Ethanol Education Information Links

no endorsements by any organization(s) listed at this site

informational/resources purposes only

www.freepatentsonline.com/5198074.html

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jbb/104/2/149/_pdf

http://www.bluemoonfund.org/news/news_show.htm?doc_id=519306

http://www.biomass1.eu/facts.htm#comp

Thursday Mar 13, 2008

Conoco Interested in Possible Ethanol Acquisition

Oil giant ConocoPhillips' CEO James Mulva said Wednesday that his company may be interested in buying ethanol plants. According to CNN Money Mulva would rather invest in cellulosic-ethanol instead of corn-based production. In order for the company to integrate more ethanol into its business, he said, could require an investment from Conoco of between $1 billion and $2 billion. In addition, Mulva said the oil industry needs to play a bigger role in the development of climate change legislation. (CNN Money, March 12, 2008)

PEORIA, Ill., Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on new crops for ethanol.

With corn and soybeans being used for fuel as well as food, there are increasing concerns about the best use, the Journal Star reported.

The new crops division at the USDA research facility in Peoria, Ill., is working to bring more diversity to crops.

"I want to see more diversity on the farm. We want to look at other crops," said Terry Isbell, research head of the Ag Lab's new crops division.

There is national research being done on plants like camelina, cuphea, lesquerella, switchgrass, pennycress and milkweed.

"Whoever finishes first with the highest yield will be the winner," Isbell said, though pennycress holds double the amount of oil in soybeans and may prove to be a good crop for fuel use.

"We have to learn how to fit (pennycress) in with the kings of the Midwest, corn and soybeans," said Isbell.

Pennycress, if developed successfully, could provide a source for fuel without impacting food needs, he said.

 http://www.brdisolutions.com/pdfs/bcota/abstracts/8/76.pdf

 http://www.earthtrack.net/earthtrack/library/BiofuelsUSupdate2007.pdf

http://www.dams.org/docs/kbase/thematic/drafts/tr41_reviewdraft_annexes.pdf

USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY LOANS AND GRANTS
	WASHINGTON, March 6, 2008 - Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer announced during an international renewable energy conference that USDA will accept $220.9 million in loan and grant applications within USDA's Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program. "As demand for energy rises, these renewable energy loans and grants help farms and rural small businesses increase their investment in renewable energy initiatives," said Schafer, speaking at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC). "Energy efficiency wisely applies our resources, and energizes wealth-creation opportunities with more jobs throughout rural America." Loan guarantees and grants are available to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase and install renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Eligible applicants may seek loan guarantees to cover up to 50 percent of a project's cost, not to exceed $10 million. Grants are available for up to 25 percent of a project's cost, not to exceed $250,000 for energy efficiency improvements and $500,000 for renewable energy systems. USDA Rural Development has invested $674 million in more than 1,763 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects since 2001. These investments include ethanol, biodiesel, wind, solar, geothermal, methane gas recovery systems and biomass. The Bush administration's Farm Bill proposal recommends a $1.6 billion increase in renewable energy funding. Were Congress to agree, cellulosic ethanol development proposals would receive a $2.1 billion loan guarantee program, while $500 million would be available for bioenergy and bioproducts research programs, as well as another $500 million for renewable energy development and energy efficiency grants. Details are available at www.usda.gov/farmbill . USDA will issue one grant solicitation for two separate competitions in FY 2008. For the first competitive window, grant-only applications must be submitted no later than April 15, 2008. For the second competitive window, grant-only applications must be submitted no earlier than April 16, 2008, and no later than June 16, 2008. Applications for loan guarantees, as well as those for loan/grant combinations must be completed and submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office no later than June 16, 2008. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA's web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov . USDA Rural Development's mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural residents. Rural Development has invested nearly $91 billion since 2001 for equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. More than 1.7 million jobs have been created or saved through these investments. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA's web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov . Minding Ag's Business Marcia Zarley Taylor DTN Executive Editor Bio  |  Email Sunday Dec 9, 2007 Got Carbon Credits? Don't Sell Too Cheap Buy low, sell high. That's the goal for most commodity producers and investors, right? But if you are a potential seller of carbon credit, don't make the mistake of locking in a long-term price now when Congress is just a few key votes and maybe less than a year away from building a legitimate carbon credit market. I've been on duty and taking notes at last week's DTN-Progressive Farmer Ag Summit in Chicago. That "hold 'em" message was the warning from two climate experts we asked to brief the audience on prospects for a carbon crop. And their advice will not only affect your decision to sign up no-till acres or methane digesters for today's voluntary carbon credit market, but also to sell the rights for an investor-owned wind farm on your property or even stock in a biofuels plant. Michael Walsh, executive vice president of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), notes that growers have already enrolled 10 million acres of mostly no-till cropland in contracts with his exchange, but that the price of carbon has slipped from a high of about $5 a ton to the more current price of about $1.50. At current prices, that translates to on-farm payments of about $1 to $2 per acre for no-till practices, says Walsh, "but the prices could be ten times that amount under a regulated environment." "It's very realistic to imagine $5 to $10 billion a year emerging in a carbon credit market for agriculture," he adds. Better yet, that's a second crop on top of the commodities you grow. "Wind companies know that, too," says Sara Hessenflow Harper, a consultant with the environmental lobbying firm, The Clark Group. "Why do you think they are so anxious to buy farmland rights at the moment?" Some wind companies are offering flat fees, say $5,000 an acre, for use rights. But there is no inflation clause and no "percentage of the profits" factored in to many offers. Forever is a long time. Harper is actually more optimistic that bills establishing a mandatory cap-and-trade system, as approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last week, will boost carbon's value more in-line with the European market. There, carbon credits have been selling for about $32 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent, or about $16 an acre per year, Walsh says. Ag groups need to closely monitor legislation now working its way through Congress, though, to assure that land-based practices remain eligible as carbon offsets. Some environmentalists doubt that tillage practices offer a permanent solution to climate change, since any gains could be easily reversed. The best counter argument is that the farm community has kept its word on compliance so far, Walsh responds. He notes that aggregators--the players like Farm Bureau or Farmers Union who collect and manage a bundle of contracts for the CCX--typically over-subscribe 10% more credits into their contracts than what they promise, in the event a grower needs to do a reserve till. That emergency reserve allows the entire contract to remain in compliance. "So far, growers have done what they said they'd do," Walsh says. "To have farm operations marginalized is of great concern to us," Walsh adds, since he sees agriculture as one of the most cost-effective ways to control carbon emissions. "Farmers need to engage on this issue, because they have a significant opportunity to drive this discussion." If you'd like a crash course on the farming issues surrounding carbon credit markets, watch a free, 40-minute rebroadcast of DTN's recent webinar, "Prospects for a Carbon Credit Market" featuring Harper and Mark Gaede of the National Association of Wheat Growers. You can link to it at Time to Move to a Second Generation of Biofuels Eye on Earth February 19, 2008 Topics Energy Climate change By Christopher Flavin Two studies published in the journal Science last week have reinforced the urgency of moving quickly to a second generation of biofuels. The two studies, one produced by a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota, and the other led by researchers from Princeton University, found that biofuels can actually produce more carbon dioxide emissions than they save—if they force natural habitats to be converted to cropland, releasing the carbon contained in trees and grasses and in the soil they grow on. The gist of the two reports? Clearing land for biofuel crops—especially when it involves the loss of forests, peatlands, and grasslands that are nature’s premier method of carbon capture—is a bad idea. The reason is clear: the world’s forests and grasslands contain an enormous reservoir of carbon, which will add to greenhouse warming if it’s released to the atmosphere. Even switchgrass, if grown on land now being grown to produce corn, could increase emissions by 50 percent if it forces the clearing of new land to grow food. The Science papers, covered in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and virtually everywhere else, blared such headlines as “Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat.” And it’s shaking the scientific community into high gear. According to Washington Post writer Juliet Eilperin, senior scientists responded to the new studies by sending a letter to President Bush and House Speaker Pelosi urging them to reconsider their energy policies. “While politicians in the U.S. and Europe have tried to craft policies dictating that new biofuels will not come at the expense of clearing land, the papers show that sometimes land conversion is often an indirect result of this expansion,” the 10 scientists wrote. “There is an urgent need for policy that ensures biofuels are not produced on productive forest, grassland or cropland.” These studies provide important new evidence to reinforce a message that the Worldwatch Institute produced in its pioneering 2007 book, Biofuels for Transport: “Because increases in the land area used to produce feedstocks can result in large releases of carbon from soil and existing biomass, they can negate any benefits of biofuels for decades.” Now, it turns out, the expansion of some biofuel crops could actually make the world’s climate problem worse. It is time for policymakers in Washington and around the world to reduce subsidies to food-based biofuels and increase them for biofuels that will truly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address other environmental problems as well. As one of the Science studies concluded, “biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.” Last autumn, Worldwatch worked with the Sierra Club on the report, Destination Iowa: Getting to a Sustainable Biofuels Future, which sets forth recommendations on how the state of Iowa, a leading U.S. ethanol producer, could do just that. Some of the report’s suggestions for moving toward a more sustainable biofuels future include:       Accelerate development of cellulosic biofuel technologies and the infrastructure to harvest, transport, and process the new crops.     Provide incentives for low or no-till agriculture, the planting of cover crops, and the creation of riparian buffer zones.     Support farmers who want to invest in sustainable fuel crops such as perennial grasses or fast-growing trees.     Reduce tax subsidies for food-based biofuels and increase subsidies for fuels with a low-carbon footprint, such as waste and cellulose-derived biofuels.     Increase investment in solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy that provide greater climate benefits than today’s biofuels do.   The main message the world should take from the new biofuels studies is that the current world agricultural system, like the world energy system, is unsustainable. And unless it’s fixed, rising production of both fuels and food will wreak havoc. A recent article published in Environmental Health Perspectives pointed out that high levels of meat consumption are also leading to land clearing and rising greenhouse emissions—much the way that corn-based biofuel does. In just the last five months of 2007, more than 3,000 square kilometers of forest has been cleared in the Amazon to make way for cattle ranches and for soybeans used for animal feed.

As towns and cities across Australia look for a new industry to sustain them into the future, a company on the Sunshine Coast has the answer – and for many it’s been growing in front of them for years.

The answer is bamboo, and with the correct treatment it can provide substantial input for bio-power refineries as well as produce ethanol for the transport industry, but more importantly can produce a whole new timber product that has superior strength and durability, is easy to work with and can be harvested every year.

Bamboo Australia, in conjunction with MilTech Services have identified a new process for turning bamboo into such things as flooring, wall panelling and feed for power and fuel creation.

MilTech spokesman Dr Mick Millington said bamboo is a species of grass with over 1600 varieties that is fast growing.

He said: "Being an annual, unlike hardwood which is in short demand and takes anything up to 20 years to mature, bamboo matures each year and that’s what makes this natural resource so appealing.

"With the cane and timber industry ailing, if not sick, bamboo is a viable alternative. It can be processed at any timber mill following a few modifications.

"So bamboo can provide a boost to an ailing industry; high quality timber; fuel for electrical energy; ethanol production; diversification and jobs for cane farmers; a local and export market.

"Bamboo can also provide something else – a wonderful new look for designers to use in homes across Australia. This is a wood that has great depth of color, is hard wearing, waterproof and will last for years," he said.

Bamboo Australia and MilTech Services are currently seeking funding to carry the research further, and to support a detailed feasibility and market study to quantify the financial benefits of processed bamboo.

Dr Millington said that Federal, State and Local Government’s will be approached to assist in funding, with support also sought from local industry, tertiary/research institutions and other interested parties.

Dr Millington added: "We already have a timber and a cane industry. Bamboo can boost those industries, boost jobs, and boost local income. What we need now is the financial assistance to let us finish the task."

 EPIC
The Ethanol Promotion & Information Council (EPIC) is an alliance of ethanol producers and industry leaders who have come together to spread the word about the benefits and availability of ethanol through education and promotional programs.

ethanolfacts.com
A consumer website with information about ethanol.

Renewable Fuels Association
As the national trade association for the U.S. fuel ethanol industry, the  Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has been the "Voice of the Ethanol Industry" since 1981.

National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition
The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition is the nation’s primary advocate dedicated to the use of E85, 85 percent ethanol as a form of alternative transportation fuel.

American Coalition for Ethanol
The American Coalition for Ethanol was formed to unite a wide range of groups in support of ethanol.  ACE unites all types of commodity organizations, rural electric cooperatives, ethanol producers, grain cooperatives, businesses, and individuals. 

Domestic Fuel
Alternative fuels news and blog site.

 Formed by governors of 9 states in 1991 to promote and increase the use of ethanol, membership as of January 2004 stands at 30 states with international representatives from Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Sweden and Thailand.

Clean Fuels Development Council
The Clean Fuels Development Council (CFDC) is an innovative not-for-profit organization that actively supports the development and production of fuels that can reduce air pollution and lessen our dependence on imported oil.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a leader in the U.S. Department of Energy's effort to secure an energy future for the nation that is environmentally and economically sustainable.

Clean Cities Program
The Clean Cities Program works to advance the nation's economic, environmental, and energy security by supporting local decisions to adopt practices that contribute to the reduction of petroleum consumption. Clean Cities carries out this mission through a network of more than 80 volunteer coalitions, which develop public/private partnerships to promote alternative fuels and vehicles, fuel blends, fuel economy, hybrid vehicles, and idle reduction.

U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center
This site has an excellent database of state alternative fuel incentives and laws.

Industry Links

Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC)

Kansas Association of Ethanol Processors

ICM, Inc.

United Bio Energy

BBI International

Ethanol Products, Inc.

Fagen Inc.

Delta-T

Broin Companies

Ethanol Marketplace

Iogen Corp.

Flexible Fuel Vehicle Manufacturers

GM Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Ford Ethanol Vehicles

Daimler-Chrysler Ethanol Vehicles - www.fleet.chrysler.com/alternative

Chevron and Weyerhaeuser Form Biofuels Joint Venture

Chevron and Weyerhaeuser Form Biofuels Joint Venture