Ethanol Drives Farmland Prices

Cindy Zimmerman February 25, 2007

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s latest AgLetter reports that ethanol is helping to fuel a surge in agricultural land prices.

According to the report, the 2006 annual increase in farmland values was 9 percent for the Seventh Federal Reserve District, which includes Iowa and parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

The area with the biggest rise was northwest Illinois, where prices soared by 17 percent last year. Iowa posted a 13 percent annual increase because of a fourth quarter gain of 7 percent.

Based on 213 survey responses from agricultural bankers, the quarterly rise in the value of “good” agricultural land was 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006. Almost 50 percent of the respondents expected farmland values to increase, as well as to remain stable, in the first quarter of 2007.

Ethanol, News

Bush Charged Up Over Alternative Automobiles

Cindy Zimmerman February 25, 2007

A day after getting a close-up look at a 100 percent ethanol-powered IndyCar, President Bush checked out the battery-powered options on the White House South Lawn, calling on Congress to fully fund his budget request for alternative sources of energy.

“It’s going to require collaboration between the public sector and the private sector. It’s going to require making sure our smartest scientists understand that this is a national priority. But I firmly believe that the goal I laid out, that Americans will use 20 percent less gasoline over the next 10 years is going to be achieved, and here’s living proof of how we’re going to get there,” he said.

“Americans ought to feel optimistic about our future. We’re going to be driving our cars using all kinds of different fuels other than gasoline, and using batteries that will be able to be recharged in vehicles that don’t have to look like golf carts.”

Energy, Government, News

UF Ethanol Expert Meets With President

Cindy Zimmerman February 25, 2007

A University of Florida microbiology professor was among a small group of alternative energy experts who met with President Bush Friday at the White House.

Dr. Lonnie Ingram, director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels, has been studying ethanol for more than 20 years and has developed a biotechnology “bug” that converts biomass and other farm wastes into fuel.

According to an article from the Gainesville Sun, Ingram talked to Bush about “Florida’s potential to be a key player in the alternative fuel market.”

“I told him Florida produces more biomass than any state in the country,” Ingram said. “Florida could lead the country.”

After the meeting on Friday, President Bush told reporters that he “met with people that are working to help us develop a fuel industry that will be able to have ethanol derived from produce other than corn. In other words, I’m talking with people on the leading edge of change. And the reason why I’ve asked them to come in to see me is because I want to make sure that the goal I set by reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent over a 10-year period is a realistic goal. I know it’s a necessary goal: it’s necessary for national security purposes; it’s necessary for economic security purposes; and it’s necessary in order to be good stewards of the environment.”

Listen to a previous Domestic Fuel interview with Ingram about his biomass technology research. Ingram Interview

Audio, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Government, News

Commodity Classic Time

Cindy Zimmerman February 25, 2007

The 2007 Commodity Classic is upon us. For the first time this year, the annual commodity event brings together the “Big Three” – corn, soybeans AND wheat. The first two have been meeting in a combined event for years, now wheat has decided to join the club.

The meeting will have a pirate theme this year, being held overlooking beautiful Tampa Bay, famous for its annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival. And domestic fuels will be taking center stage at the event, since all three of these important commodities are being affected by the biofuels boom. The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), American Soybean Association (ASA) and National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) will all be holding their annual meetings at the Classic and making policy decisions that will definitely include energy and biofuels.

NCGA CEO Rick Tolman says the “Corn Congress” will be considering resolutions on what corn growers would like to see in the 2007 Farm Bill. “In addition, we’ve got some real challenges with biofuels policy,” said Tolman. “We’re rapidly meeting a point where current policy will not drive the market anymore – we’ve outgrown that market. So, we’ve got to have some new policy there as well.”

You can listen to an interview with Tolman here: Rick Tolman Interview (5 min MP3)

Stay tuned to Domestic Fuel for complete coverage this week of the Commodity Classic.

Audio, Biodiesel, Commodity Classic, conferences, Ethanol, News

USDA Helping With Rural Development

Chuck Zimmerman February 25, 2007

USDA’s Rural Development department has been involved in assisting rural communities in a number of project areas over the years. One of them is the area of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

At the recent Cattle Industry Convention, I met with and interviewed Allan Johnson, USDA Rural Development, Senior Advisor. The conversation turned to renewable energy right away since ethanol was a big topic of discussion among livestock producers attending the meeting. Allan talks about the ways USDA has assisted rural communities in this area, like funding feasibility studies.

He didn’t have the statistics at hand, but I obtained some from USDA that include the following:

More than $428.1 million in renewable energy and energy efficient ventures, including $304.9 million in Value-Added and Business Ventures involving wind power, anaerobic digesters, solar, ethanol plants, direct combustion and fuel pellet systems and other bioenergy and energy efficiency related systems. And $58.2 million in Biomass research and development grants and $119 million in renewable Electric Utility upgrades and expansions.

You can listen to my interview with Allen here: Allan Johnson Interview (6 min MP3)

Audio, Government

Great Smoky Mountains Going Green

John Davis February 24, 2007

National Park Service diesel vehicles on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be filling up with 50% biodiesel. This story in the Haywood County (NC) News says the biodiesel will go into about two dozen vehicles that burn 12,000 gallons a year:

“This biodiesel refueling project will help us achieve our long-term goal of stabilizing or improving air quality in the park,” said Dale Ditmanson, Park Superintendent. “We also see it as a great opportunity to lead by example as we host local school groups and millions of visitors from all across the country and world.”

The change is made possible through a couple of grants… one from the Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project, managed by the North Carolina Solar Center and North Carolina State University… and one from specialty license plates in the state.

Biodiesel, Government

A Greener Grocer

John Davis February 23, 2007

Grocery-giant Safeway is test-marketing 20% biodiesel at one of its Seattle stores. Check out this story on MSNBC.com:

Cherie Myers, a regional Safeway spokeswoman, said the company saw the environmentally conscious Northwest as a good place to test biodiesel’s commercial viability.

“This was our first step. Now we’re going to see how the consumer will respond to this,” Myers said.

Seattle might be considered a natural fit for the test. You might remember our earlier posts talking about Seattle-based Imperium Renewables and how it secured a record $214 million in investments and how Imperium is the largest producer of biodiesel on the west coast and could soon be the biggest refiner in the country.

Safeway officials say customers have been buying the biodiesel without any kind of promotion or special. The California-based grocer has 270 stores nationwide, so the potential could be huge.

Biodiesel

President Bush Promotes Ethanol Enzyme Technology

Cindy Zimmerman February 22, 2007

President Bush paid a visit Thursday to Novozymes North America Inc., a company which is researching enzymes to be used to produce cellulosic ethanol.

The president toured the company’s Franklinton, North Carolina laboratories and talked with researchers about the technology needed to make wood chips and other biomass into fuel on a commerically viable basis. At one point, Bush held up a beaker of ethanol, sniffed it and joked, “I quit drinking in 1986.”

Outside, the president posed with officials from Novozymes in front of the Team Ethanol IndyCar show car. AP reports that he “leaned down and fiddled with the wheel a couple times, but didn’t climb down into the tiny driver’s seat.”

The main event was a panel discussion on cellulosic ethanol with company representatives and North Carolina political officials including Senator Richard Burr, Congressman G.K. Butterfield and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. Novozymes representatives included Steen Riisgaard, President and CEO of the Denmark-based company, and Thomas Nagy who is president of the North Carolina facility.

Nagy explained what they do at Novozymes. “We make enzymes. And enzymes is sort of like the key component you need to have when you convert starch or the corn to sugar that you can then make to alcohol or the ethanol,” he said. “But also, it’s got to be the key component when you want to make your switchgrass or your biomass to sugar and then to ethanol.”

Bush noted the importance of this research to being able to produce ethanol from something other than corn.

“The problem is we got a lot of hog growers around the United States and a lot of them here in North Carolina who are beginning to feel the pinch as a result of high corn prices,” he said. “A lot of the cattle people around the United States — I have got a few of them in my home state of Texas — they’re worried about high corn prices affecting their making a livelihood. In other words, the demand for corn, because of agricultural use, and now energy use, is causing corn prices to go up.”

For the country to reach the goal of reducing gasoline use by 20 percent within ten years, Bush says we need to develop the new technologies necessary “to make ethanol from wood chips, or stalk grass, or agricultural waste.”

The entire text of the president’s round table discussion can be found on the White House website.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

Green Lawns Through Green Fuel

John Davis February 21, 2007

Just a month until the first day of spring, and I’m sure after the kind of winter much of the country has seen, many people are REALLY looking forward to even some of the springtime chores such as mowing the lawn. The folks at Toro want to make that process a little greener.

This article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the Bloomington, MN-based company is introducing a line of mowers that run on biodiesel at the Golf Industry Show in Anaheim, California:

Two dozen models of Toro’s new biodiesel ground equipment will be on display at the world’s largest golf show, as will Toro’s new diesel-to-biodiesel conversion kits that range from about $30 to $500. The kits will hit the market in June. Toro’s new turf equipment will be delivered to commercial customers in 2008, officials said.

The mowers will run on 20% biodiesel, and there are plans in the works to have some equipment run on 100% biodiesel by the year 2009.

The company is also working on some prototype utility vehicles that run on hydrogen fuel cells.

Biodiesel, Hydrogen

West Coast Biodiesel Giant Nabs Big Investments

John Davis February 21, 2007

Seattle-based Imperium Renewables has announced it has secured $214 million in investments… possibly a record for biodiesel makers in the U.S. and reflecting a trend in more money going into the renewable fuel.

From an Imperium Renewables press release:

Imperium Renewables, Inc. today announced it has closed its Series B round with $113million of private equity and has mandated Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking to act as sole book-runner and lead arranger of a $101 million Senior Secured Credit Facility.

The company, one of the largest biodiesel producers on the West Coast, will operate the nations largest biodiesel plant when its Port of Grays Harbor facility opens this July. With this investment, the company will continue its plans to open additional facilities around the world, including Hawaii, the Northeast United States and internationally.

All of the Imperium facilities are expected to produce a total of 400 million gallons of biodiesel a year by the end of 2008.

A reported $2.6 billion in investments were sunk into biodiesel in 2006… an increase of nearly 80% from 2005.

Biodiesel

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