| Articles, Presentations & Reports |
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| Economic Development group gets $100,000 grant |
December 2009 announcement of a grant awarded to New North Inc. of De Pere. From a report on the grant by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The regional economic development organization will use the money to advance its competitive advantage in wind energy and cellulosic ethanol, the state said in a news release. New North will assist with industry research, promote collaborative marketing and trade show exhibits and try to lure investors to those industries, the release says." |
| Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Biofuels from Indirect Land Use Rule |
Legislation reported by USAgNet.com on September 23, 2009. Introduction: "
U.S. senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Ben Nelson of Nebraska Tuesday introduced legislation that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from going ahead with regulations that would limit the production and use of biofuels required by Congress’ 2007 energy bill. The EPA regulations would penalize U.S. biofuel producers for greenhouse gas emissions that the EPA claims result from changes in land use in other countries, such as the clearing of land for cropping, allegedly caused by the increased production of biofuels in the United States." |
| Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announces more than $15 milion in renewable energy loans and grants |
An August 2009 press release by the USDA which announces a round of winners of the REAP (Rural Energy for America Program Grants). The final day for submission was at the end of July, so there should be more announcements to come with more winners. Eight of the 365 grants will be going to Wisconsin-based businesses for these amounts:
- Lightning Ridge Solar, LLC; $16,932 grant
- Brew Farms Enterprises, LLC; $19,401 grant
- Charles W. Hammer & Nancy Kavazanjian; $20,000 grant
- Dean Proper; $15,125 grant
- Ken Bauer; $15,000 grant
- Kettle View Renewable Energy, LLC; $17,380 grant
- Mesmer Solar, LLC; $20,000 grant
- Retgen Solar, LLC; $20,000 gran
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| USDA proposes biobased product consumer label rule |
August 2009 announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Introduction: "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making it easier for consumers to identify biobased products through the release of its proposed BioPreferredSM labeling rule. USDA's BioPreferred labeling program, published today in the Federal Register, intends to create a product label that would appear on qualifying BioPreferred biobased products. When final, this regulation will allow biobased product manufacturers to participate in a voluntary labeling program to identify biobased products on retail store shelves." |
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| Energy Independence Funding Opportunities/Incentives |
A resource updated April 9, 2009 by Patrick Walsh.
It is a summary of current opportunities to secure support for energy related improvements and research. It covers federal, state and utility programs. |
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| PTC, ITC, or Cash Grant? An Analysis of the Choice Facing Renewable Power Projects in the United States |
This March 2009 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory plays out various scenarios with an eye on the choice between PTC and the ITC (or equivalent cash grant) for a number of different renewable power technologies. |
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| The perils of interconnectedness |
January 2009 opinion piece with a caution related to severe weather events. Excerpt: "A concern expressed last week in a 132-page, NASA-funded report by the National Academy of Sciences. The report, entitled “Severe Space Weather Events -- Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts,” details concerns about what might happen to our modern, high-tech society if the sun burps one of its “super solar flares,” followed by an extreme geomagnetic storm. And the problem begins with the electric power grid and its growing interconnectedness." |
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| Government Reports Predict Grim Future for U.S. Electric Grids |
The Department of Energy's Electricity Advisory Committee published three reports in January 2009:
An article in Environmental Leader outlines the conclusions of the reports. |
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| “Version Zero” of “Global Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Biofuels Production” |
Summary: "The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels" is pleased to present Version Zero of our principles and criteria for sustainable biofuels! Click here to download Version Zero and find out how to give feedback. The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels is an international initiative bringing together farmers, companies, non-governmental organizations, experts, governments, and inter-governmental agencies concerned with ensuring the sustainability of biofuels production and processing. The Roundtable is hosting a series of meetings, teleconferences, and online discussions with the aim of achieving global, multistakeholder consensus around the principles and criteria of sustainable biofuels production. |
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| Summary of the 2008 Farm Bill Energy Title |
After a Senate veto override of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 in May 2008, the new Farm Bill is now law. Summary: "among the highlights in the Energy Title are several programs strongly supported by ELPC, including: (1) improvements and better funding for REAP; (2) new funding for energy audits on farms (including REAP); (3) new cellulosic ethanol biorefinery financing; (4) energy crop incentives for growers; and (5) new funding for converting fossil fuel power to biomass."
Also, here is a set of resources from Brian W. Gould from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department of UW-Madison. |
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| Renewables Portfolio Standards in the United States: A Status Report with Data through 2007 |
April 2008 update of a report released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. The report, according to RenewableEnergyWorld.com,
says "a growing number of states are supporting renewable electricity through the creation of renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The report provides a comprehensive overview of early experience with these state-level RPS policies." It is a Powerpoint presentation. |
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| Policy Options for Integrated Energy and Agricultural Markets |
A Purdue University report by Wallace Tyner and Farzah Taheripour presented in February 2008, Summary (from Stu Ellis): "Pictures of a Middle East oil sheik may foster dislike, anger, frustration, and other negative emotions because they have control over the price we pay for crude oil and eventually gasoline. But standing beside the sheik in his white gown and distinctive head gear may be a Midwestern farmer with his own distinctive head gear with a seed corn logo. As the bio-fuels era moves into a higher gear, it is ironic these boys on the opposite ends of the love-hate spectrum could be in cahoots.
Their research shows there is a very low correlation between energy and agriculture, but when they correlate ethanol with either crude oil or gasoline, the correlation jumps to nearly 90%."
Stu Ellis, who works with the University of Illinois Extension on his blog has further reactions to the study here. (Word document) |
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| Assembly foes target biofuels |
From February 13, 2008, an article from the Capital Times from Madison. Summary: "Rep. Steve Nass might be one voice but he is having his impact in the Assembly Republican caucus that is attempting to schedule remaining session calender for items to be raised to vote on. Nass is trying to postpone a bill that would require require a 10 percent blend of renewable fuels in all motor fuels sold in Wisconsin starting in 2009." |
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| Policy Alternatives for the Future Biofuels Industry |
A December 2007 report in the special issue of Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization that focuses solely on biofuels, Abstract: "The recent boom in ethanol investment and production can be considered as an unintended consequence of an ethanol subsidy keyed to $20 crude oil and fixed at 51 cents per gallon combined with oil surging to $70/bbl. Thus, in the 2005-07 period, ethanol was extremely profitable inducing substantial new investment. For the future, different political action groups and political figures propose renewable fuels targets or standards ranging from 35 to 100 billion gallons per year. To achieve anything like these levels, it is likely that the current policy set will need to be reconsidered. In addition to the current policy, this paper considers using a subsidy tied to the energy security gains and greenhouse gas emission reductions provided by renewable fuels, subsidies targeted specifically at cellulose ethanol, and different versions of a renewable fuel standard such as the one passed by the US Senate. It is clear that we must develop a better understanding of the consequences of these alternative policy pathways." |
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Policy Alternatives for the Future Biofuels Industry |
The
Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization dedicated their December 2007 issue to Biofuels. This paper evaluates the current policies in place and discusses subsidies for cellulose ethanol as a way for developing a new renewable fuel standard. |
