GoodFuels

RFA CEO blogs again

Bob Dinneen, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, has blogged again over at the Huffington Post.

Coinciding with Dinneen’s trip to Brazil for the Ethanol Summit 2009, the theme of this column is the global ethanol industry.

In discussing ethanol, we need to remember that in a world economy dominated by oil, no country has been able to get an ethanol industry going without significant government assistance. The United States and Brazil are case studies in point.

Renewable fuels have only taken hold in countries such as the U.S. and Brazil that have created and sustained programs to encourage its production. These incentives have included tax advantages, tariffs, export enhancement, debt forgiveness, infrastructure development and outright subsidies. It is important that countries be allowed to create similar programs, and grow their own biofuels industries, using whatever indigenous raw materials are available to them.

Dinneen stressed the fact that global agriculture has the capacity to feed AND fuel the world at the same time.

Ethanol production from grains yields a nutrient-rich livestock feed that when fed to cattle can actually help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Together with the growth potential of crop yields around the world, agriculture can continue to feed the world and help provide energy solutions. The enemy of policymakers and environmental advocates ought not be industries trying to replace imported oil with its heavy carbon footprint. Our collective enemy is the status quo. The global biofuels community is committed to tackling the economic, environmental and energy challenges facing all of us.

An interesting, timely topic.

Click here to read the whole article.