Hill Announces Positive

Preliminary Results Of Using

Advanced Drying Trailers To

Remove Moisture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ABOUT RANDY W. HILL: Randy W. Hill is a Texas entrepreneur who is best known for his endeavors in real estate and transportation. He now serves as president and chief executive officer of APT Advanced Trailer and Equipment LP, as well as president and chief executive of a number of privately held real estate holding companies. Hill is credited with the discovery of using semi trailers to procure and dry various agricultural products. In April 2009, Hill announced plans to provide research funding along with equipment to the University of Idaho to explore the use of the Advanced Drying Trailer to remove moisture from wood chips that are used to fuel the university’s biomass steam boiler plant in Moscow, Idaho. For further information please contact Advanced Trailer at 1-800-860-1360 or on their web site at www.advancedtrailer.com

“>

Yesterday we talked about how revolutions begin from the bottom up. But revolutions finally win when the government itself joins in:

http://www.clarkforkchronicle.com/article.php/20090924175931614

In Montana, a bill has been introduced to encourage public institutions to join the biomass revolution:

“The bill (H.R. 2170) would create a revolving loan fund to be used by public institutions, such as schools and hospitals, to cover the initial costs of converting to woody biomass for energy production. The institutions would be able to pay back the zero-interest loans with the savings in energy costs. The measure would also ensure the institutions receiving such loans use woody biomass for not less than 75 percent of their energy consumption.”

An incentive like this is an investment in the future. And it is another sign that tomorrow’s energy is already being produced today. And it’s called biomass.

How does a revolution begin? It begins when ordinary people start doing the extraordinary. That’s why the biomass revolution is taking off:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gAjcasVLKyLBnMPrfKAqPiExcbLgD9AT728O1

As this story points out, here is a major agriculture company starting to shift its sights to biomass:

“Farm equipment manufacturer Agco Corp. said Wednesday it wants to use an Energy Department grant of up to $5 million for a project focused on the efficient collection and transportation of biomass to production plants for processing.”

In other words, Agco is doing something outside its ordinary line of business. That’s how a revolution starts. And I can’t wait to see where it takes us!

Michigan used to be the car capital of the world. Now it’s experimenting with biomass:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4kkYcH25RUuxdNcEsfar8GN3_VgD9AOLAN00

As the article notes:

“The deal between the L’Anse Warden Electric Co. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency is the first of its kind in Michigan. It’s part of the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program, which is designed to make alternative energy more economical.

“The government will match the amount L’Anse pays individuals or businesses that supply it with waste wood for conversion to steam energy, up to $45 per dry ton.”

So if biomass is taking hold in Michigan, it can take hold anywhere.  In fact, it already is.

Don’t believe that biomass is the future? You’re right. It’s the now.

The Department of Agriculture just issued its first matching payment under the Biomass Crop Assistance Program:

http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=3083

Here is how it works:

“Under the BCAP program, the USDA will provide financial assistance to biomass producers who sell their crops to qualified biomass conversion facilities for up to 75 percent of the cost of establishing and planting eligible biomass crops within a BCAP project area. In addition, the USDA will provide annual payments to help compensate for lost opportunity costs until the crops are established, and will provide further financial assistance for the collection, harvest, storage and transportation of biomass crops by matching the amounts paid to producers by the biomass conversion facility, up to $45 per dry ton.”

I know this kind of incentive can work.  In 2002, the farm bill funded the storage and handling of peanuts at the exact same price: $45.  As a result, I saw tremendous growth in the peanut industry.

In other words, the United States government is again providing a financial incentive, this time to create biomass…not tomorrow…not next year…but today.

“>

“>

Today I released my fourth ebook, this one entitled “Blowin’ in the Wind.” It makes the case that wind energy is affordable and available. Check it out on the website at:

http://www.rwhill.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Wind-ebook.pdf

“>

“>

“>

Yesterday, we announced the preliminary findings from the University of Idaho’s study of the Advanced Trailer for Biomass. But the power of this idea is not limited to Idaho.

The potential for biomass is huge. From the East Coast to the West Coast, from South Texas to the border of Canada, biomass has the potential to change how energy is produced. For the last few months our company has discussed creating a project with North Carolina State University. This week we filed for a Department of Energy grant with N.C. State as our partner. The grant would implement a pilot project for a biomass power plant that will use a small fleet of Advanced Drying Trailers to transport, procure and store wooden biomass. This would be the first project of this kind ever implemented that uses a semi trailer to harvest, transport and remove moisture from woodchips prior to their arrival at the power plant.

This could be another great step forward in the steady march to the future of energy.

Earlier in the week we said we’d have some news on our biomass research. Here is the first big announcement:

The preliminary research that has been done by the University of Idaho shows that the Advanced Trailer for Biomass works well; in fact, even better than expected. The University is still testing, but the early returns show that the trailer has effectively dried a number of loads of wood chips. It has been effective in drying the wood chips using both heated air and non-heated air.  The university is putting together a report that will suggest how to adjust the trailer to make it even more effective.

But the bottom line is this: biomass has been held back in the past because there were no good ways to dry the wood chips. Now, there is. The future of energy in America is about to begin.