Electric cars are currently in a variation of the innovation world’s infamous “valley of death,” the pre-profit period when most new products die. In this case, relatively few electric cars are selling well, mainly because they cost too much, go too short a distance before running out of charge, or both.
Plains Pipeline, the large Texas-based company responsible for the pipe that ruptured in Santa Barbara County, has accumulated 175 safety and maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert believes in an “all of the above” approach to energy. That means renewable fuels have to stand on their own merits and compete against established transportation fuels like oil and natural gas.
“We don’t think government should pick winners and losers; we think consumers should pick winners and losers,” Herbert said Thursday at the fourth annual Governor’s Utah Energy Development Summit in Salt Lake City. “The competition between the greener sources of energy and the traditional sources of energy are acute and demanding. What I see is, because of the competition between the various sources of energy, those that are greener and cleaner are having to find ways to compete and be economic.”
That also means that there’s pressure on the oil and gas industry, too, to get cleaner. Herbert, a Republican, said energy must achieve three objectives: sustainability, affordability and less dirty.
“There is a raised sensitivity in our society to make sure we’re responsible stewards of our home, the Earth.”
Although he announced no new initiatives for cleaner energy, he touted a new state report showing the strong impact the energy sector has on the state economy. Oil, natural gas, coal and other natural resources contribute $21 billion a year in activity for the state, the report said.
Herbert said the biggest challenge he faces is how to make sure there’s sufficient infrastructure, including enough energy — coal and natural gas for electricity generation, cost-effective gasoline and diesel for drivers — to meet the demands of a growing state.
“If anything keeps me awake at night, it’s, ‘How can I handle the challenges of growth? Well, energy is a big part of that also. Part of the challenge we have is planning and anticipating for the growth pressures that surely are going to happen, whether we like it or not. I actually think growth is a healthy thing.”
Later, during an onstage discussion with Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Herbert maintained that working with the private sector has helped Utah clean up its notoriously dirty air, which accumulates along the Wasatch Front in wintertime, an affliction known as “inversions.”
“We’ve reduced the pollution levels on the Wasatch Front by 87 percent,” he said. Some critics “it’s dirtier now than ever … well, it’s not.”
After a joke from moderator Jack Gerard of the American Petroleum Institute about Hickenlooper, a Democrat, possibly being a Democratic contender for vice president, Herbert said energy policy shouldn’t be a partisan issue in the 2016 campaign.
“The focus should be on the economy, having a healthy economy. We’re not there yet in this country. This is the longest, driest recovery period we’ve had since the Great Depression. Something’s not working right. … If your focus is on the economy, it’s got to be at least part of the focus on energy.”
“We have an opportunity to have a sustainability where we don’t have to risk national security, or our economic well-being, because the people we have to deal with [importing oil] don’t like us.”
(Photo: Utah Office of Energy)
Lung and adrenal lesions found in dead bottlenose dolphins stranded along the Gulf of Mexico between June 2010 and December 2012 are consistent with the types of damage that marine mammals sustain from exposure to petroleum products after an oil spill, according to a new study published on Wednesday by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
June 1 will mark the day when the Environmental Protection Agency finally gets around to issuing its new requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standards Act, after a delay of more than two years.
The EPA found itself between a rock and a hard place in 2013, when declining gasoline consumption pushed the ethanol production value specified by the 2006 act over the “blend wall” — the 10 percent mark at which ethanol mixture allegedly surpasses the 10 percent threshold for E10 blended gasoline. This can be a problem, because higher concentrations of ethanol are only approved in relatively newer vehicles.
The EPA punted in 2013, then again last year. Now at least the EPA seems ready to resume its responsibilities. The agency sent its proposal over to the White House Office of Budget and Management earlier this month, but no word has leaked out. The June 1 proposals will not be finalized until November.
Some biofuels producers argue that the agency should push past the 10 percent blend wall. The EPA has already approved E15 — a blend of up to 15 percent ethanol — for light duty vehicles, including trucks, SUVs and cars, made in model year 2001 and since then. Flex-fuel vehicles can also tolerate blends of up to E85. But there are questions about whether some older vehicles built before 2001 could potentially be harmed by higher blends. Automakers have threatened to void warranties for these cars if they use ethanol blends higher than E10.
The oil industry, which opposes raising the RFS, argues that the infrastructure for distributing blends higher than E10 does not exist and would be very expensive to put into place. Outfitting a gas station with E15 and E85 pumps brings added cost. Since 95 percent of gas stations are owned by independent operators, the chances that they will make this investment are very slim. Oil company and gas station operators say it is the biofuels industry that should make this investment. No one has been able to resolve this stalemate.
The EPA’s decision will come at a time when things are looking up for the biofuels industry. The Energy Information Administration recently announced that biofuel production hit 14.3 billion gallons last year, the highest output ever. Moreover, this increased production has been driven by new technologies. “If ethanol plant yields per bushel of corn in 2014 had remained at 1997 levels, the ethanol industry would have needed to grind an additional 343 million bushels, or 7% more corn,” reports Energy Global.
“To supply this incremental quantity of corn without withdrawing bushels from other uses would have required 2.2 million additional acres of corn to be cultivated, an area roughly equivalent to half the land area of New Jersey.”
Improvements in ethanol’s productivity have come from:
1) Larger-scale operations that have allowed better process technology such as finer grinding of corn to increase starch conversion
2) Better temperature of fermentation, which optimizes productivity
3) Better enzymes and yeast strains used in the process
Much of this extra production has been absorbed by revving up exports. U.S. ethanol exports reached an all-time peak of 1.087 billion gallons in 2011-2012, then slumped to 554 million gallons in 2012-2013 but bounced back to 792 million gallons in 2013-2014. This year exports are once again up 9 percent and may approach the 2011-2012 record.
Canada is our largest export target, but most of the ups and downs depend on what is happening in Brazil. That country has a mandate of 27 percent ethanol — mostly from sugar cane — but high sugar prices have cut into Brazilian production, and 70 refineries have gone out of business. Therefore Brazil has become more dependent on American corn ethanol to fulfill the requirements. As a result, the U.S. has been a net exporter of biofuels for the last five years.
Ethanol producers are also making progress in making the higher blends more recognizable and acceptable to motorists. American Ethanol just celebrated a five-year partnership with NASCAR that resulted in the circuit’s race cars running on E15.
“This has been a tremendous partnership,” Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy, told AgriNews. “We are thrilled to help NASCAR in its green efforts and NASCAR’s high-performance racing has been the perfect validator for E15, a cleaner burning fuel that is less expensive and has a higher octane content, which improves performance.”
Biofuels advocates claim the use of E15 has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent over the 7 million miles traveled by the race cars in the last five years.
In Rensselaer, Indiana, the Iroquois BioEnergy Co. has opened a retail gas station that will offer ethanol blends E10, E15, E30 and E85. The station was partially funded by an Indiana Corn Marketing Council Flex Fuel Infrastructure grant.
“We want to use this pump to show the public the economic advantages of higher ethanol blends,” said Gunner Greene of Iroquois BioEnergy. “Our intent is to target those with flex-fuel vehicles who may not have a thorough understanding of the advantages of those vehicles.” The company was surprised to discover that 75 percent of its initial sales were for E85, with E30 coming in second place. They did not expect the demand for the higher blends to be so solid. The Corn Marketing Council has plans to fund 16 more flex-fuel stations around the state.
If the EPA approves the use of E30 and higher blends for nearly all cars, the country will probably be able to absorb the industry’s higher output. If not, exports may still pick up the slack. Either way, the ethanol industry is in much better shape than is commonly credited.
The natural-gas industry and people who promote gas as a cleaner fuel alternative need to “manage” environmental concerns about fracking, a key economist said at the fourth annual Governor’s Utah Energy Development Summit.
Dan North, chief economist for the credit-insurance company Euler Hermes North America, said Wednesday that despite the abundance and cheapness of natural gas compared with oil, only 3 percent of natural gas is used in transportation.
He said there are 17 million passenger vehicles around the world that run on natural gas (primarily CNG and LNG), but only 100,000 such vehicles in the United States. “This is an enormous opportunity going forward,” North said. “It’s terrific that we have this cheap natural gas.”
But, he added, “WE do have to manage one thing, which is the environmental concerns about fracking.” After listing all the countries, states and municipalities that have banned the oil-and-gas drilling technique also known as hydraulic fracturing, North said: “Environmental concerns have not been addressed well enough.”
The United States faces a startling array of global security threats, demanding national resolve and the resolve of our closest allies in Europe and Asia. The pathway to achieving U.S. goals is as simple as ensuring that allies and friends have access to secure supplies of energy.
The lower gas prices Americans have been enjoying for the past several months were supposed to boost consumer spending and get the ball rolling on more robust economic growth. That didn’t happen, and a new survey has a revealing insight as to why.
About two-thirds of worldwide methanol production comes from natural gas, something the U.S. has in abundance at the moment. Methanol can even be made from coal, another feedstock that’s bountiful in the U.S.
A ruptured pipeline in Goleta leaked an estimated 21,000 gallons of crude oil Tuesday, some of which flowed into the ocean off Santa Barbara County, authorities said.
