Financial services are buzzing this morning with the red-hot debut of VeraSun’s IPO. In the most recent Bloomberg report, the story is that shares of VeraSun Energy Corp., the second-largest U.S. ethanol producer, jumped as much as 34 percent on the first day after an initial public offering that tapped rising interest in alternatives to $3-a-gallon gasoline. The shares rose …
Ethanol Designer Honored
ICM Inc. of Colwich, Kan., has received the 2006 Governor’s Award of Excellence presented by Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius this week, according to a Kansas City Star report. The awards are the top honors a Kansas business can receive. ICM is an industry leader in the engineering and design of ethanol processing facilities
China Considers Ethanol
America is not the only country addicted to oil. China is now considering a change in energy policy to encourage the wider use of ethanol in order to improve air quality. According to China Knowledge, Beijing could set a target by the end of this year to include ethanol in the nation’s energy mix, the newspaper said, citing Fabrizio Zichichi, …
Louisiana Governor Signs Ethanol Bill
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has signed into law a bill requiring refineries to mix ethanol with some of the gasoline they produce. The governor issued a statement about the bill, saying she was “proud to join President Bush, the federal government and dozens of other states in promoting a biofuels market. As the President has said on many occasions, America …
Granite Falls Grand Opening
Granite Falls Energy, LLC is opening it’s state-of-the-art biorefinery in Minnesota today. Granite Falls will produce more than 45 million gallons of ethanol and 130,000 tons of distillers grains annually from more than 17 billion bushels of Minnesota corn. “Minnesota has long been a leader in expanding the production and use of ethanol and today’s grand opening celebration is continued …
MI Lawmakers Call for More Ethanol
Sixteen members of Michigan’s congressional delegation, including Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, are calling on President Bush to pressure oil companies into setting a target for installing more ethanol filling stations by 2010. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan lawmakers say the domestic auto industry has already done its part to increase ethanol use by committing to …
Ethanol Power Wins Challenge X
Engineering students from Virginia Tech University, utilizing E85/hybrid technology, beat out teams from 16 other universities in the U.S. and Canada to win the second annual Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility competition, sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors last week in Mesa, Arizona. The Virginia Tech team redesigned a 2005 Chevy Equinox to utilize a split …
Panda Climbing
Texas-based Panda Energy has announced a merger and private placement to build it’s portfolio of ethanol refineries. The company release says the merger is expected to become effective this summer, subject to the satisfaction of certain requirements, and the combined entity will operate under the name of Panda Ethanol Inc. The private placement was approximately 14.9 million shares of common …
Fuel Station of the Future
Pearson Ford Fuel Depot, the site of a Willie Nelson biodiesel promotion earlier this year during the National Biodiesel Board annual meeting in San Diego, is in the news. An AP article features Pearson as the “fuel station of the future” with its many fuel choices, including biodiesel and E85. The station also offers “compressed natural gas” along with recharging …
New Millennium for ADM
Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Millennium Ethanol LLC have formed an ethanol marketing agreement, under which ADM will market all ethanol produced by Millennium Ethanol at its planned 100-million-gallon Marion, South Dakota facility, according to an ADM company release. Millennium Ethanol is owned by 914 South Dakota investors, including farmers and business people from across the state. ADM is the …