ACE Conference 2026

Alliance Targets Lawmakers for Education Efforts

Cindy Zimmerman

Alliance For Abundant Food and EnergyThe Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy is out to inform the nation’s policy makers that American agriculture is fully capable of producing both food and fuel with no trade off.

The alliance was formed in July and includes Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto, and the Renewable Fuels Association. ADM Vice President for Government Relations Greg Webb says because government formulates food and energy policy, it is important that they be well informed. “We think that the alliance will help educate and draw attention to agriculture’s capability to produce and meet increasing demands,” Webb said. “A lot of folks are seeing the increased demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel and they kind of freeze the production capability in time and think that we’ll never produce another pound more than what we do now.”

Alliance representatives attended both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and ads from the alliance were featured in publications at both conventions.

The alliance is trying to make it known through advertising and lobbying efforts that by growing more crops and developing more efficient ways of processing them, we can produce enough to meet the world’s needs for both food and energy. All of the agribusinesses involved are working in that direction by improving seed varieties, crop protection methods, harvesting and processing equipment and techniques.

Agribusiness, Ethanol, politics

Farm Bill Renewable Energy Provisions Open for Comment

Cindy Zimmerman

Consumers, farmers and agribusiness people are all offering up suggestions on ways to create renewable energy as part of the 2008 Farm Bill.

Tom DorrUSDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr, who held a public meeting last week to work on implementing renewable energy programs authorized under the farm bill, says the rapid commercialization of renewable energy is a high priority.

“These things are now clearly within our reach, we are far beyond the basic research stage in this effort,” Dorr said. “Renewable energy is clearly of age. More has been accomplished on renewable energy in the last eight years than in the previous 40.”

The 12 sections regarding renewable energy under Title 9 of the farm bill are open for public comment. The sections include such broad topics as assistance in biorefineries, bioenergy, rural energy and biomass. USDA plans to implement the farm bill’s energy provisions in consultation with the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.

Energy, Government

E85 Grand Openings in Colorado

Two grand opening events will celebrate the introduction of E85 at two retail fueling facilities in the state of Colorado. The events will take place at the Eagle Travel Stop in Sterling and Western Convenience in Montrose this month.

On September 16, the Colorado Corn Growers Association, the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition, and Colorado Retail Venture Services will celebrate the Eagle Travel Stop’s introduction of E85 with a live remote, hot dogs, refreshments and a fuel promotion. The event will take place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at 20974 US Highway 6 in Sterling.

On September 23, the Colorado Corn Growers Association, the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition, Southern Colorado Clean Cities and Western Convenience will hold their promotion from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. This event at 938 South Townsend Avenue in Montrose will feature a live remote, hot dogs, refreshments and a fuel promotion of E85 for 85 cents per gallon.

The addition of these two E85 facilities will bring the total of E85 stations in the state to 70.

corn, E85, Ethanol, Facilities

VeraSun Opens 14th Ethanol Plant

Cindy Zimmerman

VeraSunVeraSun Energy has announced the start up of its 110 million gallon per year ethanol biorefinery located near Dyersville, Iowa. The Dyersville production facility marks the 14th VeraSun biorefinery in operation and the fifth in Iowa, increasing the company’s annual production capacity to more than 1.4 billion gallons.

“We are pleased to bring another large-scale, environmentally friendly ethanol production facility on-line in the state of Iowa,” VeraSun CEO Don Endres said. “The state continues to be a leader in renewable fuels production, helping our nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We commend the Dyersville community, its leadership, and the local corn producers for making this day a reality.”

According to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, VeraSun Dyersville is the 32nd operating biorefinery in Iowa, increasing overall annual production capacity in the state to almost 2.5 billion gallons.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Ethanol Tailgate Party

Cindy Zimmerman

Edgar the E-Man will be partying with Albert and Sebastian this weekend in Gainesville, Florida when the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council kicks off its sponsorship with the Fox Tailgate Tour at the Florida vs. Miami football game.

Visitors at the tailgate tour will have the chance to compete in the Ultimate Ethanol Challenge, where competitors face off to test their ethanol knowledge. The winner of each contest gets a free fuel card. Edgar E-Man will be passing out scratch off cards giving people a code to enter online for a chance to win free fuel for a year. Tailgaters can also register by texting a code or dropping their name in a registration box.

EPIC, Ethanol, News, Promotion

Process Could Improve Ethanol Efficiency

Cindy Zimmerman

A process used in breweries and wastewater treatment facilities could make corn ethanol more energy efficient.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are exploring the use of oxygen-less vats of microorganisms that naturally feed on organic waste produced from the ethanol fermentation process.

According to a university release, a WUSTL team has tested anaerobic digestion on waste from ethanol plants and found that the process could cut down an ethanol facility’s use of natural gas by 50 percent. They published the results in the recent issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

A complete story on the research is available at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review.

Ethanol, News, Research

Ethanol and Politics

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA PodcastWith ethanol continuing to be such a political issue, it was especially important this election year for the ethanol industry to have a clear presence at both recent political conventions. In this Ethanol Report podcast, Matt Hartwig with the Renewable Fuels Association and Randy Doyle with Al-Corn Clean Fuels in Claremont, MN discuss how and why the ethanol industry was involved in the Democratic and Republican conventions and the AgNite event at the RNC.

You can subscribe to the “The Ethanol Report” podcast by following this link.

Or you can listen to it on-line here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/ethanol-report-18.mp3]

Audio, Ethanol, politics, RFA

Washington State Adds Another E85 Station

Wilcox & Flegel Oil Company, one of the largest fuel distributors in the Northwest, is committed to E85 and is offering the product in the city of Olympia, Washington. This is the sixth location the distributor is supplying.

The recently opened E85 pump located at the Shell station at 3505 Pacific Ave., is selling the product at more than 80 cents below regular unleaded gasoline. In the past week, the facility sold more than 270 gallons of the clean burning, alternative fuel.

Aaron Wilcox, special projects manager for Wilcox & Flegel said that the group is a longtime distributor of diesel and gasoline that started selling E85 fuel about a year ago. They began selling E85 because the Detroit automakers chose to build flexible fuel vehicles.

Wilcox & Flegel Oil Company plans on adding up to ten E85 sites across the state of Washington.

Car Makers, E85, Ethanol, Facilities, News

Regulators Approve $4.6 Billion Wind Energy Deal

John Davis

Regulators on New York’s state Public Service Commission have voted unanimously to approve the buyout of Energy East by Spain-based world energy company Iberdrola for $4.6 billion.

This article from Forbes says there are some caveats to New York’s approval:

For example, the commissioners required Iberdrola to put aside $275 million to offset future rate increases. That’s compares with the $646 million PSC staff analysts initially proposed as a condition of the sale.

The commission said Wednesday that Iberdrola must sell the fossil fuel generating plants but may keep the wind energy plants as long as it commits to spending up to $200 million on wind energy development in the state. The company has publicly said it will spend $2 billion on wind energy in New York, but it hasn’t made a firm commitment.

Under the terms the PSC laid out, Iberdrola would also be required to make any future investments in wind energy using money from a non-Energy East subsidiary.

The commissioners, who have had Iberdrola’s proposal before them for more than a year, characterized their decision as a compromise that protects Energy East’s customers while not imposing conditions so onerous they’d cause Iberdrola – which is based in Spain – to nix the buyout.

Iberdola has not commented whether it would accept or reject the offer.

Wind

Study Shows Biodiesel Out-Performs Petroleum Diesel

John Davis

A 13-week study of vehicles fueling with B99 biodiesel had no mechanical issues, ran more smoothly and significantly reduced CO2 emissions and other air toxins compared to petroleum diesel.

This press release posted on MarketWatch.com says that Seattle-based Propel Fuels, a leading retailer of low-carbon renewable fuels and The Essential Baking Company, announced the results of a study where B99 replaced petroleum fuel in the baking company’s delivery fleet:

“This study reflects what many in the industry have known for years — biodiesel performs as well as, if not better than regular petroleum oil,” says Rob Elam, founder of Propel. “As more and more fleet owners look for ways to reduce their emissions, they can feel confident that our biodiesel is a quality fuel.”

During the 13-week trial, six Essential Baking vehicles fueled with strictly B99 blend biodiesel from Propel’s Clean Fuel Points, travelling approximately 37,000 miles on 2,500 gallons of B99, with one vehicle logging over 14,000 miles. Vehicles selected varied in model, types of routes, and mileage driven. No vehicle failures and no operational issues were experienced. Cold weather proved not to be a problem for the vehicles, even with 32 days when the daily low temperature was below 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The majority of drivers reported that the vehicles ran more smoothly and more quietly on B99 than on petro-diesel.

The press release goes on to say that Propel was able to find out some specific facts during the trial:

The results indicated that the delivery vehicles:
— reduced their output of CO2 by more than 43,000 pounds,
— displaced 1,553 gallons of petroleum oil,
— reduced harmful particulate matter (PM) produced by 78 percent,
— reduced air toxins by 60 to 90 percent,
— eliminated 100 percent of sulfur compounds from vehicle exhaust.

Biodiesel