American Ethanol has broken first ground on its way to a planned two billion gallons of annual ethanol production. The Chicago-based company broke ground last week on the first of 15 planned 100+ gallon-per-year facilities in Nebraska and Illinois. Sutton, Nebraska was the site for the ceremony on Thursday, according to this story from the Lincoln Journal-Star. Another groundbreaking is …
Confusion Over E85 Pump Certification
Reports from the Detroit Free Press about E85 pumps losing their safety rating from Underwriters Laboratory are causing quite a bit of confusion in the ethanol world. Justin Hyde of the Free Press Washington Bureau followed up his first report yesterday with another one today giving further information, as well as an article in USA Today. The initial report had …
ILFB Creates Ethanol Blog and TV Spots
Illinois Farm Bureau is trying to get the good news about ethanol out in two ways – a new blog and some cute and corny TV spots posted on YouTube. Illinois Farm Bureau News Service Director John Hawkins says they started the new ethanol blog “to provide the latest information on renewable energy and ethanol for Illinois Farm Bureau members. …
Support for Biofuels Investment
A new survey from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) shows strong support for government investment in biofuels research. According to a press release: Four in five U.S. adults (80%) strongly or somewhat agree that national and state governments are not doing enough to promote production of biofuels. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive®, also found that 82% of adults say …
Midwest Ethanol Iowa Plant Meetings
Public meetings are part of the process of bringing an ethanol plant to any community. Plans must be presented and concerns addressed. Monona County Ethanol – a Midwest Ethanol Producers company – held two public meetings this week in the area where they plan to build a 100 million gallon per year facility. About 200 people attended the meetings held …
What Percent Solution?
Back to back speeches by American Petroleum Institute CEO Red Cavaney and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla provided a stark contrast in ideas at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference last week in St. Louis. Cavaney discounted claims that the oil industry is “opposed to ethanol and is doing all it can to discourage its use. Nothing could be further from the …
Feed vs Fuel
One question that continues to be asked in regard to corn ethanol production is how it will affect the global supply of food for both humans and animals. It was a primary topic of discussion at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference last week in St. Louis. During a press conference, US Department of Agriculture chief economist Keith Collins was asked …
More Ethanol Plants Underway
According to the Renewable Fuels Association, 45 ethanol biorefineries are now under construction in the United States, with the groundbreakings of Cardinal Ethanol in Indiana and the Broin Companies’ Summit Ethanol in Ohio. Summit, located in Leipsic, Ohio, is a 60 million gallon plant. Cardinal will have a capacity of 100 million gallons per year in Randolph Couny, Indiana. “Indiana …
Sound Bites
I have been going over some of the several hours of audio I collected last week at the Advancing Renewable Fuels Conference and picked out quotes from some of the major speakers. ADM CEO Patricia Woertz Ethanol derived from corn and vegetable oil based biodiesel are examples of here and now solutions that deserve investment support. We believe that corn …
Renewables in the News
The Advancing Renewable Fuels Conference in St. Louis last week received very extensive national and even international coverage. Here’s just a sampling of links to stories from reporters who were on the scene: From the international press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Speaking to a meeting on renewable energy in St Louis, Missouri, Bush hailed the savings at the petrol pump for truck …