EPIC Responds to Time Scam Story

Cindy Zimmerman

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has responded to last week’s Time Magazine cover story “The Clean Energy Scam.” Executive director Toni Nuernberg sent the following letter to the editor of Time in response to the article:

EPIC Fueling LogoIn Michael Grunwald’s March 27 article “The Clean Energy Scam,” corn-based ethanol is the scapegoat of the week. Though Grunwald draws attention to the vitally important need for evaluation of global land-use changes, the environmental finger pointing at corn-based ethanol by his sources has come to the point of ridiculous.

The fuel behind this latest fiery round of environmental blame game is two studies posted mid-February in Science Express. The papers, authored by Timothy Searchinger and Joseph Fargione, reach conclusions regarding the greenhouse gas emissions associated with potential global land-use changes caused by increasing biofuels demand — specifically for corn-based ethanol. Their conclusions are considered debatable by others in the scientific community.Read More

Commentary, EPIC, Ethanol, News

VeraSun and US BioEnergy Complete Merger

Cindy Zimmerman

VeraSunThe nuptials of VeraSun Energy and US BioEnergy are now complete, following the blessing of all the family members.

US BioenergyVeraSun announced that the merger with US BioEnergy was approved by a majority vote of shareholders of both companies and is effective April 1, 2008.

At the same time, VeraSun announced the startup of its 110 million gallon per year production facility located near Bloomingburg, Ohio. The Bloomingburg biorefinery represents the 11th VeraSun facility in operation, pushing the company’s annual operating capacity to more than one billion gallons.

Seven other facilities are currently under construction or development. By the end of 2008, the company expects to have 16 production facilities in operation with a capacity of approximately 1.64 billion gallons, making VeraSun the largest ethanol producer in the United States.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Introducing Domestic Fuel Cast

Cindy Zimmerman

Domestic Fuel CastBecause we do lots of interviews and generate quite a bit of audio here at Domestic Fuel and because we are broadcasters by training, we thought it was about time we started our own podcast.

The Domestic Fuel Cast will feature people and news of interest in the alternative fuels industry. Expect it to run about 5-10 minutes in length and be produced every two weeks, starting now. You can subscribe to the podcast using the following url/feed link: http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/domestic-fuel-cast.xml. You can use your browser (IE, Firefox, Safari, etc.) to subscribe or if you’d like to get it into your iPod or Zune then we recommend using iTunes or the Zune software. Of course we’ll always post a link like the following one that will let you listen immediately here. We’re also archiving the programs.

Robert ZubrinOur first podcast features aerospace engineer and author Robert Zubrin, who has been getting some media attention lately for his book, “Energy Victory,” in which he outlines a simple plan for “winning the war on terror by breaking free of oil.”

Here is the Domestic Fuel Cast #1:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/df-podcast-1.mp3]

Audio, Domestic Fuel Cast, E85, Ethanol, Government, News

Corn Planting Prediction Lower

Cindy Zimmerman

NASSUSDA’s highly anticipated prospective plantings report is predicting that farmers will plant eight percent less corn and 18 percent more soybeans. Growers intend to plant 86.0 million acres of corn and 74.8 million acres of soybeans in 2008.

Expected acreage is down from last year in most states as favorable prices for other crops, high input costs for corn, and crop rotation considerations are motivating some farmers to plant fewer acres to corn.

Despite the decrease, the report says, “corn acreage is expected to remain at historically high levels as the corn price outlook remains strong due in part to the continued expansion in ethanol production.”

Ethanol, Government, News

Algae to Ethanol Research

Cindy Zimmerman

Algae is already being used to make biodiesel by companies like Solazyme of California. Now researchers are looking into using algae to make ethanol.

Western MichiganAccording to the Kalamazoo Gazette, a group of Western Michigan University researchers gave U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) a presentation of their ideas last week.

Chemistry professor Steven Bertman said, “The unifying theme is recovery of energy from waste.”

Bertman, along with Sarah Hill, assistant professor of anthropology, and John Miller, associate professor of chemistry, are awaiting a $984,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant to support the research.

They expect to project to take two years.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Research

Team Ethanol Off to Great Start

Cindy Zimmerman

Team Ethanol is off to its best start of the Indy Car Series yet, finishing 7th in Saturday’s opening race in Homestead.

Ryan Hunter-ReayDriver Ryan Hunter-Reay ran a great race and stayed in the top ten with all the big name drivers for the majority of the race. The 2007 Rookie of the Year was hoping for a better finish for the start of his first full season with the Indy Car Series, but he got passed up by two drivers in the final restart of the race after Tony Kanaan got knocked out of first place. Before the restart, the #17 Ethanol car was holding on to fifth place. The Homestead 300 trophy ultimately went to Scott Dixon.

This is the second year the Indy Car Series is running on 100 percent fuel grade ethanol and Hunter-Reay is a big believer in the alternative fuel. “Basically, it’s an American product that’s creating American jobs,” he says. “Every drop of ethanol you put in your car is one less oil tanker out there.”

Check out this post from The Fueling Station on Saturday’s race.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News

FAPRI: Biofuels Will Drive Agriculture

John Davis

fapri.jpgOfficials with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute say biofuels will drive agriculture for at least the next 10 years.

This story from Southeast Farm Press quotes FAPRI livestock analyst as saying “It’s hard to talk about a baseline without saying something about biofuels.”

“We’re expecting in 2008 that ethanol production from corn to be nearly 11 billion gallons and continuing to grow to 15 billion gallons. The recently passed legislation (by Congress mandating biofuel usage) certainly has an effect on ethanol production long-term.”

However, ethanol production is just one of the reasons why FAPRI — whose reports are relied upon by Congress when crafting legislation — sees crop prices “that have moved higher. When looking at the baseline, we anticipate those will continue to (remain) higher.

“It’s also important to note that export demand has been strong in a number of cases. We’ve been surprised at the strength of corn exports given a major run-up in corn prices.”

For soybeans, FAPRI sees “nearly 70 million acres being planted. We continue to watch this closely. These numbers were done back in January and market prices have changed and the acreage mix will continue to make adjustments. Until we get to spring planting, these numbers could move substantially given the types of price changes occurring.”

Brown says the combination of high feed prices along with increased fuel prices will make it pretty tough on livestock producers’ bottom lines for the next several years.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Texas Oilman Advocates Alternative Energy

Cindy Zimmerman

Legendary oil investor T. Boone Pickens wants the U.S. to get off its addiction to foreign oil and fossil fuels.

PickensThe 79-year-old multi-billionaire was on CNBC earlier this week talking about energy, oil prices and ethanol. According to Delta Farm Press, Pickens has changed his mind about ethanol.

Pickens, who admitted he once opposed ethanol, said on CNBC’s daily “Squawk Box” program that America’s purchases of foreign oil are costing the country a half a trillion dollars every year.

“You take 10 years, and you have $5 trillion,” said Pickens. “That’s more than $1 billion a day. We can’t stand that.” (That $500 billion per year is not far from the record federal deficit of $552 billion in 2004.)

Ethanol industry leaders have been saying the United States needed to reduce its use of foreign-produced oil to avoid transferring such wealth out of the country. But few have put it in such dramatic terms as Pickens.

Acknowledging he didn’t think much of ethanol’s claims in the early years, he said he now supports increased production. “I’d rather have ethanol and recirculate the money in the country, than to have it go out the back door on us.”

Pickens has a company called Clean Energy Corporation that provides natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets via fuel stations and last year he announced that he intends to build the world’s largest wind farm by installing large wind turbines in parts of four Panhandle counties.

Ethanol, News, Wind

Car Dealer Opens E85 Station

Cindy Zimmerman

CleanFUEL Distribution and General Motors held a grand opening event for a new E85 fueling station in Grapevine, Texas owned by Classic Chevy/Hummer. Over 3,200 gallons of E85 sold for 85 cents per gallon this morning to celebrate the opening.

Classic HummerClassic Chevrolet/HUMMER spent more than $500,000 to install nine pumps dedicated to E85, E10 and biodiesel at its new Classic Clean Fuels station.

In 2007, the Hummer dealership sold more Chevrolet trucks than any dealership within the United States. Charles Martin, general manager of Classic Chevrolet/Hummer said, “We sell a lot of trucks capable of running on alternative fuels like E85 and, even though there has been some increased availability, we saw a need for more E85 pumps where drivers could fill up. This was the right thing for us to do for our customers and it’s good for the Metroplex.”

CleanFUEL Distribution provided Classic Chevrolet/Hummer with a turnkey biofuels station handling everything from equipment to fuel supply.

Clean Fuels“Classic Chevy has taken a true leadership role by making E85 and other biofuels available to the citizens of Grapevine and allowing all customers who purchase a flex fuel vehicle to drive off with a full tank of E85,” said Karl Doenges, president of CleanFUEL Distribution. “Classic Chevy has gone a step further and configured their station so all municipal, county, state and federal fleets around the Grapevine-DFW Airport area can seamlessly use this site with their existing fleet management program. Everyone can now do their part for energy independence, the environment and growing our economy.”

Biodiesel, E85, Ethanol, News

Brown Goes Green

John Davis

upslogo.jpgShipping giant UPS, affectionately known as Brown, is doing its best to be known for its GREEN practices.

The company has announced it is adding 167 compressed natural gas (CNG) powered delivery trucks to the roads in Texas, Georgia and California as part of its global alternative fuel fleet, designed to cut down on the company’s carbon footprint and its reliance on dependence on fossil fuels:

upscngtruck.jpgOf the 167 new CNG trucks, 25 have been deployed in Dallas; 42 in Atlanta, and the remaining 100 in five California cities: 30 to Sacramento, 14 to Los Angeles, five to Ontario, 10 to San Ramon and 41 to Fresno. They join more than 800 CNG vehicles already in use by UPS in the United States. Previous CNG vehicles in UPS’s fleet were converted from gasoline and diesel vehicles in the 1980s to run on alternative fuels. The new vehicles are originally manufactured for alternative fuel use.

“UPS has deployed alternative fuel vehicles for more than 70 years and this CNG deployment is one more step towards the ‘greening’ of the UPS fleet,” said Robert Hall, UPS’s director of vehicle engineering. “Continuing to add CNG delivery trucks to our fleet is a sustainable choice because natural gas is a cost effective, clean-burning and readily available fuel.”

The CNG truck bodies are identical externally to the signature-brown trucks that now comprise the UPS fleet although they will be marked as CNG vehicles. The trucks are expected to reduce emissions by 20 percent and improve fuel economy by 10 percent compared to the cleanest diesel engines available today.

The press release goes on to say that this brings the UPS “green fleet” up to 1,629 trucks, using CNG, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), propane, electric and hybrid electric vehicles worldwide… the largest alternatively-fueled private fleet in the transportation industry.

Miscellaneous