Let’s talk about E15, or the use of 15 percent ethanol, 85 percent gasoline, in our conventional cars and light duty trucks. I don’t think people understand well enough why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting so much research on the fuel. What it really comes down to is emissions. Let me explain. Last Friday I attended the California …
Wesley Clark at AG CONNECT Expo
Retired General Wesley Clark visited the second AG CONNECT Expo Saturday in Atlanta to talk with farmers and ranchers visiting the event about the importance of ethanol to our nation’s security. Representing Growth Energy, Clark greeted folks at the CASE IH exhibit on the floor of the agricultural trade show. He also made time for some media interviews to talk …
Ethanol All The Way In NASCAR
Kenny Wallace, NASCAR driver, says, “Ethanol all the way in NASCAR!” That’s what he told me this afternoon in the American Farm Bureau Federation Pavilion on the floor of the AG CONNECT Expo. Thanks to Tricia Braid, Illinois Corn Growers, for setting up our interview and taking the photo. Kenny was signing autographs in the Nationwide Insurance exhibit. You won’t …
Ethanol Report on the Year Ahead
Now that 2010 is just a memory and Congressional leaders are returning to Washington this week to open the first session of the 112th Congress, what does the future hold for ethanol? In this edition of “The Ethanol Report,” Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen gets out his crystal ball and talks about the year ahead for the …
Ethanol Report on 2010
As the champagne corks pop this New Year’s Eve, the ethanol industry will be celebrating more than they were a year ago. In this edition of “The Ethanol Report,” Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen talks about the year that 2010 was for the ethanol industry. “In many ways, 2010 was a record setting year,” Dinneen says. It …
DF Cast: OriginOil to Prove Algae-to-Fuel Process
The developer of technology that turns algae in to renewable fuel is going down under to do some long-term testing of its process. OriginOil recently announced the successful completion of the first phase of its commercial pilot program with Australian company, MBD Energy, OriginOil’s first customer and pilot partner. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk to …
Ethanol Report on Senate Passage of Tax Bill
In this edition of “The Ethanol Report” we get reaction from Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen on the passage by the Senate of the compromise tax package that includes a one-year extension of important tax incentives for ethanol production and use. Dinneen says they are thrilled with passage of the measure, which gives some stability to the …
Biodiesel Tax Incentive Clears Cloture; NBB Optimistic
The federal $1-a-gallon biodiesel blenders credit has cleared an important legislative hurdle, and the National Biodiesel Board is optimistic it will become law. Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted to end debate (invoking cloture) on the package of tax credits, including the biodiesel incentive, by a bipartisan 83-15 margin. As the vote was going on, I talked to the NBB’s …
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 …
DF Cast: GM Rolls Out First Volts Today
It’s a red letter day for General Motors today, as the very first Chevrolet Volts rolled off the assembly line today at the company’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Michigan. The Volt is the world’s first electric vehicle that also has a gasoline-powered generator, allowing it to keep on driving past the usual 40-mile battery limit. In this edition of the …