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Evolution Fuels is committed to the establishment of retail fueling stations
that will carry varying blends of ethanol and biodiesel.
02/18/2010
A federal renewable energy
standard of 25 percent by 2025 combined with an energy efficiency standard
of 10 percent by 2020 could save US electricity consumers $113 billion
by 2030, the Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) said recently in a
new analysis. The two standards also would boost r...
02/16/2010
A new report from the
US biotechnology sector paints a positive outlook for the US advanced
biofuels industry. A recent study, commissioned by the Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO), concluded that the Renewable Fuel Standard
(RFS) levels for advanced biofuels production will drive t...
02/11/2010
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) originally had been expected to rule by Dec 1, 2009, on
a request to raise the allowed level of ethanol in fuels to be burned
in all cars from 10 percent to 15 percent (E15). However, the EPA, which
has indicated that E15 is safe for newer cars, has...
02/10/2010
Due to the heavy snowfall
this week, the Senate will not likely act on its jobs bill this week
ahead of the week-long Presidents Day recess. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Feb. 9 said that the heavy snowfall was impeding
his efforts to bring up the jobs bill. But details have...
02/09/2010
In its announcement that
finalized the regulations for the implementation of the renewable fuel
standard (RFS2), the EPA said that it was designating sugar cane ethanol
as an advanced biofuel that lowers greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by
more than 50 percent. The EPA said that ethanol made ...
02/08/2010
An extension to the expired
biodiesel production tax incentive likely will be part of a jobs package
being negotiated by Democratic and Republican leaders. Recall that the
biodiesel tax incentive expired Dec. 31. The $1-per-gallon tax incentive
is designed to make biodiesel price competitiv...
02/05/2010
USDA is set to publish
in the Feb. 8 Federal Register
a proposed rule that would provide details of a financial assistance
program to promote development of biomass fuel crops by farmers and
forest owners. (Publication of the proposed rule will open a 60-day
comment period.)
Th...
02/04/2010
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) released its final rules on Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2),
with the following major features:
Effective date for the
regulation is July 1, 2010, with the percentage standards for 2010
applying to all gasoline and diesel pr...
02/02/2010
As of this week Evolution Fuels has retail fuel operations under the “Evolution Fuels” brand. I am please that we have a strategic partner, J&J Developments, who is helping to expedite our strategic plan of rolling out renewable fuel stations in the southwestern and southeaste...
01/11/2010
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) recently sent to the White House Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review a final rule regarding the Renewable Fuel Standard.
The Energy Independence
and Security Act (PL 110-140), enacted in 2007, requires the nation’s
motor f...
01/08/2010
A coalition of ethanol
producers has challenged California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS),
which is intended to achieve a 10 percent reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions from motor vehicles by 2020. The coalition says that the measure
violates the Constitution and jeopardizes the ...
12/18/2009
The United States is
headed for a “revolution” for renewable energy, and cutting-edge
carbon capture and storage technology will be among the main priorities
of climate change policy going forward, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
said on Dec. 10. Salazar, who spoke at a briefing ...
12/17/2009
A new study shows that
world biofuels production in 2009 has reduced greenhouse gas emissions
by 123.5 million tonnes. The figure represents an average reduction
of 57 percent compared with the emissions that would have occurred from
the production and use of equal quantities of petroleum f...
12/15/2009
In its long-term outlook
released on Dec. 14, the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration
(EIA) forecast that US energy consumption will increase 14 percent by
2035. At the same time, the US will become less reliant on oil and other
fossil fuels to meet its energy needs. Th...
12/15/2009
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) separately have expressed support
for an extension of the current biodiesel tax credit. Harkin asked the
bipartisan leadership of the Senate Finance Committee to craft an extension
of the credit as soon as possible. “An e...
12/10/2009
The Department of Energy
recently announced $104.7 million in funding from the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act for eight new projects to establish critical
research and testing facilities at seven Department of Energy National
Laboratories. The projects will support the development a...
12/10/2009
The House on Dec. 9 approved
the Tax Extenders Act of 2009 (HR 4213), including a one-year extension,
through Dec. 31, 2010, of the biodiesel tax incentive. However, the
bill faces an uncertain outlook in the Senate. Representatives passed
the extenders bill by a vote of 241-185, largely al...
12/08/2009
Nineteen integrated biorefinery projects will receive up to $564 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to accelerate the construction and operation of pilot, demonstration and commercial scale facilities. Collectively, these projects will be matched with more than $700 mill...
12/07/2009
Legislation introduced
sponsored by Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.) would make algae-based biofuels
eligible for the same tax incentives available for cellulosic biofuels
producers. HR 4168 would expand the $1.01-per-gallon cellulosic biofuels
income tax credit that currently is given to any liq...
12/04/2009
The
federal stimulus package approved this year earmarked roughly $6
million to the cause of cleaning up the nation's aging fleet of school
buses. Researchers have linked diesel exhaust from older buses with
asthma, heart disease and cancer, and studies have found that pollution
inside the bus...
12/03/2009
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday took the cautious
approach and said it will not make a decision on the request to allow
up to 15 percent ethanol in the nation's fuel supply until next summer.
But EPA officials briefing different groups about the matter, and in a
letter to ind...
12/02/2009
Next week, the House is set
to consider legislation to extend some expiring renewable fuel
incentive programs, including the biodiesel tax credit and the small
agri-biodiesel credit that are scheduled to expire on Dec. 31.
As
part of the American Jobs Creation Act enacted in 2004, Cong...
12/01/2009
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), by law, has until Dec. 1 to
issue a decision on a request to increase the ethanol blend percentage
for non-flex-fuel vehicles from the current 10 percent maximum to up to
15 percent. Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers petitioned the
EPA last...
11/30/2009
As the climate-change
talks approach in Copenhagen, Denmark, much discussion is being centered
on the use of alternative fuels to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG). The
White House said this week that President Obama is "prepared to
put on the table [at Copenhagen] a US emissions reduction targ...
11/25/2009
Measures to promote renewable
energy, now part of a much delayed climate change bill, could find their
way into a jobs creation bill Senate Democrats are mulling, according
to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee. Bingaman has urged Demo...
11/24/2009
The Department of Energy
(DOE) is seeking advanced biofuels that can serve as “drop-in” replacements
for petroleum products and use the same refining and distribution network,
Under Secretary of Energy Kristina Johnson on Nov. 17 told delegates
at the fourth annual Cellulosic Bi...
11/23/2009
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is working with a Dec. 1 deadline for making a decision
on whether or not to increase the maximum blend rate for non-flex-fuel
vehicles from the current 10 percent level, to up to 15 percent, as
requested by Growth Energy. The EPA, over the past few...
11/20/2009
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.)
this week introduced legislation (HR 4070) that would make a number
of revisions to the tax incentives for biodiesel production, including
a five-year extension of the expiring tax credit for domestic biodiesel.
The credit is scheduled to expire at the end of the ...
11/20/2009
For the week ending November
13, the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration reported
that gasoline stocks fell by 1.76 million barrels. This narrowed the
gasoline surplus to last year to 10.6 million barrels and narrowed the
surplus to the five-year average to 9.7 million ...
11/18/2009
The Des Moines Register
columnist Philip Brasher recently wrote that the corncob could be losing
its special place in the nation’s energy future. The 2007 energy bill
required that refiners start using biofuels made from cobs, wheat straw,
grasses and other sources of plant cellulose ...
11/17/2009
Legislation to control
greenhouse gas emissions presents opportunities for farmers to generate
income, agricultural economists this week told a Farm Foundation forum
on climate-change research and agriculture. For example, Texas A&M
Agricultural Economist Bruce McCarl said offset projects t...
11/16/2009
Canada’s biofuels industry
will ask the Canadian government early in 2010 to expand fuel blending
mandates and production incentives, even as plants rapidly boost capacity
to meet incoming targets, the president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels
Association said. “We absolutely wo...
11/12/2009
Qatar’s Energy Minister
Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said the global crude oil market is “very
comfortable” and it is unlikely that OPEC would increase production quotas
significantly. OPEC is assessing the market situation and there will be “no
dramatic change” i...
11/09/2009
The economic outlook for the world bioethanol industry has improved considerably over the second half of 2009, according to Christoph Berg, managing director of F.O. Licht. Speaking at the opening of the F.O. Licht World Ethanol conference in Paris, Berg said there were several reasons for the more...
11/05/2009
In the latest
weekly petroleum report from the Department of Energy, the Energy Information
Administration estimated that crude oil stocks declined by 3.94 million barrels
in the week ending Oct. 30. This took US crude oil inventories to 335.91
million barrels, which still is near the upper bou...
11/03/2009
In 2010, the International Air
Transportation Association (IATA) will begin certifying the use of
biofuels for use by 280 of its member companies—a first step in its
change in fuel usage. IATA has estimated that the use of biofuels may
reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent in th...
10/30/2009
According to a
report released on Oct. 22 by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), investment
in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies could result in a net gain
of about 4.5 million jobs in the United States over the next 20 years. The
report is based on a 2007 study conduc...
10/29/2009
As Canadian government subsidies for production plants and renewable fuel requirements go into effect, Canadian biofuel production is expected to rise 76 percent by 2011. According to the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, total biofuel production will reach 660 million gallons annually by 2011,...
10/27/2009
Noting economic and environmental benefits, President Barack
Obama on Oct. 23 in Boston at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
urged Congress to pass climate-change legislation, labeling opponents as
cynical or self-interested. Obama said pending climate legislation “can
tra...
10/26/2009
As of Nov. 1, Manitoba is mandated to the blending of 2 percent biodiesel in its overall sales of on- and off-road diesel fuel. The 2-percent blend percentage is based on an average. Supplies have the flexibility to blend other percentages of biodiesel to meet the 2-percent target. For example, it ...
10/26/2009
The Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), will begin hearings next week on climate-change legislation authored by Boxer and Senator John Kerry (D.-Mass.). The panel will hear from several Obama Cabinet secretaries, including EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson...
10/21/2009
A recent Department of Energy (DOE) report stated that the Arctic presents a “good news, bad news” situation for oil and natural gas development. The good news is that the Arctic holds about 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas resources, based o...
10/19/2009
Over the last eight years, biodiesel production in the world has increased ten-fold to 2.9 billion gallons per year over and could nearly double by 2012, according to a report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA's Bioenergy Task 39 reviewed 21 key biofuel-producing countries,...
10/16/2009
In the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status report for the week ending Oct. 9, total US gasoline stocks declined by 5.23 million barrels to just over 209 million barrels. Though gasoline stocks are just above the upper limit of the average range of ...
10/14/2009
In its monthly report released on Oct. 13, OPEC forecast that demand for OPEC crude would average 28.6 million bpd in 2009, which is up about 100,000 bpd from its forecast made a month ago. The oil producer group also revised upward its forecast of the call on OPEC crude in 2010. It now sees demand...
10/13/2009
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said this week that she wants to pass the climate-change legislation through her committee (where Democrats hold a 12-7 majority) before the United Nations Copenhagen summit on climate change that begins on Dec. 7. Boxer said t...
10/06/2009
If improved US ethanol profit margins keep their momentum into 2010, the amount of corn used for ethanol looks likely to take a significant jump, according to new analysis from Rabobank Agri Commodity Markets Research. Rabobank said if US ethanol production stays at its current 11.5 billion gallons...
10/02/2009
US net imports of crude oil and petroleum products dropped 12.4 percent in July from a year earlier to 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data released Sept. 29 by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). Canada continues to be the top crude oil supplie...
09/30/2009
The Renewable Fuels Association has said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should stop trying to prove that corn ethanol production indirectly leads to deforestation in tropical countries. In comments submitted to the EPA, the RFA acknowledged that under the Energy Independence and Sec...
09/29/2009
According to Bartholomew Sullivan of ScrippsNews, Frederick Smith, FedEx CEO, in a meeting with other CEOs at the Council on Competiveness National Energy Summit last week called for reducing our dependence on foreign petroleum as a matter of both national and economic security. Not only does...
09/29/2009
Senators Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) and John Kerry (D., Mass.) are expected to introduce climate-change legislation this Wednesday (Sept. 30) that is expected to include deeper cuts in US greenhouse gas emissions than the bill already approved by the House and will include measures that prevent exc...
09/28/2009
A fuel tank that is blended with traditional fuels and increased levels of ethanol is being tested by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a national laboratory of the US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency. Researchers are trying to find out if traditional gasoline blended w...
09/25/2009
The latest weekly data from the U.S. Department of Energy indicate the trend toward adoption of ethanol as a way to increase the U.S. liquid fuel supply is continuing to grow to higher and higher levels. In the week ended September 18, production of gasoline with alcohol totaled 6.87 million barrel...
09/25/2009
Saudi Arabia’s oil minister made comments on Sept. 22 that indicated there is healthy demand from Asia, including China, where oil demand in August rose 2.9 percent from the year prior. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said demand for Saudi crude was increasing "and so we are…convinced t...
09/24/2009
The Senate could complete work today on the Interior-Environment Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010, which was amended today to include increased support for ethanol. The ethanol amendment, offered by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-S.D.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D....
09/24/2009
President Obama is heading into a series of meetings with world leaders under growing pressure to deliver on his promise of strong action on climate change. More than 100 world leaders, including Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, met Tuesday at the 64th UN Assembly to talk about fighting clima...
09/23/2009
Asian
economies slumped steeply when exports plunged, but most of the
region already is recovering, the Asian Development Bank said in a
report released Sept. 22. The Asian Development Bank said that it now
sees growth in China, the world's second largest energy consumer, at
8.2 percen...
09/03/2009
I believe that in the United States, the production of cellulosic
ethanol, as opposed to corn-based ethanol, is viable over the long
term. There are, however, problems that must be overcome.
One problem has been the development of cost-effective
technologies to produce ethanol from cellulosic ...
09/03/2009
As 85% blends of ethanol to petroleum gasoline (E85) became
available at certain fuel stations, automobiles were specially designed
to accommodate this new fuel – “Flex-fuel” vehicles. I believe this was
in large part a promotional scheme for the auto manufacturers to brag
abo...
09/03/2009
Currently, the standard ethanol blend in the larger U.S. cities is 10%
ethanol to 90% gasoline. Originally, ethanol’s market grew because it
was used as a replacement of MTBE, which is a natural gas-derived
oxygenator that came about to enhance unleaded gasoline. When lead was
removed fro...