Enterprise Rent-A-Car and VeraSun Energy today announced the first “VE85™/FlexFuel” rental branch location in South Dakota.
The Sioux Falls location is the newest Enterprise branch to receive the E85/FlexFuel designation as part of a nationwide effort to promote the expanded availability and use of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Enterprise will commit to fueling its Sioux Falls FlexFuel vehicles with VeraSun’s branded E85, VE85™.
The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has a new executive director. She is Toni Nuernberg, who comes to EPIC from ACA International in Minneapolis where she worked for 29 years, the last 12 as chief operating officer of ACA International Holding Company Inc. and its for-profit subsidiaries.
Nuernberg says when she decided to make a career move she was looking for an exciting new industry with lots of potential.
“Clearly the ethanol industry is that and so much more,” she says. “The thing that struck me about it was that every person that I talked with about this position from the CEOs of the member organizations to the staff was their passion and the excitement that they feel about this industry.”
This edition of “Fill up, Feel Good” is all about Toni. Find out about her background, her goals and ideas for moving EPIC and the ethanol industry to a new level.
The podcast is available to download by subscription (see our sidebar link) or you can listen to it by clicking here (6:00 MP3 File):
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.zimmcomm.biz/epic/epic-podcast-2-4-08.mp3]
The Fill Up, Feel Good theme music is “Tribute to Joe Satriani” by Alan Renkl, thanks to the Podsafe Music Network.
“Fill up, Feel Good” is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.
Ed Hegland is a farmer from Minnesota and currently serving as Chairman of the National Biodiesel Board. He stopped by the New Holland booth while I was attending the Commodity Classic trade show in Nashville where I got to talk to him about how equipment manufacturers are supporting biodiesel.
Ed says that as a farmer he’s excited to see companies like New Holland and others following their lead to step up and help promote the use of biodiesel, a farm product.
I asked him what other things these companies can do besides providing warranty support for 100% biodiesel. He says that education would be one thing. He thinks the manufacturers need to make sure that dealers and distributors get the right information on usage and handling of biodiesel so customers will learn it and to make sure that they stress quality.
Listen to my interview with Ed Hegland here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/commodity-classic/cc-08-hegland.mp3]
I couldn’t resist this story when I ran across it.
A science teacher from Miami, Florida is truly putting her money where her mouth is when it comes to how safe biodiesel is.
Bertha Vasquez demonstrates for Miami’s NBC6 (which has this cool link to a bunch of ecologically-friendly in its Going Green section) and reporter Patricia Andreu just how safe 100 percent biodiesel is by taking a swig of the very fuel she puts into her car:
“This is biodiesel. This happens to be 100 percent chicken fat,” she said. “It’s 100 percent animal fat. So, cheers. Goes in my car. Goes in my mouth.”
Vasquez, a science teacher, loves this shock and awe. It’s one significant way she goes green, and the reason she bought her VW Jetta with a diesel engine.
“No conversion whatsoever. I just bought it and filled it up from the first time with biodiesel,” she said.
Vasquez buys her eco-friendly fuel at Sol Atlantic Biodiesel. Since they set up shop last year in a Hialeah Gardens warehouse, business has been brisk.
“It’s an alternative fuel. It’s non-toxic. It’s biodegradable,” said Christian Miranda, co-founder of Sol Atlantic Biodiesel.
Now I wouldn’t recommend this unless you know you’re drinking 100 percent biodiesel made from vegetable oil or animal fat with no petroleum mixed in. And a steady diet of chicken grease might be a little hard on your heart. But it is nice to know that what we can now burn in our diesel vehicles is certainly safe enough to drink.
The National Biodiesel Board is looking for people to serve on its new Sustainability Task Force. You might remember from Cindy’s posting from Feb. 6th on the NBB National Conference & Expo blog that NBB chair Ed Hegland appointed Emily Bockian Landsburg of the Energy Cooperative and Philadelphia Fry-O-Diesel as the chair of the new group.
Landsburg and NBB task force staff assistant Don Scott are now welcoming applications of NBB member companies to the task force:
Anyone, including non-members, can nominate candidates for the group. An advisory committee to the task force is being established as a formal way to engage key experts who are not members of NBB.
Sustainability has always been a key priority for those in the biodiesel industry. Whether sustainability is measured in terms of climate change and the environment or economic and energy security for the country, the industry prides itself on the sustainability of biodiesel. The National Biodiesel Board and its supporters recently find themselves involved in more conversations about sustainability as interest has grown among the public and the media.
If you’re interested or know someone who would be perfect for this position, check out the task force’s application web site or e-mail a one-page resume; description of experience with biodiesel industry, sustainability; what segment of industry would you be representing, and how you can demonstrate their support (max 150 words); explanation of why you want to be on the Task Force and description of a time you have developed creative solutions to challenging issues or brought together diverse stakeholders (max 300 words); and your vision for the Task Force: mission, key objectives (max 100 words) to sustainability@biodiesel.org by March 5th, 2008.
Noting runs like a Deere, except maybe the wind.
John Deere Wind Energy is into lots of domestic energy projects these days and that includes investing in and providing value-added services to utility-scale wind projects that involve multiple wind turbines with a nameplate capacity of 1.25 megawatts or greater.
For example, Corn Plus Cooperative, a farmer-owned ethanol plant in Winnebago, Minn., entered into an agreement with John Deere last year to harness wind energy to help power their plant.
Two years ago, John Deere Wind Energy partnered with Missouri based developer Wind Capital Group and the Missouri Rural Electric Cooperatives to construct a 50-megawatt wind energy project in King City, a little farming community about 30 miles northeast of St. Joseph. The project was named “Blue Grass Ridge” in tribute to the farming community’s historic role in bluegrass seed harvesting.
Here’s a YouTube video that provides a look at that completed project:
Blue Grass Ridge led to a second 50-megawatt Missouri wind farm – the Cow Branch Wind Energy Project located between Rock Port and Tarkio in Atchison County, Mo.
The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has named Toni Nuernberg as the new executive director.
“On behalf of the EPIC board and staff we are excited to have Toni as the new executive director,” said Tom Branhan, EPIC Board President and CEO and President of Glacial Lakes Energy. “Toni is joining a very strong team and will be taking EPIC to new heights as the industry rapidly advances.”
Nuernberg comes to EPIC from ACA International where she worked for 29 years. Most recently, she was serving as chief operating officer of ACA International Holding Company Inc. and its for-profit subsidiaries, ACA International Enterprises Inc. (ACAE) and Collectors Insurance Agency Inc.
Nuernberg replaces Tom Slunecka who helped to launch the organization in 2005. He resigned in October to join the KL Process Design Group of Rapid City, South Dakota.
We are looking forward to our first interview with Toni this week to introduce her to everyone.
It should be no surprise to anyone that the American ethanol industry produced a record amount of fuel ethanol in 2007.
According to year-end figures released by the Energy Information Administration, U.S. ethanol production averaged 423,000 barrels per day, totaling 6.48 billion gallons for the year. That is an increase of 108,000 barrels per day over 2006.
Ethanol demand, as calculated by the Renewable Fuels Association, continued to outpace production. For 2007, ethanol demand averaged 446,000 b/d totaling 6.84 billion gallons of demand for the year. That is an increase of more than 1.5 billion gallons over 2006 demand.
There were lots of babies at the 2008 Commodity Classic but this one really caught our attention.
Her name is Danica – after Indy race car driver Danica Patrick – and her little onesie featured the IRL logo on the front and on back it said the “Smell of Ethanol.” How cute is that! Her parents were letting her pose on top of the ethanol display in the Pioneer booth, prompting oohs and ahs from the passers-by.
The E85 sticker on her shoulder was supplied by the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.
Attendance at this year’s Commodity Classic in Music City was record-breaking, according to the final numbers:
4,534 Total Registration (record)
145 Total Media (record)
847 Trade Show Booths (record)
Domestic Fuel coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: 
John Deere Risk Protection has introduced the industry’s first-ever Ethanol Policy by providing coverage to corn producers who have delivery contracts for the purpose of ethanol production.
The policy was officially introduced at the end of January and Deere has been talking with growers at events during the last month, including the Farm Machinery Show and last week’s Commodity Classic.
Deere held a press conference at Classic where Dennis Daggett, Director of Marketing for John Deere Risk Protection, explained the policy to the ag media.
Very simply, the policy insures yield shortfalls below contracted volumes in the event the price to replace the corn rises above the federal crop insurance coverage. The policy is being offered in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. “We offered it where the majority of the active ethanol plants are in existence today,” Daggett says.
Since they introduced the policy, Daggett says there has been a lot of buzz in the industry. “We have fairly modest expectations on the product itself because we know that there is a very specific type of farmer who would be interested in this product, a farmer who actually contracts more than 50 percent.”
Daggett says the policy is beneficial for the ethanol plants because it allows them to actually work with the farmer in case there is a shortfall on their delivery contract. “We think this is a win for the ethanol plants because it stabilizes their input of grain and stabilizes their relationship with the farmer.”
Listen to an interview with Dennis about the ethanol policy here:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/john-deere/cc-jd-daggett.mp3]
Domestic Fuel coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by:
