Ever wonder what the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association drives? It would have to be a flexible fuel vehicle touting the benefits of corn ethanol. It’s true, NCGA has been proudly touting the facts of ethanol on its Web site for years.
In the past two years, we’ve gone mobile with our “ethanol ride,” thanks to the generosity of the Minnesota Corn Growers. In a twist of fate, that ride has a new look. “Bumped” into by another motorist, the ethanol wagon needed some costly repairs and a new paint job. On a whim, we entered the vehicle in a “Wrap My Ride” contest sponsored by New Vision Graphics and we won!
Now CEO Rick Tolman is riding in style, sporting a great look compliments of NVG and answering questions from parking lot attendants, passersby, and other motorists on the benefits of clean-burning, renewable ethanol.
Take Ferrari, for example. The Associated Press picked up on the story that Ferrari is experimenting with ethanol to help its luxury sports cars produce lower emissions and improve fuel economy.
Ferrari said Monday it developed an engine for an F430 Spider to run on E85, an 85% ethanol blend. The automaker said it produces 5 percent less carbon dioxide emissions and boosts horsepower by 10 percent.
There are lots of other new flex-fuel vehicles at the show. The Illinois Corn Growers reports that “the David and Goliath of the flex-fuel war being waged at the event had to be the concept cars introduced by Hummer and Saab.”
The new e85 Hummer HX is much smaller than its cousins, but markedly bigger and beefier than Saab’s 9-4x BioPower concept vehicle. Meanwhile, Saab’s 9-4X BioPower concept vehicle has a small but powerful engine that should make the most of e85’s higher octane.
Every now and then someone sends us at NCGA a book to read … and every now and then we actually get the chance to review it. A few weeks ago, we received Sustainable Ethanol, by the brothers Jeffrey and Adrian Goettemoeller. Ethanol will be big news in the years ahead, and this book helps lay out arguments why it is a sound alternative. Whether the subject be fuel economy, world hunger, ethanol pipelines or energy balance, the book takes on many of the myths in a readable style.
The well-oiled anti-ethanol lobby apparently called the editors of USA Today and told them it was their turn today to jump on the attack, with a story on a weeks-old RAND Corporation report questioning the cost benefits of E85 fuel. A few points to consider:
First, the science and technology behind biofuels and other alternatives is constantly shifting and improving, so such studies only offer a shapshot view of little to no real value.
Second, some aspects of researching and developing any and all non-petroleum alternatives are difficult to quantify in an economic sense. A brief look at whether E85 may or may not cost more to a consumer is only a look at one side of an issue that has so many other dimensions of more significance.
In case you missed it, Bob Lutz, GM’s product guru, took on the Union of Concerned Scientists and the American Petroleum Institute at a meeting of the Western Automotive Journalists in San Franscisco. A BusinessWeek article notes that when asked about the wisdom of E85, Lutz took a swipe at API by charging the big oil interest is running a multi-million dollar smear campaign against ethanol:
“They make it sound like ethanol is taking food out of the mouths of babes. According to them, we’re going to have taco riots in Mexico because of ethanol.”
Those folks in Minnesota are getting serious about their corn (guy).
America, meet a new superhero: Corn Guy, now seen on his own website: www.cornguy.tv.
The Minnesota E85 Team asked Chuck Olsen, a well-known filmmaker and video blogger (“vlogger”) from Minneapolis to create the Corn Guy series as part of its viral video campaign. These are a series of short, YouTube-style video clips, designed to be shared on the Internet. The public-private Team, directed by the American Lung Association of Minnesota, is using the humorous and unconventional method to reach those who now use the Web as a primary source of news, information and entertainment.
“We need to use all of communication tools available today to discuss the benefits of biofuels and to counter the misconceptions out there,” said Bob Moffitt, communications director for the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest’s clean fuel and vehicle technologies program. “We’ve had success in the past using blogs, podcasts and live webchats to promote issues important to the American Lung Association, so we decided to use these to share the truth about E85 and biodiesel, two cleaner fuels we strongly supports.”
Moffitt said the Corn Guy segments are being edited and should be on the website soon. The “introduction” video now on the site has received thousands of hits since it went up earlier this month. “There is much speculation on just who ‘Corn Guy’ really is,” Moffitt said. “I can’t reveal his secret identity, but I can say that many of the guesses have been wrong.”
Corn Guy is here to save the day! Watch him get smacked by Taco Lady. Don’t worry, it’ll all make sense in later episodes when Corn Guy sets the record straight on the “food vs. fuel” debate, and other misinformation surrounding cleaner-burning corn-powered ethanol.
The American Lung Association of Minnesota has a YouTube video about their “Path to Cleaner Air” exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair. It focuses on how “Biofuels like E85 (ethanol) and biodiesel are making Minnesota’s air cleaner and greener.”
Thanks to Bob Moffitt, Communications Director, Clean Fuels & Vehicle Technologies Program, American Lung Association of Upper Midwest, for bringing it to our attention.
Do you think we should add it to our “Worth Watching” list?
An interesting story came out at the end of last week on TheNorthwestern.com. Apparently some gas stations (42 of them) are upset with an ethanol production company (Utica Energy, LLC) for selling fuel below the state’s strange minimum markup law. They’ve filed a lawsuit for $12 million dollars against the company and it’s retailer, Renew E-85. Now all this “under the price law” selling took place apparently at a 2-pump station. How that had a $12 million impact on other gas stations seems a mystery to me.
The story says:
According to court records, the gas station owners claim Renew’s two-pump station on Lineville Road in Green Bay sold fuel below the minimum price allowed under the state’s Unfair Sales Act, also referred to as the minimum mark-up law, for 143 days straight from Aug. 12, 2006, to Jan. 1, 2007. Based on unspecified injuries, each station owner asked the court to order Utica Energy and Renew to pay each station a total of $2,000-per-day per-violation, or $286,000.
At the least that sounds a little excessive wouldn’t you think? The story quotes Utica and Renew attorney Bruce Bauer. “He argues in a response to the gas station’s lawsuit that the gas station’s claims are more about the threat ethanol producers pose to “big oil” than anything else, saying the stations “ganged up” on Renew and Utica.
“The obvious goal is to put not just that station, but Renew itself, out of business,” a March 29 filing reads.”
Food and fuel. Corn prices. Ethanol. Farm policy. Issues in agriculture. Welcome to Corn Commentary. We’ll be discussing these issues and more. We hope to have some fun along the way so it’s only fitting our inaugural post is related to the power of viral marketing and ethanol.
If you haven’t yet seen the series of ethanol videos on Project Phin, Clean My Ride, Flex My Fuel, you’re missing a great laugh. The star-studded cast touts the benefits of e85, the need for improved ethanol infrastructure and improved mileage standards. Here’s how it got started. You’ll find more on their site.
www.cleanmyride.org has all the elements of a strong grassroots campaign. It’s got a strong message, a catchy theme and a call to action.
We liked Ben Affleck in “Hollywoodland” and have caught his numerous appearances on Saturday Night Live. However, his role as an ear of corn is truly praiseworthy.
It’s all about being flexible at the
An interesting story came out at the end of last week 
The story says: