2008 Sundance Film Festival Gets Underway
I’m here in a bitterly cold Park City, Utah, for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Current temperature outside is 5, and the night before last registered at a polar -10 degrees F.
But hey, I’m at Sundance.
For the next ten days I’ll be on the lookout for films and panels pertaining to biofuels or the planet. It looks like Josh Tickell, the well-known author of From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank (who’s primarily responsible for the biodiesel homebrew movement in the last decade) has a film this year. It’s called Fields of Fuel.
I’ll also be collaborating with a colleague here to finish a short documentary we filmed last year called Veggie Truck. If it isn’t totally embarrassing (I haven’t watched the footage in almost a year) I’ll be posting it here.
Until then, I’ll be watching movies and fighting off frostbite.
I think you should post it especially if it is embarrassing!
Clayton,
Thanks for your excellent work in helping to speed the transition away from fossil fuels.
I have a question regarding the growing need for alt fuel infrastructure — do you know of any good policies or programs working to address this issue? This is a big deal in Utah, where we only have a handful of biodiesel and natural gas fueling stations.
Any info you have would be most helpful.
I will link you info to our info (http://utahcleanenergy.org/renew.htm#Biomass).
Keep up the stellar work and stay warm up there.
Sara,
Thanks for the comment.
I’m not an expert in the policy arena, so I threw this question out to the biofuels4oregon listeserv. Hopefully we’ll get a response.
I do know that infrastructure is lagging behind fuel and vehicle production. Biodiesel stations in Oregon seem to have originated due to local interest (people willing to pay $3 per gallon for biodiesel, even when gas was cheap), but many in the auto industry maintain that big Govt. will have to step in and mandate fueling stations for ethanol.
It’s an excellent question that I don’t have a great answer to :).
Hope you enjoy Utah. I went to school out there and it is an absolutely beautiful place. Looking forward to seeing your documentary!
Sara,
Here are some replies from the biofuels4oregon listserv:
Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit is great. By far and away the best
program in existence.
Main Oregon DOE website here: http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/index.shtml
Business Energy Tax Credit (aka BET-C) info here:
http://www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/CONS/BUS/BETC.shtml
The BET-C is simple. On any capital project you file for the BET-C with a
simple form. They approve it, you do the project, and the state offers a
50% Income Tax credit on the project. They also allow a pass through so
that a cash strapped business can sell the BET-C for cash up front with the
project. This makes the addition of a biofuel tank really attractive to
existing fuel providers. In particular if they are doing work on their
tank, dispensers, etc….. the construction project can easily add a BET-C
pump and tank and reduce the overall cost enough to pay back even with a
slower moving biofuel product.
Mark Fitz
StarOilco
The bio-fuels industry is a three legged stool where the industry has
focused on only two: production and marketing (mostly wholesale).
Distribution and infrastructure is lacking everywhere and when the talk
comes around to distribution, again, government and big oil skip bio-diesel
and ethanol, moving to a high profile, highly regulated (the better to
control you with), and therefore high $$$, distribution system like the
“Hydrogen Highway.”
There are general incentives for increasing alternative energy production
and distribution systems (BETC, Blender’s Credits, etc.) but no specific
incentives to support development of bio-fuel retail distribution and
delivery. Star Oil, Whole Energy, and SeQuential may have better information
on the subject for you.
How does one deal with the “Chicken and Egg” paradox with regard to
bio-fuels? How do bio-fuel distributors develop and sustain enough volume in
the market to become profitable before the start up capital runs out?
Especially, when as soon as you open your doors every petro dealer in your
neighborhood will do everything in its power, with the backing of their big
oil suppliers, to undercut you to keep its strangle hold on the fuel market.
If you are old enough to remember “Gas Wars,” this fight will be much more
intense than the internal disputes among oil companies for who gets to
control what market share.
Jeff, GO Bio Co.
P.S. The Gas Wars are over. They won. Guess who lost?
@2 Adam: Where did you go to school? (my undergrad was University of Utah)… The beauty is hard to beat, no question about that.
Thanks for your response; great information!
Keep up the excellent work.
Sara
[...] 2.0 writer Clayton B. Cornell meets Mr. Biodiesel himself, Josh Tickell, at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Tickell is author of several books on biodiesel, including From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank and [...]