President Bush paid a visit Thursday to Novozymes North America Inc., a company which is researching enzymes to be used to produce cellulosic ethanol. The president toured the company’s Franklinton, North Carolina laboratories and talked with researchers about the technology needed to make wood chips and other biomass into fuel on a commerically viable basis. At one point, Bush held …
Johanns to Keynote Biofuels Investment Seminar
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will be the keynote speaker at a symposium next month on biofuels investments. “Biomass and Biorefinery Deals 2007” will bring leading government officials, developers, equity and venture financiers, and technology providers together to discuss how to best accelerate the implementation of emerging biomass and biorefinery technology and optimize the revenue flows for projects. The symposium will …
FCStone to Serve as Market Maker for CBOT Ethanol Futures
The Chicago Board of Trade has announced that FCStone has become an electronic market maker for the CBOT’s Ethanol futures contract. According to a CBOT release, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Robert D. Ray said, “FCStone brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the CBOT’s Ethanol complex, which we believe has become the benchmark for domestic ethanol prices. …
Developing More Crops For Ethanol
The head of energy crop company Ceres told the National Academy of Sciences this week that biotechnology-based innovations across the biofuels production chain will bring the cost of a new generation of cellulosic biofuels down significantly, while vastly increasing supply. According to a company release, Ceres president and CEO Richard Hamilton said, “Biofuels produced from dedicated energy crops will be …
Ethanol Track Talk
General Motors has been actively encouraging NASCAR to make the switch to ethanol for some time now, especially since the IndyCar Series has now gone to 100 percent ethanol and the American LeMans Series has adopted a 10 percent blend. The Associated Press reports there is more talk on the track this year about switching to ethanol. “Without a doubt, …
I Love Ethanol Song
The National Ethanol Conference is now over and saying goodbye was RFA President/CEO, Bob Dinneen. Next year’s Conference will be held in Orlando, FL so be sure to plan ahead early to make sure you participate in this industry-leading event. Although I don’t have the video (I’ll try to get a copy) I do have the audio from the final …
Economic Analysis on the Impact of U.S. Ethanol Industry
To get a complete understanding about the Ethanol Tax Incentive, attendees at the National Ethanol Conference heard this morning from Dr. John Urbanchuk, Director, LECG, LLC. He started out talking about how work needs to be done to renew the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) in a couple years. He talks about how the ethanol industry is in its …
Rep. Hulshof’s Capitol Hill View
Congressman from Missouri, Kenny Hulshof, (R-MO) was on stage today at the National Ethanol Conference as part of the session on how things look on Capitol Hill for the 110th Congress. Hulshof said that he might get in trouble as a Republican by saying it, but he said that he thinks agriculture will fare well with Rep. Peterson at the …
Capitol Hill View by Rep. Peterson
This morning at the National Ethanol Conference we got the view from Capitol Hill as two of our Congressmen provided their thoughts on the legislative agenda for the 110th Congress. First up was Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN). He serves as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. Peterson started out mentioning the farm bill and the challenges presented by the successes …
Bob in a Saab
General Motors is sponsoring a display of flex fuel vehicles here at the conference as I mentioned previously. This afternoon I had a chance to go on a test drive with Bob Dinneen, President/CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association at the helm and with him was Coleman Jones, Biofuels Implementation Manager, GM Powertrain. We took a short drive around the …