A new paper, “Wood Bioenergy and Land Use,” authored by Roger A. Sedjo, Brent L. Sohngen, Anne Riddle on behalf of Resources for the Future attempts to debunk indirect land use change theory (ILUC). The paper looks at how the use of biomass energy will affect the forests. Back in 2008, Timothy Searchinger examined the issue related to corn ethanol …
New Report Highlights the Power of Geothermal
The Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) and Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) have released a new joint report, “The Values of Geothermal Energy: A Discussion of the Benefits of Geothermal Power Provides to the Future of U.S. Power System“. The report addresses the role geothermal energy can play in states with Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) or Renewable Electricity Standards (RES) who are …
BioEnergy Bytes
Lee Enterprises Consulting is hosting a webinar, “Maximizing and Stabilizing Your Rin Values in a Volatile Market,” on Thursday, November 14, 2013 beginning at 2:00 pm CST. The webinar will cover how RINS are sold; What is QAP Certification and how is it recognized; Why a producer would want to use a QAP program and what the the benefits are; …
Renewable Fuels Video Contest: Enter Now
The 4th Annual “Fuel the Future” video contest has been official kicked off by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA). The high school student contest is seeking the best student-produced video promoting the use of ethanol, E15 and/or biodiesel. The top three video entries will receive prizes in the amounts of $1,000, $600 and $400 respectively; will be aired at …
DOE Announces Rooftop Solar Challenge
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced eight teams that have been selected to participate in the Rooftop Solar Challenge. The teams will receive a combined $12 million, matched by more than $4 million in outside funding. The groups are tasked with moving the solar rooftop industry forward through cutting the red tape surrounding residential and small commercial solar …
BioEnergy Bytes
ZephIR Lidar has signed a new distributor agreement with Chinese firm Beijing New Energy Technologies (BNET). The deal will allow ZephIR, manufacturers of the world’s first commercial wind lidar, to tap further into the Chinese wind market: currently the world’s largest, in terms of installed capacity. The company’s ZephIR 300 is a successful, ground-based, continuous wave (CW) wind lidar system …
How To Make E85 Sales Soar
A bottleneck of too few fuel stations that offer E85 (85% ethanol 15% gasoline), along with price incongruity are two major factors that reduce the ability of E85 to help meet increasing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) biofuel mandates. Iowa State University economists Bruce A Babcock and Sebastien Pouliot state in “How Much E85 Can Be Consumed in the U.S.” that …
Energy Title “Vital” in Farm Bill
More than 40 bipartisan House and Senate members including Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Representatives Dave Loebsack (D-2-IA) and Aaron Schock (R-18-IL), sent “Dear Colleague” letters to Farm Bill Conference leaders stressing the vital importance of the energy title (Title IX). In response, the Agriculture Energy Coalition (AgEC) praised the legislator’s letter of support. “The energy …
IRFA 2014 Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit Announced
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) has announced the start of registration for the 8th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit and Trade Show. The Summit is free, open to the public, and will be held January 28, 2014 at The Meadows Conference Center at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. With discussion over renewable fuels policy at fever pitch, the 2014 …
GPRE Acquires BioFuel Energy Ethanol Plants
Green Plains Renewable Energy (GRPE) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire two of BioFuel Energy Corp’s (BIOF) ethanol plants from its lender group. The ethanol plants are located in Wood River, Nebraska and Fairmont, Minnesota. The two facilities have a combined annual production capacity of approximately 220 million gallons, and the acquisition will increase GPRE’s production capacity by 28 …