E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, will make its appearance in 2008 as a fuel alternative in the American Le Mans Series.
According to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, two automotive manufactures will run E85 during the 2008 season, Corvette Racing and Aston Martin Racing.
“This is the first time a racing series has made a commitment to E85, the highest performing fuel available to consumers with flex-fuel vehicles,” said Reece Nanfito, senior director of marketing for EPIC. “In addition to the Series making E85 available, EPIC will have a direct sponsorship of the two E85-fueled Corvette Racing entries. Having such an American icon racing on E85 will go a long way to demonstrate and promote E85 use nationwide.”
“By showcasing the capabilities of E85 ethanol before an audience of knowledgeable and technically astute race fans, we can demonstrate the benefits of a renewable fuel that helps to reduce dependence on petroleum, helps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and helps to create greater diversity in energy supplies,” Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper said. “Of course, performance is what counts in racing, so E85 ethanol’s higher octane rating than gasoline wasn’t overlooked by the Corvette Racing engineers.”
“It’s a little bit of a surprise to see how much the market has rebounded,” said Dave VanderGriend, president of ICM at Colwich, one of the nation’s largest designers and builders of ethanol plants.
Renew, an independent brand of fuel stations based in Oshkosh, has offered E85 since the station opened on September 26, 2005. The company expects Oshkosh station customers helped save approximately 43,500 barrels of oil by choosing E85 over straight gasoline. Jay Stoflet, Director of Retail Marketing for Renew explains, “While there is no perfect solution for immediately reducing our country’s dependency on oil, E85 is a great first step that is helping make a change. These customers are really making a difference, one gallon at a time.”
North Dakota Governor John Hoeven is strongly disputing the contents of a National Geographic article that paints the Northern Plains state in a less-than-flattering light.
An 
Wagoner announced GM’s partnership with 
A Pittsburgh-based maker of supercritical fluids… replacements for solvent-based technologies in the pharmaceutical, food, chemical, and electronics industries… is getting some money to help improve the efficiency of biodiesel production.
High input costs could put the damper on biodiesel growth in 2008, despite the fact that demand for the green fuel will grow. But the long-term outlook still looks pretty positive.
“The economics overall for the biodiesel industry are extremely challenging right now. There’s no question about it there’s been a cooling off what has been some irrational exuberance that has gone on in the investment in biodiesel production capacity over the last two years,” Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, told the Reuters Global Agricultural and Biofuels Summit in a telephone interview.
Corn and soybean prices have gone to record levels as producers struggle to keep up with food and biofuel demands.
The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri has completed an analysis of the new energy bill, and the results seem to point to some pretty positive results from the legislation.