The Truth About Cars » Bio-fuels

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Meloncholy, Baby

Frank Williams — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:37:51 +0000

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Comment?

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:38:35 +0000

The EPA is currently soliciting comment on a proposed waiver to allow 15 percent ethanol blends (E15), and despite enduring a year of hard knocks, the ethanol lobby is making a desperate stand to reverse its declining fortunes. Peruse already-submitted comments, and you’ll notice that Growth Energy (the new K-Street tip of the ethanol spear) [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Water, Water, Everywhere

Jeff Puthuff — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:38:35 +0000

Two recent developments have tarnished whatever green reputation ethanol has left. First, the news that corn-derived ethanol requires up to three times more water to produce than previously thought has cast a spotlight on the industry, especially in the dry west and southwest. A new study published by the American Chemical Society reports that previous [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Mandatory Flexibility

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:20:35 +0000

Green Car Congress reports that an “Open Fuel Standards Act” has been introduced which would require half of all light duty vehicles sold in the US to be flex-fuel capable. The legislation would ramp up requirements to mandate 80 percent flex-fuel capability by 2015. Since ethanol has been running into trouble of late, the industry’s [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: What’s Good For Ethanol Is Good For GM Is Good For America

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:16:41 +0000

This time the bearer of good news is retired General Wesley Clark and his “Growth Energy” K-Street advocacy group. The special K says increasing the ethanol blend limit to E15 could create 136,101 new jobs and inject $24.4b into the US economy annually. How? According to the firm’s appalling report, bumping the federal blending mandate [...]

E85 Fatwa Of The Day: It’s A Sin!

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:00:06 +0000

Sheikh Mohamed Al-Najimi of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy has advised the Muslim community (via Al Arabiya) that burning ethanol and other alcohol fuels could be a sin. Al-Najimi said that ethanol runs afoul of the Prophet Mohammed’s ban on the sale, consumption, processing, and handling of all forms of alcohol. He does stress that [...]

Micro Brewed E85

Robert Farago — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:32:13 +0000

You know, this sounds crazy, but this MicroFueler thing might just work. I’m no fuel expert (I just play one in the autoblogosphere), but flex fuel vehicles are ready to rock and roll on any mix this bad boy can brew. And now E-Fuel, the maker of the home pump, is expanding beyond the home [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Don’t You Forget About Me

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:12:47 +0000

GM Biofuels Communication Manager clearly doesn’t want go against his firm’s new emphasis on resurrecting the electric car. “When you think about it,” he writes at GM’s Fastlane blog, “the technology news at the auto show rarely has the same emphasis in back-to-back years any more than the Super Bowl features the same teams from [...]

Toyota Aims to Sell 180k Prius in U.S. in ‘09

Robert Farago — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:38:45 +0000

Can you say price war? How else is Toyota going to shift 180k Priora when the market for hybrids has tanked (Prius sales down 44.7 percent in December) and Honda’s Insight has arrived to do battle? In their best year, Toyota shifted 181,221 gas – electric hybrids. The obvious answer: they’re not– barring a sudden [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Ethanol Dominates Renewable Energy Subsidies

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:49:44 +0000

So we complain quite a bit about ethanol around here, but you might be thinking, what does it really cost me? Well, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group, US taxpayers shelled out over $3b in ethanol subsidies in 2007 alone. As if that weren’t outrageous enough, ethanol slurped up two-thirds of all [...]

Holy Shit! This Critter May Just Save The World. And the ICE

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 09:37:56 +0000

The beast in the picture sits in what’s commonly called your “lower intestinals.” And the butt-ugly critter may just be the answer to our energy problems. Bacteria that live in your digestive tracts, and that can give you the runs, can be genetically modified to eat plants and then shit out jet fuel, high grade [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Bioethanol Hits Rock Bottom

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:05:57 +0000

A new study of alternative energy strategies by Stanford professor Mark Jacobsen [via Green Car Congress] ranks corn-based and biomass ethanol as among the worst alternatives to fossil fuels. According to the study, “the Tier 4 combinations (cellulosic- and corn-E85) were ranked lowest overall and with respect to climate, air pollution, land use, wildlife damage, [...]

Alternative Energy Funding Drying Up

Justin Berkowitz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:46:09 +0000

The New York Times reports that a casualty of lower oil and gas prices: interest in funding renewable energy projects. Among the Times’ laundry list of programs hurting for money: Tesla (duh), corn ethanol (hooray), other biofuels, and wind and solar power. The financial troubles are the consequence of a pretty simple financial concept – [...]

E85 Boondoggle of Day: 7th Grader Just Says No To Corn

Robert Farago — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:01:05 +0000

Editor: Nearly all the ethanol brewed in the United States is from yellow feed corn; while development into green technology may be hailed by conservationists, it may produce little if any benefit to our lives, and may even trouble them. Consider the points: If a gallon of gasoline had a price tag of $3.03 (ah, [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:46:51 +0000

There is no greater condemnation of an industry's lack of competitive spirit than seeing its executives hanging around political conventions. Their sudden interest in the future direction of America sends a single resounding message: we have failed on our merits and our misery demands company. And while Detroit snuggles up to [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Good To The Last Cob

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:32:20 +0000

It's always fun to see analysts justify their way to a predetermined conclusion, especially when the facts do not come close supporting it. At the usually on-point SeekingAlpha blog, Tim Plaehn tries his hand at another round of corn juice justification, this time with a new twist: cobs, baby. Claiming that high food prices [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:41:02 +0000

Government fleet purchases are a major factor in keeping the ethanol crazy-train rolling. Not to mention damning evidence of ethanol's inviability on the free market. But even local governments who hoped that cheap ethanol would reduce costs and support energy independence are beginning to realize that switching to corn juice just [...]

How to Run an Autocross Using Fuel You Made in Your Apartment for Less Than $100

Mike Solowiow — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:49:48 +0000

Wesson veggie oil, lye, high quality methanol, an old margarita mixer, and some patience; thats all you need to create your own batch of pure biodiesel, suitable for use in your average two-year old, raceworthy Jetta TDI. Sure, it looked more like something you would dip your bread in at Olive Garden, but I was [...]

Whisky Tango Foxtrot, British Style

Frank Williams — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:51:46 +0000

Those wacky Brits– you never know just what they'll try next. From Motor Trader comes a report that farmer Steve Burgess has become the first person to cross the Bering Strait in a land vehicle. He floated across the 56-mile stretch from Russia to Alaska in a Land Rover Defender equipped with pontoons, [...]

More GM Greenwashing for the Kids

Frank Williams — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:07:00 +0000

Those of you headed to the California State Fair this month can take the kiddies along for brainwashing "a new eco-friendly show" at the "Buick-Pontiac-GMC Rainforest Pavilion." What the division that produces some of GM's biggest and thirstiest vehicles has to do with the rainforest escapes me at the moment, but the "'green' fun" [...]

E85 Boondoogle of the Day: “Let Them Eat Rice”

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:16:17 +0000

In a recent interview with the Weekly Standard, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley weighed-in on the food-for-fuel debate. "If part of our problem is that the Chinese are going to eat meat and you've got to have corn and soybeans to feed the Chinese their meat, then why isn't it just as legitimate [...]

Volt Birth Watch 70 / Tesla Death Watch 14 / Karma Birth Watch 2: Toyota’s Death Watch

Paul Niedermeyer — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:18:02 +0000

Turns out TTAC isn't alone with its Tesla Death Watch and Volt Birth Watch series: Toyota has its own going. EV World's (sub) Bill Moore got this and a few other juicy tidbits from a casual conversation with Toyota's "grumpy old man" Bill Reinert, National Manager of the Advanced Technology Group. Toyota has [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Undersupply

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:08:15 +0000

Back in the day, T. Boone Pickens questioned why his then-boss, presidential nominee Bob Dole supported ethanol. Dole's answer was telling. "Let me explain something to you about politics," the Kansas Republican replied. "There are 21 farm states, and that's 42 senators. Don't waste any more of our time or your time [...]

Biogas from Biomass

Frank Williams — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:49:46 +0000

Bioethanol is so last year. Biomass Magazine (yes, there really is such a publication) reports the latest research in biofuels is directed at producing "green hydrocarbon fuels.' While biodiesel is becoming relatively commonplace, it's based on oils derived from plants and animal fats. Green hydrocarbon fuels are second-generation biofuels made from the [...]

China Builds Tung Tree Oil Biodiesel Plants

Robert Farago — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:11:46 +0000

Industrialinfo.com [sub] reports that China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved three biodiesel plants to convert tung tree nuts into fuel. For those in love with Google Earth, the plants will open in Nanchong (Sichuan province), Guizhou province and Beijing (Hainan province). The "demonstration projects" are set to yield just 50 [...]