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Jean Claude Mbarushimana, Daehwan Kim, Traci Menke, Bill Pracht, Geoff Cooper, Jessica Sodeke, Justin Diehm

Those receiving scholarships included Jean Claude Mbarushimana, a Virginia Tech graduate student studying agricultural and applied economics and several members of the Renewable Fuels Association Young Professionals Network including Daehwan Kim, an Assistant Professor of Biology at Hood College; Justin Diehm, Commodity Manager at East Kansas Agri-Energy; Traci Menke, Executive Assistant at Renewable Fuels Nebraska; and Jessica Sodeke, Ethanol Program Manager at Nebraska Ethanol Board.

“We were happy to see such a positive response to our call for applications and we are impressed by the caliber of these seven young men and women,” said Bill Pracht, chairman of RFF and CEO of East Kansas Agri-Energy.

Mbarushimana, who is from Rwanda, was thrilled with the chance to attend the conference this week. “I’m meeting different people who are innovating in the industry,” he said. “It’s a great networking opportunity.”

2022 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

The first female chairperson of the Renewable Fuels Association has had a pretty quiet two year term, thanks to COVID, but Jeanne McCaherty of Guardian Energy is excited about the future.

“I’m more bullish on ethanol today than I have been in my entire career here at Guardian,” said McCaherty at the National Ethanol Conference in New Orleans this week.

One reason McCaherty is so optimistic about the future is because of the new leadership she sees coming up in the industry’s Young Professionals Network. “We are really pleased with that group,” she said. “We have 140 professionals that have joined that group and that is our future.”

As the first woman chairperson of the organization, McCaherty organized a brand new women’s leadership group which met for the first time at the conference. “We got nearly 50 women who came so I consider that our founding group,” she said.

Listen to McCaherty’s address to the conference and interview below.

A pair of studies released this week in conjunction with the National Ethanol Conference this week in New Orleans show an industry that strongly rebounded in 2021 and is ready to move forward into a net-zero future.

Following up on a pledge by members of the Renewable Fuels Association to achieve average net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner, one report shows that new and emerging technologies and practices could help the industry achieve this vision well before mid-century. “Pathways to Net-Zero Ethanol: Scenarios for Ethanol Producers to Achieve Carbon Neutrality” by 2050, was prepared by lifecycle analysis expert Isaac Emery, Ph.D., of Informed Sustainability Consulting LLC. Altogether, the study identifies five distinct pathways to net-zero corn ethanol by 2050, based on a set of 28 emissions reduction actions that were considered.

Emery discussed the results of the study during a panel at the conference.
NEC22 Isaac Emery, Net Zero study (13:26)

The second study, conducted by ABF Economics, shows how the U.S. ethanol industry “recovered substantially” from pandemic conditions in 2021, with ethanol and gasoline use approaching pre-COVID-19 levels in the second half of the year. Due to the combination of resurgent demand and higher values for ethanol and co-products, the ethanol industry’s contribution to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 was the second-highest ever.

In 2021, more than 73,000 U.S. jobs were directly associated with the ethanol industry, which supported an additional 334,200 indirect and induced jobs across all sectors of the economy. The industry created $28.7 billion in household income and contributed just over $52 billion to gross domestic product. Compared to 2020, this represented a 55 percent increase in income generated and a 50 percent increase in the contribution to GDP.

RFA Chief Economist Scott Richman summarizes the findings of the two studies in this interview.
RFA Economist Scott Richman (5:01)

2022 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

In his annual State of the Industry Address at the National Ethanol Conference Tuesday in New Orleans, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said the global quest to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 “may very well be the greatest opportunity for growth and value creation in the industry’s history.”

“Just as the ethanol industry seized on opportunities to stimulate the rural economy, reduce smog-forming air pollution, and bolster energy security, we now have—right in front of us—another great opportunity to provide a solution to one of the world’s most daunting challenges: reducing carbon emissions and combatting climate change,” Cooper said. “And we cannot afford to miss this opportunity—not just because it will help our industry grow and thrive, but because the very health of the planet is at stake.”

The ethanol industry has already made great progress toward decarbonization, Cooper said, as today’s corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 50% percent compared to gasoline. And, as highlighted in a new study released at the conference, ethanol is on a trajectory to achieve net-zero carbon emissions well before 2050. But ethanol’s ability to contribute to decarbonization goals goes far beyond the light-duty vehicle fleet, Cooper said.

“With the right chemistry and technology, ethanol can serve not only as a future low-carbon fuel for jets, ocean liners, trucks, and farm equipment, but also as the fundamental building block for sustainable chemicals and plastics,” Cooper said. “In reality, anything you can do with a barrel of crude oil, we can do with a barrel of renewable ethanol.”

Cooper also highlighted a big opportunity for ethanol to help address another vexing problem: high gas prices. Oil prices topped $95 per barrel last week and average retail gas prices hit $3.50 a gallon, which Cooper said “reminds us of an inconvenient reality: We cannot frack our way to low gas prices and energy security. Whether we like it or not, pump prices here in America continue to be shaped by the whims of OPEC and geopolitical events—like the current situation in Ukraine.”

Read Cooper’s state of the industry remarks

Listen to Cooper’s full address below:
RFA CEO Geoff Cooper Industry address (29:16)

2022 National Ethanol Conference Virtual Newsroom