Fourth of July equals fireworks, parades and, if the Brazilian sugarcane growers - represented by UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association - get their way, a reduced or eliminated ethanol import tariff. UNICA is calling on the U.S. Congress to eliminate the 54-cent tariff on each imported gallon of ethanol. Doing so, they argue, would reduce the cost of using cars for U.S. drivers as UNICA's "Are We There Yet?" campaign will try to prove. After all, UNICA says, the ethanol tariff is a relic from 1980 and was never meant to be permanent anyway.

UNICA's website, which features the oh-so-subtle graphic seen above, doesn't highlight how badly American ethanol producers would be hurt by letting Brazilian ethanol flow more cheaply in U.S. pumps. Still, if cheaper gas is the result, then I'm sure not many drivers will really care where their fuel comes from (see also *cough* Wal-Mart *cough* China). Read more after the jump.

[Source: UNICA]

Holidays in the U.S. are used for so much more than celebrating. We've got President's day sales, the Christmas shopping season, special Easter candy flavors (notice a trend?). For the Fourth of July, something to do with being free is often in order, and this year the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has decided that it's energy independence that we need to focus on as a country, dagnabit.

EPIC has put out a statement calling for "unity in search of solutions." By coming together, fellow Americans, EPIC thinks that July 4th could become Energy Independence Day, with ethanol and other renewables for all. A few smarter driving sacrifices (if you can call consolidating trips when gas is at $4/gallon a sacrifice) and increased biofuel output would shift the balance of domestic vs. foreign energy sources to a more homegrown one.

Note: if we're going to be using corn to make all of this ethanol, let's not forget that October 16 is World Food Day.

[Source: EPIC]

The man who may or may not ever step up to the British throne has been keeping busy while his mother keeps his new seat warm. As wealthy people are wont to do, Britain's Prince Charles has a number of vehicles at his disposal. As a very public person, he has been trying to set an example by reducing the carbon footprint of his transportation fleet. Last year he had his Range Rover and Jaguar converted to run on biodiesel. Now he has decided to put some surplus British wine to use by having to distilled into ethanol to feed his Aston Martin. His Royal Highness has a 38 year old Aston Martin DB6 Volante that is now fueled by E100. The Aston only gets 8.3mpg (U.S.) on gas and will get less than that on ethanol. However, Charles only drives it about 300 miles a year so the overall effect is negligible at best. The vineyard that produces the wine is limited in how much it can bottle by EU quotas, so the leftovers are distilled to produce fuel.

[Source: This Is London]

This is not the time to be betting on first-generation biofuels. Add up the increasing cost of feedstocks and an overall tough economy and it's no great surprise that "going yellow," as it were, is not the easy path that some made it seem a year or so ago. The reality is hitting home. According to Reuters, about a dozen biofuel plants across the U.S. have filed for bankruptcy protection thanks to corn shooting up to $8 a bushel and ethanol's "miserable profit margins." The affected plants are mostly small or mid-sized facilities, a biofuels expert told Reuters, and he said he expected more to announce bankruptcy soon.

On top of the financial problems, many ethanol plants are only operating at 50 percent capacity and previously-announced plants are being stalled or stopped completely. Who knows how much longer blending E85 into gasoline at the pump will be a way to save a few bucks.

[Source: Reuters]

One of the numerous downsides of economic globalization over the past couple of decades has been the rise of invasive alien species. In nature, ecosystems eventually reach an equilibrium with predatory species evolving to take on native species, each keeping the other in check. Unfortunately, when you drop a species into an ecosystem where it has no natural predators, it tends to run wild. Such has been the case with plants like kudzu and insects like the emerald ash borer (which has devastated ash tree populations in Michigan and elsewhere).

With the ongoing debate over food vs. fuel with corn ethanol and soy biodiesel, researchers are investigating alternatives. Ideally, the energy balance of biofuels is maximized by using crops that require a minimum of fertilization, water and cultivation. While the focus has been on crops like switch grass, anyone who has been afflicted by kudzu knows that it grows at incredible rates with minimal inputs. Researchers from the University of Toronto and U.S. Department of Agriculture are investigating whether kudzu can be economically harvested. Kudzu is up to 68 percent carbohydrate by weight and could potentially produce as much ethanol as corn with about 270 gallons per acre. The problem is that much of the existing kudzu now is growing on inaccessible hillsides. Still, kudzu requires much less maintenance than corn so this definitely has a lot of potential.

[Source: Discovery, via EcoGeek]

In 2007, the EU used 7.7m tons of oil equivalent (TOE), which accounted for 2.6 percent of all fuels used for road transport that year. This is half of the 2010 target of 5.75 percent usage of biofuels, which means that Europeans will need more imports and to increase production if this target isn't changed.

Europe's leader in biofuel use is Germany, burning more than 4 million TOEs, followed by France (1.4 million), Austria (0.4 million) and Spain (0.35 million). EurObserv'ER published a report on EU biofuel use under sponsorship of the European Commission as well as the European Agency for Environment and Energy Control. Get it here.

[Source: Eurobserver]

Because certain subsidies and incentives allow many gas stations to sell ethanol for less money than regular gasoline, the fuel is becoming a popular choice among motorists, even if their vehicles are not certified for flex-fuel use. All vehicles sold in the U.S. today are capable of accepting small doses of the alcohol fuel, as up to ten-percent of normal gasoline may be ethanol. Of course, the fuel is available in higher concentrations for vehicles which have been designed to use it, with E85 - eighty-five-percent ethanol, fifteen-percent gasoline - proving one of the most popular combinations.

Apparently, though, the lower price of the fuel has attracted the attention of those looking to save a few bucks on each fill-up. In fact, this article indicates that many users are mixing their own blends right in their tanks. This trend has prompted some gas stations to allow a choice of ethanol mixtures for drivers who want to use it, right from a single pump. Manufacturers warn that using alcohol fuels in vehicles not certified for them could cause permanent damage, so be sure you know what you're doing before breaking those rules.

[Source: AP via The Detroit News]

Nearly two months after the announcement by General Motors of its equity investment in Mascoma, the Massachusetts company has announced the location of its first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant. Mascoma CEO Bruce Jamerson and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm announced a plant would be built near Sault Ste. Marie in northern Michigan. Mascoma will be collaborating with Michigan State University and Michigan Technical University to further enhance its processing technology for turning biomass into liquid fuel.

MSU will offer help with the pre-treatment technology for the cellulosic biomass and identifying renewable crops for feedstocks while MTU will help with sustainable forest management practices. The Sault Ste. Marie plant will primarily use wood waste from the forestry industry in northern Michigan as a feedstock. Michigan has passed legislation creating grants for Centers of Energy Excellence. The new law will make Mascoma eligible for a grant of $15 million dollars for the new plant. The plant should be operational by 2012 producing 40 million gallons a year of cellulosic ethanol.

[Source: Mascoma]

Making fuel from waste is just brilliant. Up in Edmonton, Canada, a company called Enerkem is ready to set up the world's first industrial scale municipal waste-to-ethanol facility. Hopefullly, the implementation will be as brilliant as the idea.

Enerkem and its partner GreenField Ethanol and the city of Edmonton have agreed to a 25-year partnership whereby the government will spend $70m on a facility that will be capable of making 36m liters of biofuels each year. The governments of the city and Alberta will chip in $20m and the city will spend the other $50m on a related processing facility and research facility.

You can get the press release of this announcement here. Canada is also considering wheat-to-ethanol plants.

[Source: Enerkem Inc.]

Whether at the Solar Decathlon, making clever environmental awareness clips or interviewing Darth Vader, young Carrick and his dad Colin have made some fun green transportation videos over the past year or so. The duo returns this week with a look at sustainable transportation in the future. Their new video was made as a submission to the US PIRG video contest, which asks the cloud for better ideas on shaping smarter transit plans. As the US PIRG puts it, "time spent stuck in traffic is time you never get back."

Colin writes:

Our video focuses on systems of mass transit such as personal rapid transit systems and high-speed trains, as well as making cars and trucks more sustainable with electricity. When we were researching for the video we kept coming across strong advocates of public transportation who clearly hated cars and would have them taken all away if they could. I don't believe that it is realistic for any vision of sustainable transportation in the future to leave out cars and trucks - it's unnecessary.

If you'd like to submit your own video, you've still got time. The deadline for entry is July 4. In the meantime, watch Carrick's latest star turn after the jump.

[Source: Colin M., US PIRG]

Brazil's best-selling vehicle just got a complete makeover, but just about all we know of it is the picture you see above. The Volkswagen Gol (not Golf) has sold more than five million units in Brazil and an additional million outside. Built over the PQ24 platform, which is shared with the current Polo and Fox, the new Gol now adopts transversally-mounted engines, the same as the ones fitted to the Fox: the 1.0-litre and the 1.6-litre EA-111 VHT, which are both flex-fuel. Rumors say that the signature 1.4 TDI used in Europe could also be fitted to the car, but there's no confirmation of this yet. VW's main target is to make the Gol a low-cost global car, like the Fiat Palio or the Dacia/Renault/Nissan Logan. Expect to see it in South America, Iran, India and Eastern Europe.

[Source: Worldcarfans]

Here in the Northeast, you're more likely to spot the Loch Ness monster in your neighbor's kiddie pool than you are to find a fuel pump that dispenses E85 Ethanol, a situation that always makes me chuckle at the various "FLEXFUEL" badges I increasingly see on area vehicles. Well, as of this Thursday, June 26, people in Massachusetts will actually be able to fill their tanks with the biofuel at the first public E85 pump in the state. And for 85 minutes, they'll be able to do so for 85 cents a gallon after the grand opening ceremonies at the Burke Oil station in Chelsea, MA. General Motors, purveyors of flex-fuel vehicles that in most cases rarely see a drop of the stuff, is sponsoring (we assume that means "paying for") the 85-cent promotion, after which the price will go back up to its normal rate of $2.85/gallon. Nowadays, that doesn't sound so bad at all. All the specifics can be found in the press release after the jump.

[Source: National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition]

Oh, the poor ethanol industry figures. Maligned for their reliance on corn, blamed for rising food prices and having to resort to subsidized fuel sales to attract attention, ethanol is an easy target these days.. Ethanol can't even get any love from the chickens. Last week, ethanol promoters gathered in Nashville to lash out at OPEC and Big Oil, and to figure out how ethanol will fare in the coming years. Around 4,000 people attended the 2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo, according to organizers BBI. There is a lengthy video of the opening session now available online here.

In the video, the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association,Bob Dinneen, breaks into a bit of a tirade about the oil industry. Dinneen's message is that the oil companies are waging war against renewables through paid-for studies and newspaper editorials. The ethanol industry's solution? Mandate that all new vehicles in the U.S. be E85-capable (we assume they mean all current gasoline-powered vehicles). Author Robert Zubrin said this would drive gas prices down to $50 a barrel. I say if cellulosic ethanol companies can make good on their promises to sell ethanol for something like $2 a gallon, you won't need a mandate to get all cars to be E85-ready.

Click above for hi-res gallery of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel

British sportscar-maker and engineering firm Lotus may be known for its lightweight vehicles, but in the industry it still packs a punch as a heavyweight. It's that weight which Lotus is throwing behind methanol as the most viable alternative fuel.

Towards that end, at this year's Geneva motor show Lotus unveiled the flex-fuel 270E prototype based on the lightweight Exige sportscar. The vehicle is designed to run on gasoline, ethanol or methanol, but it's the latter which the company feels is the most viable for the near future. Like bio-ethanol, methanol can be made from natural materials, or can be made from hydrogen combined with CO₂ pulled out of the thin air, which allows for zero-emissions operation. The most convenient aspect, however, is that most car engines on the road today could be converted to run on methanol.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - subs. req'd]

By the middle of the next decade Mercedes-Benz wants its entire lineup to be able to operate entirely free of petroleum. The German giant is working on a variety of technologies that will help provide crude oil free transport such as battery electrics, fuel cells and highly efficient internal combustion engines that can operate on biofuels. Mercedes has recently been letting European journalists sample some of these new powertrains at a test facility in Spain.

The F700 concept that debuted last fall in Frankfurt is powered by a turbocharged DiesOtto engine. The DiesOtto is Mercedes' branding for a combined HCCI and spark ignition engine that provides nearly the same efficiency as a diesel without the need for the expensive after-treatment systems. This and conventional diesel engines can run on biofuels and Mercedes hopes to launch the DiesOtto in production by 2010. Mercedes is also currently field testing electrically-driven vehicles with both batteries alone and fuel cells each of which they also plan to launch at the beginning of the decade. While it may well be that all Mercedes models in 2015 will be capable of running petroleum free, the reality is that many - if not most - will still be using fossil fuels much of the time. That may come in the form of coal for electricity, natural gas reformed into hydrogen, or petroleum fuels blended with biofuels. But you have to start somewhere.

[Source: The Sun]