BioFuels Journal

Newton, IA—Beer, bicycles, and biodiesel.

New Belgium Brewing of Ft. Collins, Colo. recently called on biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group of Ames, Iowa to provide sustainable, clean-burning B100 to power the Midwest portion of the brewing company's renowned thirteen-city, national bicycle festival.

The Tour de Fat-named for the brewery's signature Fat Tire beer-spreads the good word about the positive societal offerings of bicycle use as well as showcases the outstanding green practices of New Belgium.

"We try to minimize the environmental impact of our events at every turn and that's why our transport trucks ran on pure biodiesel," said New Belgium's Matt Kowal.

"Our philanthropic bike festival, Tour de Fat, celebrates bicycling as a viable form of alternative transport."

Decker Truck Lines, LLC of Fort Dodge, Iowa served as the event hauler for the Midwest portion of the Tour de Fat's and burned B100.

"New Belgium has made a commitment to using biodiesel made from sustainable sources like waste oils, fats and greases in order to help reduce our corporate carbon footprint by at least 25 percent.

"We are pleased that we can continue that commitment by burning Iowa-produced biodiesel produced from another industry's waste stream," stated tour impresario Matt Kowal, who works at the brewery year 'round producing the festival and emceeing its 13 stops (this year) around the country.

B100 used in the tour was produced at the REG Newton biorefinery and is made from inedible corn oil, a product of the ethanol industry.

According to lifecycle analyses approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), inedible corn oil-sourced biodiesel reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon, by more than 80 percent when compared to petroleum diesel.

"Inedible corn oil is extracted from the dried distillers' grains in order to make the product more palatable for livestock feed.

"We use this otherwise non-viable inedible corn oil as a renewable, sustainable source for biodiesel production," explained Jeff Stroburg, CEO and Chairman of Renewable Energy Group.

"We salute New Belgium's leadership in promoting sustainability throughout every step of their procurement, production and distribution system and are proud that our biodiesel is now one small piece of that sustainability program." (Learn more at biodieselsustainability.com.

Stroburg added that "to be sustainable, biodiesel producers must make responsible use of our renewable resources to improve the environmental, economic, and social impacts of fuel use and fuel production.

"Putting Americans to work producing biodiesel from our domestic, renewable resources while displacing harmful emissions from petroleum achieves positive improvements for our environment and our economy."

For more information, call 515-239-8118.

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