EthanolAlley

A critical decision point..

The Des Moines Register editorial board just released a position piece on an eminent domain bill that has just passed.  The bill prohibits the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes.

Remember a few posts back I discussed the NIMBY crowd?  Well, sometimes you have to crush the little guy and move on for the greater good and I support this position.   Iowa is going to continue its population backslide and brain drain problem unless we can smartly kick people off of land that's necessary to fuel the state's economic growth engine.

VETO it Governor Vilsack. 

Progressive Racing

A post today on the USA TODAY Weather Guys site discusses the fact that in 2007, the Indy Racing League (IRL) will go to 100% Ethanol to power their machines.  This is great...but no one watches IRL.  When (not if...but when) NASCAR makes a similar move, prepare for the NASCAR nation to demand Ethanol at the pumps.  Now that Toyota is entering NASCAR next year...I think GM/Ford will lose yet another opportunity to capture market share with their FlexFuel options. 

Not Aggressive Enough

A  tepid and "politically non-confrontational" start to Iowa's public policy on Renewable Energy was released was reported in The Des Moines Register.
a few moments ago.

The state of Iowa needs to step up and goals like Governor Vilsack's "25% of all fuel sold by 2020 by renewable" don't cut it.  Especially considering that it accounts for 10% in Iowa already. 

The following piece:

"House File 2574 also gives retailers tax incentives and grants to install equipment needed to sell more highly concentrated ethanol to help meet the goal. “This is an important investment in Iowa’s future,” Vilsack said."

is correct.  Solving a piece of the distribution problem (where do I buy this stuff anyway?) is KEY.

I hope and pray that our next generation of Iowa Gubernatorial leadership will get aggressive.  Let's find someone with low aspirations (doesn't want to be President) and unreasonably high expectations of its citizens (like President Kennedy) and let's do this. 

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS ON URGENT NATIONAL NEEDS

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made a special speech to a joint session of Congress that has come to be known as the "Man on the Moon" speech.  I cannot help believing that United States is in need of the "Energy Independence" speech for the ages. 

As a nation energized by the possibility of energy independence, we should review this speech and read it in the context of what we're facing today.  As a nation, we're on the brink of a political party-less and economic acceptance of renewable fuels as the norm.  I hope you find my modifications acceptable.

1. Now it is time to take longer strides-time for a great new American enterprise-time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in renewable energy achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth. 
2. I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment. (unchanged quote for the ages)
3. For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first,  we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last. We take an additional risk by making it in full view of the world, but as shown by the feats of the state of Iowa and its leadership, this very risk enhances our stature when we are successful. But this is not merely a race. Energy Independence is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We tackle the goal of energy independence because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share.
4. First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the year 2020, of delivering 90% of our energy needs from renewable sources. No single energy project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range independence from foreign energy sources; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate renewable energy technologies. We propose to develop alternative fuels until certain which is superior.
5. Let it be clear-and this is a judgment which the Members of the Congress must finally make-let if be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action-a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs.  (unchanged)

6. This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, materiel and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel. (unchanged)

7. New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in fact, aggravate them further-unless every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of Renewable Energy Independence.

A Corndog's Chance In Hell

A great post appeared on a Renewable Fuel blog yesterday.  Here's Corndog's approach to national energy policy and commentary on Senator Clinton's plan to capture the Iowa vote...I mean free the nation from the petroleum based chains that bind us. 

(Any plan that places "you make so much money that we need to take some" taxes on public companies..is immediately dismissed in this author's mind). 

Attempting To Retake The Colonies!

I got this from the daily email blast from the Des Moines Business Record publication.  An English company is dumping 140million British Pounds into a Fort Dodge, IA Ethanol production plant.  That's another 100 million gallons friends.

Let This Be Your Compass

Silicon Beat reports great news on Green Technology venture funding.

Year over year investment in "Green-Tech" businesses is up 52.9% according to the Cleantech Venture Network quarterly report.  (That's $357 million).

Sure this encompasses a LOT of different technologies...but Ethanol is right there and will continue to be a leading attractor of funding for a very long time. 

Silicon Alley is pick up steam.

More Coverage of Kleiner Perkins

Forbes wrote a piece covering John Doerr's newest passion.  The article called "Tree-Hugging Capitalists"
does a great job of highlighting what "Green-Tech" means.

A couple of key quotes for me follow:

"As venture investors we’re always thinking about market size," said Lane. "If you pick a small market, you’re screwed. This is as big a market as it gets."

and

Clad in hiking pants and Birkenstock sandals (with socks), Doerr's co-emcee Bill Joy looked more like a tree-hugger than a calculating VC. But he's clearly been running the numbers: "There is a big wave coming as Moore’s Law meets the biotech and nanotech revolutions. Opportunities abound in new materials, new pathways, new organisms, new forms of magic."

Ethanol Production Boom Will Continue

A nice piece appeared in the Des Moines Chamber's Business Record publication describing how Iowa's Ethanol plant volume and production are just taking off.  It seems every week that someone is launching another 50+ million gallon plant.

Keep it coming.

Grow Iowa Values Fund...a model for the nation

Sales of E85 fuel in Iowa are 9X year to date...versus 2005.  That's big.  The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association is helping our state solve a key component of the E85 distribution dilemma...the availability of E85 pumps, by providing a cost share grant through the Grow Iowa Values Fund.  The bottom line is that now over 100 businesses will get assistance in reducing the cost of adding E85 pumps...versus the 20 or 30 before. 

This is a reasonable use of our tax dollars considering our nation is increasingly behind energy independence.