GoodFuels

The Ethanol Report Podcast

The media and certain special interest groups may be working hard to put ethanol in the grave but nearly 4000 ethanol industry representatives proved they are willing to fight back at the recent 24th annual Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features comments from Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen, BBI International president Mike Bryan, Joel Velasco of the Brazilian Sugar Cane Industry Association, and “Energy Victory” author Robert Zubrin from the 2008 FEW in Nashville.

This is the 15th Ethanol Report podcast but the first to be posted on Good Fuels. You can get the other 14 and subscribe to “The Ethanol Report” by following this link.

Or you can listen to this one on-line here:

Ethanol is Racing Champion

This year’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 is over and as usual, ethanol won. Actually, Dan Wheldon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the race. It was a great birthday present since he turned 30 the day of the race.

We like to say ethanol won because it’s the fuel powering the high performance Honda engines in the Indy cars. This is the second season for the IRL to use 100 percent fuel grade ethanol in the cars. The drivers love it. Performance is proven, they carry less fuel since they get better gas mileage, the air is easier to breathe and their eyes don’t burn like when they used to run on methanol. So really, no matter who crosses the finish line first, ethanol is in the tank with them.

A lot of people were rooting for The Team Ethanol car which ran as high as 3rd place but according to driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, they lost a gamble on fuel strategy. He ran a strong race all day and really wanted to finish on the podium in front of so many fans of ethanol but it wasn’t to be. He finished 8th though and maybe he’ll get some breaks to go his way next time.

Oil production has peaked

The “legendary Texas oilman” T. Boone Pickens told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee yesterday that we “have peaked out at 85 million barrels a day globally.”

He noted that the United States is consuming “21 million barrels of the 85 million and producing about 7 of the 21, so if I could take just a minute on this point, the demand is about 86.4 million barrels a day, and when the demand is greater than the supply, the price has to go up until it kills demand.”

Pickens doesn’t mess around with when it comes to reading markets, either.  “His hedge fund, BP Capital, manages more than $4 billion in assets,” and “has vaulted him into the ranks of the world’s wealthiest people.”

In 2005, the Department of Energy commissioned the Hirsch Report (pdf), which put the problem “in stark terms.”

The report recommended 10 to 20 years of “accelerated effort” to implement alternative fuels would be needed before the oil peak to avoid “major economic upheaval”.

“Waiting until world oil production peaks before taking crash program action,” says the report, “leaves the world with a significant liquid fuel deficit for more than two decades.”

Source: Christian Science Monitor and Reuters
Photo: Wikipedia

Singing the Praises of Ethanol

I could not help but think of Luciano Pavarotti when I saw this image of Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen as I was downloading my photos from his address at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

Bob may be an Irishman, but he sure bears a strong resemblance to the famous late Italian opera star when he is singing his aria on the praises of ethanol.

You can find more photos from the 2008 FEW online here:

2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album