Ethanol

If it can go in your gas tank, it's potentially controversial up in Maine. A few years ago, out-of-spec gas pumps were a problem. Today, the issue is the corn-based biofuel ethanol, which the state legislature is taking a strong stand against. Citing potential engine and environmental damages, ...

Mention the term "e. coli" here in the US, and one gets visions of sick cows and poisonous burgers. Reference e. coli with some groundbreaking work performed by UK's University of Exeter, and things get a little more positive. The university, with some funding from Shell, created a plant-based ...

Long may you run, Neil. That's our take on reports of Rock n' Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young cruising around the country in his 1959 Lincoln Continental that's been converted to run on cellulosic ethanol, or biofuel made from wood, grass and non-edible parts of plants. Young recently showed off ...

On the floor at the SAE World Congress at Cobo Hall this week sits a 2.0-liter Tigershark engine. Parts have been cut away and there are pretty colored lights inside, but the cool part – if you're interested in biofuels, anyway – is how the engine has been modified to turn the Dodge ...

Propel Fuels has opened up a refueling station in Fresno, CA, that's much more than just a gas station. It's a "Clean Mobility Center" that offers E85 and biodiesel from local producers along with conventional fuels, letting drivers make their own choices. Yet it's much than a fueling station ...

Mascoma, a cellulosic ethanol maker, has been working on gaining capital investment from just about every funding source out there. But now it looks like the attempts to go public and raise $100 million have been pulled off the market. Gigaom's Katie Fehrenbacher had been puzzled that a company ...

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has made its case against Big Oil getting its way, stopping E15 and fulfilling the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Now, Bob Dineen, president and CEO of RFA, is pleading with environmentalists to stay away from Big Oil and to support biofuels. With fossil ...

A pair of US lawmakers told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that ethanol credits are leading to some deficits. Attempting to stem what they say could be an additional boost in gas prices prior to the busy summer-driving months, David Vitter (R-LA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) are raising ...

Ethanol advocates are continuing to throw down the gauntlet with Big Oil. Jabs have been thrown through satire and blogging – now the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is throwing a hook by going after ConocoPhillips, one of Big Oil's top five conglomerates. After offering E15, ...

No one would mistake a bunch of ethanol advocates for the folks at Second City, but we give the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) credit for injecting a little humor into their political statements. In this case, the two groups are using the ...