Fuels

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that average expenditures for the major home heating energy sources will decline for most households this winter compared with last winter because of warmer forecast temperatures across much of the country. Forecast changes in household heating expenditures vary significantly by both fuel and region. For the average U.S. household, EIA expects that both ...

R.W. Beckett, North Ridgeville, Ohio, announced that its AFG burner will be rated for R95+ fuel, which is a 95% renewable diesel, by 2020. This new capability will provide communities, fuel dealers, and service technicians a pathway to a net-zero carbon solution for the heating industry, the manufacturer said in an announcement on Sept. 16 Initial adoption is anticipated in ...

Small refinery exemptions by the Environmental Protection Agency threaten the market for biodiesel and biodiesel-blended heating oil “aka Bioheat fuel,” the New England Fuel Institute says in its NEFI Energy Online News. EPA approved 31 small refinery exemptions (SREs) for oil refiners in 2018, according to the Aug. 20 issue of the newsletter, known as NEON. “These SREs threaten the ...

Renewable Energy Group, Inc. announced the closing of its New Boston, Texas, biorefinery due to challenging business conditions and continued federal policy uncertainty, most notably the long-lapsed federal biodiesel tax credit. The company acquired the 15-million gallon per-year biodiesel plant near Texarkana, Texas, in October, 2012, and began producing biodiesel there several months later. The facility is capable of running ...

Industry groups including NEFI criticized a proposed rule under the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) program that would set the minimum amount of renewable fuels that must be supplied to the market in calendar year 2020, as well as the biomass-based diesel volume standard for calendar year 2021. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, upon issuing the proposed rule on July 5, said ...

On May 31, 2019, Entergy Nuclear Generation Co., a business unit of Entergy Corp., permanently closed its 679 (summer-weighted) megawatt Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station located along Cape Cod Bay, EIA reported on June 13. Entergy announced in October 2015 that Pilgrim was retiring because of the relative cost of operating the plant compared with the level of wholesale power prices ...

Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, writes that aspirations and predictions for new fuels and technologies are high, but these must be evaluated in the context of reality to meet the needs of the trucking industry. He writes: Diesel – the most energy efficient internal combustion engine – remains the technology of choice in the trucking industry. ...

Kenworth Truck Company and Toyota Motor North America are collaborating to develop 10 zero-emission Kenworth T680s powered by Toyota hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrains. This collaboration is part of a $41 million Zero and Near-Zero Emissions Freight Facilities (ZANZEFF) grant preliminarily awarded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), with the Port of Los Angeles as the prime applicant. The grant monies are ...

A report that ranks the 50 states by “friendliness to rooftop solar” finds that, for 2019, the top four are Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Maryland, plus Washington, D.C. Solar Power Rocks (SPR), an organization in Portland, Ore., that collects and disseminates information for homeowners about state and national solar policy, incentives, and financial estimates, announced Jan. 16 that its 2019 State Solar Power ...

Cynthia (CJ) Warner has been named president and chief executive officer of Renewable Energy Group, Inc., the company’s board of directors announced on Dec. 6. The appointment is effective Jan. 14, at which time she will also join the Board of Directors. Randy Howard, who has served as president and CEO since July 2017, will remain on the board and ...