A trio of ethanol industry executives showed their creative side as the live entertainment during the Tuesday night reception at the Renewable Fuels Association National Ethanol Conference last week. “Green Floyd” is made up of Frontline Bioenergy CEO Bill Lee, Neil Koehler with Pacific Ethanol and bioenergy consultant Paul Kamp. The group played a variety of songs from blues to …
Biodiesel Grants Go to Iowa Schools
Two schools in the Hawkeye State have picked up Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Awards of $2,500 each. This press release from the association says Clay Central-Everly and Galva-Holstein Schools were awarded the Biodiesel Backer Award Program grants to educate their students and communities about biodiesel and incorporate biodiesel into their school programming: “IRFA congratulates Clay-Central Everly and Galva-Holstein on their …
Biodiesel Provisions Laid Off from Jobs Bill
So close … but yet so far. A provision in the U.S. Senate’s jobs bill that would have restored the $1-a-gallon biodiesel blending credit … and preserved about 23,000 jobs on its own … started the day in the employment measure. But it found itself in a position many looking for jobs are familiar with: last hired, first fired. The …
Bright Lights of Vegas to be Powered by Wind
A Nevada utility will get some of its power from wind energy. This story from Las Vegas Review-Journal says NV Energy has signed a a deal to buy energy from a wind farm near Ely for the next 20 years: Pattern Energy Group of San Francisco will build the 150-megawatt Spring Valley Wind Project, which would be Nevada’s first major, …
Obama Announces Steps to Boost Biofuels
It’s a busy day for the federal government. Here is what has happened today. The EPA has released its expanded rules for the Renewable Fuel Standard, The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy, and the President’s Biofuels Interagency Working …
Retech 2010 Kicks Off in DC
Retech 2010, the Renewable Energy Technology Conference and Exhibition, kicks off in Washington, DC tomorrow. The conference is co-produced by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and TradeFair Group. Nearly 300 exhibitors from all sectors of renewable energy are expected to participate. In addition to the exhibition, there is a Business Conference that will feature more than 250 speakers …
E. coli to Help Brew Biodiesel
A group of federal researchers has figured out how to better extract biodiesel from biomass using a microbe that most of us try to avoid in our food. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has announced that researchers have engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria that can extract an advanced biodiesel directly from biomass: “The fact …
DF Cast: Ethanol, Biodiesel Industries Optimistic on 2010
The new year brings in new hope, and it’s no different for the ethanol and biodiesel industries in this country. You couldn’t blame the folks who make biofuels in the U.S. if they just wanted to forget about 2009 … especially when you consider the fights over food versus fuel, delays of regulatory implementations that would have helped both ethanol …