by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Biofuel number crunchers in the know are finding their jobs easier because of a website hosted by the USDA Economic Research Service where the Interagency Council on Agricultural & Rural Statistics pulls together links
history
Back TO HOMEFact Sheet: A Brief History of Octane in Gasoline: From Lead to Ethanol
by Jessie Stolark (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) A cornerstone of U.S. environmental policy has been the reduction of harmful tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. Thanks to EPA regulations of mobile sources, air pollutants have been reduced by millions
April 07, 2016 Read Full Article
REG’s Rolling Thunder: What Did Not Kill Them (Falling Oil Prices), Made Them Stronger
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... It’s been a couple of years since we visited REG and the difference is palpable. The company has become a little ADM, rather than a big Amyris or TerraVia. You see the trading desks at
April 05, 2016 Read Full Article
B&C Professionals Help Tell the Story of EPA's "Half Century of Progress"
(Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.) Many Americans today, including many legislators at the federal and state levels, were not yet born when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created by President Nixon in 1970, or they were too young to
March 23, 2016 Read Full Article
Ethanol Bust Adds to U.S. Fuel Glut and Losses Across Corn Belt
by Mario Parker (Bloomberg Business) ... Back in 2007, when crude oil was headed toward a record $147.27 a barrel, ethanol was being touted as a cheap alternative from abundant domestic resources. The U.S. is the world’s biggest corn grower and
March 23, 2016 Read Full Article
Life As We Might Have Known It: What If Ethanol Was Our Primary Engine Fuel
by Marc J. Rauch (The Auto Channel) ... Our exchange began with his comments that government should not decide which fuel is the winner; that fossil fuels dominance over alternative fuels was due to consumer choice; and that society owes a
March 16, 2016 Read Full Article
Corn Ethanol: The Rise and Fall of a Political Force
by Tristan R. Brown (The Conversation) The 2016 primary race is defying conventional wisdom, with erstwhile fringe candidates competitive in the polls despite their unorthodox policy positions. The Iowa Republican Caucus provided additional material for this storyline as Senator Ted Cruz defied
March 03, 2016 Read Full Article
UW Scientists Team up with Big Oil to Develop Renewable Jet Fuel
by Thomas Content (Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal Sentinel) ... In one project among several around the nation, ExxonMobil is working with researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on technology to bring down the cost of renewable diesel and jet fuel. Researchers led
February 24, 2016 Read Full Article
Putting Corn in Your Car Isn’t as Crazy as It Sounds
by Nathanael Johnson (Grist) When I first looked at the environmental impact of corn ethanol I thought it was simple: Grow an acre of corn for fuel and it means you have to grow another acre elsewhere for food, which
February 23, 2016 Read Full Article
Opinion: South Dakotans Send Ethanol Message
by Orrie Swayze (AgWeek) The idea that shale makes us crude oil independent is an oil industry fantasy that enables us to deny we willfully sacrifice our troops to fight endless Middle East conflicts to support the U.S. addiction to imported
February 23, 2016 Read Full Article
Cellulosic Ethanol Falls A Few Billion Gallons Short
by Robert Rapier (Energy Trends Insider) ... From zero commercial production in 2006, (Vinod) Khosla foresaw the first 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol hitting the market in 2008 (see Slide 78), ramping rapidly to 2.5 billion gallons in 2011, 14.6
February 22, 2016 Read Full Article
Where Is Sports Car Green Racing in 2016?
by Robert E. Kozak* (Advanced Biofuels USA) This weekend the 49th Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona kicks off the American sports car racing season. It promises to be one of the best with the brand new EcoBoost Ford GT joining
January 28, 2016 Read Full Article
Olden Days, Golden Days, and Golden Gripes
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... So, how fast did petroleum expand production, in comparison to low-carbon renewable fuels? ... One thing is clear, renewable fuels are moving fast, by comparison. From 1866 through 1899 (a year when negative attention on the
January 28, 2016 Read Full Article
Next-Generation Sugarcane Ethanol a Sweet Alternative to Gasoline
by Bill Hinchberger (Globe and Mail) As the world prepares to wean itself from fossil fuels, many eyes are turning to Brazil with its land mass nearly equal that of Canada, plentiful sunshine, history of sugarcane plantations dating to colonial
December 11, 2015 Read Full Article
Innovation to Tackle Climate Change and Feed a Growing Population: Commercializing Synthetic Biology
by Vonnie Estes (Biofuels Digest) ... But as the land, water, and fossil fuel resources those systems rely on become scarcer, biology is offering new ways to engineer solutions. Synthetic biology redesigns existing organisms for specific purposes to produce safe products
December 02, 2015 Read Full Article
Mission Incomplete
by Katie Fletcher (Biomass Magazine) The U.S. Department of Defense has yet to purchase alternative fuels beyond testing and demonstration purposes, but intentions remain. -- In July, the U.S. Government Accountability Office published a report observing U.S. Department of Defense
November 03, 2015 Read Full Article
USDA Chief Economist Office Examines Ethanol’s Complex Impact
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) USDA's Office of the Chief Economist just released a comprehensive report on ethanol. The 87-page report, “U.S. Ethanol: An Examination of Policy, Production, Use, Distribution, and Market Interactions,” examines the complex interaction of
October 30, 2015 Read Full Article
Are White House Insiders With Connections to Big Oil Undermining the President's Climate Change Agenda?
by Paul Alexander (Huffington Post) ... (H)e must explain his decision to gut the Renewable Fuel Standard and hand Big Oil a decisive political victory. One lingering question is, did high-level White House staffers with close ties to oil companies
October 29, 2015 Read Full Article
ICM Aims for Strong Legacy
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) For two decades, ICM has adapted with the changing times, bringing technology solutions to the ethanol industry. -- In 1995, ICM Inc. got its start with the purchase of the engineering, manufacturing and marketing
October 27, 2015 Read Full Article
The Drivers Seat: Ethanol Update
by Bobby Likis (Car Clinic Network) Recently, Lauren Fix appeared on the Jacki Daily Show and took aim at Ethanol. Really? Yes, something needs to be fixed. And it’s not ethanol. What needs to be fixed is the egregiously incorrect
September 28, 2015 Read Full Article
New Study: Biofuel Use Saved 589.3 Million Tons of Carbon Emissions Over the Past Decade
(Biotechnology Industry Organization) Over its 10-year lifespan, the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) requirement to substitute biofuels for fossil fuels has displaced nearly 1.9 billion barrels of foreign oil and reduced U.S. transportation-related carbon emissions by 589.33 million metric tons, the
August 24, 2015 Read Full Article
Repeal the Ethanol Mandate
by John McClaughry (Watchdog.org) ... Back in the Nixon years scientists discovered that tetraethyl lead used to improve combustion in gasoline led to serious environmental and health damage. Adding lead to gasoline was banned. That was a good thing. But gasoline
August 20, 2015 Read Full Article
Shedding Light on U.S. Biofuels: The 'Food versus Fuel' Debate
by Stephanie Mercier (Ag Web) The U.S. biofuels sector marks its birth back in 1979, when Congress established a blender’s credit for ethanol as the earliest piece of federal biofuel policy as part of the Energy Tax Act of 1978 as
August 17, 2015 Read Full Article
Celebrating a Decade of Success: The RFS Turns 10!
(Renewable Fuels Association) This Saturday marks 10 years since the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) containing the original Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was signed into law by President George W. Bush. The first RFS set America on a path
August 10, 2015 Read Full Article
Biodiesel Industry Falters; Lack of Support Cited
by Austin DuVall (Arkansas Business) Arkansas’ biodiesel industry has failed to live up to its early promise, and Troy Hornbeck says he knows why. Hornbeck, who with his two brothers, Jon and Jeff, founded Arkansas SoyEnergy Group LLC of DeWitt in
July 20, 2015 Read Full Article
Missionary Zeal for Ethanol in Roots of NASCAR Sponsor
by Mario Parker (Bloomberg/Seattle Times) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the ethanol program, has proposed a sharp cutback in ethanol mandates that were expanded by Congress in 2007. -- Jeff Broin’s silhouette shines in the glossy hood of the modified
July 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Ethanol for All, And Then Some
by Robert Rapier (Investing Daily) ... If less fuel is being produced than the mandated level, it drives up the price of the RIN and in theory increases the incentive to produce the fuel (which is the intent of the system). For
July 02, 2015 Read Full Article
The Need For A New Fuel Paradigm: Transitioning From Legacy Fuels to Modern Efficient Fuels
by Bill Brandon (Leaders in Energy) ... This two-part White Paper presents the proposition that we need to transition away from the legacy fuels we use today to modern liquid and gas fuels[1] that: 1) reduce or eliminate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
June 25, 2015 Read Full Article
Agricultural History of North Carolina
by J. Paul Lilly (North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) In order to understand both agriculture and forestry as they are today, I believe we need to know what they have evolved from. Thomas Isern, Professor of History
February 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Brazil: Bioenergy Powerhouse at a Crossroads
by Chris Woolston (Bioenergy Connection) In 1903, the year that the Wright Brothers made their first flight at Kitty Hawk, another world-changing innovation took place in Brazil. That year, Brazil’s First National Congress of Industrial Applications of Alcohol recommended large-scale
February 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Spotlight on Iowa
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Ethanol Producer Magazine digs into the details of ethanol production in Iowa and how the industry got started. When Jerry Mohr, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association board of directors, talks to politicians, he
January 07, 2015 Read Full Article
Gevo Finds a Way
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Like Rocky Balboa, no matter how many punches they take, Gevo just won’t fall over. In fact, the company’s prospects have brightened considerably in recent months — is the company “gonna fly now”? How and
November 14, 2014 Read Full Article
Comparison between Different Types of Renewable Diesel
by StellavBezergianni and AthanasiosvDimitriadis (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews/Science Direct) Renewable fuels, as an alternative fuel, can be produced from different biomass types such as vegetable oils of various origins, waste cooking oils and fats. The most common biofuel is
May 30, 2013 Read Full Article
Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and the History of Biofuels
by Jeremy Shere (EnergyWorld.com) excerpts from his in-process book on the history of biofuels: ... Promoting alcohol as motor fuel would benefit not only the automobile industry, Ford thought, but also help farmers would find a ready and lucrative market for their surplus
May 06, 2010 Read Full Article
Future Shock: A New Paradigm In Algal Biofuels Technologies
Will Thurmond (Biofuels Digest) In 1973 the world experienced the first major supply shock from OPEC, leading to petrol shortages, and a sustained period of economic stagnation, and rampant inflation. As a response, US President Carter established the National Renewable
February 09, 2010 Read Full Article
How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!
by Adam Lashinsky and Nelson D. Schwartz (CNN Money/Fortune Magazine) You probably don't know it, but the answer to America's gasoline addiction could be under the hood of your car. More than five million Tauruses, Explorers, Stratuses, Suburbans, and other vehicles