GoodFuels
Quick Shot
by Jackie Helling on Jan 26, 2009Distillers grains in high demand
Distillers grains, a high-protein co-product of the ethanol production process used as livestock feed, hasn’t seen the same slow-down the ethanol industry as a whole has experienced as of late, according to the Yankton Press & Dakotan.
The recent turbulence within the ethanol industry that has some closed down some facilities may have affected the availability of distillers grains (DDGS) to area livestock operations. So far, however, prices in the region are holding steady.
“Actually, distillers grains are as cheap as they’ve ever been in the last year and a half,” said Mark Miller, beef feedlot owner in Bloomfield, Neb.
The story goes on to talk about the potential for growth in the international DDGs market, specifically in China as their farming community continues to expand.
Last September, Thaler visited China to evaluate the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Swine Technical and Managerial Training program there. Producers in China told him that the country is unable to grow all of the grain needed for the expansion, meaning it will have to import a substantial amount of feed. Swine producers there plan to expand their industry from approximately 650 million pigs per year to at least 730 million, Thaler added.
“U.S. feed grains look to be the No. 1 choice in an import situation,” Thaler said, adding that as the industry grows, Chinese farmers will especially start looking at DDGS.
Good news! Check out the whole story here.
Quick Shot
by Cindy Zimmerman on Jan 26, 2009Ethanol Part of Clean Energy Economy
In his first weekly address to the nation Saturday, President Obama called for the creation of a “clean energy economy” as part of his “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” to jump-start the economy.
“To accelerate the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double our capacity to generate alternative sources of energy like wind, solar, and biofuels over the next three years.”
This edition of “The Ethanol Report” features comments from Renewable Fuels Association chairman of the board Chris Standlee of Abengoa Bioenergy and RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen on priorities for the ethanol industry that are in line with the new administration’s goals for economic recovery.
You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:
Or you can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.
Unjust Fingerpointing
by Cindy Zimmerman on Jan 22, 2009Chasing Wild Geese
According to Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute, ethanol could be the culprit behind the U.S. Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River last week.
If this is not a bird-brained theory, I don’t know what is.
Avery’s premise extends from a Time Magazine article that blames global warming for the incident, but he says, “Time reached the wrong conclusion. Research indicates we should blame the prosaic corn harvester-and perhaps our attempt to expand corn production for biofuels.”
He says that there has been a five-fold increase in the number of Canadian geese since 1970 because of the type of harvesting equipment used by corn farmers and because of the increase in corn acreage in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, farmers have been planting still more corn, on every possible corner of the eastern seaboard, to get their share of those ethanol subsidies. Corn planting expanded about 50 percent in the mid-Atlantic States from 2002-2006, according to Virginia Tech, with comparable increases in New York and Pennsylvania.
While he blames ethanol for the increase in geese, Avery’s solution to the problem of geese getting sucked into airplane engines is not reducing corn plantings or eliminating subsidies - it’s better bird-strike prevention and “more real goose research.”
This is irresponsible commentary and Good Fuels readers are urged to take Avery to task on it.
Comment on Avery’s article here.
Balanced Research
by Jackie Helling on Jan 22, 2009UNL report released
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Center for Energy Science Research has released a report entitled “Improvements in Life Cycle Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn Ethanol” that was published in the highly respected Journal of Industrial Ecology (JIE).
The report concludes that the US ethanol is energy efficient. In fact, ethanol reduced greenhouse gas emissions by up to 59% compared to gasoline.
The timely report’s key findings include:
- Direct effect GHG emissions were estimated to be equivalent to a 48% to 59% reduction compared to gasoline, a twofold to threefold greater reduction than reported in previous studies.
- Such improved technologies have the potential to move corn-ethanol closer to the hypothetical performance of cellulosic biofuels.
- These results suggest that corn-ethanol systems have substantially greater potential to mitigate GHG emissions and reduce dependence on imported petroleum for transportation fuels than reported previously.
- Recent improvements in crop production, biorefinery operation, and coproduct utilization in U.S. corn-ethanol systems result in greater GHG emissions reduction, energy efficiency, and ethanol-to-petroleum output/input ratios compared to previous studies.
- Ethanol-to-petroleum ratios were 10:1 to 13:1 for today’s typical corn-ethanol systems but could increase to 19:1 with progressive crop management that increases both yield and input use efficiency. A closed-loop biorefinery with an AD system reduces GHG emission by 67% and increases the net energy ratio to 2.2.
The report cites an earlier report compiled by the Argonne National Laboratory.
Fair Reporting
by Jackie Helling on Jan 21, 2009RFA President in Huffington Post
The Renewable Fuels Association head Bob Dinneen has once again blogged over at the Huffington Post, this time writing about investment in the ethanol industry.
As part one of a series, Dinneen talks about the challenges facing the ethanol industry in the near future and acknowledges that they must be dealt with swiftly.
Gustafson, however, also took note of the challenges facing the industry — the lack of capital, uncertainty in U.S. financial markets, and overall industry prospects. If these challenges are not met by the industry and the government, Gustafson predicts that “foreign competitors, primarily Brazil and Mexico, appear well positioned to fill U.S. consumer’s demand for advanced biofuels.”
This would be a terrible tragedy. It would not only be a setback for America’s nascent advanced biofuels industry, but would cede the production of ethanol here at home to importing it from our southern neighbors when modest changes in government policy can help the industry meet its congressionally set goals.
Part two of the series is also up at the Huffington Post. In the second column, Dinneen addresses the development of cellulosic ethanol and its importance.
The advantages of moving to the next generation of biofuels are many. Producing ethanol from cellulose can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 86% compared to gasoline according to the US Department of Energy. Because of the many potential cellulosic feedstocks, ethanol can be produced in almost every part of the country.
He also talks about individual efforts to develop cellulosic ethanol from the likes of companies like Iogen, Range Fuels, and Verenium.
For part one of the series, click here. For part two, click here. Feel free to comment!
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