GoodFuels

Chu would like to see all cars running on E85

The NYTimes transportation blog Wheels took on ethanol this weekend with a post about Energy Secretary Chu’s comments on ethanol last week.

In a speech in Des Moines this week, Mr. Chu said, “I’ve been told it costs about $100 in gaskets and fuel lines to turn a car so that it can go all the way to E85.”

The problem with that, the blog continues, is not with E85 compatible cars, but with lacking infrastructure and filling stations to fill the demand.

Asked about Mr. Chu’s comments, Scott Tobin, a vehicle line director for Ford, said, “E85 is something we know how to do, and the technology for it is well developed. It’s a direction the industry can take, but ethanol presently lacks infrastructure and consumer demand. If there is a breakthrough in cellulosic ethanol development, that might change the equation.”

The 2,000th ethanol station opened at the end of May in Miami. Ethanol is indeed spreading across the country and more stations are set to open in the coming months.

If the infrastructure was in place, would you be more likely to purchase a flex-fuel vehicle? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Photo from post406.

Safety is Ethanol Industry’s Job Number One

Recent accidents involving transportation fuel, including ethanol, have highlighted the importance of safety when it comes to moving flammable and hazardous materials.

This edition of the Ethanol Report features comments from Renewable Fuels Association Director of Technical Services Kristy Moore discussing the importance of safety to the ethanol industry and what RFA has done to develop and distribute safety information specifically related to ethanol production and transportation.

You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:

Or you can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.

Reverend of Renewables Preaches at FEW

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen once again lived up to his nickname, “Reverend of Renewable Fuels,” preaching another powerful sermon at the 25th annual Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Denver this week.

Dinneen, who has attended 21 of the 25 FEW conferences, exuded his trademark positive outlook and exhorted industry leaders to overcome the challenges they are facing with enthusiasm and energy.

“Look at last year – in the face of a deepening economic downturn, negative 3% growth and rising unemployment, the U.S. ethanol industry grew by 34%, 0pening 31 new plants and adding an additional 240,000 new jobs!

As our industry grows, we are transforming our nation’s motor fuel market, and we are transforming the rural landscape of America.”

Dinneen addressed the issues of indirect land use changes, higher level blends, food versus fuel, expansion of the market for ethanol, and the need to stay positive.

“We may have troubles, but we in the ethanol industry have a great story to tell, a compelling case to make, new opportunities to seize, and new markets to win over.

Don’t let anybody tell you that the ethanol industry is somehow responsible for despoiling rainforests and increasing carbon. We are the only way gasoline refiners can lower the carbon footprint of their product today.

Don’t let anyone tell you ethanol is a government boondoggle, we are creating new hope, new markets for farm products, new jobs for willing workers and new opportunities for entrepreneurship in communities where people need new pathways to a better life.

Don’t let anybody tell you that the world must choose between food and fuel. Our industry is helping humanity to achieve its historic dream of an affordable, and sustainable, abundance of all the necessities of life.

And don’t let anybody tell you that cellulosic ethanol is somebody’s pipe dream. It is as real as the people in this room.

If we stick together, do our work well, and stay focused on the future, our potential is unlimited – in the near-term, the long-term, and as far as our eyes can see and our minds can imagine.”

Listen to Bob’s speech here:

Read his remarks here

See photos from the 25th annual FEW in the 2009 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album

Dissent in the Food vs Fuel Ranks

There is reportedly some internal conflict going on within the Grocery Manufacturers Association over the continuing public relations attacks on corn farmers and ethanol.

In a recent commentary, National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman wrote:

“While this struggle plays out we can only hope reason will win the day and the folly of the food vs. fuel fiasco becomes clear. Thus far, the unhappy members of GMA haven’t been able to bring enough pressure to bear to reel in the rogues in the organization.’

Tolman says GMA is now driven by a “philosophy without vision.”

“According to the Kiplinger Ag Letter, “the food vs. fuel protest against ethanol is proving to have little merit,” noting that even though corn use for ethanol rose 40 percent last year, and corn supplies were tighter than expected, the price of corn dropped.’

Despite that, Tolman expects GMA and other food-related ethanol critics, which he calls the Cheap Corn Coalition, “will soon spend more on propaganda to bash the nation’s most important crop than consumers are paying in increased costs at their local market. Not a very constructive investment, unless their ultimate goals is to trounce corn prices back to the stone age and drive family farmers out of business.”

Let’s hope the dissenters in the ranks prevail before that happens.