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Ethanol, So Recently a Savior, Is Struggling
Ecoearth.info Blog —
... Date: February 12, 2009 Byline: Clifford Krauss Original URL Barely a year after Congress enacted an energy law meant to foster a huge national enterprise capable of converting plants and agricultural wastes into automotive fuel, the goals lawmakers set for the ethanol industry are in serious jeopardy. As recently as last summer, plants that make ethanol from corn were sprouting across the Midwest. But now, with motorists driving less in the economic downturn, the industry is burdened with excess capacity, and plants are shutting down virtually every week. In ...
DrumBeat: February 12, 2009
The Oil Drum —
... projects around the world.
Fire threating water, gas supplies in Victoria
MELBOURNE'S largest water catchment, the Thomson Reservoir, and the Longford gas plant are both threatened by major bushfires burning out of control today.
And a water expert says a fire that kills just half the trees in the Thomson catchment could cut water yield in the already drought-ravaged dam by 20 per cent for the next half century.
Ethanol, Just Recently a Savior, Is Struggling
Barely a year after Congress enacted an ...
Ethanol, Just Recently a Savior, Is Struggling
Peak Oil News —
... plans are lagging for a new generation of factories that were supposed to produce ethanol from substances like wood chips and crop waste, overcoming the drawbacks of corn ethanol. That nascent branch of the industry concedes it has virtually no chance of meeting Congressional production mandates that kick in next year. The decline in fortunes has been extreme for both kinds of ethanol since last summer, when $145-a-barrel oil appeared to shift fuel economics in their favor. NY Times
Ethanol from 'Energy Cane' (and Someday, Orange Peels)
Green Inc. —
... , a sugar cane residue, as supplements. Cellulosic ethanol, which uses the woody fibers of plants to make ethanol as opposed to more sugary substances like corn kernels (or sugar cane itself), is in its infancy. No commercial-scale plants are operating yet in this country, despite a government mandate to make 100 million gallons of the stuff next year, as my colleague Clifford Krauss has reported . Companies are experimenting with different feedstocks — from ...
A Slugfest Over Higher Ethanol Blends
Green Inc. —
The struggling ethanol industry is flexing its political clout to try to change government regulations on how much ethanol can be blended into gasoline. Today retired General Wesley Clark, a onetime presidential candidate who now co-chairs of an ethanol industry group, asked the ...
Government Fuel Goals Beg For Higher Ethanol Blends, Study Concludes
Green Inc. —
... production increases. Although the report emphasizes that it is important for industry to know that the government is serious about enforcing the biofuels targets, the cellulosic mandate already looks to be falling short. Next year, the country is supposed to produce 100 million gallons of advanced biofuel — that is, fuel derived mainly cellulosic ethanol, made from corn cobs, switchgrass or other non-corn items. Currently — as my colleague Clifford Krauss has written — there are no commercial-scale cellulosic plants , though a few are under construction. Meanwhile, as my ...
