Ethanol Industry Leaders Address the Future
The Renewable Fuels Association held it’s winter meeting this week in Tucson, AZ – bringing some of the industry’s major movers and shakers together. Following the meeting, three industry leaders issued audio statements addressing the future of the industry – from continued growth to new technologies to the role of farmer-owned refineries. They are posted on the RFA website for your listening pleasure. The three are: RFA Chairman Ron Miller, President and CEO of Aventine Renewable Energy in Pekin, Illinois; Renewable Fuels Foundation chair Bill Lee, General Manager of Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company in Benson, Minnesota; and Tom Branhan, General Manager of Glacial Lakes Energy in Watertown, South Dakota.
Miller says 2005 was a great year for ethanol with passage of the Renewable Fuels Standard and 2006 holds just as much promise. “Currently there are 95 ethanol refineries capable of producing more than 4.3 billion gallons of ethanol every year,” he said, “in addition 29 refineries are under construction and nine plant expansions promise more than 1.5 billion gallons of additional capacity in the very near future.”
Lee talks about the development of cellulosic ethanol production in his comments. “There isn’t an ethanol refinery today that isn’t looking into new feedstocks, more efficient processing techniques and improved energy use.”
Branhan believes farmer-owned plants are the future of the industry. “Since 2002 ethanol production in this country has doubled largely due to the investment of farmers in rural communities across the country,” he said. “The largest ethanol producer has seen its share of the market decrease from 40 to 25 percent because of farmer-owned plants.”
These three guys and about 1250 other industry leaders and experts will be attending the 11th Annual National Ethanol Conference next month at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada. Meeting dates are February 20-22. Conference registration and information is available here.
4 Comments »
Gary Dikkers
Only one problem with your post Cindy: Someone needs to tell Ron Miller that corn-based ethanol is not actually a renewable fuel.
At every step of the production process, “renewable” corn-based ethanol consumes unrenewable fossil fuels:
1. Natural gas to make the nitrogen fertilizers corn farmers must have to grow high yields.
2. Diesel fuel for farmers to cultivate, plant, harvest, and transport their crop.
3. More diesel fuel to transport fertilizer, seed corn, and finished ethanol.
4. More natural gas on the farm to dry corn; more at the ethanol plant to mill and distill corn into ethanol; and still more to dry the waste distiller’s grains after fermentation.
The hard fact is that making corn ethanol is unsustainable without burning irreplaceable fossil fuels. Until corn farmers and ethanol plants show they can use ethanol instead of fossil fuels to grow grain and make ethanol, it is disingenuous to call corn-based ethanol a renewable fuel.
Does Mr. Miller know that if corn-based ethanol ever became our primary liquid fuel, we would still be dependent on an overseas fossil fuel — natural gas.
Almost all ammonia fertilizer is now made from natural gas. What is not widely known is that an increasingly large percentage of that fertilizer is made overseas and must be imported into the U.S. I’ve even seen estimates that within five years we will be importing 100% of our nitrogen fertilizers, all made overseas from foreign natural gas.
Using ethanol made from “renewable” corn sounds great until one looks more deeply and sees how many unrenewable resources are consumed making corn-based ethanol.
Does the RFA think it makes sense to replace our ill-advised dependence on foreign oil with an equally ill-advised dependence on the imported fertilizers made from foreign natural gas that growing corn requires?
Until the ethanol industry proves they can grow corn and turn it into ethanol in a self-sustaining cycle that doesn’t need the constant injection of energy from unrenewable fossil fuels, it is incorrect to say corn-based ethanol is renewable.
Saying corn ethanol is “renewable” is nothing more than a convenient and misleading sound bite to use when talking to politicians in an attempt to convince them to legislate mandates and subsidies.
Cindy
Ok, Sky Cowboy – bring it on.
The great thing about a blog is that it allows interactive commentary – the domestic fuel industry needs to confront the negative things that are said about them.
First of all, I did some internet research on Gary Dikkers, aka Sky Cowboy, and it appears that he is a pilot, he’s with the Wisconsin State DOT Aeronautics Division, and he is a very active opponent of ethanol. I found several comments from him on other blogs and letters to the editor against ethanol. So, I would conclude that is an anti-ethanol evangelist.
Fact is, ethanol is still a heck of a lot more renewable than fossil fuels, and the industry is hard at work on natural gas replacements for the production of crops for fuel, as well as working on using waste products for fuel. This is a major focus of the industry right now. Using biodiesel in tractors and combines is one example of how the industry is working to “close the circle” for domestic fuel production.
Instead of nit-picking about semantics, why not work for a domestic energy policy to help our country become less dependent on foreign oil? Maybe we will never make it to the point where we don’t need any foreign fossil fuels in this country, but every little bit to lessen our dependence helps.
Gary Dikkers
Cindy,
Yes, I’m a pilot. In fact, I spent 27 years in the US Air Force and was a career officer and fighter pilot. I was also trained as an engineer and have a graduate degree in engineering. I do work for WISDOT Aeronautics and handle airspace matters around our public-use airports. For the record, my current job has nothing to do with my views on corn ethanol sustainability, and whether it is actually a renewable fuel.
Despite what you think, you should also know I am not anti-ethanol. However, I do have serious concerns about the sustainability of corn-based ethanol and think is misleading to call it a renewable fuel when clearly it is not. (A true renewable fuel would not be dependent on nitrogen fertilizers made from natural gas.)
The simple fact is that corn-based ethanol is not possible without the constant input of fossil fuels — particularly the natural gas that is used to make the nitrogen fertilizers corn farmers must have.
The day the corn ethanol industry proves they are self-sustaining and renewable, and that instead of consuming fossil fuels they can grow corn and make ethanol using nothing more than ethanol or other bio-fuels, I will be the first to run out and buy an E100-powered auto.
Some questions for you:
Do you think that if corn farms and ethanol plants were not allowed to consume fossil fuels they could continue growing corn and making ethanol?
Do you know any industrial corn farms that nurture, cultivate, and harvest their crops without using fossil fuels for fertilizer and power? (The only ones I know are Amish.)
Do you know any ethanol plants that mill and distill corn into ethanol without using natural gas or electricity from coal as their source of thermal energy? (If ethanol plants make more energy than they consume, why don’t they just divert some of the ethanol spewing from the “out” pipe and use that to run their plants?)
Do you know any trucking, rail, or barge operators that transport finished ethanol without burning diesel fuel? (Don’t you find it strange that not even the truckers that haul ethanol use ethanol for fuel? All they would have to do is run a line from the ethanol in their tanks to the engine.)
You say ethanol is “…still a heck of a lot more renewable than fossil fuels.” How can that be true when the production of corn-based ethanol is clearly dependent on those very fossil fuels?
Best regards,
Gary Dikkers
Cindy
Ethanol can be made from lots of other things besides corn. That is the future of the industry. But you gotta give farmers credit for getting the ball rolling. There is fantastic potential for domestic fuels production in this country for those who are willing to look for solutions rather than problems.
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