Hitting the Brake on Ethanol
WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed for the first time to ease an annual requirement for ethanol in gasoline, saying that levels mandated in a 2007 law are difficult, Continue Reading
EPA acknowledges blend wall as it proposes 2014 biofuel quotas
The US Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged that a “blend wall” has been reached for motor fuels with 10% ethanol as it released its proposed 2014 biofuel quotas under the federal Continue Reading
China to drive world’s renewable energy increase
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (UPI) — China’s increase in renewable energy is on course to surpass the European Union, the United States and Japan combined, says the International Energy Agency. In its annual World Energy Outlook released Tuesday, the IEA said China will be the strongest driver in the worldwide trend in which renewable energy is expected to account for almost half of the increase in global power generation by 2035, China Daily reports. China’s 12th five-year plan, covering 2011-2015, calls for 30 percent of electricity to come from non-fossil fuels by 2015, up from 5 percent in 2001. By 2015, China also aims to cut its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 16 percent and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 17 percent. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Fatih Birol , the IEA’s chief economist, said in an interview with China […]
China to drive world's renewable energy increase
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (UPI) — China’s increase in renewable energy is on course to surpass the European Union, the United States and Japan combined, says the International Energy Agency. In its annual World Energy Outlook released Tuesday, the IEA said China will be the strongest driver in the worldwide trend in which renewable energy is expected to account for almost half of the increase in global power generation by 2035, China Daily reports. China’s 12th five-year plan, covering 2011-2015, calls for 30 percent of electricity to come from non-fossil fuels by 2015, up from 5 percent in 2001. By 2015, China also aims to cut its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 16 percent and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 17 percent. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Fatih Birol , the IEA’s chief economist, said in an interview with China […]
Ethanol Futures Rise After Output Gain Fails to Replenish Stocks
Ethanol gained for a sixth straight session after a government report showed that rising U.S. output wasn’t enough to boost supplies. Ethanol increased 0.5 percent as inventories declined 12,000 barrels to 15.2 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 8, the Energy Information Administration said today. Production jumped 2.8 percent to 927,000 barrels a day, the highest level since Feb. 10, 2012, Ethanol’s discount to gasoline widened 4.67 cents to 90.57 cents after stockpiles of the motor fuel dropped, sending gasoline prices to a four-week high. “Demand is outpacing output, leaving little room to replenish stockpiles,” Renato Dias, a Campinas, Brazil-based analyst for Intl FCStone Inc., said in a telephone interview. Denatured ethanol for December settlement extended its longest winning streak since May, advancing 0.9 cent to close at $1.778 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices have dropped 19 percent this year. Ethanol output will rise […]
Ethanol Advances for Fourth Day With Stockpiles at Lows
Ethanol extended its longest streak of gains in almost two months with stockpiles at a record low for the time of year. Futures jumped 0.7 percent as the Energy Information Administration may report tomorrow that supply of the motor fuel declined last week. Ethanol stockpiles are down 26 percent from this year’s high in January, according to the Energy Department’s statistical arm. “We do have fairly tight supply,” said Mike Blackford, a consultant at INTL FCStone in Des Moines , Iowa . “It’s had a better bias, a firmer tone.” Denatured ethanol for December delivery rose 1.2 cents to $1.718 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade. The gain was the fourth in a row, the most since Sept. 19. Prices have dropped 22 percent this year. Gasoline for December delivery dipped 0.11 cent to $2.5954 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange . The contract covers […]
The secret, dirty cost of Obama’s green power push
AP Photo CORYDON, Iowa (AP) — The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. And when President George W. Bush signed a law that year requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline each year, Bush predicted it would make the country “stronger, cleaner and more secure.” But the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today. As farmers rushed to […]
The secret, dirty cost of Obama's green power push
AP Photo CORYDON, Iowa (AP) — The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. And when President George W. Bush signed a law that year requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline each year, Bush predicted it would make the country “stronger, cleaner and more secure.” But the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today. As farmers rushed to […]
The Hunt for Biofuels Looks Beyond Ethanol
For biofuels, the future won’t look much like the past. We’re heading, some believe, for a post-ethanol age. Today, nearly all plant-based liquid fuels are either used to make ethanol, which is blended with gasoline, or biodiesel. But efforts to increase the amount of ethanol in gas are opposed by auto makers and others who say the environment and economy are better served by more efficient engines and the shift to hybrid, electric and natural-gas vehicles. There are critics, too, who say making biofuel from edible plants—most ethanol is based on corn or sugar cane—is a poor use of land and crops needed to feed growing populations. Now energy experts see a growing role for new biofuels that use nonedible plant material and are hydrocarbons, like petroleum fuels, and so don’t require a separate infrastructure. “Biofuels have a much broader future than ethanol,” says Thomas Foust, director of biofuels […]