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by Cindy Zimmerman on Aug 15, 2008

Ten Reasons to be Optimistic about Ethanol

Just back from the 21st Ethanol Conference and Trade Show, here are some comments I heard that are good reasons to be optimistic about the future of the ethanol industry.

1. “America must become energy independent and ethanol is one step in that process.” Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman

2. “Corn-based ethanol is going to be around for a long time – it’s the foundation of what we are doing with ethanol.” Gov. Heineman

ACE 08 theme3. “By 2030, we’ll have a national average of corn yield of 300 bushels to the acre, double what we have now. Monsanto stands behind that, Pioneer says the same thing and so does Syngenta, so it has to be right – it’s the only thing those three companies agree on.” Rick Tolman, National Corn Growers Association

4. “Our ethanol per acre is growing so we can produce more ethanol from fewer bushels of corn.” Rick Tolman

5. “Corn ethanol is the ‘ugly baby’ with a bright future.” Rick Tolman

6. “Last year the use of fuel was up, but the use of gasoline was down and for the first time in 30 years, we imported less oil in the United States than we did the previous year.” Ron Lamberty, ACE

7. “I have never seen the kind of progress in cellulosic ethanol that we are seeing today, I have never seen the kind of investment by private industry and academia, there is a tremendous amount of pressure in the country to move this forward and it is definitely having the best chance it has ever had.” Jeff Broin, POET

8. “We are the freedom fighters in this battle – we’re fighting big dollars, big press machines, but we got faith, we got spirit, we got the truth.” Bob Scott of POET, ACE president

9. “According to the independent data, the fuel price benefits to households far outweigh the food costs associated with biofuels and the EPA came to the only conclusion the facts would permit – a complete rejection of the Texas request. Not only did the EPA summarily deny the request, they set a very high threshold, a very strict precedent for future states to wave the RFS.” Brian Jennings, ACE

10. “We are underdogs, but we keep going and we keep winning. We have fueled a revolution to make gasoline the alternative fuel.” Brian Jennings

There’s many more good reasons - but you get the idea. The ‘ugly baby’ of corn ethanol is growing up and its better looking cousin cellulosic is well on its way into the world - the revolution is changing the world and the industry keeps fighting.

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