A leaked document from the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the Renewable Fuels Standard is causing some real consternation among advocates for ethanol. While it’s just a draft and has not even been officially released, there is already plenty of debate over the possible proposal, including whether the EPA is overstepping its authority granted under the RFS. In this edition of …
DF Cast: A More Reliable Solar Investment Way
Investing in renewable energy, particularly solar, hasn’t always been an easy proposition. The biggest stumbling block is the way you have to invest in a company and all the baggage that comes with that company. But Oakland, Calif.-based Mosaic, America’s first online marketplace to offer solar investments to the public, believes there’s a better way, allowing investors to invest in …
DF Cast: Ethanol Battles for Info & Against the Gov’t
Understanding what the auto industry wants and needs… and how ethanol can meet that… all while battling Big Oil and even the government… that’s the daunting task the ethanol industry has been facing for some time. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk with Dave Vander Griend, the co-founder and president of one of the world’s largest …
DF Cast: Agencies Work Together on Biofuels Targets
On August 6, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rule for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) based on analysis provided by, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which revised downward its cellulosic biofuel forecast for 2013 to 4 million gallons (or 6 million ethanol-equivalent gallons) target for cellulosic biofuels use in 2013, less than half what was …
DF Cast: Geothermal Potential Just Below Surface
Geothermal energy is seen as one of the cleanest and most efficient in the world, ranking right up there with the likes of wind energy. But growth in the energy source has been slow but steady. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we hear from Executive Director of the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) Karl Gawell who believes the …
DF Cast: Algae Backers’ Beef with DOE
Backers of algae, especially for biofuel production, say while the Department of Energy provides millions for universities to do research through the DOE Biomass Program, commercial enterprises are being left by the wayside. And they say that isn’t fair, and after 60 years of looking at the green microbes, researchers have developed nothing. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel …
DF Cast: Creating, Not Extracting, Sugars for Biofuels
One of the big issues that continues to dog the biofuels business, especially ethanol production, is the use of food crops as fuel sources. While many have made the case that the crops can provide both food AND fuel (consider the dried distillers grains from ethanol production, for example), a New Jersey-based company thinks it has a way to remove …
DF Cast: Oil Vs. Biofuels – Can’t We All Just Get Along?
It seems like they’re natural enemies – biofuels producers, particularly biodiesel and ethanol, versus Big Oil, as each competes for a place in the gas tanks of vehicles in America and around the world. But does there really need to be such enmity between the two, with biofuels producers accusing oil companies of trying to derail increased ethanol and biodiesel …
DF Cast: Countering RIN-sanity
There’s been a lot of talk about the prices for Renewable Identification Numbers … better known as RINs … especially from Big Oil trying to blame RINs for the rise in gasoline prices. But in this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, Ron Lamberty, Senior Vice President with the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President …
DF Cast: Biodiesel Innovators Recognized in BioVegas
When you think of Las Vegas, you probably picture the bright lights, wild nightlife and gambling… probably not a home for environmentally friendly biodiesel innovation. But if you think about it, the gambling aspect really came out for a group that was an early adopter of the green fuel. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk to …