Biofuel boost: Efforts under way to promote alternative fuels in New England

New England policymakers are floating ideas such as tax incentives to help boost alternative energy business in the region, and even committing to the use of biofuels-based state vehicles to lead by green example.

Until these ideas and policies can clear a complex web of federal, state and local hurdles, however, too many alternative energy companies still won't benefit. At least not yet. While there is still work to be done, there's plenty of movement particularly in Massachusetts and Connecticut to help support fledgling alternative energy companies and keep them here in New England. Earlier this month, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell asked state officials to make recommendations by July 2007 about how to increase the state government's use of alternative energy vehicles and plan for an increased demand for alternative fuel pumping stations.

Both opportunities, however, may elude some alternative fuel companies, such as Easthampton-based Greasecar Inc. For Greasecar, which specializes in technology to adapt diesel fuel cars to accept vegetable oil as fuel, the higher demand could mean a boost in business. But vegetable oil is not a certified biofuel by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or Bay State energy regulatory agencies. Greasecar has begun lobbying federal and state officials to win approval for vegetable oil, said Jeremie Spitzer, Greasecar general manager. Without the certification, Greasecar would have difficulty competing for municipal contracts to convert government vehicle fleets because government contracts must adhere to federal and state guidelines regulating biofuels.

Greasecar, which was founded in 2000 and employs 11 people, has 3,500 customers in all 50 states, said Spitzer. Its technology is designed for use on diesel cars. Drivers must collect vegetable oil from, for instance, local restaurants and then process the oil at home using a Greasecar filtration system. The technology is a two-part system, which includes a heating and filtration kit to fit a 55-gallon drum. Once the oil is cleaned it is pumped into the car. A separate device, which includes a digital display, is installed on the car to filter the oil further and monitor fuel levels and temperature.

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New bioenergy research center in Bay area

BERKELEY, CA — Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman has announced that a partnership of three national laboratories and three research universities in the San Francisco Bay Area has been chosen to host one of three bioenergy research centers, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).. This new center will be known as the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and is expected to receive $125 million in DOE funding over five years.

The six partners are the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the University of California (UC) campuses of Berkeley and Davis, and Stanford University.

“These centers will provide the transformational science needed for bioenergy breakthroughs to advance President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012, and assist in reducing America’s gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 10 years,” Secretary Bodman said. "

Research at the DOE JBEI will focus on biofuels – liquid fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass. Harnessing even a tiny fraction of the total solar energy available each year could meet most if not all of the nation’s annual transportation energy needs.

Scientific studies have consistently ranked biofuels among the top candidates for meeting large-scale energy needs, particularly in the transportation sector. However, the commercial-scale production of clean, efficient, cost-effective biofuels will require technology-transforming scientific breakthroughs.

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