Above: Dem. gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown outlines his plan to create a half-million green jobs in California by 2020, at New Leaf Biofuel in Barrio Logan on August 26, 2010.
SAN DIEGO — California’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown was in San Diego Thursday for a campaign stop at New Leaf Biofuel in Barrio Logan. The company converts used cooking oil into biodiesel. Brown said small, renewable energy businesses are the wave of the future.
“This is small business, but it is reflective of the seeds of change that California must invest in,” said Brown. “Yes, we need to support our large, existing businesses, but we need the climate for innovation and creativity.”
Brown urged the defeat of Proposition 23, the California November ballot measure that would suspend the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32, until unemployment rates improve. Brown said rejecting the measure could create a half-million clean-tech jobs.
Rep. candidate Meg Whitman said she hasn’t made a final decision on the measure, but said her plan for a one-year moratorium on the law would be better for the state.
The EU continues its reign as the world’s largest biodiesel producer, but nearly two-thirds of the region’s installed production capacity is currently idle. According to the European Biodiesel Board, the EU produced approximately 9 million metric tons of biodiesel in 2009, while installed capacity measured nearly 22 million tons. Even with this high percentage of unutilized capacity, the EU produced about 65 percent of the world’s biodiesel last year. Overall, the EU produced 16.6 percent more biodiesel in 2009 than 2008, although not all areas of the region contributed to this increase. While Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain increased production in 2009, production in Germany, Greece and the UK decreased. Currently, the top three biodiesel producing nations in Europe are Germany, France and Spain. As of July, 245 biodiesel plants exist in the EU, a slight decrease compared to 2008 statistics.
If you really want to know what’s happening with biodiesel around the world, you couldn’t do much better than this great report, I hope you will all take a moment to read it.
Educational ads help spread the message that biodiesel is America's first and only commercially available advanced biofuel.
The National Biodiesel Board captured the advanced biofuels message in advocacy ads that ran in Washington-based publications, The Hill, Politico and Roll Call.
Biodiesel is an advanced biofuel. It is next generation fuel. It is the fuel of the future, here now. But as National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe points out, others threaten to define biodiesel. “The key is securing biodiesel’s image as next generation and claiming our identity as an advanced biofuel,” Jobe said. “As champions of the biodiesel industry, all of us need to repeat this message everywhere we go 40 times per day.” From a national view, NBB is working with industry leaders to provide tools and materials to help them enact this message in their own communications and strengthen biodiesel's position as an advanced biofuel.
So much work needs to be done, most Americans have only a vague notion of the biodiesel concept, we should see something about biodiesel—the people’s fuel—every time we turn on a tv set.
The butter sculpture's eventual fate 8-26-10
Geddes (WSYR-TV) - The giant butter sculpture is a perennial feature of the State Fair. After the 12 exciting days, however, it can't be spread on toast and eaten. Instead, the 800 pounds of butter are turned into biodiesel, biodegradable plastics or other natural products. This year's butter sculpture is called Dairyville 2020 and portrays a small, detailed farm complete with numerous other buildings, vehicles, and people. It is fun, but it's also a look at the food, energy and jobs a farm of the future can provide. The butter sculpture is located in the Dairy Products Building, right next to the NewsChannel 9 broadcast center.
This is becoming a tradition at this state fair, just what we need to help make biodiesel a part of our culture. I for one will never again think of fried food in the same way, hey, you cooked that in biodiesel.