Ethanol Euphoria

With the tremendous fervor building to see every country in Latin America and the Caribbean become centers of Bio-Fuels production, it was a welcome breath of fresh air to see panelists at last week's Center for Hemispheric Policy Conference in Miami look critically at this mad rush.

There was a fantastic piece about this conference in the Sun Sentinel http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zlatambiz20apr20,0,3531203.story?coll=sfla-business-front

The biggest question that needs to be asked of this rush, is where is the risk capital going to come from? Most International donors and commercial banks are already having their risk exposure in biofuels being maxed out in Brazil and the American Mid-West. Additionally, there is quite frankly a lack of available engineering know-how to facilitate these projects.

Some nations will clearly make the leap seamlessly like Colombia and Guatemala, but others who are high-cost cane producers will disappear in the face of the Sao Paolo price.

Water = Energy

It is great to see that a fresh discussion has begun about the Geo-Politics of Biofuels. The reality of the current thrust and parry between Lula and Chavez, has more to do with spheres of influence than what commodity we fill our gas tanks with. If one were to think critically about the impact of foods being diverted from our food chain to go towards energy demands, then one misses the fact that food supplies globally in key crops are already cramped given consumption patterns from nations like India and China. Additionally consider the fact that soy as a feedstock for biodiesel has not nearly peaked in Brazil. What most commentators are missing in their fundamental analysis is that the underlying resource whose finite volume will be the ultimate arbiter of our future energy shock, is actually water. Realistically, the next level of energy research should be driven by an understanding of the dynamics of water's availability as a factor in the outer limits of biofuels production. As we examine this, the penultimate conclusion might see water rich nations become the Blue version of OPEC.
Saif Y. Ishoof

Ethanol in Our Cities

The promise of Ethanol in the state of Florida only stands a chance if municipalities take the lead in transitioning their fleets in that direction. While many cities already use electric vehicles, the real common sense would be to go for renewable bio-fuels. How can there be supply in the state of Florida unless demand is created through some of the largest users of energy like Municipalities make the first step. Investment in the infrastructure such as micro-blending plants at their fuel depots might be among some of the first steps they should be taking.

Technorati

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Florida Legislative Update

The momentum in Tallahassee regarding Ethanol and Biofuels Legislation in beginning to build. At present there is a State House Bill Entitle HR 7117 and a parallel Senate Bill entitled SR 1860. In essence these two bills "supports vision of "25 by '25," & encourages production of renewable energy & fuels by farms & ranches to help meet future energy needs."

While the bills are good policy measures, many critics have stated that they lack specific funding measures to pave the way for the next step to actually spur production and distribution of Ethanol.

The current legislative session promises to have a tremendous amount of discourse on the aforementioned bills, and we will likely see greater interest on both sides of the aisle to see beefed up appropriations attached to these resolutions.

To See the current Text of the House 7117 go here ---> http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h7117__.doc&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=7117&Session=2007

Promotion of Ethanol in Florida

The folks at the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) deserve a tremendous amount of credit for their pioneering website devoted to promoting information on Ethanol in the state of Florida. They have created an effective website called www.floridaneedsethanol.com that provides a number of convincing reasons on why bio-fuels are so critical to the sustainable development of the sunshine state. Although EPIC is a non-profit group created by the Ethanol production industry, they provide a number of impartial statistics and facts which allow the reader to make the ultimate decision on what the ramifications are of migrating to this greener platform. A website of this nature was needed a long time back, thank goodness for arriving.

Florida Ethanol Summit

Florida once again breaks into new terrain by having an Agricultural Commissioner with enough vision to see the value of a Farm to Fuel Summit on the prospects for Ethanol in the State of Florida. Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson is hosting a “Farm to Fuel” summit July 18 to 20 at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort. This Summit will actually be the second one sponsored by Commissioner Bronson. Nothing beats getting industry, research, and policymakers together in the same venue to explore the most expedient ways of realizing the benefits of renewable energy.

Interested in the summit then go here: http://www.floridafarmtofuel.com/summit_2007.htm