Dr. Steven Chu, distinguished scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997), was appointed by President Obama as the 12th Secretary of Energy and sworn into office on Jan 21, 2009. He is charged with helping implement President Obama’s ambitious agenda to invest in substitute and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs, a very large task indeed.

In 2004, the United States consumed 20.7 million barrels of petroleum products per day (about 7.5 billion barrels per year). A barrel contains 42 gallons, so total petroleum consumption in 2004 was about 318 billion gallons. Roughly 60% (~190 billion gallons) of petroleum consumed was imported, with about 13% (~40 billion gallons) coming from Persian Gulf countries. The United States primarily imports crude oil but also imports petroleum products including completed motor gasoline, aviation fuel, and fuel oil. The United States Says imported about 15 billion gallons of completed motor gasoline and gasoline-blending components in 2004. (Source: Annual Energy Outlook 2006 from the Energy Information Administration).

Biofuels are liquid, solid, or gaseous fuels derived from renewable biological sources. The biomass can be burned directly for thermal energy or converted to other high-value energy sources including ethanol, biodiesel, methanol, hydrogen, or methane. Currently, ethanol from corn grain and biodiesel are the only biofuels produced in the United States on an industrial scale.  Current biodiesel in the United States in prefabricated from used cooking oil, yellow grease, waste vegetable oil and animal fats.

Most of the 4 billion gallons of ethanol produced in 2005 came from 13% of the U.S. corn crops thus igniting the food vs. fuel debate. This was an increase from the 3.4 billion gallons produced in 2004. Ethanol is widely used as a fuel additive. The oxygen contained in ethanol improves gasoline combustibility. E10 & E85 blends are acquirable from gas stations all over the United States Say this fuel is widely acquirable in corn-producing states. E85 can be used as a substitute for gasoline in cars that have been altered to use this biofuel.

Biodiesel is a biologically derived diesel fuel substitute created by chemically reacting vegetable oils or animal fats with alcohol. Most biodiesel in the United States comes from soybean oil or restaurant greases. Biodiesel is readily used by cars with diesel engines. In 2005, about 75 million gallons of biodiesel were produced, tripling the 25 million gallons produced in 2004.

Creating a minimum blend stipulation for the United States the biodiesel biofuels industry will help accomplish the goals of substitute and renewable energy expansion, place a halt on our addiction to foreign oil, reduce the effects of the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.
Substitute energy research does not stop with Algae or Jatropha, other plants such as the cassava and the Honge tree from India are alternatives for renewable green fuel feedstock sources. The research in these areas will help end our addiction to foreign oil, reduce harmful emissions by introducing green renewable fuel alternatives. Jobs will be created for agricultural research, farmers and renewable fuel industries from fuels home grown in the USA.

70CentsaGallon Inc. a Florida Biofuels technology company has started a petition for submittal to the new Secretary of Energy. They hope this petition will help secure America’s future prosperity for our future generations through a biofuel mandate. They only ask for your support of the petition for a minimum blend for bio-diesel in the USA. The petition is being hosted online at GoPetition.com and you can reach this particular petition at this link http://gopetition.com/online/29302.html

Enterprise Holdings, owner of the Alamo Rent-A-Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental brand names, made a big announcement in support of biodiesel during day two at the National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Grapevine, Texas.

Big Business Goes Green

The company announced its commitment to move its entire fleet of more than 600 shuttle buses to B20 within the next 5 years, beginning with incorporating at least B5 in all its buses this year.

Nine Enterprise Holdings markets will convert to using B20 in its shuttle buses immediately, said Lee Broughton, director of corporate identity and sustainability for Enterprise Holdings, and by the end of next year, 50 percent of Enterprise Holdings’ shuttle buses will be running on B20.

Broughton said the company will have reduced its petroleum consumption by 420,000 gallons in the first year alone.

Also announced was the appointment of Richard Sayre as director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.

Sayre, former cellular plant and molecular biology professor at Ohio State University, and his team of 10 researchers will work to develop algae for biofuels, and will focus efforts in ways such as utilizing CO2 from coal-fired power plants to help grow algae, which would act as a carbon sink. Sayre said nutrients could be provided to the algae with water from sewage treatment facilities.

“We can use the contaminants as fertilizer,” he said. “Algae doubles it biomass in 24 hours, and it can be harvested daily,” he added—which captured the attention of the Department of Defense.

Sayre said algae’s energy balance today is only about 2:1, but theoretically this can increase four to six times with research and development.