RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Biogas, landfill gas users win EPA onsite green power awards
By Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine.
The U.S. EPA has announced its annual Green Power Leadership Awards, this year recognizing 22 Green Power Partners and three renewable energy suppliers across the country.
Award winners are being recognized for their efforts in expanding the domestic renewable energy market through generating or purchasing green power.
All three winners in the onsite generation category were users of landfill gas or biogas—the city of Hayward, California, for its water pollution control facility; General Motors for its Ft. Wayne plant in Warren, Michigan, and New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Ethanol Counter-offensive to Protect RFS Continues
By Susanne Retka Schill, Ethanol Producer Magazine.
The ethanol industry’s counter-offensive to attacks on the renewable fuel standard (RFS) continues to pick up steam, leading up to November’s expected announcement on the renewable volume obligations.
After Growth Energy and Renewable Fuels Association jumped on a University of Tennessee report critical of corn ethanol last week, the agency working with the Fuels America Coalition, Smoot Tewes Group, sent out a memo to those that may be covering the Brookings Institute Panel or the U.S. EPA inspector general’s research on the lifecycle impacts of the RFS. The group questioned the objectivity of the Brookings Institute which received $430,000 from ExxonMobil in 2014 and its director of environmental and energy economics, Ted Gayer, who has long-held ties to the oil industry.
The media advisory also cited a news release statement from Jeremy Funk, communications director for the pro-renewable fuels group, Americans United for Change. Funk questioned the neutrality of two panelists in the Brooking Institute’s webinar: “We hope Mr. [Chris] Knittel and Mr. [Timothy] Searchinger will be transparent about their financial ties to Big Oil and not present themselves as objective critics of the RFS.” Funk noted “there is mountains of academic research showing that ethanol use significantly cuts down carbon emissions compared to gasoline made from dirty fossil fuels, whether it be from the Argonne National Laboratory, Purdue University, the University of Nebraska, Michigan State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Duke University, the University of Illinois-Chicago and others.”
New Ethanol Study Finds RFS “Created More Problems Than Solutions”
By Derek Markham, CleanTechnica
A ten-year review of the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by researchers at the University of Tennessee (UT) found that the RFS is "too reliant" on corn ethanol, and the production of this biofuel is resulting in additional water and soil problems, as well as "hampering advancements" in other biofuels.
Over the course of the last 10 years, corn ethanol has been lauded as being a bridge fuel solution that could reduce air pollution and increase national energy security in the US, and production of corn ethanol has gone from 4 billion gallons per year in 2005 to some 14.3 billion gallons per year in 2014. But corn ethanol hasn’t lived up to its promise as being a cleaner and more environmentally friendly fuel choice, even after an estimated $50 billion in subsidies, in part because of some of the ‘hidden’ costs of ethanol production, and this focus on corn ethanol has lead to a stagnated advanced biofuels industry, according to researchers.
One of the claims for increased corn ethanol production has been that it can help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through its wider adoption as a fuel, but that claim seems to have been refuted in this research, as academic studies have shown that it could actually contribute “to a sharp and overall increase of GHGs,” and that ethanol production and use “emits more particulate matter, ozone (as well as other smog precursors), and other air pollutants than gasoline."
Justin Trudeau Elected Prime Minister of Canada
By Paul Vieira, The Wall Street Journal.
OTTAWA—Canada’s Conservative leader was ousted in a national vote Monday after almost a decade in power, as voter discontent and a souring economy helped the son of long-serving Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau sweep into the top office.
Justin Trudeau’s centrist Liberal Party secured a majority government, with his party elected in 184 of the 338 districts across the country, after a hard-fought contest with incumbent Stephen Harper. Mr. Harper said last night that he would step down as party leader, after conceding to Mr. Trudeau.
Results from polls in the country’s most-populated regions, Quebec and Ontario, and from Canada’s Eastern Seaboard and the Pacific Coast city of Vancouver, showed a wave of Liberal red, marking an impressive victory in Mr. Trudeau’s first campaign as leader. The win represents the first Liberal majority in 15 years. The Conservatives won 99 seats, maintaining their bedrock support in the resource-rich western provinces, as well as in the bulk of rural Canada.
Obama: Clean energy is good for business, not just 'tree-huggers'
By Gregory Korte, USA Today News
WASHINGTON — The White House is enlisting Fortune 500 CEOs in its attempts to reach a breakthrough agreement on climate change, announcing agreements with 68 more companies committed to reducing their greenhouse gasses ahead of international talks in Paris.
The CEOs are among the 81 major companies that have now made specific commitments on climate. But just as important for President Obama, they're also putting a business-friendly face on his clean energy initiatives.
"Historically, when you start talking about an issue like climate change, the perception is that this is an environmental issue. It's for tree huggers, and that hard-headed business people either don't care about it or see it as a conflict with their bottom lines," Obama said after the meeting. "But for these companies, they’re discovering that they can enhance their bottom lines."
House GOP facing budget chaos without a leader as some still hang hopes on Ryan for speaker
By Adam Edelman, New York Daily News.
Their House is a fixer-upper. House Republicans returned to Washington Monday not knowing who their next leader might be and facing looming budget deadlines, as the disarray that has plagued the chamber in recent weeks showed no signs of ebbing any time soon.
Coming back from a weeklong Columbus Day recess, many GOP lawmakers in the chamber appeared to still be clinging to hope that Rep. Paul Ryan would decide to run for the speakership, even though the popular Wisconsin Republican has repeatedly stated he’s not interested in the thankless position.
Still, others within the House Freedom Caucus, the hardline conservative group that helped topple outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and scared off his heir apparent, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have signaled that not even Ryan could appease them.
Robust and Portable Biogas and Syngas Analyser
By Environmental Technology Online.
The new portable analyser Biogas and Syngas ETG MCA 100 Syn P, from ETG Risorse (Italy), is the ideal solution for the measurement and analysis processes for the Biogas to Syngas and burning due to its robustness, accuracy, reliability, and enhanced performance.
Unlike other analysers of the same type, ETG MCA 100 Syn P performs the analysis of different compounds such as CO, CO2, CH4 NDIR technology with a unique optical IR bench. The concentration of O2 is by E.C.
The measurement of the concentration of Hydrogen is made highly reliable thanks to the sensor measurement of Hydrogen based on TCD principle of operation (thermal conductivity); therefore not used for the measurement of Hydrogen, electrochemical cells or other sensors that could interfere with the measurements of Hydrocarbons.
California Considers Clean Power Plan Compliance Strategy
By Bloomberg BNA.
California is considering a strategy to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan based largely on its economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program and renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.
Earlier this month, the California Air Resources Board held the first of a series of workshops to solicit input on how to design the compliance plan that is due to the EPA by Sept. 6, 2016.
Announced by the EPA Aug. 3, the Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33) requires states to meet emissions targets, which will be phased in between 2022 and 2030. The centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s strategy to address climate change, the regulation aims to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. States must develop compliance plans based on EPA guidelines, or comply with a federal plan.
Oil industry blasts new Oregon carbon proposal
By Ian K. Kullgren, The Oregonian/OregonLive.
The oil industry on Monday took swipes at proposed changes that would tighten Oregon's clean fuels program, using the final hearing before the program takes effect next year to poke holes in the state's method for calculating carbon output.
Testifying before the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, oil industry advocates said the changes would make it more difficult for fuel distributors to comply with the law and needled officials for considering changes at the 11th hour. The changes would force fuel distributors to purchase biofuel with a smaller carbon footprint.
Oil lobbyists, in turn, were met by environmental groups who urged the department to speed ahead as planned and launch the program on Jan. 1, 2016, calling for urgent action to combat climate change.
Greenlane Biogas Signs Distribution Agreement with Sysadvance
Burnaby, BC – Greenlane Biogas has signed a distribution agreement with Sysadvance, a Portuguese company specializing in advanced gas separation systems that utilize pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technology. The agreement will allow Greenlane to distribute Sysadvance products in Canada, US and Mexico, and will see the two companies work together to integrate their systems to offer leading biogas upgrading solutions. The Sysadvance products Greenlane will distribute include the Nitrogen and Oxygen On-site Gas Generators, Methagen Biogas Purification system and other gas separations.
“We believe biogas is the environmentally friendly alternative energy for the future,” said José Machado, the CEO of Sysadvance. “Both companies bring complementary innovative gas upgrading technologies to the relationship and we believe that Greenlane’s large installation base and years of experience will be instrumental in turning the individual components into a properly integrated solution. We are excited to be working with Greenlane.”
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