The theme for USDA’s 83rd annual Agricultural Outlook Forum next month is “Agriculture at the Crossroads: Energy, Farm and Rural Policy.” “USDA’s 2007 Agricultural Outlook Forum explores renewable energy’s future in biofuels, cellulosic, methane, and wind,” said Johanns. “The Forum’s national conversation about agriculture centers on the fascinating opportunities and challenges of renewable energy in the next farm bill and …
President Calls For Increasing Alternative Fuel Supply
As anticipated, President George W. Bush devoted a significant portion of his 2007 State of the Union address Tuesday evening to energy. “For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil,” said President Bush. “It’s in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply. The way forward is through technology.” The audience applauded seven times during the four …
Biogas Energy Project
The Propane Education & Research Council recently joined the University of California-Davis, Onsite Power Systems, and industry partners at the official start-up of the anaerobic biodigester system for UC Davis’ Biogas Energy project. The project will demonstrate an innovative waste-to-energy technology with possible environmental and economic advantages, including potential as a renewable energy source. Anaerobic biodigesters use bacteria to break …
What Percent Solution?
Back to back speeches by American Petroleum Institute CEO Red Cavaney and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla provided a stark contrast in ideas at the Advancing Renewable Energy Conference last week in St. Louis. Cavaney discounted claims that the oil industry is “opposed to ethanol and is doing all it can to discourage its use. Nothing could be further from the …
Sound Bites
I have been going over some of the several hours of audio I collected last week at the Advancing Renewable Fuels Conference and picked out quotes from some of the major speakers. ADM CEO Patricia Woertz Ethanol derived from corn and vegetable oil based biodiesel are examples of here and now solutions that deserve investment support. We believe that corn …
Renewables in the News
The Advancing Renewable Fuels Conference in St. Louis last week received very extensive national and even international coverage. Here’s just a sampling of links to stories from reporters who were on the scene: From the international press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Speaking to a meeting on renewable energy in St Louis, Missouri, Bush hailed the savings at the petrol pump for truck …
Guest Blogger on Renewable Energy Conference
Here is a contributing blog entry from Beth Calabotta, who is oilseeds-biodiesel technology manager with Monsanto, on this week’s conference in St. Louis. Besides spending hours in the exhibit hall at the Monsanto booth, Beth had a front row seat for the president’s address and got pretty close when he hit the floor to meet and greet right after his …
The President Has Left the Building
This was no tough crowd for the president – with the exception of a anti-war protester who started shouting during the speech and had to be escorted out. He said all the right things to make this group of renewable energy entrepreneurs happy. Here is the president’s full remarks – about 30 minutes worth – I’ll pick out some soundbites …
President Promotes Renewables
President Bush got a nice round of applause when he just said, “I like the idea of promoting a fuel that relies upon our farmers.” “I guess we have some farmers here,” he said. “We’re up to five billion gallons of ethanol,” he adds. “We’re just in the beginning stages of an industry that’s evolving. We want you to succeed. …
The Eagle Has Landed
We just received word that the president is on his way to the convention center from the airport, so everyone is taking a quick seventh-inning stretch before they are locked up. The media has a nice mid-row seat, check-in was smooth and easy, now we are just waiting for the main event. We’ll keep you posted. I will give a …