October 10, 2008
With the economy bobbing in and out of the shitter on what appears to be an hourly basis, it’s hard to tell whether or not financial promises made now will be kept. But as far as we know, the US Dept. of Energy is set to invest $26 million in a large-scale cellulosic ethanol plant near Sault Ste. Marie in Chippewa County, Michigan. According to the linked article, “the new facility will manufacture 40 million gallons a year of ethanol fuel from non-food sources – mostly wood waste from Upper Peninsula forests along with some agricultural biomass,” and is eligible for no end of government grants and tax credits due to its low carbon footprint. Mascoma Corp. is heading the project, and their CEO calls the proposed plant “one of the first and largest commercial-scale facilities of its kind.”
In addition, POET is anticipating $76.3 million from the DOE “to help it push forward with its work to commercialize cellulosic ethanol production technology.” This is the second installment of an initial $80 million grant to help the company gather resources, design, build, and continuously operate Project Liberty, a joint venture of POET and the DOE that’s been described as “an integrated corn-to-ethanol and cellulose-to-ethanol biorefinery.” The idea is to upgrade the existing infrastructure of corn ethanol to produce its cellulosic counterpart, a move that POET CEO Jeff Broin says “will continue to improve corn ethanol and accelerate the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.” That sentiment is awfully familiar, but we’ll be damned if we can place it.
Of course, all this depends on whether or not the global economy collapses and the survivors revert back to an agrarian hunter-gatherer society. But assuming that doesn’t happen, things are looking up!
September 10, 2008
While the rest of the country freaks out about Obama’s stupid but ultimately inconsequential “lipstick on a pig” comment, we’d like to mention that he, unlike John McCain, supports the ethanol mandate. Obama has plainly stated his views on the subject, noting that he is “strongly committed to advancing biofuels as a key component of reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”
Now, we understand that ethanol is kind of our bag here at Corn Car, and we don’t want to come off like single-issue voters who can’t see the big picture, but almost the entire aim of our foreign policy over the last fifty years has been about access to fuel. It’s gotten us into some trouble recently, and the disgusting contraption of profiteering and corruption beneath it has been exposed in the process.
And not only that, but the inevitability of global warming and its effects on the weather could very seriously impact fuel imports. When Ethanol Producer Magazine’s Mike Bryan says, referring to Hurricane Gustav, that “the fact that a hurricane could disrupt 25 percent of the energy supply of an entire nation is troubling,” he’s raising a candid point that few others have brought up, and is underlining why we can’t base our entire fuel supply on imports. And, less directly, why we can’t depend on just oil anymore. So the ethanol mandate represents, to us anyway, a willingness to accept our fuel crisis for what it is and build towards a longterm plan to fix it. And as we see it, Obama comes the closest to commanding that kind of vision.
Anyway, enough of all that. Time for a cartoon.
August 29, 2008
We’re starting to like Ed Schafer. A lot. For the unaware, he’s the U.S. Agriculture Secretary who’s fighting the good fight for both ethanol and high-speed Internet in rural areas. Regarding ethanol, Schafer told those assembled at a rural economic development conference that consumers are figuring out how beneficial ethanol is, and therefore “doubting arguments that it is to blame for soaring food prices.” It’s about friggin’ time. Schafer’s comments on ethanol were somewhat in response to the EPA’s decision to maintain the ethanol mandate – in fact, “[their] investigation showed Texas drivers realized much more in gasoline savings - the result of gasoline being blended with cheaper ethanol - than the state’s livestock industry had to pay in increased feed prices.”
Schafer also said, to our surprise, that the Agriculture Department is making a big push to bring the Internet to rural America. We didn’t really know that was within their jurisdiction, but their concern is that our nation’s boondocks “are missing opportunities because their communications systems do not have adequate capacity to handle such advanced Internet applications as streaming video and telemedicine.” Christ, we hadn’t even heard of telemedicine, and we’re city folk. But we do think that streaming video is working well enough in the sticks – judging by the average YouTuber’s spelling and punctuation acumen, there’s no shortage of backwoods goobers on the Internet.
July 30, 2008
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.
July 22, 2008
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.
June 10, 2008
With ethanol threatened by sways in farm-belt voter opinion and continued food-industry lobbying for the “food before fuel” campaign, more fuel-conscious people are looking towards hybrids for their automotive needs. However, a lot of them are turned off by the price tags - there’s no denying that hybrids carry a higher up-front cost than their gas-guzzling counterparts.
But that might not be the case in the long run; Consumerist reports that hybrid cars are less of an overall expense than regular cars. Notable reasons for this include hybrids retaining more of their value over time, insurance companies offering discounted premiums for hybrids, lenders offering discounted loan rates for hybrids, and tax credits from employers and the government (but only for the first 60,000 vehicles). And, of course, less pain at the gas pump.
Hopefully the media will stop hating on ethanol long enough to point this information out. There’s been a frustrating lack of solutions to the fuel crisis and far too much nervous hand-wringing over how expensive everything is. Of course, all this could change if someone ever finds a reliable, low-cost source of electric corn.
June 6, 2006
this grant is already expired but interesting… the good part..:
· It is anticipated that each award in Area of Interest A will be approximately $3,000,000 to $7,000,000 in DOE funding plus a minimum of 20% cost share. Each award in Area of Interest B will be approximately $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 in DOE funding plus a minimum of 30% cost share.
wouldn’t know where to start with this, but was just checking out what was out there…
The task:
NOTE: This descriptive area provides an overview of Area of Interest A only. YOU MUST READ THE FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS ON ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, EVALUATION CRITERIA AND HOW TO PREPARE AN APPLICATION UNDER AN AREA OF INTEREST. Please scroll to the bottom of this page to access the Funding Opportunity Announcement. Area of Interest A - Alternative Hydrogen Production Pathway Objective of Proposed Activity: Coal-derived ethanol has the potential to be an affordable, readily reformable hydrogen carrier that can be distributed and stored using the nation apos;s existing infrastructure. The Alternative Production Pathway area of interest solicits development of a method to produce alcohols from coal such that ethanol is the major product. Concepts which utilize biomass or any feedstock other than coal are not sought. Additionally, concepts proposed must use coal as the primary material being processed toward alcohol/ethanol production. Indirect or ancillary use of coal in any proposed concept for heat, steam or power shall not be considered responsive. Project Description: The coal-to-ethanol process entails gasifying the coal to produce synthesis gas which would be converted, with high selectivity, to ethanol. It is envisioned that the proposed process will be based on synthesis gas conversion, although novel applications that offer a different path to ethanol production are acceptable. If synthesis gas conversion is proposed, research on the gasification system is not desired, but the commercial gasifier, gas cleanup, and other components necessary to provide the required hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio and purity must be identified. It is expected that a combination of science, engineering, and computational research, as deemed necessary, will be conducted at laboratory and/or bench scales, depending on the level of technical maturity of the proposed process. Based on the research conducted, the proposed work shall include a preliminary analysis (with a block flow diagram and energy and mass balances) which encompasses the total system in which the ethanol process will be integrated, including specification of the preferred coal type(s), to help determine the commercialization potential of the concept(s). In the case of a process using gasification, the gasifier, gas cleanup, water-gas shift, CO2 capture, and catalyst and reactor technologies for the synthesis gas conversion shall be specified. For a non-synthesis gas process the reactor shall be detailed and any emissions/environmental concerns shall be addressed, including the capture of any CO2. The analysis must also address a conceptual strategy for achieving ethanol purity sufficient for mobile and stationary fuel cell applications. Any non-ethanol by-product species must be identified, including estimated amounts and their preferred disposition. The proposed research shall be structured according to the following tasks: 1. Identify the most favorable catalyst/reactor/reaction chemistry, including data and analyses to support its justification 2. Measure reaction rates and yields; determine ethanol purity; characterize by-products and evaluate reformability of the ethanol 3. Using the data from 1 and 2, provide an analysis of the process, as described above, with details sufficient to permit a preliminary economic evaluation of the process. Interested parties looking to submit an application under this area of interest can download the application package at the following link: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW oppId=8252
http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?oppId=8252&mode=VIEW
They only have a few ‘ethanol’ grants, but 4+ pages of bio fuel grants, i haven’t looked thru all yet but a few.
Go here and search for ‘bio fuel’ or other stuff to check it out.
http://www.grants.gov/search/basic.do
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