California is in the fourth year of severe drought, a condition which visited the US Midwest just two summers ago. With water scarcity increasing around the globe, how can agriculture cope, and what can the technologies of the advanced bioeconomy do to help? This week, we’ve been photographing a surge in roadrunners roaming our small […]
Targeting the extraction of hemicellulose from wood chips, replacing chemical process. In Quebec, Cascades Inc. announced the company’s investment in a new technology at its Norampac – Cabano facility. This innovative new process – a Canadian first – is used to extract hemicellulose, a cellulosic sugar with high value-added potential, from wood chips. This $26M […]
Proposed consent decree offers timelines for ethanol, advanced fuels through 2016, biobased diesel through 2017. In Washington, the EPA released a proposed consent decree in litigation brought against EPA by, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), that would establish the following schedule for issuing Renewable Fuel Standards for […]
In Washington, news filtered out from the Pentagon today that the Rocky Mountain/ West Coast advanced biofuels solicitation is now posted on the FedBizOpps website (www.fbo.gov). This solicitation will be for fuel deliveries from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2016. As you will read in the solicitation, vendors can submit bids with a minimum […]
In “The Iowa Renaissance” we looked at the rise in Iowa’s fortune through development of bioenergy and its sustainable agricultural base. Today, we look at how Minnesota, too, has been experiencing success via its bioeconomy, and how and why. The traditional view of “Minnesota”? A giant metropolis in the Twin Cities, replete with giant ag-focused corporations like […]
Amazing questions get asked at ABLC — and except for attendees, you generally don’t hear them, or the answers. Let’s change that. With great sessions at conferences, delegates are usually keen to get a hold of the powerpoint decks. But how do you get a hold of the great Q&A that follows the presentations — or […]
Why not use the materials we don’t need, to produce the fuels we do need? The Digest looks at the hard data. Wherever you look, there are concerns about energy production — cost, infrastructure, environment, emissions, and water impact, just to name a few. No matter what energy system you develop, it seems like someone will […]
Though representing just 1.3% of the US GDP, if the farm sector has a major impact on US economic health, it may tie back to what economists call “the wealth effect”. In today’s Digest, we look at “the wealth effect” and why political uncertainty over the Renewable Fuel Standard might lead to economic uncertainty, and impact on the […]
As part of the Digest’s deeper dive into the origins of Iowa’s economic Renaissance, we sat down in Ankeny, Iowa last week for a conversation with long-time Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. A native of Leland, Governor Terry Branstad was elected to the Iowa House in 1972, ’74 and ’76, and elected as Iowa’s lieutenant governor in […]
Though challenges remain, particularly in affordable feedstock, the US National Research Council says “Despite impressive recent and projected growth, the manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand even faster.” The Digest looks at the Report. In Washington, the National Research Council arm of the National Academies has released its report, “Industrialization of […]
