Blue Sun’s CEO Jeff Probst presented at the 21st NREL Industry Growth Forum late last month (Oct. 28-30) (http://cleanenergyforum.com/). The forum highlights “the investment and financing strategies that are driving the commercialization of quality renewable energy technologies.” In English, that means what is getting money and why when it comes to making energy alternatives reality.

This is cool. Why you ask?

The forum represents the behind-the-scenes action that makes the future get here quicker. Companies demonstrate the economic viability of their idea, investors put the cash in to help the company bring the idea to market and your house runs not on coal, but on carbon-reducing energy sources like biodiesel, wind and solar.

It doesn’t happen without investment. Investment doesn’t happen without a forum to present the ideas of the future. “More than $1.2 billion has been raised by companies presenting at the forum since 2004,” according to the website.

Blue Sun is one of the growing companies in the maturing biodiesel market. They were recently rated the #1 fastest growing biodiesel marketer and #242 overall in fastest-growing, privately-held companies in Inc. magazine’s annual rating.

Blue Sun is helping the industry move on to next generation oil feedstock, like camelina and algae, through research ranging from best-practices in agriculture to the most-efficient way to get the oils out of algae.

NREL by the way is the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. These guys work on ideas ranging from increasing efficiency of biodiesel, wind and solar processes, to things we haven’t even heard of yet. Check out their site at http://www.nrel.gov/.

This is such a common question that I think we’ll come back to it to expand the answer several times.

So what accounts for quality in a biodiesel blend? Among other things, such as the quality of the vegetable oil used (soybean oil is better than waste veggie oil) and processing methods, one of the key indicators of fuel quality is the fuel meeting or exceeding the ASTM specification.

ASTM sets specifications for a product to meet at a minimum in order to be considered “reliable”. These standards make it possible for consumers of the product to know they are getting a product that will have a consistent level of performance. ASTM recently published new specifications for biodiesel (http://www.astm.org/SNEWS/ND_2008/D02E0_nd08.html).

Blue Sun has made a business of exceeding these minimums for biodiesel since its inception in 2001. Why? Because ASTM represents a minimum level. Are you satisfied with the minimum? Neither are we. We enjoy figuring out how to take biodiesel to the next level.

For example, a B20 (20% biodiesel) blend that only meets ASTM specs keeps your engine running in cold temperatures down to maybe zero to 10 degrees below (Fahrenheit). Blue Sun crafts its fuel to get down to 20 below and lower. Blue Sun’s “Fusion” B20 fuel meets this more stringent specification developed by Blue Sun.

The fact that the guys behind this feat are skiers, and spend much of their time in Colorado’s mountains, may or may not have been the catalyst behind better cold weather performance. Either way, like anyone operating in the cold, they’re pretty happy to not have to worry about their fuel.

For more – check out Blue Sun’s web site, under “News” for a story called “Blue Sun Biodiesel 3 Years Ahead of ASTM Standards”. Here’s a direct link: http://www.gobluesun.com/main/news/biodieselnewsstory.php?news_id=102