Top state officials will keynote the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Summit on Wednesday in Des Moines. The event will feature the latest news in Iowa’s biodiesel and ethanol industries with a keynote address by Iowa Governor Chet Culver and a special address by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. Iowa is the leader in renewable fuels production with 26 ethanol …
Montana Latest to Move Forward on Biodiesel Mandate
The Montana State Senate today voted to give initial approval to a bill that would require all biodiesel sold in the state contain at least 5% biodiesel. This AP story in the Great Falls (MT) Tribune says Senate Bill 432 – a measure sponsored Sen. John Brueggeman (R-Polson) – passed 35-15: Brueggeman said biodiesel fuels can be made from oils …
Big Oil Gets Into Biodiesel
In what might seem like a bit of an ironic twist, oil giant Chevron is getting into the biodiesel business. The California-based company has a 22% share of a 20-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel refinery set to open next month in oil-central Galveston. The Houston Chronicle reports the plant will be one of the largest in the country and marks a change in …
Commodity Classic Time
The 2007 Commodity Classic is upon us. For the first time this year, the annual commodity event brings together the “Big Three” – corn, soybeans AND wheat. The first two have been meeting in a combined event for years, now wheat has decided to join the club. The meeting will have a pirate theme this year, being held overlooking beautiful …
Great Smoky Mountains Going Green
National Park Service diesel vehicles on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be filling up with 50% biodiesel. This story in the Haywood County (NC) News says the biodiesel will go into about two dozen vehicles that burn 12,000 gallons a year: “This biodiesel refueling project will help us achieve our long-term goal of …
A Greener Grocer
Grocery-giant Safeway is test-marketing 20% biodiesel at one of its Seattle stores. Check out this story on MSNBC.com: Cherie Myers, a regional Safeway spokeswoman, said the company saw the environmentally conscious Northwest as a good place to test biodiesel’s commercial viability. “This was our first step. Now we’re going to see how the consumer will respond to this,” Myers said. …
Green Lawns Through Green Fuel
Just a month until the first day of spring, and I’m sure after the kind of winter much of the country has seen, many people are REALLY looking forward to even some of the springtime chores such as mowing the lawn. The folks at Toro want to make that process a little greener. This article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says …
West Coast Biodiesel Giant Nabs Big Investments
Seattle-based Imperium Renewables has announced it has secured $214 million in investments… possibly a record for biodiesel makers in the U.S. and reflecting a trend in more money going into the renewable fuel. From an Imperium Renewables press release: Imperium Renewables, Inc. today announced it has closed its Series B round with $113million of private equity and has mandated Société …
Johanns to Keynote Biofuels Investment Seminar
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will be the keynote speaker at a symposium next month on biofuels investments. “Biomass and Biorefinery Deals 2007” will bring leading government officials, developers, equity and venture financiers, and technology providers together to discuss how to best accelerate the implementation of emerging biomass and biorefinery technology and optimize the revenue flows for projects. The symposium will …
Biodiesel… This Year’s Ethanol
As I’ve talked about before on this blog, one of the keys to biodiesel being a success is it being financially viable. This article in the Financial Times Deutschland (Germany) has one expert predicting that biodiesel could see the results ethanol has recently seen: Biodiesel could be “this year’s ethanol” in the view of Leigh Goering, portfolio manager for the …