This month several reports have been released on the global growth of renewable energy. According to two new reports released by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), for two consecutive years, the United States and Europe added more power from renewable sources such as wind and solar than from conventional …
Tennessee’s Biomass Innovation Park Breaks Ground
Yesterday, Dallas Tonsager, the Under Secretary for Rural Development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony for Tennessee’s Biomass Innovation Park. The park is a unique campus that will develop technology to integrate and optimizes the entire biomass supply chain. It will also be the site for a $5 million Department of Energy-funded high-tonnage …
San Jose Opens Additional EV Charging Stations
San Jose, California is the latest city to install a Networked Charging Station for electric vehicles (EV). The station was installed by Coulomb Technologies and is part of a $37 million ChargePoint America program that will eventually offer hundreds of free stations for public and home charging throughout the Bay area. Coulomb has the largest established base networked charging stations …
Largest US FFV Fleet Now Has 85 Percent Ethanol
The biggest fleet of flexible fuel vehicles in the United States now has access to 85 percent ethanol fuel. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Protec Fuel joined representatives of the Norfolk Naval Base and Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) in Norfolk, Virginia to cut the ribbon and open the new E85 pump. In addition to providing fuel for the …
World Bank Report Takes New Look at Food and Fuel
Ethanol production probably had less impact on global commodity prices in 2008 than many were saying at the time. A newly released working paper, entitled “Placing the 2006/08 Commodity Price Boom into Perspective,” from the Development Prospects Group at the World Bank, concludes that “…the effect of biofuels on food prices has not been as large as originally thought.” Authors …
Renewable Energy Progress
Earlier this month, the 25x’25 Alliance released a progress report on where the nation is in terms of the goal of meeting 25 percent of our energy needs with renewable resources by 2025, and they held a press conference with representatives of all the major renewable energy sectors to talk about the report and what still needs to be done. …
More MN State Cars Use E85
More state vehicles in Minnesota are able to use up to 85 percent ethanol in their tanks, according to the American Lung Association in Minnesota. So far this year, state agencies used 437,063 gallons of E85, a 25 percent increase over last year. Those figures come from the state’s SmartFleet Committee, a group tasked with helping agencies comply with Executive …
CARB Proposes LCFS Soil Sustainability Provisions
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is far from over on discrediting biofuels as part of their mandated policy known as the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). For the past year, the ethanol industry has been embroiled in a fight for proper reflections of biofuel’s indirect greenhouse gas emissions, aka indirect land use. Now, CARB has created a working group …
Two Views on Impact of Ethanol Tax Credit Expiration
One agricultural economist is disputing the findings of another when it comes to the impact on the domestic ethanol industry of removing the existing blenders tax credit and the associated tariff on imported ethanol. In dueling commentaries posted Tuesday on “The Hill’s Congress Blog,” Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) director and professor of economist Dr. …