According to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest (ALAUM) Summer 2008 BetterFuels Newsletter, General Motors (GM) has expanded its partnership with the ALAUM to include several new states. This partnership, along with their “from gas-friendly to gas-free” campaign, underscores GM’s ongoing commitment to E85 ethanol and flex fuel technology, and to serving a rapidly changing market seeking smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.
In addition to working with the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest Clean Air Choice Teams in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, GM is also working with local American Lung Association offices in Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio. GM and ALAUM staff conducted a training session in July to familiarize new staff with the program, and share some models that have been successful in the upper Midwest.
“There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to building a retail network of E85 outlets or raising public awareness and acceptance of this cleaner-burning fuel,” said Kelly Marczak, director of the Clean Air Choice program. “That said, there are many plans, tactics and promotions we have field-tested and know are proven methods to help expand the use of E85.”
Marczak hopes that each state can eventually build its own “Clean Air Choice Team,” a model that has proven to be successful in other states. “When fuel retailers, farmers, private industry, nonprofits and government agencies come together with a common goal, good things happen,” she said. “By forming these strong partnerships, we can better provide the public accurate and factual information on biofuels and their role in reducing air pollution.”
Delaware’s Public Service Commission has given the OK on some land-based wind contracts between Delmarva Power and two developers.
You can now travel from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, entirely on biodiesel and ethanol.
“Tennessee has already been working to make these clean, renewable biofuels available to more motorists traveling in our state,” said Gov. Phil Bredesen. “I’m pleased to see us join forces with other states to make Interstate 65 the first corridor in the country to make biofuels widely available.”
A biodiesel plant that will make biodiesel from animal fats has broken ground in Louisiana.
Just when I thought we would not get much on renewable energy in tonight’s presidential debate from Belmont University in Nashville, a question from the crowd has started the conversation in earnest. A lady asked if the candidates would take the same quick call-to-action approach to solve the looming global warming crisis as we saw in the recent financial crisis.
Presidential candidates Republican Sen. John McCain and Democrat Sen. Barack Obama are back at this evening, debating from the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn… and I’m here on my couch watching and listening carefully to what they say, paying special attention to what they say about renewable energy.
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists are investigating the possibilities at the agency’s Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.
Five Minnesota-based 
The plan was developed in response to President Bush’s call to change the way America fuels its transportation fleets in the 2007 State of the Union Address. The President’s “Twenty In Ten” goal calls for cutting U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years by investing in renewable and alternative fuel sources, increasing vehicle efficiency and developing alternative fuel vehicles.