Immediately following the welcome was a discussion on EPA regulations and specifically on RFS2 from early February 2010. [LINK RFS2] There was a great summary of RFS2 provided by the EPA and also a realization that renewable fuels lifecycle science has evolved significantly over the last year gearing up to the EPA regulation release. The National Academy of Sciences will also review EPA�s approach on RFS2 to confirm science.
Continue Reading →Welcome and opening remarks: 8am 2/16
The full conference kicked off this morning with a welcome and a series of presentations and comments from the Renewable Fuels Association and the EPA. We heard from RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen that the state of the ethanol industry is strong, that 10.6 billion gallons were produced last year, and that there is a lot of work remaining for this industry to take advantage of opportunities ahead. Dinneen’s energetic recounting of ethanol industry growth ...
Continue Reading →The 15th Annual National Ethanol Conference
The 15th Annual National Ethanol Conference takes place in Orlando, Florida from February 15-17, 2010. Alleyn Harned, Virginia Clean Cities’ Program Coordinator, is at the conference and the below weblog is his view of the action. Check back throughout the conference to hear the latest in ethanol, and the discussions about the opportunities and challenges facing this renewable fuel industry.
If you have any burning questions and can’t make the meeting, email or comment directly to the blog Alleyn and ...
Continue Reading →Arrival at RFA's Ethanol Conference: 7pm 2/15
Ethanol industry representatives from all over the country have gathered here in Orlando Florida for the Renewable Fuels Association’s 15th Annual National Ethanol Conference. The pre-conference welcome activities this evening included a packed reception that ran the lengths of the foyer and lobby. After chatting with several ethanol producers from the Midwest, listening to innovators from New York, and getting an education on sorghum, I was able to briefly catch up with Osage representatives. This meeting appears well attended and ...
Continue Reading →Fuel Cell Vehicles and Infrastructure
By Alleyn Harned | January 28, 2010 at 06:23 PM EST |
Even with the switch to an all fuels approach from hydrogen specific goals of the past, a number of excellent commercial vehicles have experienced considerable testing and are moving towards commercialization. Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, and GM are expecting to commercialize and sell tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles between 2015 and 2020. These vehicles are going to be full sized or SUV vehicles.
Honda discussed their FCX Clarity (which ...
Continue Reading →Public Policies for Sustainable Transportation
By Alleyn Harned | January 28, 2010 at 06:27 PM EST |
A policy discussion was held at the end of the day on Wednesday. The bottom line was that as a country, we need to dominate alternate fuel technologies and components in this challenging budget environment. Much of the discussion revolved anticipation for the President’s State of The Union in the evening. I’m sure participants were pleased that President Obama emphasized alternate fuels technology and research in his comments, and ...
Continue Reading →The Gas Tax
By Alleyn Harned | January 28, 2010 at 06:56 PM EST
The featured speaker for the closing luncheon was Mike Jackson, Chairman and CEO of AutoNation, an organization of dealerships. Mike had some excellent comments on the consumer reality of advanced vehicle technologies and clean fuel alternatives. Namely, Mike advised that without the price driver of $4 gasoline, American consumers were going to keep going back to their gas guzzling clunkers. Mike spoke from experience and suggested that fuel cost needed ...
Continue Reading →Fuel Cell Policies and Technology
By Alleyn Harned | January 28, 2010 at 06:45 PM EST |
Many vehicle technology improvements go together and continue to advance the goal for more efficient vehicles. Fuel cell technology has the potential to move much larger vehicles than batteries can realistically move. Over the last 7 years, the fuel cell stack at Honda has become smaller and more powerful, loosing 4/5ths of its weight, and 3/4ths of its size to provide 100kw of power. Fuel Cell vehicles can have ...
Continue Reading →Unlocking the Grid
By Alleyn Harned | January 28, 2010 at 06:40 PM EST
The consensus of many here is that “dumb charging” will be a liability to electric cars and to the electricity grid.
Great presentation from eTec on their massive deployment project. deploying multiple models of electric vehicle infrastructure in five states throughout the country, this program is going to impact 10,000 vehicles, and thousands of level 2 charging stations. Smart grid and demand response will be built in. This is one to ...
Continue Reading →The Smart Grid
By Alleyn Harned | January 27, 2010 at 12:21 PM EST |
There was a great morning session on the technologies and policies needed for effective management of electric power and electric fueling. The panel identified vehicle electrification as the prime appliance driving the smart grid. Again, the panel stressed open standards for charging and information management, and advancing intelligent communication with the grid from square one. As technology advances we can move from a binary smart grid to a granular ...
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