GoodFuels

UN Hears Ethanol Story

The CEO of the world’s largest ethanol producer gave a forum at the United Nations this week a glimpse into how ethanol can be part of the solution to helping developing nations fight poverty and dependence on foreign oil.

“With a billion acres of idled cropland across the globe and the price of agricultural commodities above the cost of production for the first time in decades there is an unbelievable opportunity for underdeveloped countries to simultaneously lift people out of poverty and solve their crippling addiction to energy imports,” Jeff Broin of POET said Wednesday during a roundtable on energy and biofuels at the forum on UN’s Millennium Development Goals and Food Sustainability.

Jeff talked about the history of POET, how his father saw the potential to grow both food and fuel and built a small ethanol plant on the family farm in South Dakota. Today POET has 24 - soon to be 25 - ethanol plants in operation producing more than 1.4 billion gallons of ethanol annually. “I’m confident that what POET has achieved in rural America can happen all over the world,” Jeff said.

He concluded by saying that ethanol production is still a young industry with incredible potential. “It will continue to spark agricultural development all over the globe, mostly in developing countries, which will help those countries use their own resources to become more self-reliant for food and fuel while reducing global climate change.”

Read Jeff’s entire speech to the UN forum on the POET blog, Rhapsody in Green.

Good Commercials for a Good Fuel

If you watch the new ethanol television spots, you can count at least five important messages about ethanol in each one.

Take the “Places” spot and count the messages.
1. Ethanol is produced in more places than just the Midwest
2. Ethanol is our energy future - cutting edge
3. One third of the corn used to make ethanol comes back as livestock feed
4. Ethanol reduces our dependency on foreign oil
5. Ethanol is an American made fuel

The “Faces” spot includes the messages that ethanol is already a major part of our fuel supply, it’s available now, it produces jobs and lowers gas prices, as well as reducing our dependence on foreign oil. It’s produced by people, not some big corporation.

The agency that developed these spots for the ethanol industry deserves a big pat on the back. They are everything that a good television commercial should be - professional, clear and concise, simple yet visually interesting. They leave the viewer with a positive feeling and impart the messages without being preachy or pushy. They should be aired everywhere.

Polar bears in DC?

We here at GoodFuels certainly don’t promote potentially threatening civil demonstrations or activites that would otherwise disrupt daily traffic in a major city, but this story was too interesting not to call your attention to it.

Over the past several days, costumed mannequins dressed as polar bears in tattered clothing have been spotted around Washington DC, even forcing the closing of a Metro stop. The mannequins are accompanied by signs saying things like “Oil addiction wrecked my life!” and “Global warming refugee”.

It is great to see that Americans are finally waking up to the serious oil addiction this country faces. Ethanol, a cleaner and homegrown alternative that is available NOW, can and is helping the US break its crippling addiction to foreign oil.

We are not the only ones affected by such widespread overuse of petroleum, as the polar bear demonstrates. Breaking the addiction would benefit the entire globe, animals and humans alike. This is definitely a step in the right direction!

Photo courtesy of Wooster Collective.