Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway Danica Patrick equaled her best IndyCar® Series finish of fourth and rookie Jeff Simmons posted his top IndyCar Series finish of seventh as Rahal Letterman Racing posted one of its strongest outings of the 2006 IndyCar Series season. According to a news release from EPIC, Patrick overcame a whirlwind week of media scrutiny with a …
I Filled Up At the Wrong Pump
Travelling home late last night from a road trip I stopped for gas at an MFA Oil store in Columbia, MO.
It was very late and I was not very attentive I will admit. I looked at the pump on the island I was pulled up to and noticed that higher octane gas containing ethanol was priced the same as regular unleaded. That seemed to be a no-brainer.
Minnesota Study
Don’t think I have been ignoring the University of Minnesota study out this week that has given ethanol some bad press. I have just been playing catch up after being out of the office for a couple of days. Fact is, the study is actually positive in many ways. For one thing, the report finds that ethanol from corn produces …
Another NE Ethanol Plant
Renewable Agricultural Energy, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado and Gothenburg Improvement Company of Nebraska are planning to construct an ethanol plant in Gothenburg. According to a release, they have purchased 275 acres of land in Dawson County, which “has excellent direct rail and highway infrastructure and is an ideal location for serving western ethanol markets.” With new plants being announced everyday …
US BioEnergy News
US BioEnergy Corporation of Brookings, SD has announced plans for a 100 million gallon per year ethanol facility adjacent to the CN Railway in Dyersville, IA. According to a company release, the plant will be a gas fired, dry-grind ethanol facility similar to one the company is building in Albert City, Iowa.
Media Training
I have been on the road for the past two days, up in Sioux Falls, SD at the Broin Companies to help with media training for some of the industry’s ethanol ambassadors. It was a very interesting group of people who are proving the performance value of ethanol in different types of vehicles. In the photo, I am doing a …
Michigan Alternative Fuel Incentives
Here’s a story that ought to rile up the people who can’t seem to understand the need to provide businesses in America with incentives to develop and use alternative fuels. These folks like to use the word subsidy as if it’s a bad word. I think incentive is a much better word and in the case of this story, it’s more accurate. This is from Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s website last Friday:
More on Sugar-Ethanol Study
Here is a link to the power point presentation used by USDA economist Keith Collins during the press conference Monday unveiling the sugar to ethanol study. Have not yet gotten the actual report from USDA, but this might help answer some questions – or generate more.
Riding the Ethanol Express
Truck pulling is another racing event that is being fueled by ethanol. This is Scott Jensen with the Ethanol Express Pulling Team and here is an interview Chuck did recently with Scott explaining what he does and how ethanol plays a role: Jensen Interview (3 min MP3)
Sugar Not So Sweet For Ethanol
Producing ethanol from sugar cane or sugar beets in the U.S. would cost about 2 1/2 times more than it costs to produce it from corn. That is according to a long-awaited USDA study on the economics of producing ethanol from sugar authored by the agriculture department’s top economist Keith Collins. The detailed report compares production scenerios for sugar cane, …