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Taking the high road
Golf course equipment is gearing up for the drive to energy independence.
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(Editor’s Note: The following is the first of a series of articles in GCM that will explore the golf course management industry’s role in America’s quest to achieve energy independence through alternative, renewable resources.)
As the United States moves more seriously toward eschewing petroleum-based fossil fuels in favor of domestically produced renewable energy sources, the golf course industry has slowly, and for the most part quietly, joined the cause.
Golf’s real impetus has been the major equipment manufacturers’ proactive stance on alternative fuels. Their machines and the juice that runs them are of parallel importance, and there is no time like the present to move on to the future, considering the assorted federal mandates aimed at addressing both our planet’s atmosphere and our back-breaking dependence on foreign fossil-fuel sources.
“You have to step back and say, ‘OK, what’s the problem around alternative fuels? What’s driving us to them?’” says Dana Lonn, a director with The Toro Co.’s research and development arm, the Center for Advanced Turf Technology. “The motivations are pretty clear — increased carbon emissions and pollutants, global warming and the need for energy independence.”
Lonn points out that 30 years ago the concern was over hydro-carbon and carbon monoxide emissions. With the advent of catalytic converters in vehicles to soften those pollutants came the proliferation of another, carbon dioxide. And now we are up against it.
“What we used to view as a good thing is now a bad thing. Now we have to rethink the whole process of how to store and convert energy to useful work,” Lonn says of the country’s resolve to embrace the multifaceted, complicated world of alternative fuels.
Playing through
While golf is a minor subset of this major societal issue, course maintenance could play a key role in the gravitation to biofuels and electric power as the solution to America’s energy-guzzling transportation sector. In fact, as is ventured here, in many ways it may be intrinsically ahead of the curve.
Peter Finamore, manager of research and development for John Deere’s Advanced Energy Systems, says his company, with a vast self-propelled equipment line that ranges from agriculture and construction to forestry and golf, has been progressive toward biodiesel (blended with regular diesel) for some time as it strives to meet new EPA emission requirements due in just a handful of years, and also to deal with the considerable impact of non-petroleum-based fuels.
“The industry as a whole is cautiously proceeding toward allowing and qualifying higher percentages of biodiesel sanctioned for use in diesel machines,” Finamore says, noting that Deere’s products company-wide are predominately powered by diesel engines built in-house, and many are biodiesel-ready.
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U.S. soybean harvests have taken on a new level of importance with the development of biodiesel. The production of the alternative fuel could consume large portions of the nation’s soybean crop. Photo courtesy of John Deere. |
Fuels from the land
Biofuels, specifically biodiesel and ethanol (alcohol-based and mixed with unleaded gasoline), are emerging at a pretty rapid pace because they can be produced from renewable resources literally at hand across the country — biodiesel can be made from oilseed crops, animal fats and recycled restaurant grease, among other things, while crops such as corn, wheat and barley and some cellulosic materials can be refined into ethanol. The production infrastructure — plants and refineries — is popping up almost everywhere.
In less than two decades, it’s expected that U.S. farms, forests and ranches will in fact provide 25 percent of the total transportation fuels.
In the face of predictions that U.S. energy consumption will increase by 30 percent in the next 20 years with the transportation sector alone increasing by 40 percent, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandated that the nation’s fuel production include a minimum amount of renewable fuel each year, beginning with 4 billion gallons in 2006 and reaching 7.4 billion gallons by 2012.
To those ends, biodiesel plants in the U.S. produced nearly 250 million gallons in 2006, more than tripling the output of the year before. Biodiesel capacity is expected to reach 1.7 billion gallons in 2008. Meanwhile, the country’s 100-plus ethanol refineries currently on line are capable of 4.5 billion gallons a year. Again, many production facilities for both biofuels are under construction.
Bolstered by federal and state funding and tax incentives, the biofuel market is projected to reach $50 billion by 2015.
Measured steps
The production potential of biofuels isn’t lost on the folks at John Deere. The 170-year-old company is the world’s leading manufacturer of agriculture equipment, and its interests in the farming industry are second to none. Renewable resources are right up everyone’s alley.
Yet, as progressive (or aggressive) as Deere’s stance on biofuels may seem, it actually promotes conservatism on most points, especially in quality control and in determining acceptable industry-wide blending percentages.
“The keys to biodiesel are maintaining equipment performance... long-term quality of performance and durability of the engine,” while not increasing the emmissions profile or costs, says Finamore, talking for all Deere diesel products in all of its business segments.
Deere approved B2 (2 percent biodiesel and 98 percent petroleum diesel) and B5 blends for its equipment as far back as a half-dozen years ago, levels that Finamore says they are comfortable with. Products are factory filled with B2 and have been sanctioned up to B5 for the past two years.
Tracy Lanier, product manager with John Deere Golf & Turf One Source, adds that golf diesel products are currently equipped up to B5, but are not factory filled because of shipping regulations.
“We’re always testing higher percentages,” Finamore says. “The issues are consistent standards of quality and using the proper material. The question is, from tank to tank, lot to lot, is it of sufficient quality so you don’t wind up with a bad tank?”
He adds that from the standpoint of engine manufacturing alone, a best-case scenario would be establishing a consistent fuel at a certain percentage. Finamore notes that Europe, which has far more diesel-powered vehicles than the U.S., has mandated a biodiesel blend of B5.
Deere similarly favors a uniform blend for ethanol for gasoline engines. Currently the company’s comparatively limited line of gas-powered equipment allows up to 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent unleaded gasoline (E10).
Toro also has conducted extensive testing of biodiesel mixes, from B2 to 100 percent pure, and has been pleased with the results.
“The B2 to B5 range is very compatible with existing hardware, requiring relatively minor changes,” says Lonn, whose company opened the envelope even wider at last month’s Golf Industry Show when it unveiled conversion kits (fuel lines, filters, etc.) to allow up to B20 biodiesel in some of its maintenance equipment. Toro also announced that in 2008 all of its diesel-powered machines would be B20 ready.
“We’re serious,” he says. “We don’t see any reason not to allow customers to utilize this technology.”
Issues to overcome
As biofuels gain momentum, Lonn too is cautious; there are probable downsides this early in the game — the alternatives haven’t proved to be as consistent as fossil fuels and performance can be compromised a bit by slightly lower energy capacity in both biodiesel and ethanol. He adds that engine warranty issues will loom as well, especially from third-party manufacturers, until consistencies in the quality of production material and blend percentages are achieved.
Finamore adds that as higher mixes of both biodiesel and ethanol are used, they become more problematic — water in the fuel because of storage problems, plugged filters and seal and gasket failure, and fuel gelling in cold weather, to name a few.
The need for order regarding biofuels is underscored further by the concern of many experts that the demand for the fuels will eventually put a strain on the availability of the nation’s feedstock used to produce them. A number of the renewable resources are primary foodstuffs for both humans and livestock.
The scope of the problem is already evident. Nearly a quarter of the domestic corn production in 2006-07 will be converted into ethanol, and long-term projections of 60 to 80 billion gallons by 2030 will probably mean easing off the corn crop and turning more to cellulosic material such as crop and forest residues and dedicated energy crops. Meanwhile, an easily attainable B2 blend would require 1.1 billion gallons of pure biodiesel, which would consume 18 million acres of soybeans. Attaining B5 would necessitate the oil from 46 million acres — more than 60 percent of the current U.S. soybean production.
There may be some relief to those concerns on the horizon, though. A recent study out of the University of Minnesota that was featured in the Dec. 8 issue of the journal Science revealed that certain mixtures of native perennial grasses and other flowering plants can provide more usable energy per acre than corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel and are far better for the environment.
“Biofuels made from high-diversity mixtures of prairie plants can reduce global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” David Tilman, a professor in Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences, said in the Science report. “Even when grown on infertile soils, they can provide a substantial portion of global energy needs, and leave fertile land for food production.”
Die-hard resolve
And then there’s Jacobsen, the outrider among the major manufacturers, not so much in that it has gone its own way as far as alternative fuels are concerned, but that it continues down a path it trailblazed almost 15 years ago — electric-powered maintenance equipment.
Coincidence or not, as the manufacturing sector reaches the cusp of providing alternative fuel options, Jacobsen has amped up its development of new technology in electric power.
Brian Melka, director of product management for the Textron Inc. company, notes that Jacobsen has been working with biodiesel through its primary engine provider, Kubota, which currently features engines approved for B5 biodiesel blend.
“A lot of our research in that area is partnering with Kubota. They’re closer to the industry, in total, when considering those fuels,” says Melka, who adds that Kubota also manufactures engines for Toro.
“We’re keeping abreast of (biofuels) to stay current,” Melka adds, “but the bulk of our R&D work when it comes to alternative power is electric.”
Notable new year
Jacobsen has pursued advancements in battery technology ever since it introduced its all-electric triplex mower in the early 1990s. In recent years, it has especially moved forward in addressing the run-time and downtime (charging) problems associated with lead-acid batteries.
In the first few months of 2007, the company announced major new products and also pointed to the likelihood of a power source breakthrough within the next 18 months.
In January, Jacobsen introduced an improved — “refreshed,” Melka calls it — version of its popular E-Walk, an electric walk-behind greensmower. Then the company turned more than a few heads at the Golf Industry Show in Anaheim with a hybrid walk-behind that features a 4-hp gas engine powering up an electric generator, which should be in production late this spring. A similar power plant in larger mowers is expected in a few years.
As for addressing the run-time issues of current battery power, Melka points to Jacobsen’s involvement in bringing cost-effectiveness to advanced technology, such as nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries.
“We want to achieve these technologies and get them in our customers’ hands within the next three to five years,” Melka says.
Long-term, Jacobsen is paying close attention to the possibility of hydrogen-powered fuel cells. “We’re really looking at it, but it’s about 10 years or so away in golf course equipment applications, which still would be ahead of the automotive industry,” Melka says. “There are a lot of cost and infrastructure issues to overcome, though.”
There’s little doubt, however, that the main course on Jacobsen’s plate of electric maintenance equipment is coming to grips with better batteries. Melka notes that nickel metal hydride and lithium ion power sources will provide more power density for longer run-time and, even more attractive, they will allow the use of mower accessories such as groomers, rollers and verticutters, which has not been possible with lead-acid battery power.
“The costs for the new battery options have come down significantly, but they still need to come down a bit more,” he says. “The technology is available and it’s viable. We have done a considerable amount of testing with these batteries. We’re dealing with cost now and expect products powered by them to be available in late 2008.”
Other options
Lonn, who is a member of GCSAA’s Energy and Waste Management Task Group, is a strong proponent of the generally acknowledged technology of the future, hydrogen-powered fuel cells. As an alternative fuel either burned in its pure form or combined with oxygen to generate electricity, hydrogen is nearly limitlessly abundant and extremely efficient, with no polluting emissions. For now, however, there are many hurdles to overcome.
“Hydrogen doesn’t exist in a free state, and that means production drawbacks,” he says, such as applicable technology and cost.
Prototype hydrogen-powered automobiles have been developed to the tune of $1 million or more. Toro, as well, trotted out a greensmower powered by a hydrogen-generated fuel cell a couple of years ago — a half-million-dollar investment.
“The costs are coming down,” Lonn points out, however. “There is long-term research using renewable energy resources — wind, water and solar power — to free hydrogen and burn it as a transportation fuel.”
Other alternatives that have been used for a number of years include natural gas and propane. While both are carbon-based fossil fuels, they do burn clean and produce low emissions. They are considered products of energy independence rather than solutions to pollution. Beset by tank storage and run-time issues, these fuels are best used in transit vehicles or light industry or smaller construction equipment, and often indoors.
Lonn makes a point to note that there is no magic date or time when all this will come to be in the most effective form. But that time will come.
“In my opinion, there will be this transition over the next 50 years in which we’ll utilize as many renewable fuels as we can — the available biofuels and harvesting the wind and the sun to produce hydrogen. We as equipment manufacturers are trying to position ourselves so that as these alternative fuels become available and viable we can offer machines that can use those sources.”
Golf-ready
The prevailing notion is that the golf course industry is an ideal market for alternative fuels at this early point in time. There are at least a couple of built-in advantages: Most modern maintenance facilities feature the physical capability to fuel multiple machines from a central location as opposed to the hodge-podge, few-and-far-between fueling infrastructure that transportation needs currently face. Also, most superintendents are strong environmentalists at heart and in deed, and alternative fuels are appealing to them in that regard.
“The fact that the customers, the superintendents, value the attributes and their volume needs are relatively low means the technology could actually be applied to the golf course market much sooner than the mainstream transportation industry,” Lonn says.
Jacobsen’s Melka believes the industry’s focus on alternative energy technology in the face of present environmental concerns add up to enhanced side benefits from the customer’s standpoint.
“The good news is, we’re all going in the same direction and learning from each other as we go,” he says.
John Deere likes to emphasize its commitment to biofuels with the saying, “It’s the right thing to do ...” To Finamore, it must be done the right way, as well.
“We’ve got to support the gradual increase in the uses of biofuels to the extent that we can support their production,” he says. “And we’ve got to understand the engines in the context of performance and emissions and durability. We have to keep the customer in mind ... they have to live with these fuels.”
Cautious optimism
from the trenches
Some in the manufacturing sector believe there is limited interest at best in alternative fuels from within the golf course maintenance side. More than a few superintendents, however, believe the current strides in technology are flying under the radar, intentionally or otherwise.
“I think as everyday consumers we’re just out of the loop and not in tune with what’s going on other than what we read,” says Sandy Clark, CGCS at environmentally acclaimed Barona Creek Golf Club in Lakeside, Calif. “Obviously we’ve got an energy issue all around the country, and I think most of us have that in the back of our minds, but I don’t think we spend a lot of time actively participating in it because we’re so busy with our own jobs. I do think we would all look very carefully at alternative fuels if something was out there and we had information to review.”
Clark, who won a 2004 national Environmental Leaders in Golf Award (resort category), has read up on alternative fuels enough to know that the Barona Creek facility — which includes a casino, hotel accommodations and multiple restaurants on the vast Barona Valley Ranch just northeast of San Diego — no doubt has plenty of recyclable resources that could be turned into fuel with the right technology.
“We could actually attempt to develop something within our own operation if the process and the equipment were available to us,” says the 16-year GCSAA member, who will prep Barona Creek GC for the 2007 season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship Nov. 1-4.
Clark says most of his exposure to alternative fuels has been conflicting information concerning the benefits and problems associated with biofuels instead of “cold, hard facts.” He adds, somewhat pointedly, that California has some of the highest fuel prices in the U.S., as well as a steadfast reputation for emissions scrutiny.
“That’s why I think we would be extremely interested if there was more information at the actual user level,” he says.
Scott Hoffmann, CGCS, longtime superintendent at Madden’s on Gull Lake in Brainerd, Minn., is busy enough overseeing the entire grounds maintenance of the 80-year-old, 1,000-acre resort (including 63 golf holes) without concerning himself too much with the specter of renewable fuel sources in the state with the country’s highest number of ethanol pumps.
“To be honest, last season was really the first time I thought that much about it — when gas got to be $3 a gallon,” the 31-year GCSAA member says. “We had the equipment, so we started actually keeping track of how much fuel different manufacturers’ machines were using. There were some fairly significant differences adding up to significant dollars.”
Hoffmann’s interest in the issue was piqued even more after he mentioned that he had just recently signed a new five-year lease with a major equipment brand and was told that company has biodiesel-friendly products.
“I might have to check that out,” he says. “It’s time we start looking at those kind of things, but I really don’t think there are that many options out there right now.”
Ken Gorzycki, CGCS, golf course maintenance director at Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas, which has won national ELGA and Audubon International awards, has done some research on his own on biofuels and has learned enough to take a cautionary stance.
“I certainly have an interest in it, but it also needs to be practical from an operations standpoint and a financial standpoint,” he says, noting that his main concerns are storage problems for multiple fuel inventories for biodiesel-compatible equipment and gas or diesel-only equipment, damage to engine parts due to inconsistent or improper fuel processing methods and warranty issues.
Gorzycki believes those are legitimate issues for a larger operation like his, which includes the maintenance of three championship courses and also the equipment maintenance of all resort vehicles, including golf cars.
“They say the low blends of the fuel are OK. If that’s the case and it’s competitively priced, it operates our equipment without modification and doesn’t violate our warranties, then we certainly have no reason not to go that route,” the 25-year GCSAA member says. “The thing is, though, it’s not like everybody turns their equipment inventory over on a regular basis. Will equipment that’s older but well-maintained be compatible?”
Gorzycki believes many in golf course management are waiting for the industry to provide the proper direction.
“Each side of the industry needs to get with the other and coordinate how to move forward . . . We need one way to go,” he says.
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