Public support for biofuels continues to grow in Canada according to national poll results released today. The poll was conducted by Praxicus Public Strategies and funded by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association. When respondents were asked if they support replacing some fossil fuels with renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, 69 percent said yes. This is an improvement from last …
Ethanol Report on California ARB Decision
California has adopted the first-ever fuel requirement that is carbon-based – and that’s a good thing. “What is frustrating to the ethanol industry is that the board still went ahead and approved a program that has some really ridiculous land use data,” says Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen. Despite the Board’s vote, Dinneen says RFA remains cautiously …
California Motorists Fill Up With Cellulosic Ethanol
In what might be one of the first deals of its kind, Pearson Fuels, a company installing “alternative fuels stations” across the state of California, has inked a deal with AE Biofuels, Inc. to supply cellulosic ethanol for its E85 and other ethanol fuel blends. Pearson Fuels, based in San Diego was the first company to build an E85 station …
Ethanol Groups Disappointed by California Ruling
Ethanol interests are expressing their disappointment in this week’s ruling by the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to adopt a low carbon fuel standard that uses controversial methods to determine indirect land use changes attributable to biofuels. “Adopting this standard sets a dangerous precedent about the application of unproven science to industries across the country,” said Bob Dinneen, President and …
California Adopts Standard Biased Against Ethanol
Despite stringent arguments by the ethanol industry, California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) yesterday approved a Low Carbon Fuel Standard that could jeopardize continued development of the advanced biofuels it is intended to promote. According to a press release from the board, “The new standard means we can begin to break our century-old dependence on petroleum and provide California with greater …
Turning CO2 Into Ethanol
A new process could be a way to reduce greenhouse gas… and turn that gas into fuel for your car. This story from Reuters says scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore are using non-toxic organocatalysts to make carbon dioxide into ethanol: In a statement, the institute said the team, led by Yugen Zhang, used N-heterocyclic carbenes …
Plantation Pipeline Expanding to Ethanol
A pipeline in the Southeastern United States that has already tested moving biodiesel (see my Feb. , 2009 post) is now looking at sending ethanol through that same conduit. This Reuters story says Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is looking at shipping ethanol on the Louisiana to Virginia Plantation duct: “We are evaluating the Plantation pipeline … as the next possible …
GHG Worse than Thought from Foreign Crude
A press release by Growth Energy highlights a new study that shows greenhouse gas emissions of gasoline from foreign oil are at least twice what was previously thought when the indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to military operations in the Middle East are taken into account. The study is published in “Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining”. The study comes as …
Ethanol Watching CARB Arguments
All eyes in the ethanol industry are on California today as the state’s Air Resources Board (ARB) is hearing arguments and preparing to vote on a controversial staff proposal for the state’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). Hundreds of scientists, biofuel producers, including both current and next generation companies, and petroleum interests have all cautioned that ARB’s approach is far …
Ethanol Blending in Nebraska
Motorists in Grand Island, Nebraska now have a range of choices at the pump when it comes to ethanol blended gasoline. Six ethanol blender pumps were unveiled last week providing flexible-fuel vehicle owners with the option of using E85, E30, E20 or the traditional E10 blend of gasoline. “If you drive a flex-fuel vehicle, you don’t have to fill up …