The Indiana State Department of Agriculture has recognized POET President and CEO Jeff Broin with the 2010 Paul Dana Excellence in Bioenergy Leadership Award. POET is the nation’s largest ethanol production company with 27 plants producing more than 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol a year. ISDA Director Joseph Kelsay presented the award during the Greater Indiana Clean Cities Awards Ceremony …
Exelon Completes John Deere Renewables Purchase
Exelon Corporation today announced that the previously announced acquisition of John Deere Renewables has been completed. The acquisition of Deere’s wind energy business gives Exelon 36 wind projects in eight states that will now be called Exelon Wind, a division of Exelon Power. The projects amount to 735 operating megawatts of clean, renewable energy – enough to power 160,000 to …
Senate Deal Includes Ethanol and Biodiesel
A renewal of the ethanol blenders tax credit, reinstatement of biodiesel incentives and help for wind and solar companies have all reportedly made it into the Senate compromise that extends both unemployment benefits and expiring tax cuts. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the compromise legislation would extend the current Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) just through 2011 at …
Ethanol Tax Credit Said to be in Deal
Word is that the ethanol tax credit and possibly other renewable energy incentives will be included in the deal being cut on Capitol Hill this week. Bloomberg has reported that Democratic Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) both say the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) for blending ethanol with gasoline is part of the package. Feinstein opposes …
Ethanol Co-product Publication Update
A publication that provides information for users of the ethanol co-product distillers dried grains (DDGS) has been updated. A new edition of “Feeding Corn Milling Co-Products to Feedlot Cattle,” a popular publication that provides feedlot operators, animal nutritionists and others with the latest research and sound recommendations on feeding corn co-products like distillers grains to cattle, is now available from …
KC Firm Buys Mead Ethanol Plant
A Kansas City investment firm has purchased a bankrupt Nebraska ethanol plant with the goal of getting it back on line by next year. Spectrum Business Ventures (SBV) bought the assets in Chapter 11 bankruptcy of E3BioFuels in Mead, Nebraska, a patented, closed-loop ethanol production facility that both opened and subsequently shut down in 2007. According to a company release, …
Deal May Include Ethanol and Biodiesel Tax Breaks
Nobody seems to be happy about the tax breaks/unemployment benefits deal announced by President Obama yesterday and no one is sure what all it ultimately will include, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says that ethanol blenders tax credit and associated tariff, as well as the biodiesel tax credit may be in it. During his regular weekly conference call with reporters …
Congress May Make Deal on Tax Cuts
After defeating a compromise measure proposed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to extend the Bush tax cuts only for the middle class, the talk on Capitol Hill is now turning to a deal that would keep all of the tax cuts in exchange for extending unemployment benefits. Baucus had proposed a compromise amendment late Thursday that would have continued unemployment …
Vatican Powered From Above
The Vatican has unveiled a new book detailing the Holy See’s solar power initiatives. “The Energy of the Sun in the Vatican” was presented last week during a press conference by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the commission governing Vatican City State. It details two solar projects undertaken by the Vatican in the last two years – the installation of …
Deforestation Decline Debunks Land Use Change Theory
Rainforest deforestation rates have reached new lows, which further challenges the theory of international land use change that has been used to penalize corn ethanol for its carbon footprint. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced today that deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon declined 14 percent from August 2009 to July 2010, reaching the lowest rates ever recorded …