The El Paso Times reports on the disparity of flex-fuel vehicles to the availability of ethanol to fill their tanks. U.S. automakers have stepped up production of vehicles that can run on ethanol, and El Pasoans can easily find such vehicles at some local new car dealerships. The problem is that ethanol fuel, most of which is produced from corn, …
Planning Ahead for AF&V ’08
“In times of change, the learner will inherit the earth, while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists.” – Eric Hoffer With those words of wisdom, the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVi) has announced the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference + Expo will be held May 11-14, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 14th …
VeraSun Testing Hybrid Escape
VeraSun Energy of Brookings, SD is test driving one of the new Ford Escape Hybrid FFVs for a two-year period to demonstrate the benefit of converging flexible fuel and hybrid technologies. The Escape Hybrid FFV will produce up to 25 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions when running on E85 as compared to the standard Escape Hybrid running on gasoline. Ford …
News From US Bioenergy
US BioEnergy Corporation is planning to utilize US Bio Process Technology™ at its Albert City, Hankinson, Dyersville and Janesville plants which is expected to increase the production capacity at each of these plants from 100 million gallons per year (MGY) to 120 MGY by the end of 2008. According to a company release, US Bio Process Technology includes a combination …
Ethanol Demand Pushes Up Midwest Land Prices
Midwestern farmers are seeing a bit of a land boom.. as the rest of the country is facing a slumping real estate market. The difference? Farmland can grow corn, and corn can turn into ethanol. This story in the New York Times says it’s good news for established farmers, but tough on new farmers looking to buy land: Skyrocketing farmland …
Green Design for Green Gas Stations
As more Americans seek relief from nearly $4-a-gallon gasoline in some areas by using alternative fuels, gas stations are changing their look to show the greener attitude. This story in BusinessWeek says they’re designs that reflect the growing trend of hybrid and flex-fuel cars running on the more-and-more available ethanol and biodiesel: In Eugene, Oregon, SeQuential Biofuels opened the state’s …
POET Booth and Blogger
While at the ACE Convention I got to meet fellow biofuels blogger Nathan Schock. Nathan is the public relations director for POET and you’ll find him at Rhapsody in Green. Nathan is in the middle of this group of people who were visiting the POET booth at the ACE trade show. You can see some of Nathan’s pictures from the …
Todd Larson Loves Promoting EPIC and Ethanol
One of the relatively newer members of the staff of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is Todd Larson. Todd is pictured here to the right. He’s in their booth at the ACE Convention talking with members and prospective members of EPIC. That’s what Todd does – membership development. I thought it would be good to get a perspective on …
Brian Jennings – State of Ethanol and ACE
The executive vice president of the American Coalition for Ethanol is Brian Jennings. He gave the state of the industry and organization speech. I interviewed Brian this morning to find out what he thinks about how things are going in the ethanol industry and especially from the ACE perspective. He says the industry has reached a “pivotal point” in its …
EPIC President’s Reception
Attendance at the ACE Convention is a record with nearly 2,000 people here over the course of the event. Today is the final day and we’ll have a keynote address from South Dakota Senator John Thune soon. One of the big values to attendees here is the opportunity to network and talk with industry partners. This is the President’s Reception …