DOE Awards $8.6 Million to Increase Use and Availability of Alternative Fuels
27 October 2006
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $8.6 million for 16 projects to expand the use of alternative transportation fuels. Combined with funding from the participants, the projects will total more than $25 million.
The grants are part of the Clean Cities program and were selected under three topic areas including Refueling Infrastructure for E85 and Alternative Fuels; Incremental Cost for Alternative Fuel Vehicles; and Idle Reduction Training and Awareness for School Districts.
The selected projects represent significant diversity among the recipients and geographic location. They include pioneering efforts to bring alternative fuel infrastructure to regions of the country in which it does not currently exist.
The Refueling Infrastructure topic area considered projects that include new dispensing facilities, or additional equipment or upgrades and improvements to existing refueling sites for alternative fuel vehicles (AFV). The 13 projects selected under this topic include the installation of alternative fuel blending and refueling infrastructure at more than 180 locations in 25 states and the District of Columbia. This includes the installation of infrastructure to dispense E85 at both converted and new stations.
Additional projects involve the installation of biodiesel blending capabilities at existing petroleum facilities for improving the availability and distribution of low-level biodiesel blends. Two projects are focused on infrastructure for compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Successful implementation of the planned infrastructure projects is expected to result in reducing the consumption of petroleum-based fuels by up to 30 million gallons per year.
The Incremental Cost for Alternative Fuel Vehicles topic area provides support for projects for the incremental cost of placing new or converted highway-certified vehicles in service. A single project for propane-powered vehicles was selected under this topic area that is expected to result in the reduction of diesel fuel by over 100,000 gallons per year.
The Idle Reduction Training and Awareness for School Districts topic area considered the development and implementation of comprehensive school bus driver, student, faculty, and parent education and awareness programs to eliminate or reduce idling in school districts. Two projects were selected under this topic.
| DOE Alternative Fuels Projects | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refueling Infrastructure | ||||
| Organization | Project | Team | DOE funding | Total cost |
| WestStart-CALSTART Pasadena, CA |
Install 15 publicly accessible E85 refueling stations along interstate highways in the Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and the San Joaquin Valley areas. Additionally, five of these locations will potentially also have biodiesel fueling capability. | CleanFuel USA, United Oil, Pacific Ethanol, State of California, and General Motors. Clean Cities partners include Southern California, San Joaquin Valley, and Central Coast. | $495,000 | $2,371,363 |
| National Biodiesel Board Jefferson City, MO |
Install six biodiesel blending terminals at existing petroleum facilities in five states including Arizona, Florida, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania. The primary approach of the project is to market biodiesel in relatively low blending ratios with conventional diesel. | Sustainable Energy Strategies, HWRT Oil Company, Independence Biofuels, Inc., Sprague Energy, TransMontaigne, and West Central. Clean Cities partners include Greater Long Island, Greater Philadelphia, Tucson, and Florida Gold Coast. | $494,998 | $3,539,101 |
| World Energy Alternatives Chelsea, MA |
Install rack-injection, in-line blending capabilities at four diesel terminals including Tacoma, Washington; Champaign, Illinois; Robinson, Illinois; and Toledo, Ohio. The proposed in-line blending is expected to significantly improve quality control of the final product. | Marathon Petroleum Co, Sound Refining Inc, and the City of Toledo. Clean Cities partners include Puget Sound and Central Ohio. | $707,700 | $3,165,360 |
| Commonwealth of Virginia Richmond, VA |
Install up to 12 publicly accessible E85 fuel dispensing stations along the I-95, I-64 Crescent Corridor that passes through Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. This project will make E85 available to an estimated 15,000 public and private flex fuel vehicles. | State of Maryland, the DC Energy Office, the General Services Administration, and General Motors. Clean Cities partners include Virginia Hampton Roads, Maryland, and Metro Washington. | $284,000 | $767,000 |
| New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Albany, NY |
Install up to about 30 publicly accessible E85 refueling stations across the state of New York and leverage the New York State Thruway Authority’s activities in developing E85 along state thruways. | NY Department of Transportation, NY Department of Motor Vehicles, NY Thruway Authority, and NY Dept of Agriculture and Markets. Clean Cities partners include Western New York, Genesee Region, New York City, Greater Long Island, and Capital District. | $500,000 | $1,170,000 |
| Prometheus Energy Company Seattle, WA |
Install a liquefied natural gas (LNG) refueling station at the Kiefer Landfill, located in Sacramento, California. The station will serve the County of Sacramento’s fleet of garbage trucks that currently run on LNG and other LNG-capable waste hauling fleets that use the landfill. | NorthStar Inc., and the City of Sacramento | $600,000 | $1,200,000 |
| Triangle J Council of Governments Research Triangle Park, NC |
Install E85 refueling infrastructure at 21 stations and B20 infrastructure at 14 stations along heavily traveled interstates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. | United Energy, Osage, and Georgia Power. Clean Cities partners include Triangle, Palmetto State, East Tennessee, Middle Georgia, and Centralina. | $586,000 | $1,353,080 |
| State of Colorado Denver, CO |
Install publicly accessible E85 and biodiesel refueling stations at five locations throughout Colorado. Work will also include educating car dealers and the general public about the benefits of alternative fuels. | Great Western Ethanol, General Motors, and numerous state and county agencies. Clean Cities partners include Colorado Springs, Northern Colorado, and Denver Metro. | $350,000 | $1,047,000 |
| State of Indiana Indianapolis, IN |
Establish a network of E85 and Biodiesel refueling stations spanning from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. The project will coordinate the placement of 31 public access alternative fuel refueling stations along 886 miles of the I-65 corridor from Gary, Indiana to Mobile, Alabama including 19 stations in Indiana, three in Kentucky, three in Tennessee, and six in Alabama. | Indiana Soybean Board, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Kentucky Energy Office, the Tennessee Energy Office, and various retailer outlets. Clean Cities partners include Central Indiana, South Shore, Middle Tennessee, Central Alabama, and Kentucky. | $1,332,288 | $2,874,689 |
| Salt Lake City Clean Cities Utah Clean Cities Coalition Salt Lake City, UT |
Expand the compressed natural gas (CNG) public refueling structure with two additional stations and assist three CNG customers in adding refueling facilities for expanded fleet usage. The two public CNG facilities will be along I-15. | Questar Gas Co, Qwest Communications, Diamond Parking, and Durrent’s Bakery. | $370,000 | $1,259,600 |
| Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority Springfield, OR |
Establish one wholesale E85 rack in a centralized location and install a minimum of 15 E85 retail refueling stations in the Pacific Northwest along the I-5 corridor. | Oregon Department of Energy, Tyree Oil, Sequential Biofuels, and Star Oil. Clean Cities partners include Puget Sound and Columbia-Williamette. | $662,425 | $1,487,325 |
| Kum & Go, L.C. West Des Moines, IA |
Install E85 refueling infrastructure at 24 of their existing retail stations. Nineteen sites are in Iowa and the rest are in South Dakota and Minnesota. | General Motors | $1,500,000 | $3,500,000 |
| Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities Philadelphia, PA |
Convert 14 existing refueling infrastructure locations to have E85 dispensing capability. These stations will be located along a 200-mile corridor from State College, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. | General Motors, Independence BioFuel Inc., and various retailers including Worley & Obetz, and Shipley. | $280,380 | $914,880 |
| Incremental Cost of AFVs | ||||
| Organization | Project | Team | DOE funding | Total cost |
| Paramount Scaffold, Inc Carson, CA |
Receive cost share funding for the incremental cost of replacing 44 existing diesel-powered, medium-duty flat-bed trucks with 44 liquid-propane-powered trucks for the company’s service area of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. | CleanFuel USA and Expo Propane Inc. Clean Cities partners include Southern California. | $267,410 | $631,820 |
| Idle Reduction Training | ||||
| Organization | Project | Team | DOE funding | Total cost |
| Salt Lake City Clean Cities Utah Clean Cities Coalition Salt Lake City, UT |
Create and disseminate a model idle-reduction program that can be easily replicated by school districts across the country to help them reduce petroleum consumption, save on fuel costs, minimize harmful emissions, and protect children’s health. This project includes the development of an idle-reduction curriculum, training in six partnership school districts in Utah and Nevada, and the dissemination of the school bus idling reduction model to schools nationwide. The current idling baseline will be established to determine the effectiveness of the program. | National Energy Foundation, the Nevada Office of Energy, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the National School Board Association, the Cache County School District, the Washington County School District, and the Salt Lake School District. | $100,000 | $115,000 |
| Association of Central Oklahoma Governments Oklahoma, City, OK |
Conduct idle reduction training and awareness for school districts in central Oklahoma. The project will include the development and demonstration of techniques to reduce fuel usage and harmful emissions, demonstration of the benefits of idling policies, publishing and presentation of project results including best practices and fuel savings realized, training of transportation directors, bus drivers and key communicators, and dissemination of results to all Oklahoma school districts and school districts nationwide. | Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and the Choctaw Nicoma Park Public Schools. Clean Cities partners include Central Oklahoma. | $50,242 | $50,242 |
DOE has been awarding a lot of money for various green causes. Hope it's not just a pre-election "gesture"
Posted by: Hydrid+E85 | 27 October 2006 at 05:56 AM
$100 billion on war and maybe a combined $100 million on renewables, 1/1000th or 0.1% does not seem like enough to me.
Posted by: SJC | 27 October 2006 at 07:21 AM
SJC -
actually, if you just add up the DOE grants announced on this forum over the past few months, you'll get a figure well over $100 million. You can of course argue if hydrogen-related research should be included in the tally, but typically it is. It does seem as if the rate of grant awards has quickened substantially in the run-up to the election. To what extent are decisions by DOE bureaucrats directly linked to earmarks inserted into Congressional bills?
Considering the specificity and near-term horizon of these projects, it's actually fair to ask if the federal government should be spending the money this way at all - there is currently no shortage of private funding for this type of project.
On the other hand, the war in Iraq has by now cost some $300 billion, so your comparison still holds. However, considering the budget deficit, the answer may be to look for a way to end the wars rather than increase R&D funding.
Posted by: Rafael Seidl | 27 October 2006 at 08:20 AM
I don't include hydrogen unless it is from renewable resources. I was making a magnitude comparison. If we invest in renewables, we may not have to go to war.
Posted by: SJC | 27 October 2006 at 08:54 AM
Almost 25% of the funds to help GM and the E85 state of Indiana - this represents shrapnel of a pathetic energy policy
Posted by: fyi CO2 | 27 October 2006 at 08:55 AM
A little off topic, but I just found a pair of articles on algae over at MSNBC:
"Biocrude" venture.
And I think the more exciting of the two:
GreenFuel Tech's testing of their bioreactor system in Arizona a success:
"The experiment has been so successful that it's about to expand into greenhouses on the plant grounds, and in time, be grown in such large quantities that it could be converted into fuel, cutting down on harmful greenhouse gases."
Nice going. We may get that oil replacement yet. :)
Posted by: Cervus | 27 October 2006 at 10:04 AM
Those are good articles. They state that maybe 20 million desert acres growing algae could eliminate imported oil.
Posted by: SJC | 27 October 2006 at 10:59 AM
Nice links Cervus.
Posted by: allen_Z | 27 October 2006 at 12:51 PM
Idle reduction is a no brainer. It is also a carrot and stick scenario. The sticks are fuel costs, pollution and associated problems. The carrots are cleaner air, and lower operating costs.
Posted by: allen_Z | 27 October 2006 at 12:53 PM
If they want to increase availability of E85, start investing in ethanol plants. If they want to work on distribution of E85, start working with independant gas station companies and outlets like Kroeger and Walmart. There are many more cost effective ways for public/private groups to bring about the changes we need. We don't need LNG, when we can create SNG from biomass.
Posted by: SJC | 28 October 2006 at 10:51 AM