Times they are a changing. For example, look at this 1955 tv commercial for Speedway 79’s Powerfuel on Cartoon Modern.
Why can’t we have fun commercials like this anymore? I wonder what an animated commercial for biodiesel or ethanol would look like done in this style.
Story via Adjab.
After attending the BIO 2006 Convention I’m sure that any event being organized by BIO will be world class. That’s what the upcoming World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing sounds like it will be. This is the 3rd time the event will be held.
The advance release says it will display, “The latest advances in industrial biotechnology for renewable fuel and sustainable consumer products made from agricultural feedstocks.”
The Congress, to be held July 11-14, 2006 at the Toronto Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, is hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), American Chemical Society, the National Agriculture Biotechnology Council, the Agri-Food Innovation Forum, the Chemical Institute of Canada, BIOTECanada and EuropaBIO.Read More
A new organization is just getting itself started to “Promote Clean and Secure Energy for Transportation.” It’s the Transportation Energy Partnership (TEP). The Executive Director is Thomas Gross, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Technologies in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office of the Department of Energy. Tom spoke at the recent Clean Cities Congress and I recorded his remarks.
TEP is the new name of the former National Clean Cities, Inc. Gross says that the mission of the TEP is to support the work of Clean Cities Coalitions nationally, primarily by obtaining new funding. Learn more about TEP by listening to his comments here: 
Tom Gross Comments (4 min MP3)
Before leaving the stage at the Clean Cities Congress Tom received several new memberships for TEP including a corporate one from the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute. If you’re interested to learn more you can give Tom a call at 703-273-0631. The organization address is: P. O. Box 70, Fairfax, VA 22038-0070.
Small and limited resource farmers as well as any producers might be interested in USDA’s “Energy In Agriculture, Managing The Risk” conference in Kansas City, MO on June 27-28. You can register online for $90 before June 5. Here’s a draft agenda (pdf file). Some travel scholarships are available if applied for prior to May 30.Read More
It’s the final week before the Indianapolis 500. Time to get revved up. I’ll be heading on over later this week. On Thursday the IRL is having an Ethanol Forum which will feature speakers like IRL founder Tony George and USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr. I’ll report on it for you right here.
In leading up to the activities in Indiana I’m going to post some more interviews I conducted during Ethanol Day a couple of weeks ago. So let’s get started. One of the founders of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is Jeff Broin, CEO of the Broin Companies, designers and builders of ethanol plants. Jeff is pictured on the left, next to another EPIC founder, Dave Vander Griend, CEO of ICM. They were watching Ethanol Car practice lap action in the pits. Jeff describes what EPIC does and what he thinks of all the publicity generated by the ethanol/IRL matchup.
You can listen to my interview with Jeff here: Jeff Broin Interview (3 min MP3)
People who keep track of such things say that higher gas prices are causing a major increase in web searches for domestic fuel terms such as ethanol and biodiesel. According to Hitwise, the share of U.S. internet searches for the term ‘ethanol’ was up 212 percent for the four weeks ending May 13, 2006 versus the four weeks ending April 15, 2006. Additionally, the share of searches for ‘biodiesel’ was up 100 percent in that same period. Hitwise is “the leading online competitive intelligence service,” according to the company’s website.
Traffic on Domestic Fuel has seen a significant increase in the past 30 days – up over 50 percent and growing every day.
From the deep South to the wild, wild West – ethanol is expanding it’s horizons.
Ethanol is a hot topic in Louisiana “where sugar cane, soybeans. sorghum and corn could be tapped for fuel production,” according to this article from the Advocate. According to the story, at least three commercial domestic fuels plants are planned for the state and another in Mississippi would use grain from Louisiana. There are also a couple of public projects in the works and state legislation that would require refiners to produce ethanol.
According to the Torrington (WY) Telegram, ethanol in the state of Wyoming is on the cutting edge. This article reports that Wyoming Ethanol, which has been in operation since 1995, plans to double its production this year to 12 million gallons of ethanol per year from approximately 4 million bushels of corn. Officials with the plant say they could sell three times what they produce.
At Ethanol Day in Indianapolis recently, Steve King, sprint car driver, was there to help promote the alternative fuel. He brought his number 88 for us to see. Steve is pictured to the right of his parents, Danny & Naomi.
I interviewed Steve while we had a relatively quiet moment (there’s usually never a quiet moment at the speedway). Steve says he began using ethanol about 5 years ago. He grows his own fuel as a farmer, including having a feedlot. He says they use a blend of ethanol that allows him to load less fuel at the beginning of a race and that gives him a competitive advantage.
You can listen to my interview with Steve here: Steve King Interview (3 min MP3)
For the fourth time in two weeks, Sam Hornish, Jr. recorded the “Ethanol Fast Lap” and $2,500 with a speed of 224.951 miles per hour. The Marlboro Team Penske driver has been the fastest driver for all four Ethanol Fast Laps days in Indy 500 practice, collecting $10,000 from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. The final Indy Fast Lap will be on May 26.
According to the Des Moines Register, Iowa is getting two more ethanol plants – one in Superior and one in Buffalo. Green Plains Renewable Energy plans to build a 50 million-gallon-a-year plant near Superior that will be similar to a plant Green Plains is building in Shenandoah. The Superior plant will open in spring 2007.
River/Gulf Energy is a Quad-City firm associated with Alter Barge Line. More information about their project can be found in this article by the Quad-City Times.
