A new report from R.L. Polk & Co. says sales of hybrid vehicles rose 38 percent in 2007, compared to the previous year. The report also points out that better technologies and infrastructure are needed for ethanol- and biodiesel-powered vehicles to live up to their sales potential. This press release from the automotive marketing and research company says the economical …
Ethanol Getting Greener
A new analysis of America’s ethanol industry shows dramatic efficiency gains in ethanol production have been made in the last five years. According to an analysis conducted by the Argonne National Laboratory, American ethanol facilities are using less energy and water than just five years ago while producing more ethanol. Water consumption is down 26.6 percent, grid electricity use down …
Kentucky Ethanol Plant Grant
The Bluegrass State will soon be using switchgrass to produce ethanol at a new cellulosic facility to be built by Alltech of Lexington. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear visited the headquarters of Alltech this weekend for the ribbon cutting of the company’s new Nutrigenomics Center. Alltech is an international company involved in a variety of enterprises from animal nutrition and biotechnology …
DOE Awards New Biorefinery Grants
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded grants for three small-scale biorefinery projects this week in Maine, Tennessee and Kentucky. In announcing the grants, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said, “These projects will help pioneer the next generation of non-food based biofuels that will power our cars and trucks and help meet President Bush’s goal to stop greenhouse gas emissions growth by …
Ethanol Helps Prevent Higher Prices
Ethanol production is actually helping keep food and fuel prices lower than they would be, notes the Renewable Fuels Association, citing recent news reports. Without the expansion of biofuel production and use in the US, Brazil and elsewhere, world oil demand would increase and so would the price. Merrill Lynch analyst Francisco Blanch told the Wall Street Journal that world …
POET Opens Second Indiana Plant
The grand opening of POET’s 23rd ethanol production facility was a grand event in Alexandria, Indiana on Thursday. POET Biorefining – Alexandria is the company’s second plant in the state of Indiana and Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman told the crowd on hand for the official ribbon cutting that the new plant further strengthens Indiana as a national leader in the …
Brazilian President Jumps into Food vs. Fuel Debate
After a week of criticism of biofuels that included the U.N. special rapporteur for the right to food, Jean Ziegler calling biofuels a “crime against humanity” and protests in Brazil and Europe, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is defending his country’s right to produce biofuels. This Reuters story has more information: “Don’t tell me, for the love of …
Bush: Stop Greenhouse Gas Growth by 2025, Biofuels Part of Plan
President George W. Bush announced today his initiative to curb greenhouse growth in the United States. And according to this White House press release, ethanol and biodiesel are part of the plan: [T]he United States has launched — and the G8 has embraced — a new process that brings together the countries responsible for most of the world’s emissions. We’re …
Economists Discuss Food and Fuel Prices
Rising food prices continue to make headlines and all too often the blame is placed on the use of corn for ethanol. In this DomesticFuel Cast, we hear from two economists who have spent their entire careers studying farm and food prices – Jim Duffield with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and John Urbanchuk with the global economic analysis firm …
Imperim CEO Says “Don’t Blame Biofuels”
The food vs. fuel debate is still going strong with the chief executive officer of a major biofuel producer telling a technology summit not to blame his industry for the rise in food prices. This story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that at the Technology Summit in Bellevue, WA today, Imperium Renewables Chief Executive John Plaza told attendees that there’s …