The Saudi Arabia of Ethanol Iowa is to corn ethanol what Saudi Arabia is to oil. At present Iowa has the capacity to produce 3.5 billion gallons of ethanol per year, which is 26% of the nation's total (Source). This is of course due to the large amount of corn ...

As we continue to develop biomass as a renewable source of energy, it is important to keep the cost of energy in mind, because this has a very strong influence on the choices governments and individuals will make. I sometimes hear people ask "Why are we still using dirty coal?" ...

In a move that wasn't really a surprise, today the EPA announced that they are not yet ready to approve ethanol blends above E10 for automobiles:EPA Notifies Industry Group on Status of Ethanol Waiver RequestWASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced that it ...

I got a kick out of this story from the newest issue of Subsidy Watch:New research from Missouri refutes allegations that ethanol mandates save moneyA report from a Missouri-based research organization debunks the claim that Missourians are saving money through a state law requiring ...

Wow! I just checked a few stocks that I tend to watch, and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) has now fallen to $1.85 a share. It is now down more than 95% off its high, and down more than 90% from the first time I warned that the company was ...

Executive Summary: The current cost to produce a gallon of ethanol is approximately $3/gal. The current price of ethanol is $2.86/gal, which explains why ethanol producers are shutting down. If corn and natural gas prices remain high, I think ethanol has to rise to something like $3.40-$3.60/gal to make ...

Someone e-mailed a few days ago and asked some questions about the present economics of corn ethanol. I did a few calculations, which I think are interesting enough to share. (Note that because this is a snapshot, the numbers will change over time. But you should be able to use ...

A couple of months back, I posted Gary Dikkers' analysis comparing the fuel efficiency of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Gary's conclusion was:Both states have almost identical topography, climate, demographics, and about the same mix of urban/rural driving. (In fact, Wisconsin has a slightly higher ratio of urban ...

Updated: 9/29/07When I read the following quote, I immediately thought of the recent Business Week article claiming that availability - which they claimed is being hampered by oil companies - is the primary reason E-85 is not taking hold.I don't buy E-85 for my flex fuel ...

About the same time I was warning last year of an ethanol bubble, Bill Gates was sinking money into Pacific Ethanol (PEIX). In the same essay in which I warned of the bubble, I took a look at Pacific Ethanol, and concluded that the underlying fundamentals of the ...