Whether it's an ASTM-like or sustainability standard, there are a lot of ideas floating around to make biofuels like biodiesel and ethanol (and also upcoming fuels like biobutanol) more acceptable. The latest is to use a biofuels index to rate a particular fuel's positive or negative environmental impact, courtesy of a group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The idea for the ratings system (think four stars or thumbs up/down) came from a report from UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group and in the Goldman School of Public Policy called "Creating Markets for Green Biofuels: Measuring and Improving Environmental Performance." The study was partially supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Science Foundation's Climate Decision Making Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

In short, some organization would consider how the fuel was made (energy used to produce it, the type of biomass, etc.) and apply a rating based on how green it is. That's an awful bold idea, and a good one. I can't think of any easy way to implement it, but here's how one of the researchers says it could happen:

"We think it's feasible to design a workable and effective ratings system for green biofuels today with the types of information that many farmers and many biofuel production facilities already collect. The American biofuels industry can produce much greener biofuels than they do today, and I think they can do so at reasonable prices and at a profit," said Alex Farrell, assistant professor of energy and resources and director of the campus's Transportation Sustainability Research Center, according to Renewable Energy Today. He continues:

"Biofuels link markets in fuel, food and land in quite complicated ways, and there are no rules about how to judge the environmental and global warming impacts of producing and processing these fuels. As these technologies get better and cheaper, there will be competition for use of land, whether for food or wilderness. This is inherently a problem of biofuels. A discussion of biofuel labeling could help the domestic debate about how to develop biofuels."

You can read an abstract or download the paper here.

[Source: Robert Sanders / Renewable Energy Access]

We know Daryl Hannah and Willie Nelson are big into biodiesel. In Singapore recently, the Sustainable Biofuels Alliance (set up by the two celebs and biodiesel producers Bob and Kelly King) got its start by asking for sustainable standards for biofuels in the United States, according to Reuters.

Obviously, biodiesel standards (a la ASTM) would go a long way toward getting the fuel to be more accepted by automanufacturers, many of which currently get the fits if anyone puts anything higher than B5 into the tank. But what SBA is calling for is standards on how the fuel is produced, not the quality of the end result fuel. As Hannah told Reuters: "I want biofuels that are grown and produced in a sustainable manner. I would not buy biodiesel made from palm oil... or from a bunch of animals poured in a vat."

SBA want "to have stringent norms for biodiesel in the world's top fuel consumer set up by September, backed by checks on the supply chain that will accredit firms seen as producing green fuels," the article reads.

[Source: Reuters via Ecorazzi]

The Clean Heavy Duty Vehicle Conference wrapped up yesterday near Universal Studios in Los Angeles. A few hundred attendees heard industry experts from manufacturing, government, suppliers and research speak to a variety of topics affecting heavy-duty trucks and buses.

Since 2007 marks the first phase of new government regulations on diesel-engine emissions and there's another round of rules coming in 2010, this year's conference focused heavily on new fuels and advanced technology that's coming to market.

One conference of special interest to me was titled "OEM Roundtable: Moving Toward 2010 and Beyond" because it gave a peek at how manufacturers will deal with new regulations to lower NOx output.

"The technology is here," said Dr. Michael Readey of Caterpillar. "Engineering them into different applications is most challenging."

Take selective catalytic reduction (SCR) using urea. Adapting the technology to long-haul trucks wouldn't be a problem, but medium-duty chassis cabs are used in myriad applications. Finding the right location for the tank and exhaust system would vary between different types of service bodies mounted on the truck frames.

"Urea has the highest efficiency," added Alan Karkkainen of International Truck & Engine, who also raised the question of investing in "stranded technology."

What if, asked Karkkainen, new developments within the engine combustion made required solutions, such as exhaust aftertreatments, out of date?

Speakers were encouraged by advancements in hybrid technology but one big question seemed to loom over biodiesel. Without stricter controls on production and formulas, sensitive emissions equipment could be affected.

"We got to get away from splash blending. We've done surveys of B5 and found it ranged from B-nothing to B-everything," said one speaker, saying that refineries should decided on a nationally approved formula "so we all have the same fuel."

The biodiesel industry is rather fractured, and one company is challenging the loose standards it sees by promoting a new fuel. Blue Sun Biodiesel says more than 60 percent of the biodiesel fuel produced in the U.S. does not meet ASTM standards. The company says its new fuel, called Blue Sun Fusion, goes beyond those standards. According to the company, government incentives have spurred growth in the biodiesel industry but many facilities are strugglng to meet accepted standards or are trying unproven technologies. Blue Sun says its Fusion fuel is produced by fusing premium ingredients. The fuel contains 20 percent biodiesel and meets EPA alternative fuel standards. Blue Sun B20 is already available in Colorado, New Mexico and Idaho.

[Source: Blue Sun]