Thursday, 06/04/2009 Print Version |
Governor Delivers Remarks at Press Conference for E-Fuel's Revolutionary Fuel System
SECRETARY ADAMS:
Good
morning, everyone. I'm Linda Adams, Secretary of the California
Environmental Protection Agency and I would like to acknowledge our
special guest, Mr. Thomas Quinn, CEO of E-Fuel and, of course, Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
And,
of course, we are very proud of California's leadership on climate
change and most recently the adoption of the first in the world
Low-Carbon Fuel Standard and the White House announcement on a national
clean car standard based upon California's standard.
And
without further ado, I would like to introduce our fearless leader of
the great state of California and world leader on the environment,
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thank you. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Well,
thank you very much, Linda Adams, who is doing a great job for the EPA
and is a terrific Secretary. And we love her because she's such a big
believer in protecting the environment and fighting global warming. And
let me tell you something, it's also great to see here Thomas Quinn,
who is with E-Fuel Corporation and who is the one that actually has
exposed me to all of this, to these MicroFueling Stations.
But
that's what we want to talk about here today, because we always want to
celebrate California's creativity and California's innovation and
ingenuity and especially when it comes to green technology and
especially when it is inspired and motivated by our groundbreaking
environmental policies. And so we have seen, since we have passed very
strict laws, all kinds of great creations and innovations here in our
state.
And
that's why I wanted to help also unveil this great fueling station, the
in-home ethanol fueler. When I saw this MicroFueler just last August in
Los Angeles at the Green Expo I got very excited about it, because
whenever I see new ideas and great ideas that can help us achieve our
goals I get excited about it. And so I said one day, when you guys are
ready, we should have this in front of the Capitol steps, in front of
our Capitol.
And
this is, of course, very exciting, that finally they made it here. And
it takes what is essentially a byproduct of beer, something that would
be normally thrown away and turns it into fuel. That means that drivers
now can have their own MicroFueling Station at home. Imagine how great
that is. When did we ever think about that, that we can produce our own
fuel at home? And what's also special, is that this can produce up to
40 gallons a day.
Now,
the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico plans to install a
MicroFueler this year and it use its own beer waste to power its
vehicles. So this is really what it's all about, is to use the waste
and to reuse it again for something positive.
The
state of California is also exploring a pilot program, because we have,
as you can see, this fleet here. We have cars that run on flex fuel and
those cars need ethanol, up to 85 percent. So we are working right now
on a deal where we can use those MicroFuelers ourselves. In fact, the
cars that you see here, we have just bought just recently. And I think
that we, as a state, want to be a good example on driving cars that are
have a low output of greenhouse gas emissions.
Now,
we have economically a very difficult time right now, as you know.
Ethanol holds a promise of reducing the fuel costs, which is very
important, because so many times we are all subject to the oil prices.
But when you have those fueling stations at home you don't have to
worry about if a barrel of oil is $150 dollars or if it is $50, because
that price always stays the same and it will be competitive.
Now,
California, as I said, is the world leader when it comes to fighting
global warming. We have been passing laws, especially our landmark
Global Warming Law, AB 32 and also creating the first Low-Carbon Fuel
Standard. But when you talk about the kind of commitment that
California made, which is to reduce our output of greenhouse gases by
25 percent by the year 2020, which is rolling it back to the 1990 level
and then an additional 85 percent reduction by the year 2050, we are
very aggressive with this. And because of that you see a lot of changes
in California.
As
a matter of fact, just yesterday in the Port of Long Beach, there was a
big step forward again in pollution reduction because, as you know, all
those ships when they dock, they use dirty diesel fuel and they run all
day, 24 hours a day and pollute the world. And so we made them now and
they have just announced, the first electric shore site power system
for those big tankers. So those are the kinds of things that we are
doing in California and this is the first in the world, where this is
done.
And
we also, for instance, have inspired other stares and other countries
to do the same thing and to fight global warming. Like for instance
tomorrow, President Calderon in Mexico is going to make a big
announcement to change some of the laws in order to help us fight
global warming. So it's very important to bring the Third World
countries in, the developing countries into this whole thing.
So
we have been really terrific, not only doing great work here in
California but inspiring other states and other nations. We are making
our state cleaner and we are making our state healthier and we are
making our state greener. So that's the bottom line.
And
our goal requires revolutionary technologies, of course and low-carbon
fuels and they require ingenuity and this is why we are here today and
we are very excited about celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit of
companies such as E-Fuel. I mean, E-Fuel stepped out and started
creating this great technology and we want to say to them thank you
very much for the great, great work that you are doing.
And
this is, of course, a company that's based in California, so it's
again, like I said, that green technology is the only thing that
produces jobs right now and they're going to produce a lot of jobs
here. And there will be a station right in Paso Robles.
So
again, thank you very much for the great work you are doing and now I
would like you to come out and just say a few words yourself about this
great technology. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)
THOMAS QUINN:
I
want to thank the Governor and Secretary Adams for having us here
today. I first want to acknowledge all of the hard work -- and we
really call it a movement here -- to rid ourselves from the fossil fuel
to what we call 'organic fuel'. So this is your revolution, everybody
and let's hear from you guys. (Applause)
Now,
to go out further, technology advancements like this have come to
Silicon Valley quite often. And Silicon Valley has been a leader in
what they call 'paradigm shifts'. These are when technology comes into
the market and do what they call 'disruptiveness to the markets,' which
is when a technology is invented that replaces what once was a service
by the commercial industry, puts it in the hands of the consumer.
And
one of the examples is Apple Computer. If you remember those days, we
always were tied to mainframes. Well, the mainframe computer had a dumb
terminal on it and we used to have to have permission, had to pay
money, to have this one computer feed us information. And then when our
time was up we had to leave the office and go home and we didn't have
any way to access this computer.
Well,
when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from Silicon Valley invented this
personal computer, at first it was considered like a novelty item. But
as it progressed into the consumers' hands it started this evolution,
this paradigm shift, that now allowed the computer and the processing
to be done by consumers themselves. And it changed the whole world, of
course, as we know it today.
And
we believe that the E-Fuel MicroFueler is going to do the same thing.
As the Governor stated, it's a simple device that now has been
innovated so any consumer, anybody on the planet, can make their own
fuel; not only their own fuel for their vehicles but their own
electricity for their homes or their offices. So we really feel that
this is going to start the greatest organic fuel revolution of our
time, at least in the 100 years since the fuel revolution of the
invention of the automobile took place.
Let
me now also congratulate some of the people that have put this program
together. I want to start off with Mr. Jon Sheinberg, who was
instrumental in being what I call the godfather of really getting the
word out in our state of California, has done a great job there. And my
congratulations to Jon for putting this together, he's done a fantastic
job. (Applause) And we cannot forget his wife Susie in the background
there, who is really doing a lot of the muscle work for the network, so
congregations to her as well. We really appreciate that. (Applause)
I
also would like to recognize the California group here. The Governor's
staff has been outstanding. They really get the message of what's going
on in the world today and folks like the Secretary and the Governor
have done a fantastic job. I can't tell you how proud I am. I'm a
native of California and I'm really happy to have this team together in
Sacramento representing our state in the rest of the country and the
rest of the world. So this has been fantastic.
We
have the General Services Group that we're working with, that has done
a fantastic job; I want to recognize them. And the Air Resources Board
folks, they've been fantastic to work with, so my appreciation there.
And
then our team members. This whole E-Fuel organization started when
Floyd Butterfield and I got together on this idea. And at first I know
he was kind of resistant. He was a big ethanol guy, making millions and
millions of gallons of ethanol per year.
And I said "Look, I want to make a micro-sized one."
And he said, "Like 100,000 gallons?"
I
said, "No, like a few thousand gallons." And, you know, of course we
didn't have to use too much restraint on him but he finally came around
and I appreciate that.
Also
Bruce Padula, a long-time business associate of mine, helped put this
company together, Floyd and I and I want to recognize him as well.
On
the engineering side there's Mike Mathews, on the digital side and his
team Adam Tavin and his design team and Mark Ginnebaugh on the online
side. So congratulations, team, for putting these efforts together,
because I certainly I didn't do this myself. Thank you. (Applause)
OK,
so as an entrepreneur, let me tell you what went through my head when I
finally took a look three years ago about this energy crisis that I
felt was coming upon us and one thing scientifically that hit my side
and I never forgot it. And when I went into this program to help not
only the state but the world in this energy crisis, is the fact that
this -- and we have to remember this, it's very important -- If you
take one gallon of liquid fuel and you compare that to the equivalent
size of a lithium ion battery, the gallon of liquid fuel would contain
80 times for energy content than that battery. And that's something we
can't forget. If we're going to solve this energy crisis in the world
we must find a replacement for liquid fuel or we won't get there.
That's significant. We can't ignore the fact of how much power and
energy is in one gallon of fuel.
Now,
this creates something where we have to say OK, we're going to move
over now to what we call 'organic fuel'. What does organic fuel really
mean? I believe this will be a very well-known word in the short-term
in the future. But organic fuel is anything that grows on the top of
the planet or in our oceans, all right?
In
fact, fossil fuels, millions of years ago, used to be organic fuel that
got swallowed up by the earth, was compressed and became a fossil fuel.
And the reason why we don't like the fossil fuel now, other than the
fact that it's getting very expensive, is the fact that those carbons
were trapped 2 million years ago and now are being released into the
current atmosphere. And these trees and plants that surround us right
now absorb carbon but they can't absorb what was created 2 million
years ago. So that's the purpose of what we call 'renewable fuel' and
it's very important.
So
then the next stage is how do we go into this? You now, ethanol started
getting this image where we were stealing from the food table, all
right? And what I recognized is that when you look at the United States
in general, 50 percent of all of our agricultural products are thrown
away, they're discarded. It's an enormous amount. It adds up to over 50
billion gallons of organic fuel. So we should start with what we're
throwing away here first, before we worry about planting some special
crop that's going to grow our fuel. There's no need to do that.
And
what we noticed was that waste is always generated in the local
communities, where there are people. The waste isn't going to be out in
some remote area where there is no population; it's going to be right
here in areas where we all eat and we live and that's where the waste
is.
So
the MicroFueler is a great fit for that, because now we can bring them
in and, within a few minutes, roll it up, power it up and within
minutes you're making your own fuel. It's really what this world needs
right now. And it's beautiful, because not only that the places that
have wealth but the places of the poorest nations in the world can take
advantage of this. It no longer means that can you afford to buy your
oil, all right? You'll be able to process it locally, not only in
California but anywhere in the world. I'm very, very excited about that
part.
And
there is also growth. And if you look at not only the waste but you
have the cellulosic materials. One of the stories I love to talk about
is our distributors, is that we're able to take -- you know, the other
day, a couple of days ago, we took the hotel waste and one of our
distributors made that into a fuel within a couple of days, for the
Marriott Hotel. It was amazing. But that's what's going on in this
world now. We're going to start adapting ourselves.
And
let me get into that. One of these things, to make this movement
happen, is in the distribution network. It's not just E-Fuel, it's the
independent people that are now, as you see with these green shirts
that are all around us here right now, these are the movement people.
These are going to make the difference in making this thing happen. And
it starts with or distributorships and I want to have the Greenhouse
Distributors kind of yell out here. I know they're a little quiet but
let us know where you are. They represent California. (Applause)
And
here's how it's going to work. You have two choices here. You can have
what we call, as everybody is familiar with, as self-serve. That means
that you want to get your own organic fuel and put it in there. It's
going to cost you 25 cents a gallon on fuel, which is going to easily
beat the corner gas station. Or you can contact these nice folks and
they'll give you a full service. This means that what you're going to
be able to do is sign up on a website to say I want to get a
MicroFueler but I don't want to worry about where that organic fuel
comes from. All I want to do is fill my car every day and not have to
worry about that. These folks over here from California will take care
of that for you and it's a great service.
I
also want to recognize the Fennies, who are here from New York, who are
starting the movement on the New York side. And Gram Fennie himself,
along with his father Bruce, are the ones that are taking the
California garbage and showing us how to convert that into fuel so we
didn't have to worry about it. This is the kind of stuff that's going
to start happening and we're very, very proud to have them.
We
also have our new edition of distributors from the De Anza Fuel Group.
And I don't where they are but if there are you can recognize them.
They'll be doing the Midwest and starting the movement over there. I'm
very proud of them.
We
also have our International folks from Ireland; Kevin Gallagher from
Ireland and Larry Yoshida from Japan and his group. And then there's
Bern Zimmerman, who just came onto the group here with us to start
Austria and some of the European countries. We're very proud to have
him. We've got a good movement going here. (Applause) Well, that brings
us down to can this movement --
OK.
So let me close out right here. I got the word from the boss.
California, in my closing statement is, we consume 20 billion gallons
of fuel per year and that 20 billion gallons, if you add it towards
what we're spending on fuel costs, is a lot of money. It's well over
$30 billion of wealth is being transferred. This is why this movement
is so important. It's no longer acceptable for us to be transferring
this kind of wealth out of our state and I'm glad that this movement is
starting here, because we can use that.
And
I want to thank everybody for coming today. And we'll take individual
questions if you want on the side and I hope that the Governor can show
us how the MicroFueler comes in person.
