I’ve always believed that NASCAR is about more than just racing. And here is more proof:

http://biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2011/06/13/nascar-converts-to-e15-ethanol-blends/

This season, NASCAR is experimenting with renewable energy:

“In Pennsylvania, the Sprint Cup Series competed yesterday using Sunoco Green E15 racing fuel. As promised in October when NASCAR announced that it would use ethanol in all three of its national series in 2011, this blend represents part of NASCAR’s initiative to ‘go green,’ which began about two and a half years ago.”

If NASCAR has success using renewable energy, it won’t be long before the car industry begins producing more cars that don’t use traditional oil. And that will be a great thing for our entire country.

Today we continue our series on the impact of the oil crisis. And we do so by focusing on what it means for our national security:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/6/gadhafi-could-wage-protracted-civil-war/

Twice in the last 20 years we have sent our military into a war in the Middle East to protect our interests. Could it be that we get drawn into another conflict over there?

“Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s well-equipped but poorly trained security forces can wage a protracted battle against rebel fighters, allowing the beleaguered Libyan leader to cling to power for months, according to analysts and former Libyan officials.”

Whether we get involved directly or not, the region seems likely to see fighting for some time. And with so much of our oil coming from the Middle East, that’s bad news for us.

Again, the question must be asked: shouldn’t we end our dependence on foreign oil?

Today we continue our series on what high gas prices mean. And we focus on what they mean for the other parts of the economy:

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110303/BIZ01/303030081/1148/rss1020/High-diesel-costs-may-push-other-prices-up?odyssey=nav|head

In many ways, gasoline is the lifeblood of our entire economy. Energy is what drives our cars and fuels our homes and offices. So when gas prices go up, there is a ripple effect on everything.  Think about it: there is almost nothing in your life that is not impacted by gas. As this article notes, this is especially true for diesel which is what fuels the trucks that transport so many products to the marketplace:

“The typical big rig gets about 6 miles to the gallon and can carry anywhere from 150 to 300 gallons of fuel. That means a fillup can cost $1,098 today compared to $849 a year ago. In the longer run…higher fuel costs will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for the goods delivered by trucks.”

This is the real danger: you and I will not only pay higher prices at the gas pump, but also at the store for everyday products we buy.

This is another reason why we need renewable energy here at home.

Life is what happens to us while we’re making other plans.

That’s an old saying that I’ve learned to appreciate over the years. As readers of this blog know, I was planning to make an announcement last Friday. And while that announcement is still coming, we’re having to work out a few details. This is a great reminder that things don’t always go according to plan. But they always work out in the end.

So stay tuned. The announcement will come. And it will be worth the wait!

As we continue our series on renewable energy, we focus on national security:

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2009895,00.html?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0wSBStNfY

As this article from Time points out, America needs to start getting off of foreign oil sooner rather than later:

“Moreover, lower U.S. consumption could reduce the international price of oil, which would decrease the funds flowing to the governments that depend heavily on oil revenue to finance policies unfriendly to the U.S. Foremost among those governments is Iran’s, which would have less money with which to build nuclear weapons and to support the terrorist organizations it sponsors. Another is Saudi Arabia’s, which uses its oil wealth to propagate an extreme form of Islamic fundamentalism known as Wahhabism, which has inspired many Middle Eastern terrorists, including those who attacked New York and Washington on 9/11. That means that by consuming so much oil, the U.S. is in effect fighting a war against terrorism while funding both sides.”

So renewable energy not only is good economic policy, it’s great national security policy.

Today we continue our series on renewable energy. Unfortunately, there is some bad news to report:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/08/11/renewable-energy-backers-wince-as-congress-raids-doe-coffers/

President Obama and Congressional Democrats just passed into law new spending for teachers and government employees. And from where did the extra money come?

“The $26 billion bill President Barack Obama signed Tuesday may spell relief for teachers’ unions and other public-sector employees, but it’s the latest blow for renewable energy backers. To help pay for the aid bill, lawmakers cut $1.5 billion from the Department of Energy’s renewable energy loan guarantee program. It’s the second time in roughly a year that Congress has raided the program to fund other priorities. Last summer, lawmakers cut $2 billion from the DOE’s renewable energy loan account to extend the highly popular Cash for Clunkers program. Congress has not repaid the agency that $2 billion, despite frequent promises by its leaders to do so. Taken together, the cuts have whittled the program’s budget down to $2.5 billion, less than half the $6 billion Congress appropriated in early 2009.”

Not only is this money being wasted on salaries for civil servants, but it’s taking money out of vital renewable energy programs. We need to be spending less money on government bureaucrats and more money on renewable energy projects that will help us build the future.

Last week we ended our series on the challenges facing Texas by discussing renewable energy.  This week we’ll begin a new series by focusing exclusively on this vital issue facing our state and our nation.

With America importing more and more of its oil from overseas, it’s long past time to expand our renewable energy programs here domestically.  And the good news is we are already starting to do it.  This week, I’ll be discussing renewable energy and some important new developments that my company is involved in.

So check us out this week!

The next major challenge facing our state is how to continue growing and diversifying our economy.

Over the years, Texas’ economy has changed many times. In the 1800s, we saw a largely agricultural economy. Then in the 1900s we saw an oil economy. In the 1990s we saw the growth of a high-tech economy. What will Texas’ economy be in the 21st century.

I believe it will be a combination of all of the above. Texas will again be a leader in energy as it was in the 1900s. But rather than oil, we’ll become a leader in renewable energy. And how will we do it? By combining technology with agriculture. For example, rather than just having cattle on a farm, we are seeing more ranch owners put up wind mills that help generate energy for people in other parts of the state. I believe we’ll continue to see more of that.

And I’m personally interested in using my Advanced Trailer to produce biomass energy, perhaps by drying wood chips from Texas Mesquite trees.

But to make Texas the leader in renewable energy, we’ll need a Governor who understands these issues and can create a positive business climate. And that’s yet another reason why I believe we need Rick Perry back in office again.

Today, we continue our series on surprising facts about the BP oil spill by looking at the sheer size of the spill:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-facts

According to this article, the size of the spill is much larger than you probably realize:

“19 million to 39 million gallons: Amount of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico in the month since the Deepwater Horizon spill. (Source: Huffington Post)

11,300 miles: The distance around the world the current amount of leaked oil would stretch if it was placed in milk jugs lined up side by side. To quantify, that’s farther than New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and back. (Source: New York Times)

102: The number of school gymnasiums that could theoretically be filled floor-to-ceiling with oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (Source: New York Times)

130 miles long and 70 miles wide: Size of the oil slick as of May 17. The slick continues to grow and move.”

Before this is over, the BP spill will replace the Valdez as the worst oil spill in American history. The sad part is, we still don’t know when or how it will end.

If you had any doubt about whether alternative energy is the way to go, look no farther than the Gulf of Mexico:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/18/gulf.oil.spill.main/?hpt=Sbin

This has always been one of the downsides to oil: it’s dangerous. As the article notes:

“But the well has been spewing an estimated 5,000 barrels a day into the Gulf since late April, when the drill rig Deepwater Horizon blew up and sank about 40 miles off Louisiana. Eleven workers are presumed dead after the sinking, and the cause has not been determined.”

For generations, oil has resulted in ecological problems and even endangered oil well workers. For safety reason alone, shouldn’t we look for an alternative? We have it. It’s called wind, solar and biomass. It’s better for our economy, better for our environment and better for our safety.

Readers of this blog are familiar with my belief that renewable energy is not only good for our economy, it’s great for our national security.  Apparently, the folks at the Pentagon agree with me:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1020332320100510?type=marketsNews

As the article notes:

“The Pentagon is working hard to promote development of biomass fuels that could power future fighter jets and other warplanes, but defense officials say it could take years to get a full-fledged industry on its feet. Top U.S. defense officials and executives from the petroleum, alternative fuels and renewable energy sectors are meeting outside Washington this week to address new technology developments and initiatives such as the Pentagon’s work on developing biofuels to power military aircraft. The long-term goal is to decrease U.S. dependence on foreign crude oil, said Air Force Colonel Francis Rechner, director of operations of the Defense Energy Support Center, run by the Pentagon’s main logistics agency.”

Can you imagine how much safer our country will be when we can fuel our military vehicles with alternative energy?  I applaud the Pentagon for doing the right thing and finding ways to power our military without foreign oil.

Summer time is fast approaching. That means it’s time to hold onto your wallets as gas prices will soon be rising:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6992974.html

This is a good time for our blog to return to the subject of energy policy in this country. As I’ve often said, every time we fill up at the pump, we are putting money into the pockets of dictators in the Middle East. Can’t we do better than that?

We can and we’ll talk about it this week on the blog!

Today the Biomass Conference and Expo ends and I’m on my way back to Texas.

But the cause of biomass goes on.

It goes on because the stakes are too high not to invest in biomass. We can’t continue to fuel our economy with foreign sources of oil. It’s bad for our economy; it’s even worse for our security. We need domestic sources of energy and we need them now. That’s why I’m so excited that the US government is doing so much to promote biomass. Just this week, you might have seen this in the news:

“The US Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) jointly announced up to $33 million in funding for research and development of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products.”

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/20273

Biomass is the future. Biomass is the answer.

This week the Biomass Conference and Expo is offering 275 exhibits and 100 speakers. And what will each one have in common? Each one will be a glimpse into the future.

For example, the section of the expo devoted to wood chips has special exhibits and presentations on how biomass can be generated using:

* Sawmill waste

* Logging waste

* Pulp and/or paper mill waste

* Newsprint milling waste

* Paperboard milling waste

* Forestry waste (forest thinnings, etc.)

* C&D

* Urban and yard waste

Biomass is going to change our country. In fact, in many ways, it already has. For more information about biomass and about this expo, log onto:

http://www.biomassconference.com/ema/DisplayPage.aspx?pageId=About

The Biomass Expo and Conference is underway! Here is a photo of the Advanced Trailer booth:

What I’m hoping to achieve at this conference is for more people to learn about the power of biomass and the potential of the Advanced Trailer for Biomass.

We’ve always known how to make biomass work: burn the wood chips and harness that energy for fuel purposes. But what we haven’t known how to overcome is the biggest challenge: drying the wood chips. Now, with the Advanced Trailer, we can do just that. We can ship, store and dry the wood chips in one vehicle and that makes biomass production that much more effective and powerful.

That’s the message I’ll be spreading this week at the conference.

Every great change in history has begun with a single step.

And this has been no less true in the business world. When NASA was building spaceships to carry man to the moon, it had to invent smaller computers that would fit on board. This helped begin the computer revolution. When Ross Perot was a salesman at IBM, he noticed that companies needed service as much as equipment. He decided to launch the IT services industry. And years from now when we look back at our energy supply, we’ll see this moment in time as a step forward.

Why? Because inventors are figuring out ways to get us off of foreign oil and into renewable energy like biomass. That’s why I’m in Minnesota this week at the Biomass Expo. The meetings start tomorrow and I’ll be live blogging the rest of the week. So check it out each day. And remember: the future begins with a single step.

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!