Corn and Ethanol.

[James48843]

That's all well and good and I'm sold on the concept as stated..But I'm afraid like so many other bait and switch programs..that Once we are all mostly driving flex fuel cars, then the prices of ethanoil will double and triple...Then they got us by the short-hairs.:suspicious:

But if you're driving a flex-fuel car, and the price of ethanol goes up, you can switch to cheaper gasoline.

And if your driving on gasoline, and the price goes up, you can switch to cheaper ethanol.

Choice.

Tell me that's not a better plan.

P.S.- When gas hits $4 a gallon next time, will you be prepared?

 

[Buster]

General Motors Executive Tom Stephens
@ the 2010 National Ethanol Conference

​

That's all well and good and I'm sold on the concept as stated..But I'm afraid like so many other bait and switch programs..that Once we are all mostly driving flex fuel cars, then the prices of ethanoil will double and triple...Then they got us by the short-hairs.:suspicious:

 

[James48843]

General Motors Executive Tom Stephens
@ the 2010 National Ethanol Conference

​

 

[James48843]

2009 Distillers Grains Exports Shatter Previous Record

Ethanol Feed Replaces Need for Millions of Corn, Soybean Acres

(February 15, 2010) Washington – The U.S. ethanol industry exported 5.64 million metric tons (mmt) of distillers grains worth nearly $1 billion in 2009, shattering the previous record set in 2008, according to data released last week by the Foreign Agriculture Service. Exports in 2009 were 24 percent above 2008 levels and more than five times higher than the amount of distillers grains exported just five years ago.

Distillers grains are the livestock feed coproduct of ethanol production from grain. In a typical dry mill ethanol biorefinery, one-third of every bushel of corn entering the facility is returned to the market in the form of high protein, nutrient rich livestock feed. Only the starch portion of the corn kernel is converted to fuel, while the remaining protein, fat and other nutrients remain intact in the coproduct.

“Distillers grains are a vitally important coproduct of U.S ethanol production from grain,” said Renewable Fuels Association Vice President of Research and Analysis Geoff Cooper. “The increasing availability of distillers grains is providing livestock and poultry feeders around the world with a feed source that can partially displace the need for corn, soybean meal, and other ingredients in feed rations.”

Cooper said distillers grains also play an important role in dispelling both the food vs. fuel myth and the questionable notion that increased U.S. ethanol production is causing international land use change.

The amount of distillers grains exported in 2009 is equivalent to the feed value of 5.4 mmt (212 million bushels) of whole corn and 1.6 mmt of soybean meal, according to displacement ratios developed by Argonne National Laboratory. Assuming world average yield rates, 2009 distillers grains exports eliminated the need for nearly 5 million acres of corn and soybeans internationally.

Total U.S. distillers grains production in 2009 was approximately 30.5 mmt, meaning exports accounted for more than 18 percent of total use. Notably, 2009 distillers grains export levels are equivalent to the total amount of distillers grains produced and used in 2003.

Top export markets for distillers grains in 2009:
•For the fourth straight year, Mexico registered as the top market for U.S. distillers grains exports. Nearly 1.5 mmt, or 27 percent of total exports, were shipped to Mexico in 2009. Mexico imported 23 percent more distillers grains in 2009 than in 2008.
•Canada again ranked as the second largest export market for U.S. distillers grains, receiving nearly 804,000 metric tons of U.S. product.
• After importing virtually no distillers grains in 2008, China emerged as the third largest market for U.S. distillers grains exports in 2009 with 542,000 metric tons. China is seen as the largest potential growth market for distiller grains exports.
• Turkey and Thailand ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, as top destinations for U.S. distillers grains exports in 2009.

 

[James48843]

​

 

[James48843]

And where has it gotten us besides one step closer to stagflation as hedge funds bid up the prices of commodities?

Commodities?

Prices are stable now.

Corn is at $3.45

Ethanol is at $1.78.

Ethanol is replacing millions of gallons of imported gasoline.

 

[Bullitt]

Production continues to climb

And where has it gotten us besides one step closer to stagflation as hedge funds bid up the prices of commodities?

 

[James48843]

"EPA chief Lisa Jackson said today that after considering the latest science on crop yields, land use and ethanol production efficiency, corn ethanol can be quite a good thing, after all. Those findings were incorporated into a rule implementing a congressional mandate for biofuel use nationwide that will allow at least an extra 2 billion gallons of corn ethanol to be produced and perhaps much, much more.

Administration officials said the rule will increase farm income by $13 billion by 2022, reduce oil consumption by 328 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of removing 27 million cars from the road. The rule will also help big, established ethanol makers like Archer Daniels Midland and POET. "This is a good ruling. It's what we have been arguing all along," said POET chief Jeff Broin. "It allows grain-based ethanol to compete."

More: http://blogs.forbes.com/energysource/2010/02/03/obama-corn-ethanol-isnt-so-bad-after-all/

 

[James48843]

Monthly production of fuel ethanol in the United States:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=M_EPOOXE_YOP_NUS_1&f=M

Production continues to climb:

​

 

[James48843]

Distillers grains exports to China ‘exploded’ last year

The distiller’s grain byproduct of ethanol production accounting for up to 25 percent of a typical ethanol plant’s revenues has always been the safety valve for the volatile biofuels industry, never more so than in 2009 when ethanol producers spent the first half of the year bathing in red ink. But the dried grain kernels left over after the starch has been sucked out to make ethanol are now a staple in the diets of cattle and some pigs in the U.S. and, according to the U.S. Grains Council, saw a big rise in exports last year.

China in particular was a big buyer of DDGs from the U.S., increasing their tonnage from 8,000 in 2008 to more than 400,000 tons of DDGs in 2009 to feed China’s growing cattle population.

Eric Brandt, a commodity trader for Global Ethanol, told the U.S. Grains Council’s newsletter that Chinese sales “exploded” last year, but said DDGs face a potential hurdle this year with a new Chinese law requiring imported processed grains be registered by China’s Minister of Agriculture by May.

Such potential government roadblocks always make export traders nervous, but absent a thumbs down the ethanol industry could be looking at sales of 1 million tons of DDGs in China this year, Brandt said.

More: http://tinyurl.com/yfksgpo

 

[Buster]

Jim, this is for you...What goes around may make full circle..

A Short History of Gasoline vs. Alcohol Fuel (Ethanol)​

by David Blume​

The first cars, back in the late 1800s, ran primarily on alcohol. It was the only
reliable, combustible fuel that was available. Oil had already been discovered,
but it had a completely different use at that time; it was used for heating and
lighting homes. So the part that they couldn’t use for heating and lighting—the
stuff that wanted to explode and nobody wanted to put in an oil lamp—they threw
away. John D. Rockefeller did some experimentation and found out that,
although it didn’t do such a good job of it, it would run a car, too. And he started
selling it at dirt-cheap prices in the cities, where he had his oil distribution
business.
So gasoline was an industrial waste byproduct that was marketed as an
alternative to the standard fuel, which was alcohol.
The big proponent of alcohol in cars was Henry Ford. He thought that alcohol
was the very best fuel for cars—it was clean, it was efficient, and there were a lot
more stills in this country than gas stations. So Ford and Rockefeller fought tooth
and nail over what was going to be the nation’s fuel supply, until Rockefeller
decided not to play fair anymore.
Rockefeller gave the Women’s Christian Temperance Union four million dollars
to lobby Congress with. That would be like four hundred million dollars today,
and, yes, you can buy Congress for that. And so they passed Prohibition. You
probably thought it had something to do with drinking and moral decay. But can
you imagine an all-male Congress voting to keep working men from drinking? So
for 13 years alcohol went off the market as a fuel, as an industrial product that
used to compete with many oil products, and for drinking also.
After they make everything they call valuable out of oil—plastics, drugs,
pesticides, industrial chemicals—everything’s that left over is dumped into the
gasoline. So on any given day there are 400 toxic chemicals dumped into
gasoline, and those might not necessarily be the same chemicals the next day.
It’s whatever’s left over.
So gasoline is the biggest toxic waste disposal system in the world, and it’s in the
open, and it’s legal! They’re able to use our cars to spew their toxic waste back
into the air. And they make something like $2500 from a barrel of oil, for the
industrial chemicals, and something like $100 a barrel from the gasoline, and​

they don’t care if they made zero, because they get rid of all their toxic waste.


http://www.greenertennessee.org/glj/SP2008_a_short_h.pdf

 

[Buster]

ME: -> I found this this morning. Posted by a friend of mine on an E85 website.

Worth watching.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sacremento85 wrote-> From: Sacramento85:

This one's hard to watch, though all should watch it:

This weekend we celebrate the 4th of July. This video reminds us of what it means. The video is 3 songs long.

This is long and the hand-held camera is shaky but it was an honor and a privilege--even a duty of citizenship--to watch every second of it. I kept thinking that these strangers taking time from their day to stand on a hot, dusty Georgia roadside in June spoke more than words of their own commitment to citizenship. You may get a little choked up but that's a good thing.

Killed in action the week before, the body of Staff Sergeant First Class John C. Beale was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City , Georgia , just south of Atlanta , on June 11, 2009 . The Henry County Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough , Georgia . A simple notice in local papers indicated the road route to be taken and the approximate time.

Nowadays one can be led to believe that America no longer respects honor and no longer honors sacrifice outside the military. Be it known that there are many places in this land where people still recognize the courage and impact of total self-sacrifice. Georgia remains one of those graceful places.

The link below is a short travelogue of that day's remarkable and painful journey. But only watch this if you wish to have some of your faith in people restored.

Video link: http://blip.tv/play/AYGJ5h6YgmE

After I watch this, I get so outraged by the losers that slander alternative fuels because they have a vested interest in petroleum, or only see dollar signs for fuel. Who cares if it costs 2 cents more per mile to drive on E85? It shouldn't be about that. It should be all about Energy Independence. Period. Holding back a lot of my rage, I just have to say that Those Spineless Greedy Bastards Chap My Hide and Dishonor the Sacrifices Their Fore-Fathers Made in the 1770's, Their Grandfathers Made in the 1940's, Their Own Sons Make Today, and Their Great-Grandsons Will Make in the 2050's. Very Dishonorable--Any of You Who Bash Biofuels Who Are Reading This-Shame On You!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Me: ->See the video. It's worth watching.

Jim..no sense spoiling this beautiful tribute to a great American with ranting about fuel and prices..I enjoyed it and very much choked me up watching it...Let's keep it for the memory of this Man and his family and leave politics out of it on this one..

God Bless all our Service men and women..


PS:..Next time put a warning up that Kleenex will be needed.

 

[James48843]

Do you have one of these for E85 availability? In some places stations are few and far between.

Here is a map for you:
View attachment 6526

The place to find the best listing of current E85 stations nationwide is here:

http://e85prices.com

There is a map function at the top of the page.

Or you can find them on the individual state tabs. More than 2170 stations listed so far, almost double the number of January 2008. We're getting there, slowly but surely.

 

[James48843]

ME: -> I found this this morning. Posted by a friend of mine on an E85 website.

Worth watching.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sacremento85 wrote-> From: Sacramento85:

This one's hard to watch, though all should watch it:

This weekend we celebrate the 4th of July. This video reminds us of what it means. The video is 3 songs long.

This is long and the hand-held camera is shaky but it was an honor and a privilege--even a duty of citizenship--to watch every second of it. I kept thinking that these strangers taking time from their day to stand on a hot, dusty Georgia roadside in June spoke more than words of their own commitment to citizenship. You may get a little choked up but that's a good thing.

Killed in action the week before, the body of Staff Sergeant First Class John C. Beale was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City , Georgia , just south of Atlanta , on June 11, 2009 . The Henry County Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough , Georgia . A simple notice in local papers indicated the road route to be taken and the approximate time.

Nowadays one can be led to believe that America no longer respects honor and no longer honors sacrifice outside the military. Be it known that there are many places in this land where people still recognize the courage and impact of total self-sacrifice. Georgia remains one of those graceful places.

The link below is a short travelogue of that day's remarkable and painful journey. But only watch this if you wish to have some of your faith in people restored.

Video link: http://blip.tv/play/AYGJ5h6YgmE

After I watch this, I get so outraged by the losers that slander alternative fuels because they have a vested interest in petroleum, or only see dollar signs for fuel. Who cares if it costs 2 cents more per mile to drive on E85? It shouldn't be about that. It should be all about Energy Independence. Period. Holding back a lot of my rage, I just have to say that Those Spineless Greedy Bastards Chap My Hide and Dishonor the Sacrifices Their Fore-Fathers Made in the 1770's, Their Grandfathers Made in the 1940's, Their Own Sons Make Today, and Their Great-Grandsons Will Make in the 2050's. Very Dishonorable--Any of You Who Bash Biofuels Who Are Reading This-Shame On You!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Me: ->See the video. It's worth watching.

 

[James48843]

Do you have one of these for E85 availability? In some places stations are few and far between.

Got me a former used G-Car. 2005 Flexfuel Dodge Stratus. Bought it in 2007, and haven't purchased gasoline since. By the way - you can buy them used at a great price in person, or on-line at: http://www.autoauctions.gsa.gov/

​

Traveled 9 states so far, and not once have I needed to buy gasoline- I plan trips using http://e85prices.com maps, and stop along the way for E85 fillups. Got a station on the way to work, and another one just four miles from work, so I can top off on the way to or from.

Best trip was Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and back again with a side trip through Wisconsin, E85 all the way.

Go Ethanol!

American made fuel.

More on-line auctions:
http://www.autoauctions.gsa.gov/OnlineSales.cfm

 

[nnuut]

Do you have one of these for E85 availability? In some places stations are few and far between.

 

[James48843]

Density of E85 capable flex-fuel vehicles:
You have to have enough of them in order to make it profitable to make a fuel station sell E85:

View attachment 6445​

 

[James48843]

Ethanol has little impact on food prices, saves money for taxpayers
By JIM NUSSLE
Thursday, May 7, 2009 9:50 AM CDT

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms what hundreds of economists and industry experts have stated for months: using corn for ethanol has little impact on the price of food. Rather, the main culprits driving the higher cost of food are energy costs, excessive unregulated speculation in the commodities future market, and a weak dollar.

The CBO analysis said that ethanol was only responsible for 0.5 to 0.8 percent of the rise in food prices.

For far too long, the ethanol industry has been the scapegoat for last year’s dramatic increase in food prices. As former director of the Office of Management and Budget and former chairman of the House Budget Com-mittee, I recognize the unbiased credibility of the recent CBO report and hope that it will serve as the final nail in the coffin of the half-baked theory that ethanol was somehow to blame for high food prices. The evidence is in n ethanol is not to blame.

The average cost of food increased 5.1 percent last year and again, less than 1 percent was attributed to ethanol, according to the CBO. Big food corporations posted big gains in profits during this time, yet tried to blame ethanol for higher food prices while the price of corn was at record highs. Now that prices for both corn and energy have fallen, excessive speculation has been curbed, the dollar strengthened and exports plummeted, why haven’t food prices come down?

It’s been more than 150 days since Growth Energy has called on Big Food to stop the finger-pointing and lower their prices so that millions of struggling Americans can put food on the table. They have yet to do it and have yet to be held responsible to ask the tough question why they haven’t come down. Maybe it’s time Congress got involved.

Despite the overall good news that ethanol was not the significant cause of higher food prices, CBO’s analysis used outdated information regarding the benefits to the environment of today’s modern ethanol. The latest ethanol study published in Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology demonstrates that U.S.-produced ethanol reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 59 percent compared to gasoline.
If Congress is serious about reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs that can’t be outsourced and trimming our environmental impact, it should stand with ethanol. As the only existing alternative to foreign oil that is ready today, ethanol has already saved Americans billions at the gas pump.

Now that we can stop pointing the finger of blame at ethanol, it’s time to figure out how we can let it meet its true potential. A 30-year-old government mandate requires 90 percent of fuel be gasoline as opposed to an arbitrary cap that 10 percent be ethanol. By increasing blend levels from 10 to 15 percent, we can create more than 136,000 new green-collar jobs, inject $24.4 billion into the U.S. economy and displace seven billion gallons of imported gasoline each year. We’ll also reduce GHG emissions by another 20 million tons per year n about the same as removing 3.5 million cars from the roads.


More: http://www.agweekly.com/articles/2009/06/07/news/opinion/opin98.txt

 

[James48843]

From:
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticke...-Not-Electric-Cars-and-Hybrids--Is-the-Answer

Why Ethanol--Not Electric Cars and Hybrids--Is the Answer

Posted Jun 03, 2009 11:57am EDT by Sarah Lacy in Venture Capital, M and A, IPOs, Clean Tech


Times are tough for the biofuel movement. Concerns have been rampant about how much gas it takes to produce a gallon of ethanol and about how much farmland and corn would be needed to produce enough fuel to make a dent in our gasoline addiction. Combine that with the popularity of the Prius and the sex appeal of Tesla’s sporty all-electric cars, and biofuels like ethanol are looking like something only Willie Nelson could love.

Not so fast, says famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. In a rare sit down interview with the cleantech bull, Khosla explained why most of the concerns about ethanol are either based on myths or don’t take into account the rapidly changing science in the field. It’s not that electric cars and hybrids won’t help, but when you consider the billions of cars coming on the market from fast-growing economies like India and China, electric cars on a mass scale just aren’t realistic, he says.

But, increasingly, ethanol is. Khosla argues it’s cheap and plentiful enough to make 80% of new cars coming onto the roads in the next 10 years low-carbon emitters. He doesn’t just mean ethanol made from corn. Already scientists are making ethanol from bark, switch grass and other non-food bio-materials that can be planted easily and widely.

More: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticke...-Not-Electric-Cars-and-Hybrids--Is-the-Answer

 

[James48843]

http://www.iowacorn.org/User/Docs/Iowa%20Ethanol%20talking%20points.FINAL.pdf​

Ethanol: Good for the environment
By using E85, an FFV driver reduced CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by 4 tons.​

E85 use reduces ozone-forming pollution by 20%.

E85 reduced fuel life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions nearly 30%

E85’s lower pressure can help reduce evaporative emissions.​

Gasoline contains toxic compounds like benzene, toluene, and xylene. E85 use reduces the release of these chemicals into the environment.​

Water use comparisons:​

It takes less water to produce a gallon of ethanol than a gallon of oil (3 gallons water to 1 gallon ethanol vs. 9 gallons water to 1 gallon of gasoline).

A typical 40 million gallon ethanol plant uses about the same water per day as a standard 18 hole golf course.

The U.S. ethanol industry needs 49 million gallons of water per day (based on 6 billion gallons of production) – less than 3/10 of 1% of U.S. daily industrial water use.​

It takes 300 million gallons of water to produce a single day’s supply of U.S. newsprint.

Ethanol: Good for energy independence​

Using home-grown ethanol reduces U.S. oil imports by 128,000 barrels each day.​

Each barrel of ethanol we produce displaces 1.2 barrels of petroleum.​

Ethanol: Good for Iowa’s economy​

Iowa’s ethanol industry has resulted in more than 80,000 new jobs in Iowa, benefiting​

all employment sectors and especially benefiting rural communities.


Ethanol production puts $2.8 billion into Iowa consumers’ pockets each year.

Ethanol: Good for your engine, good for your pocket book!


A vehicle using regular unleaded gets about 20 miles per gallon of gas; extending the same amount of gas by blending it with E85, a flexible fuel vehicle can travel more than 100 miles.

IndyCar drivers burn 100% ethanol in their engines traveling 220 miles per hour and can’t say enough good about ethanol as a performance fuel.

60 cents of every dollar spent purchasing E85 stays in Iowa ​

Ethanol blended gas saves the average family $1,000/year​

If you’ve heard it once you’ve heard it 10 times:​

​

​

Ethanol is energy-efficient – when corn is processed into ethanol, there is a net energy gain

of 67%. In other words, ethanol contains 67% more energy than it takes to produce!​

Iowa Corn Markets = 2.4 billion bushels​

​

​

35% - 863 mbu = Ethanol

24% - 565 mbu = Livestock sector

23% - 555 mbu = exported to other states or countries
16% - 367 mbu = corn oil, sweeteners and starches​

U.S. Corn Markets = 13.1 billion bushels​

​

​

55% - 6.2 bbu – livestock

17% - 3 bbu – ethanol

19% - 2.4 bbu – exports
5% - 1 bbu – starch, corn oil, sweeteners​

3%-328 mbu – flour, grits, meal, beverage alcohol