By SARAH B. AUBREY
Indiana Correspondent

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was an especially great day to be at the racetrack – sunny, warm and breezy – considering its action had been slowed by rain for eight of the previous 15 days."

Earplugs in and sunglasses on, Indiana bioenergy representatives networked with members of the trucking and transit industries May 16 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). Aware of potential waning interest in some alternative fuels due to rising costs, the end users were invited to keep the initiative strong.

“We’ve invited 40 key companies such as transit agencies, trucking companies and fleets to introduce them to CICCA, educate them and let them know how we can help them and their customers implement alternative fuels,” said Kellie Walsh, executive director of CICCA (Central Indiana Clean Cities Alliance) and cosponsor with CountryMark Cooperative and Cummins, Inc.

“Some are using alternative fuels now and some aren’t, yet. We know with prices the way they are it’s challenging, but it’s still always about reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” she added.
The IMS has used a fuel-grade 96 percent ethanol blend for two years in all racecars. Still, the price of biofuel has some groups considering alternative fuel options – not just those made from an agricultural base. For these customers, Walsh recommended looking at natural gas.

“Fleets can run on compressed natural gas; the diesel gallon equivalent price is about $1.70,” Walsh said, adding there are three natural gas fueling stations in Indiana. “Natural gas is still a renewable fuel, it’s still American-made and there are emission reduction benefits.

“Fleets do need to retrofit conventional vehicles, but they can quickly make up the cost, with the price of diesel today.”
While natural gas is an option, the Indiana Soybean Alliance and CountryMark both confirmed the price of biodiesel has dropped recently, narrowing the gap with conventional diesel and making implementation of bioblends a bit more attractive.

“It’s just about a dime more now,” said Doug Henderson of Co-Alliance.
He said the reason for more comparable prices has to do with the cost of bio inputs coming slightly down in price. Whether the pricing remains similar remains to be seen, but biofuel promoters are hopeful, knowing more fleet and transit groups would be on board with comparable costs.

“With prices closer, we expect more school systems to use bio,” Henderson said.