In Washington, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced final volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard program today for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, and final volume requirements for biomass-based diesel for 2014 to 2017. This rule finalizes higher volumes of renewable fuel than the levels EPA proposed in June, boosting renewable production and […]
In 2015, corn prices are expected to return to “more reasonable levels” as the demand side remains supportive. For the first quarter of the marketing year, USDA projected corn used for ethanol at 5.2 billion bushels, slightly higher than last year. Ethanol production was about 5 percent larger than the same quarter last year, compared […]
Over the past weeks, we’ve asked you in a pair of surveys to help us identify positive steps and strategies to focus on for making industry progress in 2015. You disdained “messaging”, “policy reform”, “focusing on key, motivate customer segments” and “R&D reform”. Instead, you pointed to “bolt-ons”, “policy stability”, “financing”, “supply chain” and “focusing on winners” as […]
Blend Wall Busters, R&D Bang for the Buck and Policy Stability rate slightly behind. Better Technical Readiness Assessment rates much lower. Readers come up with 63 alternative “calls to action”. A new Digest poll puts those into the mix for a more comprehensive view of industry priorities. Over the past 10 days, Digest readers have […]
In Hawaii, the state is quickly approaching its mandate of 15 percent renewable energy by 2015. It is currently at 13 percent and should be on track to meet the target over the next 24 months. However, uncertainty over tax credits for solar energy are threatening to slow down investment in the state’s fastest growing […]
In Brazil, Vale intends to build the world’s largest single processing plant for palm oil. The project, expected to be completed by 2015, will cost upwards of $500m and will cover an area larger than London in a cleared area in the Amazon rainforest. The project will sell the oil to food producers until the […]
