Ethanol-enriched fuel was a clear winner at the 55th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the first time the renewable fuel was used in an endurance race format. The LMP2 class was won by Andretti Green Racing featuring the Acura ARX, while Corvette Racing took a first in the GT1 class. For the first time ever, both cars used a 10 percent ethanol-enriched blend.
In January, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) along with the American Le Mans Series, announced that E10 would become, “the official ethanol-enriched fuel” of the series.
“Ethanol has once again demonstrated its performance pedigree in the most demanding environment in motorsports,” said Tom Slunecka, executive director of EPIC. “Ethanol demand has been spurred, in part, by consumers’ growing confidence of ethanol. Nothing demonstrates the performance benefits of ethanol better than high tech race cars under the lights at Sebring.”
The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. The race will start at 5:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 31.


A newly created renewable energy center at IUPUI has been named after Indiana Senator Richard Lugar.
A new study by the
Feed prices have indeed increased significantly. As feed costs generally account for more than half of operating costs for industrial operations, higher prices can have an important impact on the bottom line for these companies. So too can low prices. Any discussion of today’s high prices should take into account the extent to which these same firms have benefited from many years of feed that was priced well below what it cost to produce. In the nine years that followed the passage of the 1996 Farm Bill, 1997-2005, corn was priced 23% below average production costs, while soybean prices were 15% below farmers’ costs. As a result, feed prices were an estimated 21% below production costs for poultry and 26% below costs for the hog industry. We estimate cumulative savings to the broiler chicken industry from below-cost feed in those years to be $11.25 billion, while industrial hog operations saved an estimated $8.5 billion. The leading firms gained a great deal during those years from U.S. agricultural policies that helped lower the prices for many agricultural commodities.
Not only can
An aerial promotion campaign for ethanol in the Sunshine State took off this past weekend over the racetrack at Sebring, the theme parks in Orlando and the beaches of Fort Meyers.
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson agrees. “As we develop cellulosic technology in Florida, I think that’s what we are going to be the most well-known for,” said Bronson. “We working with the University of Florida to find out which crops will be most beneficial to produce ethanol.”
The Dow Chemical Company has announced what it characterizes as a “significant milestone in its pursuit of sustainable chemistries.”
Today is National Biodiesel Day. It is also the birthday of Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine. Coincedence? No… early versions of Diesel’s engine in the late 1800’s ran on peanut oil, and in 1912, he said “the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.”
The
The United Soybean Board released a statement today encouraging farmers to use more soy-based biodiesel in their farm equipment.