximately 13%. CO2 content. This CO2 is
assimilated by algae
which have been chosen according a protocol used by
NASA. It is not a
question of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), but
rather of algae that
have habituated to growing conditions. The gas cleaned
by the bioreactor
exits from the top, while a fraction of the algae is
drained daily. The
biomass
thus obtained can be used to produce biodiesel,
bioplastics, or molecules of
pharmaceutical interest.(5)
According to
Julianne Zimmerman, of GreenFuel management, "GreenFuel
is working to deploy
small scale field trials in the US in 2005 and 2006; we
aim to commence
operation of our first full-scale installations in 2008." An
energy utility
in the southwestern United States plans to roll out the
system
more
broadly later this year. (6)
The 10-person company is still in its early
stages. It has secured $2.1
million
in venture funding and in March hired
energy industry veteran Cary Bullock
as president and CEO. GreenFuel's
president Dr. Isaac Berzin admits,
however, that the GreenFuel system isn't a
perfect fit for every plant. For
one, the system requires unobstructed
sunlight, which translates to surface
area-in the case of even moderate size
plants, the system would cover
acres. But he says that a company survey
indicates that about 70 percent
of currently operating generating facilities
have adequate land area
available
on their existing grounds.(6)
To
further expand on possibility of attaining self sufficiency in liquid
fuels
the
following is offered: To replace all transportation fuels in the US,
we
would
need roughly 140 billion gallons of biodiesel. To produce that
amount of
biodiesel by growing soybeans would require almost 3 billion acres
or over 1
billion acres growing canola (rapeseed), at nominal yields of 48
and 127
gallons oil per acre, respectively.(7) To produce that amount, by
growing
algae producing 15,000 gallons per acre, would require a land mass
of
roughly 9.5 million acres (almost 15,000 square miles ). To put
these
numbers in perspective, consider that the Sonora desert in
the
southwestern US comprises 120,000 square miles...450 million acres
are
currently used for crop farming in the US, and over 500 million acres
are
used as grazing land for farm animals (1). As has been shown here it is
not
possible to grow enough of the more conventional crops to meet our
fuel
needs, but using algae it is possible.
This example is not to be
construed to mean that we have to switch all of
our vehicles to diesel
engines using biodiesel. Rather through conservation
using hybrids and
plug-in hybrids and more mass transportation, combined
with use of ethanol
and biodiesel there is a plausible roadmap to attaining
self sufficiency.
The Geenfuels system, the University of Wisconsin
process for making alkane
based biodiesel, and enzyme hydrolysis of
carbohydrates in ethanol production
all make producing large quantities of
biofuels more likely than it was six
months ago.
References:
(1) University of New Hampshire Biodiesel
Group
(2) GreenFuels Technology Company
(3) Power Engineering, November
2004, "Beta Test Set for Emission-
Fighting Algae Bioreactor"
(4) Electric
Light & Power, March 2005, "algae emissions reduction concept
shows new
promise"
(5) Biofutur no 255, May 2005, "An algae-based fuel"
(6)
News.Com, May 20, 2005, "Start-up Drills for Oil in Algae"
(7) Journey to
Forever, "Oil yields and characteristics".
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 03 September 2005 )
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Written by Robert
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Thursday, 01 September 2005 |
from Planet Ark and the REUTERS NEWS SERVICE...
German Biodiesel Sales
Strong as Oil Prices
Rise
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
GERMANY:
August 19, 2005
HAMBURG - German demand for biodiesel fuel made from
rapeseed is rising as
soaring oil prices make vehicle operators seek
alternatives, Germany's
biodiesel industry association said on
Thursday.
"Biodiesel demand has significantly increased in the past
few months as oil
prices rose so high," said Karin Retzlaff, of the
association of German
biodiesel producers VDB.
There are no official sales
statistics. "We have the impression sales are
growing especially in the
trucking sector which is facing the double impact
of Germany's new road toll
and higher diesel prices," Retzlaff said.
"Trucking companies are under
very heavy cost pressure and are looking for
quick methods of saving
money."
Biodiesel is 15 to 20 euro cents cheaper than conventional
diesel, largely
because of special tax breaks granted by Germany's government
to help the
industry. The price difference has risen by about five euro cents
in past
months as conventional fuel prices rose but biodiesel remained
unchanged.
German consumption this year was likely to rise to around 1.5
million tonnes
against 1.1 million tonnes in 2004 and only 720,000 tonnes in
2003,
association chairman Arnd von Wissel estimated.
Overall
consumption was difficult to estimate as strong demand was sucking
in imports
from neighbouring countries and could be higher.
"If you are running
fleets of thousands of trucks, savings of millions can
be made with
biodiesel," von Wissel said.
Farmers have also been turning to biodiesel
following the loss of special
tax breaks for agricultural diesel.
But
it is difficult for the German public to buy the fuel.
Many car
manufacturers have technical doubts about the fuel, so it is not
sold in
petrol stations run by the multinational oil companies. Biodiesel
blocks some
exhaust dust filters, can break pipes and pumps while it can
freeze in
Germany's very cold winters.
The industry finds the technical objections
exaggerated. "But this does mean
that private car consumption of biodiesel
from petrol pumps will be
limited," Retzlaff said.
However, millions
of motorists are already using biodiesel without knowing
it. Since early
2004, Germany has permitted oil companies to mix biodiesel
with conventional
fuels up to a maximum five percent biodiesel content.
About half of
German biodiesel is for blending with conventional diesel, von
Wissel
estimated. Again no precise figures are available.
MORE EXPANSION
PLANNED
German production capacity was likely to rise to around two
million tonnes
annually in early 2006 against 1.2 million tonnes at the start
of 2005, von
Wissel said. The sector was currently working at full
capacity.
Most production plants are owned by agricultural cooperatives
seeking new
markets for rapeseed, and other small companies.
But
global agribusiness giants are also undertaking major biodiesel projects
in
Germany. US group Cargill recently announced construction of a
production
plant in Mainz in central Germany to be operational in
2006.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. of the US is doubling biodiesel
production
capacity at its Oelmuhle Hamburg plant by the end of
2005.
Story by Michael Hogan
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 September 2005 )
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Written by Robert
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Thursday, 01 September 2005 |
Also from Greanleap list...
* US drivers look for greener (and cheaper)
alternatives
Joel Henderson isn't a hippie, a tree hugger, or even a fan
of
expensive organic foods. But he does worry about rising gas
prices,
so earlier this year he spent US$1,200 to convert his 2001
Ford
F-250 diesel pickup to run largely on grease that's been
discarded
from restaurants.
http://stcwa.org.au/journal/200805/1124198527_4318.html
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