The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) is sponsoring a 54 cent gasoline discount in DC this week, a gesture meant to symbolize the 54 cents/gallon imported ethanol tariff they want lifted. Brazil’s domestic flex-fuel market is so big that they want to expand it elsewhere, and America’s ongoing energy debate (and relative inactivity) makes us ripe for the picking. Of course, American ethanol organizations like Growth Energy are sternly opposed. According to their CEO, Tom Buis, “the only thing we should be importing from Brazil is their resolve to become energy independent.” Whether you agree or disagree, that’s a damn good quote.

Besides, American ethanol progress isn’t totally dead. Poet LLC has talked about their goal of producing 3.5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022, a lofty number they plan to reach by using their 26 plants to make corn and cellulosic ethanol in a process they called co-location. They also want to license the technology to other ethanol plants and increase the variety of feedstocks they use. And Verenium Corp. just got $4.9 million from the Dept. of Energy to support current cellulosic ethanol projects at its demonstration-scale facility in Jennings, LA. Cellulosic ethanol, which the media has been writing obituaries for since we started this blog, is moving forward.

Man, that makes us feel good. We needed some good news to start this week off right. Hopefully there’s more coming.

Ethanol has, quite literally, gone commercial; Growth Energy is putting $2.5 million into a pro-ethanol marketing campaign, which will unfold over the next six months. The TV spots are en route, and former Democratic presidential candidate Gen. Wesley K. Clark. is acting as a spokesperson of sorts, seeing as how he’s co-chairman of Growth Energy and all. The ads, and doubtless everything else in the campaign, will pitch ethanol as an American-made renewable fuel that lessens dependence on foreign energy sources. Why does that sound so familiar?

Of course, some foreign energy sources want us to be dependent on them. Brazil, for instance, has also launched an ad campaign, complete with a website - Sweeter Alternative - geared to an American audience. It’s also, according to Gas 2.0, trying to drum up support against the tariffs that have kept Brazilian ethanol out of American gas tanks thus far. Gas 2.0 pushes the Brazilian ethanol industry a little too hard, we think - yes, they’re doing much better than us regarding flex-fuels, and yes they are a democracy with whom we could trade, but pushing their ethanol too hard would discourage us from making any of our own. The whole point, after all, is self-sufficiency, which is not achieved by galloping after foreign countries with things we want at the expense of our own manufacturing sector. That said, if Brazil wants to lobby for lower tariffs, let ‘em. We just need to make sure we aren’t heading into a frying pan/fire situation.

And credit where it’s due, “cane in the tank means money in the bank” is a cool slogan. “For drivers, competition means even regular gasoline would cost less” still needs some work.

We’re taking a break from solar/wind/electric/green power for this post to update everyone on our first true love: ethanol. And not a moment too soon. For an ethanol blog, it feels like forever and a day since we discussed ethanol in any detail.

Our news is promising, too. Both DomesticFuel.com and Hoosier Ag. Today are reporting that 2010 started off with record ethanol production; January alone saw more than 800 thousand barrels a day. That’s nearly 200k more than January 2009, and according to the Renewable Fuels Association, the demand is rising to meet it. But there’s still work to be done. RFA president Bob Dinneen, who looks like what would happen if the Brawny towel guy let himself go, says the future would look even rosier for the ethanol industry were it not for “antiquated regulations” keeping the American consumer at arm’s length from ethanol and ethanol blends. Granted, he is the president of the RFA and that slants his take on things, but in the face of renewed calls for an American industrial economy and Brazil taunting us by lifting their ethanol tariff until 2011, his is not an unreasonable opinion.

Just to lend additional perspective, Click the Car for a map detailing the economic and personal impacts of oil dependence by state, then try to sleep at night.

We are busy people over here at Corn Car, so forgive us for leaving the blog unattended - hopefully our readers had a green St. Patrick’s Day in the environmental sense of it. Since we’re still digging our way up through mountains of work, here’s some reading material to keep everyone occupied for a while.

China Drawing High-Tech Research From U.S. - Yes, the Chinese are literally taking our jerbs. Specifically, engineers seeking jobs in a high-tech economy; according to the article, “companies are concluding that their researchers need to be close to factories and consumers alike.” Of course, China’s green energy/tech growth is due as much to unfair protectionism on their part as it is to the huge investment they’ve made in those industries, but they’re still a competitor and now the traditional flow of workers from east to west is reversing course. And after a certain point, the West can’t bitch about China locking out foreign companies when a) we’ve been stacking the deck against the developing world for decades, and b) many of American’s policy-makers are too stupid to see the potential in green energy.

Meanwhile, High-Speed Rail Gains Traction in Spain - A lot of EU members are trying to reduce their carbon footprints, and high-speed rail is a good start; “emissions per passenger on a high-speed train are about one-fourth of those generated by flying or driving.” But more importantly, Spain’s new rail system is upscale, convenient, and comfortable. Passengers get comfy seats, good food, polite service, and the new rail system chops the travel time between Barcelona and Madrid from 6 hours to two and a half. It’s basically what airlines used to be like in the 50s before they got greedy.

Speaking of, the American airline industry is miffed that Obama is investing federal funding into trains. But, according to Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood, that’s just tough shit for them. “We’re going to get into the high-speed rail business,” he told the the Federal Aviation Administration’s annual forecasting conference, following that up with “people want alternatives…people are still going to fly, but we need alternatives. So get with the program.” His candor is more than welcome. Airlines have been providing steadily worse, often frustrating service to passengers over the years, then bitching at the government when they lose money. They don’t seem to be able to connect those dots, or else they don’t want to. Either way, the entitlement from that industry has been rewarded for too long, and it’s nice to see someone tell them to suck it up and quit whining. Of course, the question of why it will take us 30 years to install high-speed rail when parts of the EU already have it is a question no one’s answered yet, but feel free to leave a comment if you have any ideas.

Any more links? No? All right, back to work.

Brazil has just put its ten millionth flex-fuel car on the road. Ten million of them. Really. It almost boggles the mind to read a figure like that. Likewise, it is staggering to behold the full bloom of their progress on that front; “almost all vehicles sold in Brazil are flex-fuel capable…and some are even compatible with 100% ethanol…Every gas station in the country sells E85 and almost all sell E100. This has all been accomplished without government subsidies.” Brazil is not, by the way, a wealthy country. But they caught the potential for this technology early and made a real investment in it, and now their ethanol industry is self-sustaining. Whatever else you may want to say (or hear from us) about that industry’s blemishes, they’ve done a lot more to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels than we have.

We, by the way, are still trying to shore up votes on how much we should even care, at the federal level, about the environment at all. Cap-and-trade is dead, and Democrats are scrambling to come up with something else. What they’ve come up with - “different types of limits for different sectors of the economy, beginning with electric utilities and then turning later to manufacturers such as chemical plants and pulp and paper mills” - isn’t terrible, but it does include built-in stall time while industry negotiates with the government. In the meantime, industry will be gobbling up resources and polluting with their usual gusto. Which is bad enough without so-called “green-savvy” politicians having no sense of urgency about broadening our energy sources or shrinking our carbon footprint. To quote one of our more loyal readers, this latest effort, while noble, will most likely “remain viable until the next round of ignorant talking points are developed.”

So Porsche has officially said no to proposed hybrid versions of the 911 or the Boxster - hybrid components, they claim, would add too much weight, and sports cars aren’t meant for city driving anyway. Debatable point, but whatever. The good news is that Porsche does want to make an all-electric sports car, assuming it could meet the performance standards of a regular engine. Or, more likely, when the corporate yuppie fartbags who drive Porsches can be convinced to go electric.

But hybrids are making progress elsewhere. Peugeot is still in production for its 2011 diesel-hybrid vehicle, the 3008 Hybrid4 Concept, and both Mercedes-Benz and GM are following suit. “Both cars are mild hybrids,” says Fox News’ website, “meaning the electric motor adds power to that of the combustion engine, as well as restarting it from stops. But they are not capable of running in all-electric mode, like…the Toyota Prius.” That was…surprisingly vitriol-free for Fox. Huh.

Anyway, hybrids and other green cars have been a hit for American automakers, whose finances are still delicate after Detroit’s 2007-08 freefalling crash - The Daily Green reports that “Ford’s hybrid sales were up 147% for the year,” adding that “the Ford Fusion Hybrid is a hit.” Ford has been recouping its losses, ending 2009 with a full percentage point gain in US market share, and their stock price is now 10 times improved. Their success could partly explain why GM is gunning for hybrid and diesel-hybrid vehicle production in the coming year - both GM and Chrysler are still struggling. Then again, Ford could go nowhere but up - owners of the ‘93 Taurus understand what we mean here.

Still, this is all promising news for 2010. Keep sending us stories, folks, and we’ll keep reporting ‘em. There might be a list in the works, too…

Back to China for the bajillionth time, as they’re building, according to NPR, “the world’s biggest wind power project,” which will produce 12 times the power of Texas’ Roscoe Wind Farm upon completion. NPR notes the curious paradox of China supplementing their wind power with coal-fired power stations, but also notes the intense pride shared between the business interests behind the project and the locals building it; they really do feel like this work is important, and that China has a real chance to lead the renewables industry. Granted, their government would probably have them killed if they felt any differently, but the fact remains that they’re taking “going green” much more seriously as a longterm prospect than we are.

So is France, for that matter. French President Nikolas Sarkozy is staking his political career on taxing businesses and individual households “according to their carbon footprint.” France is the largest European country to implement a carbon tax, and the tax (set for January 2010) is already weathering fierce criticism. Planting it in the middle of a global recession was questionable timing, certainly, but Sarkozy’s speeches defending the tax are ripe with the concession that we don’t have the choice of ignoring global warming and conservation anymore. He also claims that the taxes will be refunded directly or subsidized through other tax reductions, but time will tell whether or not he means that. Ours aren’t the only politicians who lie, after all.

Our recent look at international efforts to conserve energy and lower dependence on oil isn’t an attempt to fear-monger, by the way, nor is it our intention to shit on America from within. But it is an attempt to get readers to understand what serious, proactive stances on alt. energy look like, and they are models that the US is fully capable of adopting and molding to its specific needs and geography. We’re also not guaranteeing that every foreign idea will work, either. But the fact that they’re trying at all instead of dicking around and stalling at the behest of their corporate overlords, which they also have, is very telling of how seriously we’re taking renewable energy innovation.

For a look at what India’s been up to, Click the Car.

Short update today, but a worthwhile one: the New York Times has an interesting and sobering article (free registration required) on America’s sluggish green energy development. While some geothermal and wind stuff is being done, overall progress is lagging behind Europe, China, and India (as we all know), and it’s reaching the point where mud hut-dwelling peasants in the ass end of nowhere are going to beat us to a workable green energy program.

Part of the problem is money - banks aren’t lending to alt-energy projects, and existing companies don’t want to invest in new equipment before relevant legislation kicks in. And part of the problem lies at the feet of contentious fartbags like Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who still doesn’t believe that greenhouse gases hurt anything and calls any regulations on them “onerous” and based on “manipulated data.” What will convince him of something that’s already demonstrably true is a mystery. And unfortunately, his fellow Republicans aren’t much more reasonable - their tendency towards anti-everything political hypochondria is just clouding the issue.

The Apollo Alliance’s Cathy Calfo puts it best; “As a country, we need to make a decision that we do or don’t want to be a leader in this area.” Right now, it’s looking like we don’t. And that’s going to cost us dearly in the future. Hell, it already is in the present.

But to cheer us all up, Click the Car for an article about Denmark’s electric car ambitions.

Well, Baltimore officially welcomes December by possibly seeing its mayor lose her office over $630 worth of stolen gift cards. If only there were some way to convert her myriad indictments into ethanol…

Oh well. We’ve got bigger fish to fry today, and the heat might be coming from outer space: Japan is investing in space-based solar technology, which is something we mentioned a while ago with great excitement, because we are basically children when it comes to the idea of things beaming down from space. This isn’t totally surprising, though, as Japan is a tiny country with few domestic energy resources, and they’ve been longtime proponents of solar energy.

But this is especially ambitious; their proposed Space Solar Power System (SSPS), would put huge photovoltaic dishes “in geostationary orbit outside the Earth’s atmosphere.” They would capture solar energy there (to quote researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, “the sun’s rays abound in space”), and beam it down through clusters of lasers or microwaves. Like China and India, Japan is investing heavily in new ideas to reduce their country’s carbon footprint, and this is yet another sign that America needs to spearhead some innovation of its own.

Meanwhile, normally pacifistic Sweden is having something of a rabbit problem - rabbits are not native to their country and have been, as is customary for them, overbreeding and feasting on Stockholm’s local crops. And while it’s more than legal to hunt the little bastards, it’s definitely illegal to toss them into landfills once they’re dead. So Sweden has been turning dead rabbits into fuel. Apparently they, and other dead animals, are “crushed, ground and then pumped into a boiler where it is burned together with wood chips, peat or other waste to produce heat.” Critics of this system think it’s disgusting and claim that it doesn’t solve the basic overpopulation problem; rather, it tries to build an industry from it. And we agree with them - although it’s hard to condone their idea of using rabbit-repellent pesticides, comments like “we can’t give them bunny birth control pills, so we have to put the rabbits away,” come off as cold, rapacious, and sociopathic, even from people who think lye is a garnish.

Anyway, enough about dead bunnies. Click the Corn Car logo for a more pleasant article about how some American scientists want to turn trees into carbon banks. Happy December, everyone!

Well, while Democrats try to force the global warming bill through the Senate and Republicans threaten to kill it in committee with a boycott, F.O. Licht’s World Ethanol 2009 12th annual conference is being held in Paris this week. Countries like the United States, Brazil, India, France, and Nigeria are being represented and sharing their views on global ethanol development. One of our representatives, Renewable Fuels Association CEO/President Bob Dinneen,  will look at “expanding ethanol markets and addressing unsubstantiated claims about the environmental impact of ethanol.” So at least SOMEONE can address the topic like an adult.

Meanwhile, the rest of us get Barbara Boxer and George Voinovich interrupting each other over a retarded semantics disagreement and conservative pundits smearing anyone who speaks up about the issue as a fanatic hippie moonbat. And that’s not even counting the Midwestern contingent who can’t debate this issue for more than ten seconds without tripping over their own dicks trying to monopolize it for political points.

Anyway, now that we’ve thoroughly bummed ourselves out, we’re gonna stop here and hope for the best. But we need something to cheer us up. Some hot chicks posing next to an electric car should do it.