Free Republic

I’ve written more articles about the problems with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) here than I can count. What’s largely been lacking in this discussion is any sort of reasonable compromise that could be offered to supporters of this system other than a winner-take-all battle. Of course, the ethanol lobby has been so uncompromising in their demands, that most offers would be brushed off anyway. Still, there might be a path forward that could keep the ethanol companies in business while doing away with the RFS entirely. This is a subject that Forbes energy analyst Robert Rapier has been tackling...

Ad Makes Bogus Claim About Cruz Support for Oil SubsidiesHOUSTON, Texas - The Cruz for President Campaign today sent a letter to Iowa radio stations requesting they stop running a false ad placed by America's Renewable Future, a lobbyist group that wants to keep taxpayer subsidies going to the ethanol industry.The ad falsely claims, "Politicians like Ted Cruz support subsidies for Big Oil, but want to end support for ethanol.""It is blatantly false to suggest that Sen. Cruz wants to end the Renewable Fuel Standard while maintaining subsidies for oil," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said. "Cruz has repeatedly stated that...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -A Massachusetts biotechnology company says it can produce the fuel that runs Jaguars and jet engines using the same ingredients that make grass grow. Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels. What can it mean? No less than "energy independence," Joule's web site tells...

A Canadian company has developed a new, more efficient process to make the alternative fuel ethanol from farm waste. With today's high oil prices, experts hope the new technology could reduce demand on fossil fuels and increase energy security. "In the past, ethanol fuel use has been limited, because the cost of production was too high," said Jim Easterly, a Washington, D.C.-based bioenergy consultant. "Ethanol produced from corn kernels and wheat grain has historically been more expensive than gasoline produced from oil." Producing corn-based ethanol, for example, uses energy from oil and electricity for everything from growing the corn to...