Domestic Fuel

The Missouri Corn Growers Association reports that a new ethanol plant is in the works for northeast Missouri.

Mississippi Valley BioEnergy, LLC (MVBE) announced that it plans to build a 100 million gallon per year dry mill production facility near West Quincy. MVBE recently signed a letter of intent with ICM, Inc. to provide services related to the design, construction and start-up of the proposed facility. The company has also retained BBI International as its consultant to assist with project formation and development.

Brent Rockhold, chairman of MVBE and former board member with Missouri Corn, believes the company is poised to make a positive impact on Missouri’s ethanol industry and economy of the tri-state region. “Our management and advisory committees reflect some of the most well-known, respected leaders in Missouri who bring diverse backgrounds and broad expertise,” he said.

Here’s today’s winner of the Indy 500, Dario Franchitti at the post-race press conference. He seemed like the most amazed guy in the world for having run and we certainly congratulate him.

During the press conference I asked him how he felt about winning by burning a renewable fuel in his car and how it performed. He has no problem with ethanol. In fact, he said it helped him get better gas mileage and that was beneficial in the end.

Listen to Dario talk about ethanol here: indy-07-dario.mp3

Don’t forget to check out my online photo album which Laura McNamara and I have contributed to during this past week and have a great holiday.

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This race today will go down as a strange one with all the cars running into the wall and the rain delay and then rain ending it early.

You can see from Jeff Simmon’s car here that it just poured down at the end. This is on the last lap before they came into the pits and called it over.

Jeff came in 11th but sure ran a strong race today. I think this was about the best I’ve seen his car performing and it’s too bad that the rain had to mess things up. But in the end ethanol wins again.

The race is back on after a lengthy delay due to rain.

Jeff Simmons in the ethanol car has been running very strong today. It looks like the race will be won on strategy and pit stop timing since the cars are pretty much out of sync with their normal plan.

I’ll try to be in victory lane and the winner’s press conference after the race and will bring you the finale as we see ethanol win no matter which car comes across the finish line first.

Ethanol Team IndyCar Driver Jeff Simmons has held a top 3 position for much of the race. Just before the rain delay, Jeff held first place in the 91st Indianapolis 500. But, just as the Ethanol Team poster boy pulled into the pits to refuel, the yellow flag dropped pushing Jeff back to 7th. Indy Series officials are holding off on whether to call the race. With 113 laps completed, the race has progressed far enough to call the winner. As it stands right now, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick hold the top 3 spots.

When Jeff was holding 2nd place, I grabbed a few words from Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner and EPIC board member Don Endres:

indy-07-laura.mp3

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Well the weather cleared up in time for the Indy 500 to get started. Here’s Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning waving the green “e” flag to start the race here this afternoon.

I’ve posted the audio of the start for you each of the last couple years and this year is now different. In the following audio file you’ll hear the most famous words in automobile racing and the sound of these high powered engines as they crank it up.

Listen to the start of the race: indy-07-start-engines.mp3

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The man that built The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council from the ground up is Board President Tom Branhan, CEO and general manager of Glacial Lakes Energy. When I caught up with him on the bus, he said the transition to 100 percent ethanol fuel in the Indy Racing League is a major stride for the ethanol industry, and he said there’s certainly more opportunity to keep up that pace. Tom pointed out that every IndyCar runs strictly on Honda motors, but as the ethanol industry expands to other major motor series, that means a larger variety of engines that will be built to run on ethanol.

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Tom said this year’s Honda motors built specifically for ethanol fuel are running farther and faster on the same amount of fuel than methanol – the fuel the IRL series used previously. He said ethanol’s performance shows that it can be run in just about any engine if it’s set up for it, getting better mileage and better horsepower. Tom says he’s confident the 91st Indy 500 race will also demonstrate that use of ethanol also amounts to less wear and tear on the IndyCars.

Tom pointed out that as more engines are designed for use of ethanol fuel, EPIC’s role in educating the public will be increasingly vital.

branhan-tom2.mp3

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Amidst the hustle and bustle of race weekend events, I caught up with EPIC board member Don Endres of VeraSun Energy, a producer of fuel grade ethanol. Don said the Indy Racing League’s switch to 100 percent ethanol fuel is history in the making. He said the IRL’s investment in the fuel not only demonstrates to the world that ethanol is a trusted renewable fuel source that promotes a cleaner environment, but that it’s also a high-performance fuel with benefits surpassing those of gasoline.

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Don broke down industry projections for the growth of ethanol. He said the fuel currently accounts for just 4 to 5 percent of the fuel stream today. America uses about 142 billions of gasoline annually and that figure is growing by about a percent and a half a year. The Energy Information Administration estimates that by 2050 the demand for gas will reach upwards of 163 billion gallons a year at a 10 percent ethanol blend. That means an annual demand of at least 16.3 billion gallons of ethanol by 2050.

Don said today, the ethanol industry is producing just 6 billion gallons annually and there is another 6 billion gallons of production under construction. He added that car makers are putting a significant number of flex-fuel vehicles into the consumer market, which can burn a higher grade ethanol blend, E85. With an estimated 2 million FFVs added to the market each year on top of the current 6 million already available, Don said the market for ethanol is set to expand well-beyond where it’s at today.

For Don, it’s still rather early in the game. He added that the concentrated push for domestically-produced fuel from America’s politicians not only reaffirm his projections for a vastly growing demand for ethanol, but help drive it.

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The big story here in Indianapolis this morning has been the weather. It’s lightly raining now and the trucks are running the track to try to keep as much water off it as possible. You can’t race on a wet track.

We’re hoping for some clearing today and will stay here as long as we can to cover the 91st running of the “greatest spectacle in racing.” Some of the regular morning activities have at least been postponed temporarily so I guess we’ll sit tight with everyone else and see what happens.

The keynote speaker at the EPIC reception was IndyCar driver Jeff Simmons. Jeff was in great spirits on the eve of the big race here in Indy. I’ve got the audio from his remarks to the group last night.

Jeff says that the story is how far ethanol has come and where things are at with the industry. He got involved right after Paul Dana’s untimely death last year and has had the opportunity to learn a lot about the fuel and especially how it performs in an engine. Like other drivers have been saying in the IRL and other leagues that are now experimenting with ethanol, he says they get better gas mileage and no loss of performance. I’m not an engineer but it appears that an engine that’s tuned to run properly on ethanol will not perform worse when it comes to mileage than regular gas. I’m sure that this would be the case in consumer model cars as well. In fact, I’m betting we’ll see this happen as the fuel and industry continues to develop and works with the auto manufacturers on this issue.

You can listen to Jeff’s remarks here: indy-07-jeff-reception.mp3 Jeff is introduced by EPIC executive director Tom Slunecka and answers a few questions at the end of his remarks which are about 7 minutes long.

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One of the inventions of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is the “e”-tini, a very colorful martini. Actually there are 3 different ones and I’ll have to update this post to provide the details on them.

This is our bartender at the reception last night who was very animated and enjoyed making a new drink. Prior to the reception we had him practice and did a little quality control to make sure they were just right.

It’s a fun idea that ties right into the whole idea of promoting a renewable fuel.

I think it shows that you’ve “arrived” when you can have an ice sculpture at your reception. This one greeted us at the EPIC pre-race reception where members gathered to hear from a number of organizational representatives.

I’m not sure how many people are here from the ethanol industry but we had a quite a crowd made up of founding members, board members and representatives from various ethanol plant member companies.

The theme for this year’s 50th IPL Festival Parade in downtown Indianapolis was “Spirit and Speed.” There certainly was a lot of spirit from the crowd as celebrity after celebrity filed by on classic cars and Indy-related floats. The parade showcased each of the 33 competitors for the Indy 500 race Sunday along with more than a dozen other high-profile stars and groups. EPIC members slid into a top notch spot for catching more than a glimpse of all the stars. NFL quarterback Peyton Manning served as the parade’s Grand Marshal. Members also spotted Ludacris, John Oats, Gene Simmons, Grey’s Anatomy stars Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane among others. Dempsey is slated to drive the pace car during the Indy 500 race. The crowds cheered as U.S. military officers filed by in uniform. American Hero General Chuck Yeager received a warm welcome from spectators. Olympian gold medalists and top models were also showcased in the collection of celebrities who were eager to greet the public.

Enough with the replicas. This time it was the real deal for EPIC Members. The ethanol team handed out all-access passes for a peek into what makes an IndyCar run at more than 230 miles an hour. Letterman-Rahal Racing’s Steve Shunck led members on a tour through the garages for Rahal-Letterman IndyCar Drivers Jeff Simmons and Scott Sharp. From the shiny brass engine to the $10,000 steering wheel, members got a close-up look at the gears, nuts and bolts of Ethanol’s #17 IndyCar and Petron’s #8 IndyCar. For those of you that missed out on this rare inside look, don’t fret. All of Steve’s nitty gritty information was caught on tape:

garage1.mp3

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It’s the day before the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 and things are relatively quiet at the track. However, I’m sure there’s lots of activity in this garage making last minute tweaks on the car.

The parade is going on downtown and Laura will have pictures and audio posted later. She followed the EPIC member group on a garage tour this morning before heading downtown. We’ve also got a reception this evening with EPIC to attend and then it will time for the big race.