Hankinson, ND is the designated location for a 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant to be built by South Dakota-based US BioEnergy, in partnership with local Gold Energy, LLC. A company press release (soon to be posted on their website), quotes North Dakota Governor John Hoeven saying, “We have put good programs in place and worked diligently with the …
See the USA in Your Flex-Fuel Chevrolet Grand Finale
Here is the final post from the I-CARE Cross Country E85 Trip last week. The students who took part in the last half of the journey were Brad Westrum, Pat Lennon, Nate Marean – the post is written by Brad. The end of the road…. Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11. After uncovering our truck from the snow, we …
Ethanol Not so Hot Down Under
Apparently the ethanol industry is not doing as well in Australia as it is here in the U.S., according to this story from the ABC Rural Network. (That’s ABC as in AUSTRALIAN Broadcast Company) The reason is that major oil companies have yet to sign contracts to meet future target production goals and officials with the Australian Biofuels Association are …
How to Lose the Media in Ten Minutes
Some folks building an ethanol plant in Ohio got a lesson in media relations this week in a big way. This is basic PR 101 – don’t invite the media to a meeting and then tell them they can’t record or take notes – and then tell them to leave if they don’t like it. That’s what Harrison Ethanol did …
Ethanol Industry Ready to Replace MTBE
The president of the Renewable Fuels Association has sent a letter to the Energy Information Administration “countering assertions concerning the availability of ethanol for those gasoline markets transitioning out of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).” According to a press release, RFA president Bob Dinneen wrote to EIA in response to a report entitled “Eliminating MTBE in Gasoline in 2006,” released …
Island Ethanol
Hawaii is finally making some progress in its requirement to blend 10 percent ethanol in 85 percent of the gasoline sold in the state. Chevron this week became the first energy company in Hawaii to begin blending ethanol, as required by the state by April 2, according to this story from the Hawaii Channel. As posted previously, Hawaii is running …
New Study Story Old News but Still Good News
An Associated Press story on the wire about ethanol producers being encouraged by “new study” is the study that came out at the end of January (see previous post) Just want to make that clear in case someone sees the story and thinks that this is a different “new” study. It is a very positive story for the ethanol industry, …
Ethanol “Gold Rush”
Good story in USA Today about the ethanol plant construction boom. I like these quotes from the article: “It’s a little bit of a dot-com atmosphere,” says John Skelley, president of Arizona Grain” and “It’s a gold rush right now,” CEO Jeff Broin (of Broin Companies) says.
Switchgrass Studies
Most people never heard the word “switchgrass” before it was immortalized by President Bush in his State of the Union address, but someday we could be running our cars on fuel made from the stuff. USDA’s Agricultural Research Service just released a new study on the feasibility of switchgrass for energy production, focusing specifically on the economics of growing the …
Energy Excitement Generated at Summit
According to the press release from this week’s energy summit in Washington, DC, “Energy, enthusiasm and excitement marked the unveiling of 25x’25 to those attending the second National Agriculture and Forestry Renewable Energy Summit.” One of the most interesting news items from the summit was a survey of registered voters that shows overwhelming support for renewable energy initiatives. There is …