From AgWeek
An Iowa State University agricultural economist who is famous for criticizing the ethanol fuel industry recently made his third appearance in a row at the annual North Dakota Grain Dealers convention. The entertaining economist, Dave Swenson, says he has no idea whether ethanol will be around in another 10 years, but technological feasibility doesn’t necessarily mean economic feasibility, and economic feasibility doesn’t necessarily mean environmental, political or social feasibility. “Politics often leads to sub-optimal programs and policies,” Swenson says.…
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by GasMan
January 08, 2009 @ 3:33 pm
Leaves Little For Solar, Wind and Geothermal Energy
WASHINGTON, January 8, 2009 - As Congress and the incoming Obama administration plan the nation’s next major investments in green energy, they need to take a hard, clear-eyed look at Department of Energy data documenting corn-based ethanol’s stranglehold on federal renewable energy tax credits and subsidies.
An Environmental Working Group (EWG) report released today uses data from a little noticed analysis buried in an April 2008 report from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).…
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One thing about the ethanol sector, … it never stops pushing for more, more, more.
Like right now, the industry is pushing EPA to sign off on higher blends of ethanol into gasoline. Currently the cap is 10 percent.
Why do they want higher blends approved? Simple. Ethanol is more expensive than gasoline right now.
According to the America Coalition for Ethanol, for December 3, 2008, the average rack price - or wholesale price - of ethanol in Nebraska is $1.81 per gallon.…
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The Western Governors Assoc, a bi-partisan group of Governor of Western states - which would include New Mexico, home of former Clinton Energy Secretary and current Governor Bill Richardson, who is now likely to become Obama’s Commerce Secretary - has a common sense plan for energy that it laid out in a four page letter to the President-elect. The plan was signed by Utah Governor John Huntsman (R) and Montana Governor Brian Schwietzer (D). Regarding fuel use, the plan is…
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by GasMan
November 06, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
Obama to Back Ailing Ethanol Makers, Follow Failed Bush Policy
By Mario Parker and Kim Chipman
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) — President-elect Barack Obama plans to support unprofitable U.S. ethanol producers and pursue the same policies that failed George W. Bush.
Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois, the second- biggest corn-growing state, will maintain Bush’s goal requiring fuel producers use at least 36 billion gallons of biofuels in 2022, said Heather Zichal, the campaign’s senior energy adviser. The ethanol industry, which loses about 66…
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by GasMan
September 22, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
Remember, … trends start in Washington state with all that coolness and hipness and total awareness
Spokesman-Review, The (Spokane, WA) — Sep. 21 — Washington farmers can grow almost anything, but they are not
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by GasMan
September 12, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) — Ford Heights Ethanol LLC applied in June 2006 to build a distillery in the Illinois town that bears its name, promising economic revival to replace abandoned houses and closed stores. Two years later, no work has begun.
For Ford Heights and other agricultural towns, the “green- collar” job revolution envisioned by federal biofuel mandates is a dream deferred. Knee-high grass and old tires cover the site as record prices for corn, the main ingredient in ethanol, discourage…
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by GasMan
September 04, 2008 @ 10:15 am
Tue Sep 2, 2008 2:47am BST
By Emily Kaiser
ST. PAUL, Sept 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Republicans called on Monday for an end to a controversial requirement that gasoline contain a set amount of ethanol, a policy backed by the Bush administration that critics say has helped drive up world food prices.
In their 2008 platform detailing policy positions, Republicans said markets — not government — should determine how much ethanol is blended into gasoline, and pushed for development of a cellulosic version,…
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by Marlow Lewis
July 16, 2008 @ 1:39 pm
Biofuel policies criticised by OECD
Agra Europe Weekly
Wednesday July 16 2008
A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development argues that existing policies for biofuels in OECD countries are costly, and that their impact on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions is limited, writes Dr Alan Bullion, deputy editor of F.O. Licht’s ‘World Biofuels Report’.
Futhermore, the report fuels the debate over food prices by suggesting that existing support mechanisms are having a significant impact on global commodity prices, although concluding that this…
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by Marlow Lewis
June 16, 2008 @ 10:27 am
A column in today’s Greenwire [subscription required] reports that POET, the nation’s largest ethanol producer, won an $80 million DOE grant to turn corn cobs into ethanol. Greenwire also notes that in December 2007, Congress upped the tax credit for cellulosic ethanol to $1.01 per gallon.
John Ashworth, a team leader at DOE’s Renewable Energy Laboratory, predicts that as gasoline prices continue to rise, carmakers will produce more flex fuel (E-85-capable) vehicles, and gasoline stations will install pumps like those in…
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