The Renewable Fuels Association has launched two new television commercials this week stressing the benefits of today’s domestic renewable fuels industry.
Entitled “Faces” and “Places,” the two 30-second spots feature real Americans from Hereford, Texas who are actively leading America toward a more secure energy future.
In “Faces,” local Hereford residents explain why ethanol is critical to America’s energy future. In “Places,” the geographic diversity of America’s ethanol industry is on display as the self-proclaimed “Beef Capital of the World” is also home to two ethanol biorefineries.
RFA President Bob Dinneen says the purpose of the campaign is to spotlight the nation’s ethanol producers and give them the credit they deserve. “This industry is about real people all across the nation committed to doing their part to ensure a brighter energy future for generations to come,” Dinneen said. “Hereford, Texas, with 1.5 million cattle and two ethanol biorefineries epitomizes the importance of ethanol to America’s energy and economic security.”
See the two ads here.
Places – TV Ad from GoodFuels on Vimeo.
Faces – TV Ad from GoodFuels on Vimeo.
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The forum will feature both agricultural and food business leaders, including representatives from the National Corn Growers Association, Missouri Farm Bureau, the American Bakers Association, and the Food and Agricultural Organization.
Five Midwestern states have joined together to develop an electric transmission system that should help promote wind energy in the region.
Officials in Parkersburg, Iowa recently received a check for $10,520 to help them rebuild their town destroyed by an F5 tornado back on May 25, 2008.
The money will go toward buying biodiesel that runs the equipment that continues to cleanup and rebuild the town. If you remember the photo on the left from right after the storm happened at the end of May, the town doesn’t look like that anymore. But there’s still plenty of work to do. It’s nice to know that biodiesel will be part of that effort.
Following the route of the famous Cannonball Run of the 1970s (made even more famous by the movie in 1981), a pair of advertising copywriters will attempt to go from the East Coast to the West Coast… entirely non-stop and entirely on biodiesel.
The latest investments bring the company’s total funding to substantially more than $100 million, and Sapphire is now financed to scale up its production facilities to full commercial feasibility. 
“Our discovery is one potential avenue for research to facilitate turning inedible cellulosic biomass, including wood, grass, and various waste materials, into ethanol,” said Dartmouth engineering professor Lee Lynd. “In the near term, the thermophilic bacterium we have developed is advantageous, because costly cellulase enzymes typically used for ethanol production can be augmented with the less expensive, genetically engineered new organism.”
The Biomass Program works with industry, academia and national laboratory partners on a portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies. Through research, development, and demonstration efforts geared at the development of integrated biorefineries, the Biomass Program helps transform the nation’s renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost competitive, high performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower. Among its goals is focusing research and development efforts to ensure that cellulosic ethanol is cost competitive by 2012.