Many of our blog readers and social media followers are likely aware of the Renewable Fuels monthly newsletter, which has been produced since 2008. As long-time readers will remember, Don Hofstrand and Dr. Bob Wisner (Iowa State University) have been instrumental in providing analysis and commentary related to the renewable fuels industry through this valuable newsletter.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) negotiated among twelve countries: Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Peru, Chile, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the United States. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the TPP agreement seeks to bring new and effective market opportunities for American goods and services exports. The benefits of the TPP will occur through a combination of tariff reduction, tariff eli
Commercial scale cellulosic ethanol production has gained reasonable momentum during the first 4-months in 2016. Last October, the world's largest cellulosic ethanol plant with capacity of 30 million gallons per year was opened in Nevada, Iowa. Most of the cellulosic ethanol produced at this plant will likely be purchased by refiners and blenders in California to fulfill the state's carbon credit program. More detail about the California low carbon fuel credit program can be found at our Iowa St
Wind has been used as a source of energy since early history when windmills were used to grind grain and pump water. Ever since then we have continued utilizing wind energy, and in 1980 the first large-scale wind farms were built in California. Since then we have seen many advances being made in the technology for wind turbines.
In an earlier post, I provided readers some background on who I am, where I grew up, and how a Mountain West farm kid made his way to the Midwest. As I wrote previously, I had the pleasure of working with the Gittins family on their diversified dairy farm in Smithfield, UT during my middle school, high school, and college years. The experiences I had there have in many respects guided my direction since.
Solar energy is a renewable energy derived from radiant light and heat from the sun which can be harnessed by using different methods or technologies for several purposes such as generating electricity, heating or cooling spaces in buildings, and heating water for home, commercial, or industrial uses.
Future growth in ethanol demand will mainly depend on the development of a long-term policy framework driven to create innovative ethanol consumption programs, such as E15, midlevel blends, and E85 blends. Use of intermediate blends are needed to increase the amount of ethanol consumption in the domestic fuel market to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
While Iowa has a high population of hogs being fed for the market, many of the market ready hogs are being transported to processing facilities in other states or, at the very least, long distances to the nearest processing facility.
Last June, I happened to read an interesting article “American Drivers Regain Appetite for Gas Guzzlers” from The New York Times. Americans have renewed their interest in bigger cars, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles over more fuel efficient small cars mainly due to falling gasoline prices. Later, in July, the Monthly Energy Review from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the U.S. domestic transportation sector is now the biggest producer of green-house gas (GHG)..
About 22% of the total volume of U.S. production is exported every year making exports an important outlet for U.S. agricultural production. The main U.S. agricultural export products are grains and feeds, soybeans, livestock products, and horticultural products. The top five export destinations for these products are China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the European Union.
