Gina Bass's Page

Hello,
I am John Osborn. I am the new District FL-11 Leader for Pickens Plan. Come and visit our website and look at both the Events scheduled with movers and shakers in the nation and community as well as the new and updated data on the District FL-11 page. Add yourself to my friend list and also the District Group. If you attend one of our meetings, you will see the Pickens Plan has had new life breathed into it. Bring a friend, we have plenty of seating. We are having a guest speaker Thursday August 13th at 7:30 PM…see the Events tab on Pickens Plan website for maps and additional information.
Under my leadership you can have a tangible role in the operation of the district. Just let me know. Come to this months meeting and meet “David Gammon” of Progress Energy’s Renewable Energy Contracts department.
John Osborn
District FL-11 Leader

Could you help me?? I need people from your area to attend a VERY important event (see below) and I need to pick a captain for your area as well....please circulate as you see fit and contact me directly at:

faye@solarsource.net THANK YOU!

Thousands of New Jobs, Megawatts of Renewable Energy, Florida’s Green Economy BOOMING - ONLY YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Legislators tell us they MUST see YOUR Faces in Tallahassee in order to pass a Renewable Energy Dividend policy state wide. Transportation will be available to you from your nearest large metro area. Go to www.FAREnergy.org for details and registration.

Date: 03/24/09
Time: 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
Meet at: Tallahassee Community College Capitol Center
Downtown, 300 West Pensacola St
Please join us for this very important event!

Advocates of effective renewable energy policies will gather at the State Capitol on March 24th, 2009 to show their support for the most effective renewable energy policy our legislature can adopt: Renewable Energy Dividends. Join renewable energy businesses, experts, and advocates, including manufacturers and representatives from the world’s largest renewable energy industry companies. Replicating the success of Gainesville, Florida and introducing a Renewable Energy Dividend policy will bring widespread economic recovery and job creation to Florida, while establishing energy security and environmental stewardship.

Agenda:
7-8 am Registration
8-9:30 Briefing/Training
9:30-11:45 Lobbying
1 pm Rally & Press Conference
1-5 Lobbying
5:15 Debrief
6 pm Depart

Try to wear YELLOW. It can be a shirt, hat, scarf, ANYTHING to give a bolder message!

The Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy “FARE” is a coalition of concerned individuals, businesses, communities, associations, utilities, policy makers, non-profits, and renewable energy producers. FARE is dedicated to educating and engaging Floridians on effective Renewable Energy Policies.

Let Sunshine Power the Sunshine State!

Contact:

Faye Roller – Administrative Director
Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy
www.FAREnergy.org
faye@solarsource.net

Jane Maxwell - FARE Member:
727-709-3398
Register at www.FAREnergy.org

Glad to see there's a Gulf Coast group. I've lived in this area my entire life, and it seems that we usually sit on the sidelines of important issues. I've just joined, so I'll stay in touch and pass the word. I'd also love to hear from any North Florida members!

I hope your are safe and out of harms way.

Gina,

thank you so much for letting me know about your group and the showing of "Who killed the electric car" Its a great movie, I've seen it before and have met a couple people in the movie personally!

Hi Gina,

In response to your "whatcha got?", how about a national promotion to raise awareness and build grassroots support. And no matter what your talents or resources may be, you can help.

I've founded a group here at the Pickens Plan called "Musicians fo a Better Future". We're just starting out, and we'd like to arrange performance events in as many cities as possible around the world to promote clean, renewable domestic energy. We need people all over to get on board. Most of the people we'll need to make this happen aren't musicians either. We'll need organizers, promoters, media reps, event staff and so much more. Please have a look at our group and see if this might be something you'd like to do.

Thanks for your time,

Rev. Jake

Great promise lies ahead for Cellulosic Ethanol

Last December, Congress amended the national Renewable Fuel Standard, setting a goal that the U.S. will produce a whopping 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022. It's no surprise that much of this renewable fuel will be ethanol.

Given the rapid industrialization of Asia, global demand for fuel ethanol is steeply increasing and is expected to do so in the foreseeable future. In order to satisfy this big demand, let alone meet the Renewable Fuel Standard, there is a growing concern that the standard U.S. practice of mass producing fuel ethanol from corn won't be feasible. There simply isn't enough corn acreage available in America to meet the future domestic and international demands for fuel ethanol.

Scientists contend that the answer to this problem is cellulosic ethanol, a technology that is now under furious research and development at many universities, national labs, and private industries across the globe.

This is an interesting technology, because it makes ethanol from cellulose feedstocks such as ordinary trees, perennial grass and cropland residues instead of food crops such as corn or sugar cane.

Scientists contend that cellulosic ethanol, once it is perfected, can significantly reduce America's imports of foreign oil, while creating a big variety of "green collar" jobs including farmers, truck drivers, business professionals, engineers, and scientists.

Before cellulosic ethanol becomes a commercial reality, there are many technology hurdles to overcome. Crop scientists and chemical engineers are furiously studying the genetics, the molecular structure, and other biological aspects of trees and plants in order to improve the efficiency of cellulosic ethanol production.

Last year, our country embarked on a once-in-a-generation effort to study the underlying science needed to improve processing efficiency. In the meantime, scientists are making great headway. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded $125 million to establish the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a partnership between Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin, to study the science of processing cellulosic ethanol.

Also, Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University recently partnered with the Mascoma Corp. (a Massachusetts company), to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

Last May, at a scientific lecture in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Dr. Niels Lagvad of Danish Biogasol Corp. (www.biogasol.com). It was revealed that this company now has a proven, turnkey system to mass produce ethanol from a big range of perennial grasses and hemicellulosic feedstocks. He referred to the process as a "bolt-on, second-generation ethanol plant" which, in essence, attaches to the back end of a conventional plant making ethanol from food crops. "Second generation ethanol" refers to the use of non-food feedstocks to make ethanol, whereas, "first generation ethanol" refers to traditional methods that use food crops such as corn and sugar cane.

The immediate U.S. market for this Danish technology is to retrofit American corn-to-ethanol plants. In this concept, corn stover (corn leaves, stalks, and cobs) and distillers' grain (a voluminous, natural by-product of the corn-to-ethanol process) would be used as inexpensive feedstocks for ethanol production. The technology is now in the demonstration phase; a full-scale plant is planned for 2010 in Boardman, Ore., as part of a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Pacific Ethanol Corp.

Danish Biogasol also markets the same technology to electric power plants, regardless of whether the electric plant is fueled by coal, nuclear, natural gas or oil. Why this terrific market? Electric plants routinely produce massive amounts of waste heat. This waste heat is harnessed by the ethanol plant, which in turn greatly reduces the cost of ethanol processing. Imagine a line of semi-trucks, all loaded with massive bales of locally grown perennial grass, driving to the local electric plant - which makes fuel ethanol too.

I am excited to imagine where this technology is headed because America is blessed with abundant trees and native grass. I believe we're in for some hopeful times ahead: new jobs from locally made auto fuel with no imported oil.

greenmadesimple.com is the best link I have found on this site to date. You are my hero today. I will give you one in return with which you can Write to your Federal or State elected officials with one click at Congress.org
I hope you don't mind I copied your whole post at my page with, of course, credit (links) to you and your group

...I agree with you they are clueless!

I'm just education myself on Ethanol. I'm neither for nor against this technology. I did get a good response from a friend "Joel" who seems very educated on this matter:

You can read the full article by clicking here: