12/21/11, "To Survive, Some Biofuels Companies Give Up on Biofuels," TechnologyReview.com
"Government mandates that were meant to help create a market for cellulosic biofuels have so far been ineffective; it's typically cheaper for the fuel providers affected by the mandate to purchase credits rather than biofuels. And finally, supply chains for cellulosic materials aren't yet well developed, so companies face a challenge when they try to lock in reliable access to them....
As the difficulty of producing cellulosic biofuels cheaply becomes apparent, a growing number of advanced-biofuels companies are finding it necessary to take creative approaches to their business, even though that means abandoning some of their green credentials, at least temporarily, and focusing on markets that won't have a major impact on oil imports. This is hardly the outcome the government hoped for when it announced cellulosic-biofuels mandates, R&D funding, and other incentives....
Geva, a prominent advanced-biofuels company that has received millions in U.S. government funding to develop fuels made from cellulosic sources such as grass and wood chips, is finding that it can't use these materials if it hopes to survive. Instead, it's going to use corn, a common source for conventional biofuels. What's more, most of the product from its first facility will be used for chemicals rather than fuel in recent years."...
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George Bush pushed insufficiently vetted ethanol scams too. One of Georgia's poorest counties "offered 20 years worth of tax abatements and 97 acres in its industrial park."...Fake "science" led to bankruptcy of ethanol plant in Alabama, another poor state, in which the same billionaire, Khosla, was also involved:
2/15/11, "Plant closure bursts Ga.’s biomass bubble," Atlanta Journal Constitution, Dan Chapman
"The premise, and the promise, were brilliant in their simplicity: Turn tree waste into fuel, help break the Middle Eastern choke hold on America’s economy and..."....
[Ed. note: The "Middle East choke hold" line is a lie. The US is a net oil exporter as of 2011. And, "today, half of net U.S. petroleum imports come from the Western Hemisphere, and half of that (or a quarter of the total) comes from Canada. Only 12% came from Saudi Arabia last year."]
- (continuing, AJC): "bring hundreds of jobs to rural Georgia.
What wasn’t there to like?
Plenty, starting with the closing last month of the Range Fuels cellulosic ethanol factory that promised to help make Georgia a national leader in alternative energy production. Then there’s the money — more than
- $162 million in local, state and federal grants, loans and other subsidies committed to the venture.
Much of that has been spent; recovery would be difficult. Officials at Colorado-based
- Range Fuels,
who didn’t return calls for this story, have said they plan to eventually re-open the Soperton plant.
But critics — ranging from budget hawks to renewable energy experts to dispirited locals — say the shutdown is a case of
- good money thrown at unproven science and lofty promises.
“We gave those subsidies in hopes of getting something in return — jobs,” said Wallace Little, a laid-off special ed teacher from Soperton who applied for a Range job. “And we hope they come back, as far-fetched as that sounds.
- We need jobs. We need them bad.”
Over the last six years, Georgia has successfully wooed a variety of companies specializing in biomass — cellulosic ethanol, corn ethanol, biodiesel, wood pellet, wood-to-electricity — with the goal of becoming a renewable energy leader.
- Many of the companies, though, are no longer in business.
Vinod Khosla, the dot-com billionaire behind Range Fuels,
- vowed in 2007 to
- “declare a war on oil” and said “cellulosic ethanol is the weapon we need.”
State and national officials were giddy when ground was broken later that year for the $225 million ethanol distillery outside Soperton, 155 miles southeast of Atlanta.
“Range Fuels represents a new future for our country,” proclaimed then-Gov. Sonny Perdue,
- flanked by dignitaries and beauty queens.
“With Georgia’s vast, sustainable and renewable forests, we will lead the nation.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who steered a $76 million federal grant to Range, said that “by relying on American ingenuity
- and on American farmers for fuel, we will enhance our nation’s energy
- and economic security.”
- Georgia officials pledged $6.2 million.
Treutlen County, one of the state’s poorest, offered 20 years worth of tax abatements and 97 acres in its industrial park.
Private investors reportedly put up $158 million. In all, the project raised more than $320 million.
- It hasn’t been enough.
By now, Range had expected to produce 20 million gallons of ethanol. Seventy Georgians would have jobs, denting Treutlen’s
- 13.3 percent unemployment rate.
- Range shut down in early January. Only a few employees in Soperton remain.
Bud Klepper, plant manager for Range Fuels, told The Soperton News that the shutdown is “not permanent,” adding that
- the company seeks additional financing.
“We’re just taking him at his word that it’s just a temporary shut down,” said John Lee, executive director of Treutlen’s development authority. “There’s nothing else we can do.”"...
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11/30/11, "U.S. Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter," Wall St. Journal, by L. Pleven, R. Gold
"U.S. exports of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels are soaring, putting the nation on track to be a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011
for the first time in 62 years.
- upending the historical norm.
According to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday, the U.S. sent abroad 753.4 million barrels of everything from gasoline to jet fuel in the first nine months of this year, while it imported 689.4 million barrels."...(remainder of article is subscription)
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And, "Only 12% (of net US petroleum imports) came from Saudi Arabia last year, down from nearly 19% in 1993."...
12/16/11, "Oil boomlet sweeps U.S. as exports and production rise," USA Today, Wendy Koch
via Tom Nelson, via WUWT
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