There seems to be no end to the rhetoric bouncing around between agricultural experts, critics and media about what’s driving food costs. Biofuels are still one of the most common scapegoats for why we’re paying more for our food than ever before. But the Farm Foundation wants to get to the root of it all. That’s why it sought out …
Highlights of Renewable Energy Conference Posted
U.S. government officials are following up on the success of last March’s Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008) with a report of that three-day conference. This press release from the USDA announces the launch of the WIREC Conference Report at www.WIREC2008.gov, as well as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s release of a preliminary impact assessment of the pledges submitted …
Montana Senator Tester Supports EPAC
Montana’s Senator Jon Tester is in support of domestic fuel and Ethanol Producers and Consumers (EPAC). The U.S. Senator is a third generation Montana farmer who understands the value of agriculture to Montana’s economy and way of life. His Field Director Tracy Stone-Manning presented a letter at the recent EPAC conference in Kalispell, Montana: Thank you all for your hard …
G8 Leaders Support Non-Edible Biofuels Development
G8 leaders meeting in Japan this week pledged to promote clean energy and carbon trading to curb greenhouse gas emissions and recognized the importance of sustainable biofuel production. The heads of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. said they will work to develop science-based benchmarks and indicators for biofuel production and use. The leaders also …
New EPIC Board Member Calls for a Cohesive Ethanol Industry
Another representative of Fagen Incorporated has joined the ranks in the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Matt Sederstrom of Platinum Ethanol is a new board member, elected at EPIC’s first annual meeting earlier this month. Matt says he hopes to drive a solid cohesiveness in the ethanol industry, bringing more members and industry partners together for a common cause. “Now …
Answering Ethanol Plant Location Questions
On the subject of locating a biorefinery we had another presentation on the subject here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. This one was by David Perkis, Purdue University. He says the purpose of his work is to answer questions that local decision makers have such as, Where to locate plants?, What do we have to prepare for?, …
Ethanol Plant Site Selection
Besides those out working in the industry we also heard from some university students today at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. Lance Andrew Stewart is a grad student at the University of Tennessee. He did a very technical presentation on locating ethanol plants. His work focused on the location determinants that attract potential plants in certain areas. He …
Rural Development Helping Rural Communities
We had USDA Rural Development represented here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference by Tony Crooks. He works with their rural business cooperatives program and has done a lot of work with communities in the area of ethanol and biodiesel. The challenge he says we have today in rural communities is the large capital outlay to get a …
Energy BioSciences Institute Development
The luncheon speaker at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference focused on managing risk. Paul Willems works for BP Energy Biosciences Institute. He says it’s a collaboration between the University of California, Berkely, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois and BP. Paul says that their mission is to apply modern biology towards energy problems. The Institute …