Ethanol Produces Tons of Livestock Feed

Cindy Zimmerman

America’s ethanol plants produced enough livestock feed last year to provide for all the cattle in the nation’s four largest feedlot states.

That is one of the findings in a new report from the Renewable Fuels Association on the role of the U.S. ethanol industry in food and feed production. According to their analysis, America’s ethanol producers delivered 23 million metric tons of livestock and poultry feed to the world last year, or nearly three times the amount of wheat, sorghum, barley and oats fed to U.S. livestock in the 2007/08 marketing year. That is roughly equivalent to the combined total amount of feed consumed by cattle on feed last year in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado – the nation’s four largest feedlot states.

Only two-thirds of every bushel of grain processed by an ethanol plant is actually used for fuel production. The remaining one-third of the bushel is enhanced and returned to the animal feed market, most often in the form of distillers grains, corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal.

“The livestock feed co-products of ethanol production are the best kept secret of this industry,” said RFA President Bob Dinneen. “The focus of the public has been on the industry’s production of fuel ethanol as a renewable alternative to imported oil. But the production of a high quality livestock feed is equally important. Our industry is truly in the business of producing both feed and fuel.”

The report backs up RFA’s new television spots that highlight ethanol production in Hereford, Texas – the beef capital of the world.

Read the report here.

corn, Distillers Grains, Ethanol, RFA

Domestic Fuel on Twitter

Chuck Zimmerman

TwitterBesides subscribing to the RSS feed of Domestic Fuel we’ve now got another option for you. Domestic Fuel has its own Twitter feed.

If you’re not familiar with Twitter then you can learn more here. Basically, the news feed from Domestic Fuel will post updates to the Twitter feed. Additionally, we’ll use the Twitter feed for custom special text posts when we have breaking information or are on-location at an event.

So here’s the links for each way to subscribe:

RSS Feed

Twitter Feed

Company Announcement

U.S. Renewable Energy Grows By 5%

John Davis

Renewable energy made up just more than 10 percent of all the domestically-produced energy in the U.S. in the first half of this year and about 7 percent of that energy used in the country.

This story from the Greentech Media web site says the information comes from a U.S. Energy Information Administration report released this week:

According to the report, renewable energy accounted for 3.61 quadrillion British thermal units of the 34.16 quadrillion Btu domestically produced energy the country used from January to June.

That represents a 5 percent growth from 3.44 quadrillion Btu of renewable-energy production in the first half of last year. Most of that growth came from wind power, which increased production by nearly 49 percent from the year-ago quarter to 244 trillion Btu.

Biofuels and biomass energy make up the largest portion of U.S. renewable-energy generation, producing 1.88 quadrillion Btu in the first half of 2008, followed by hydropower, which accounted for 1.38 quadrillion Btu. Geothermal power made up 17 trillion Btu and solar made up only 41 million Btu.

“The significant contribution being made by renewable energy sources to the nation’s energy supply documented by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is far greater than most Americans realize,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the Sun Day Campaign, a nonprofit that promotes renewable energy. “Repeated statements by nuclear and fossil fuel interests that renewables contribute only a tiny fraction of the nation’s energy supply are not only misleading but flatly wrong.”

The rub is the country used 50.67 quadrillion Btu of energy, and about 16 1/2 quadrillion Btu were imported. While progress has been made in the field of renewables, the bottom line is we’re still just too dependent on non-renewable, foreign energy sources… but it’s getting better.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Solar, Wind

Cross-Country Trip Proves Biodiesel’s Worth

John Davis

It took them a little longer than they hoped, and it did involve one pit stop for fuel, but two ad men turned biodiesel advocates did finish a coast-to-coast run, entirely on biodiesel.

This post from the Wired.com blog says Nik Bristow and Brian Pierce rolled into Los Angeles at just more than 38 1/2 hours after they left New York… retracing the route of the famous Cannonball Run. Traffic delays and a slight miscalculation on how full they filled some jerry cans of biodiesel to fill up their car along the way kept them from making their 36-hour goal… although they still averaged 75 mph:

“We could have planned a better arrival time than morning rush hour in Los Angeles,” Bristow told Wired.com. “We spent the last hour and a half in stop-and-go traffic. It was a little anti-climactic after driving across the country.”

The biodiesel evangelists set out to spread the gospel behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Jetta TDI loaded with jerrycans brimming with Willie Nelson’s own BioWillie fuel. They were about halfway across the country when they realized they were carrying less fuel than they thought and were gonna need more.

The guys got suspicious when they discovered they weren’t getting the fuel economy they were expecting. They were somewhere in Oklahoma when Pierce discovered why. “All our jugs had just four gallons instead of five,” Bristow says. “None of them was full. We were 15 gallons shy.” Realizing that might not be enough to finish the trip, they put out a call for help.

“A BioWillie fan drove up from Flagstaff to Phoenix with 15 gallons,” Bristow says. “He was a really cool old guy who showed up in an old Cadillac. I think he wanted to talk and take pictures. We jumped out, said “Hi nice to meet you,” Brian handed him some money and we jumped back in the car and drove off.”

It was the only stop they made… didn’t even take bathroom breaks (condom catheters… that’s how). Even when the wheels stopped moving and the boys changed seats, they kept the engine running.

But more importantly, they proved just how good biodiesel is, covering nearly 3,000 miles on 82 gallons of the green fuel… great mileage and fantastic performance… for 38 hours, 37 minutes and 41 seconds… from coast to coast.

Biodiesel

Alabama Governor to Add More E85 Stations to Corridor

Alabama Governor Bob Riley will soon increase the public’s access to E85 and biodiesel. Tomorrow, a grand opening celebration will be held at two fueling stations in Mobile. Riley and others will open the stations at 11:00 a.m.

On October 3rd, 2006 Governor Bob Riley announced a federal grant awarded by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) to provide Alabama with funds to add pumps for E85 ethanol fuel and five pumps for B20 biodiesel fuel along I-65. When finalized, owners of flexible fuel vehicles and diesel vehicles will never be farther than a ¼ of a tank away from an E85 or biodiesel pump along I-65.

To kickoff the openings, Fords Fuel will offer E85 for 85 cents a gallon from 11:00 a.m. to noon. The rest of the day motorists will pay only $2.85 for a gallon of the alternative fuel.

Biodiesel, E85, News

Ethanol-Producing Sugar Beet Wins Award

Cindy Zimmerman

SyngentaSyngenta has received the 2008 World Business and Development Award (WBDA) for the development and successful introduction of a new sugar beet that can be grown under tropical climate conditions and brings significant advantages to farmers, the environment, the sugar and ethanol industries and the economy.

SyngentaThe WBDA, presented by the United Nations Development Program, the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Business Leaders Forum, acknowledge the contribution of the private sector to help achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. The award recognized Syngenta’s tropical sugar beet as “an example of technological innovation that helps increase sustainable agricultural productivity to meet the world’s growing demand for food, feed and fuel.”

It took Syngenta 11 years to develop the tropical sugar beet. In 2007, the beet was successfully introduced in India, where it is shown here being offloaded in a Syngenta press photo. In the State of Maharashtra, Syngenta helped a cooperative of more than 12,000 small farmers to build and operate plant that produces ethanol from Syngenta tropical beets. In Colombia, construction has started on two beet-to-ethanol plants, which are expected to start operations in 2009.

Ethanol, International, News

Iogen Ships Cellulosic Ethanol to Shell

Cindy Zimmerman

ShellIogen Energy has shipped its first 100,000 litres of cellulosic ethanol to Royal Dutch Shell. Iogen announced the 26,417 gallons shipment on Thursday, part of 180,000 litre – or 47,550 gallons – order from Shell.

IogenThe fuel, produced from wheat straw at Iogen’s Ottawa demonstration facility, is being purchased by Shell for use in upcoming fuel applications. Iogen officials say the current purchase is the first of many opportunities for the companies to jointly showcase the technical and commercial viability of cellulosic ethanol.

In July, Shell announced a significant investment in technology development with Iogen Energy Corporation, a jointly owned development company of Shell and Iogen’s that is dedicated to advancing cellulosic ethanol.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

Food and Fuel Campaign Launch

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Ag and Energy Council (AAEC) has launched a national radio campaign featuring a “Food and Fuel Update.”

The ads will be running on nationally syndicated shows including Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, in addition to local radio stations throughout the United States.

The “Food and Fuel Update” features Mark Pearson, a nationally respected agriculture and economic expert and host of Public Television’s “Market to Market.”

In the first 30 second radio spot, Pearson says, “We’re sending $500 billion a year to hostile nations like Iran. But America doesn’t need to be dependent on foreign energy. We have a clean, renewable energy source right here — ethanol.”

The American Ag & Energy Council was formed last month as a coalition of agriculture, renewable energy, academia and others for the promotion of modern agriculture and renewable energy. Members include Big River Resources, Hawkeye Energy Holdings and Golden Grain Energy, with co-chairpersons from Iowa State University and the University of Illinois.

Ethanol, Promotion

Chrysler to Debut Electric Vehicles

John Davis

Officials with Chrysler say they will debut models of electric cars in 2010.

This story from CNN.com says the company is hoping to catch up with GM and… catch some of the buzz surrounding the new Chevy Volt:


The company showed reporters three electric prototypes: a Dodge sports car, a Jeep Wrangler and a Chrysler minivan. Chrysler’s product development chief, Frank Klegon, said the automaker hasn’t decided which one it will roll out first.

The Dodge sports car is completely electric and based on Lotus Europa underpinnings, but the Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler minivan models will be extended-range vehicles similar to the Volt, which GM has said will go on sale in November 2010.

Like the Volt, the Wrangler and minivan plug into a standard wall outlet and can go 40 miles (65 kilometers) on battery power alone, but then a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the batteries. Chrysler said its vehicles will be able to travel up to 400 miles (640 kilometers) on 8 gallons (30 liters) of gas.

Chrysler officials haven’t revealed how much the new vehicles will cost, but experts say it will probably be more than conventional vehicles.

Car Makers

County Looks to Biodiesel for Energy Independence

John Davis

Officials in Snohomish County in Washington state are looking at making their own biodiesel for the future of energy for themselves… and they hope the rest of the country will look to them as the example of what energy independence could be.

This story from the Seattle Times says the county has dedicated a new facility to store, dry and crush locally grown seeds. The oil will then be turned into biodiesel to be used in county vehicles:

Even the power to run the new dryer and soon-to-be-purchased crusher comes from a local source — methane gas from the adjacent former county landfill on Cathcart Way near Highway 9.

“This is a model for the whole United States in terms of growing our own energy,” said Snohomish County Council Chairman Dave Somers.

Local farmers are in the midst of harvesting 400 acres of canola that will be processed at the new facility. Other seed crops, such as sunflower and mustard, could also be processed in the future as farmers rotate crops and adjust to market demands.

By 2014, the county hopes to increase the yield to 4,000 acres, and to power all of its diesel fleet on the locally grown biodiesel.

The new facility represents a partnership among the state, county and federal governments at a time when the nation is searching for alternatives to foreign oil.

The project was made possible through a $500,000 check from the state Energy Freedom Fund, $500,000 from the county (to help with pilot-seed plantings and purchase the silos and seed dryer), and $344,400 in federal money to help develop the facility.

Biodiesel