POET and other leading ethanol producers from around the country announced the launch of a new organization, Growth Energy, at a press conference at the National Press Club today.
“The organization will be dedicated to promoting clean, green ethanol as America’s best renewable fuel that is high-tech and homegrown, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” said POET CEO Jeff Broin.
Answering questions about why yet another organization for ethanol was needed, “We believe the more associations, the better,” Broin said. He denied that there is any dissatisfaction with the way current organizations, such as the Renewable Fuels Association, have been working to promote biofuels.
The organization has already launched a new advertising campaign and released a policy paper aimed at dispelling the myth perpetuated by the food industry that ethanol is responsible for increased food prices. “When oil and commodity prices rose in early 2008, Big Food reflected their higher prices almost immediately,” said Dave Vander Griend, CEO of ICM. “Today corn prices have dropped by more than half, oil prices have tumbled to less than 65 dollar a barrel, yet food prices continue to go up and so do the mega profits of the major food companies.” Vander Griend says the data in the policy paper released by Growth Energy proves that “food prices and ethanol production are not strongly linked.”
The main companies behind the formation of the new organization are POET, ICM and Fagen – the three largest ethanol plant build/designers. These three companies organized the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) in 2005 and indications are that EPIC may now become part of the newly formed Growth Energy.
Listen to press conference here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/poet/growth-energy-edit.mp3]
A major maker of wind turbines has announced a major order for a wind farm in the Pacific Northwest.
Florida-based Green Flight International and Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie Biofuels have teamed up to complete the first non-stop, transcontinental flight in a jet powered predominantly by biodiesel.
“These flights prove that we have the capability of supplementing our energy requirements with safe, environmentally-friendly alternatives to petroleum,” said Rodante. “And the biofuel is produced in the U.S., which essentially negates our dependency on foreign fuel supplies.”
Our friends at the Farm Foundation are at it again, bringing a variety of folks together to offer differing viewpoints to come up with workable solutions. Last month, I had a chance to sit in on their Transition to a Bioeconomy: Environmental and Rural Impacts Conference in St. Louis where I heard many sides of the issues facing the biodiesel and ethanol industries.
Former Secretary of Agriculture John Block recently was named to the board of directors for California-based potential cellulosic ethanol company 
“AE Biofuels has a winning strategy and a strong management team. The company’s patent-pending cellulosic ethanol plant in Montana is producing ethanol from agricultural waste, and its 50 million gallon biodiesel facility in India is supplying large customers in a rapidly growing local and global market,” said Secretary Block.
When it comes to harvesting equipment for