Unlike most bloggers, we don’t assume a whole lot of people care what we think. So our heads nearly exploded when we found a letter from Congressman John P. Sarbanes in our email this morning (he’s one of our Reps, us being Marylanders and all). But he was reaching out to his constituency, and not even at their expense, to ask how we think Congress should help lower gas prices and deal with the overall economic slump. One of the choices offered was “impose a windfall profit tax on oil companies to increase investment in renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar and geothermal.” Color us surprised again.

We picked that one, of course, and suggested that cellulosic ethanol and hybrid/electric car research be added to the tax, and to encourage investment in renewable energy companies outside the oil industry. They get enough money as it is.

But Sarbanes can’t be the only one open to suggestions. Write your state representatives and let them know that there are cures, or at least Methadones, to our country’s oil addiction, and that we need to invest in them now before what we’re doing becomes even less sustainable and more expensive. If you don’t know who your representatives are, shame on you; you can find them here.

Here’s an interesting bit of news from Towson University, home of one of metropolitan Baltimore’s biggest wireless networks and a large population of hot, standoffish coeds; the university is “offering a 50 percent discount on campus parking permits for…hybrid vehicles.” Considering that a TU year-round permit costs $240, that’s not bad. They’ve also pledged to increase car pooling efforts and deploy more buses to off-campus students. The response to these efforts has been positive, but even if it wasn’t, we probably wouldn’t know.

Still, these are all good steps, and hopefully they’ll push for their own light rail stop eventually. University of Baltimore and MICA both have a couple of stops near them, and the light rail is a less frustrating commute than trying not to blow out a tire on Baltimore’s horrible roads. They need to expand the light rail system to cover more of the city anyway, so it would benefit everyone in the long run. In the meantime, go Tigers!

Anti-ethanol forces were left hanging by the EPA today, as the Associated Press reports that the federal agency “put off a decision…to temporarily lower ethanol requirements for gasoline,” a measure introduced by Texas governor Rick Perry because he felt that current ethanol demands were raising corn prices. Other Republicans, including GOP presidential candidate John McCain, have voiced their support for this ethanol mandate waiver, but the EPA has about 15,000 public comments to wade through - and probably as many meetings with other departments to attend - before a decision can be made.

Oddly enough, this marks a rare occasion where cumbersome bureaucracy has an upside, because the EPA also needs to review how closely ethanol demands and food prices relate. The Texas Corn Producer notes that “the bushel price for corn…has dropped by more than 25 percent,” falling below $6/bushel Tuesday thanks to improving weather (not that anyone on the oppressively humid East Coast noticed) and falling oil prices. And with planted acres increasing “by more than a million acres over the previous month,” despite flooding in the Midwest, the relationship between ethanol and expensive corn might not be as cut-and-dry as previously assumed. Of course, we’ve been saying that for weeks now, but that’s another matter.

But the real meat of this development, at least in our opinion, lies in each side of the issue taking it for granted that they’ve won. Gov. Perry praised the EPA’s sedulousness while describing the ethanol waiver as “an essential step toward decreasing the devastating statewide, national and international impact of skyrocketing feed and food costs.”

Meanwhile, Renewable Fuels Association spokesman Matt Hartwig said the EPA is just “taking extra time to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s to ensure their explanation as to why they will be denying Governor Perry’s request is comprehensive.” Wow. That sound you just heard was Gov. Perry getting served.

Looks like another Colorado city is trying out hybrid versions of city vehicles; first it was Aspen’s police force, now it’s Denver’s sanitation department trying out a hybrid garbage truck.

“Instead of a hybrid electric vehicle, it’s a hybrid hydraulic,” Nancy Kuhn with Denver Public Works said, explaining the differences between this truck and a consumer hybrid car. “It utilizes hydraulics as a second fuel source, so you’re using bio-diesel and hydraulics to launch the vehicle and slow the vehicle down.” Specifically, the truck’s inner workings transfer hydraulic fluid between two tanks, instead of burning fuel and brake fluid in separate processes. The city predicts savings of $2000 a year, per truck, in fuel costs with these models.

New York City and Chicago are apparently in line for these trucks, and we could see them all over the place if they catch on. Frankly, it’s impressive that trucks that big could be fitted with hybrid technology, so hats off to Colorado for their continued hybridization. Especially since they’re putting a lot on the line with high-need, high-power vehicles like these trucks and cop cars. Maybe next they’ll move onto the really important stuff.

Y’know, as fun as it is to champion ethanol and shine some much-needed light on where the research is going, it’s fun to take a look at what the anti-biofuels camp is doing. Seeing what they think is sound energy policy can be depressing when you remember that they’re still the dominant voice on the issue, but it adds helpful perspective and, in many cases, a dark humor that can’t be replicated elsewhere. Which explains why we laughed uproariously when President Bush, having passed the consequences of his remaining time in office off to the next poor shmuck in line for the gig, lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling.

There are quite a few reasons to oppose it, so we’ll attempt to explain what we feel are, or will be, the top five.

1. Reflexive dislike of everything Bush does
Disagreeing with the president has turned into a cottage industry over the past 8 years; Bush is almost Reaganesque in his ability to give leftist groups something to hate besides each other. And while consistently finding fault with every Bush decision makes one look like an irrational malcontent who hates freedom, his track record is hardly sterling.

2. Defiling the natural landscape
Drilling is messy business, threatening the flora and fauna of wherever said drilling is set to occur. Plus, while oil barons and their supporters claim that local wildlife will be protected, they never really explain how. On the other hand, enough drilling in and around California might upset the fault lines and push the entire state out into the Pacific Ocean, which could arguably be considered a national improvement.

3. It’s a handout to his oil industry friends
Bush lifted the ban despite there being 68 million acres of land leased for drilling and left idle. Hell, It’s such a brazen giveaway that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid officially rejected it, which is quite the show of spine for a Senate Democrat. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes lifting the ban, and there was a time when he looked like he ran on gasoline.

4. It will stall biofuel research
Knowing that there’s still oil around, even if it’s not very much, could be enough to keep Americans from exploring alternative fuel sources or making any major conservation efforts. The current media dismissals of ethanol as inefficient and hybrid cars as too expensive don’t help much, either. Whether their sponsors like it or not, oil is finite and we really need to examine other fuel options, if only to keep books like World Made By Hand from being written.

5. For every ten gallons of gas consumed, Susan Sarandon will punch a BP executive’s child in the face
Just look at that murderous gleam in her eye. We’d better shape up quick; children are fatter and more brittle than ever before.

Now that global warming and all associated environmental issues are officially the problem of who we elect in November – as President Bush continues to spend his remaining days in office trolling the country for no reason save his own amusement – ethanol may very well rise even higher in the national dialogue than it has already. In fact, The US Energy Department chimed in on the subject this week, discouraging ideas about rolling back the ethanol mandate because “any reduction in the renewable fuel standard would sap investment in biofuel technology and undermine efforts to wean the nation off oil and reduce greenhouse gases.”

The idea that corn ethanol should remain as a reason to build up an infrastructure for ethanol processing, which could then be tweaked for different (perhaps cellulosic) fuel sources, is one we’ve heard bandied about recently, and we think it has legs. It’ll be easier to modify an existing model for ethanol processing when cellulosic and other waste ethanol sources are sustainable, if only because we’ll be able to keep pace with technological advances in the field. Some environmental groups think a freeze on the mandate is a good window for examining its long-term environmental effects, which is the sanest idea they’ve put forth yet, but Bush is already stalling on the issue. We don’t need more people encouraging him.

Meanwhile, Brazil and Indonesia have agreed to share ideas regarding ethanol production. “Brazil has been successful in developing bio-ethanol,” said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhyon, “and of course Indonesia can learn at the research and development.” Indonesia has been hit pretty hard by rising oil prices, so it makes sense that they’d be scrambling for a biofuels program. While both countries have, shall we say, a reputation for tolerating questionable working conditions, and there’s certainly corruption mildewing between their government and business interests, it’s nice to see that their various corporate oligarchs don’t trip over each other all the time, like ours do.

Hell. Yeah.

Ferrari has been concerned about reducing its carbon footprint for a while now, but the company’s president recently mentioned that “hybrid power will be part of that process.” Their bio-friendly models will be a retooled version of the Kinetic Energy Regeneration System (KERS) that their F1 team uses, which Autocar describes as “a ‘mild hybrid’ system that stores energy during braking and then uses it to improve performance and reduce fuel consumption.”

In addition, Ferrari plans to further develop hybridization by installing a small battery that harvests regenerated energy, powering a small electric motor that will “boost acceleration and…keep the transmission spinning quickly to speed up gear changes.” If this idea works, it will allow them to downsize their engines enough to convert them to run on biofuels.

Ferrari’s a multi-tiered approach to hybridization should, if it works, become a standard for automakers, as they plan to integrate several methods of fuel and energy conservation instead of relying on just one or two. And given what we’ve said before about hybrids needing a more impressive look to endear them to wary consumers, this couldn’t have come at a better time. Cars don’t get much sexier than Ferraris, unless you count the Slutmobile.

This article in Pallet Enterprise (America’s leading - and perhaps sole - pallet and sawmill magazine for over 25 years) is a pretty good synopsis of the recent surge in cellulosic ethanol research. One sticking point we found, purely in the interest of playing devil’s advocate, is that using wood waste as a primary ingredient would piss off environmental groups to no end; they’re already steamed about rising corn prices, so one can imagine how they’d react to any idea that legitimizes cutting down trees. Thankfully, wood waste has become such a commodity through mulching and pellet fuel operations that “cellulosic ethanol producers are planning to use dedicated timber and switchgrass feedstocks” instead. That might soften the blow a little while we look for a more agreeable solution. And keep in mind that we still haven’t fully exploited our most prolific, otherwise-useless biological waste product; B-list celebrities.