News Articles

The FT has two reports on new developments in the Brazilian ethanol market.  First:

Cosan, Brazil’s biggest sugar and ethanol producer, has agreed to buy the Esso chain of filling stations in Brazil from ExxonMobil for $826m plus $198m in debt. The deal represents the first big investment by a sugar and ethanol producer in retail fuel distribution.

Cosan’s acquisition of Esso comes as sales of fuel ethanol have overtaken sales of gasoline in the country for the first time, including the use of ethanol as an additive in gasoline of up to 25 per cent by volume.

Full article here (subscription required).

And second:

BP (British Petroleum) announced plans to invest $560m in biofuels on Thursday and argued that its proposals to develop ethanol production from sugar cane in Brazil would not affect food supplies. The oil group plans to spend $60m buying a 50 per cent stake in a Brazilian joint venture and invest a further $500m in two ethanol refineries.

Full article here (subscription required).

These show the continued acceleration of investments in the alternative fuels industry and regions pursuing energy strategies should note the major players and size of the deals.

From today's EDA Newsletter is a story about clean energy in NW Florida:

EDA Investment Spurs Environmental and Economic Benefits

When Green Circle Bio Energy Inc. decided to open a new wood pellet plant, it chose Cottondale, Florida, in Jackson County. This rural county in Florida's panhandle is now emerging as an alternate energy industry cluster, following an economic transition due to a declining timber industry and a changing agricultural base.

Strong regional leadership in the area was also instrumental in creating this alternate energy industry cluster. Investing nearly $1.2 million, the U.S. Economic Development Administration's assistance to this region has included water, sewer, and road infrastructure improvements to attract new businesses. Now, Green Circle Bio Energy Inc. has invested $93 million to construct the new alternative energy production facility. This wood pellet facility will produce an annual capacity of 560,000 tons of wood pellets to be supplied to central heating companies and the power generating industry for co-firing in coal based power plants. The wood pellets, made from sawdust and pulpwood, help reduce fossil fuel use and subsequent CO2 emissions, providing a cleaner alternative energy source. Over 50 new direct jobs – and an additional 100 jobs generated by suppliers – are expected as a result of this wood pellet facility.

This will be the largest wood pellet production company in North America, and 100 percent of its production is under contract for export to Europe. The facility considered locating in Russia and South America, but after much analysis, chose to locate in Florida's panhandle, close to the raw materials needed to produce its pellets. A first-of-its-magnitude initiative, it will eventually export these pellets across the globe. Not only will the facility use energy saving methods in its construction, but will also be powered with electricity from the local Waste Management landfill, and tree bark from the pulpwood will fuel the furnaces.

Rising gas and oil prices and growing concerns of climate change are creating a growing demand for energy alternatives. Forward-thinking businesses, such as Green Circle Bio Energy are capitalizing on this demand and are finding that environmental considerations are not a hindrance to the bottom line, but rather, a source of innovation and an opportunity for growth. In the case of Green Circle Bio Energy, this growth will aid in transitioning northern Florida to more efficient alternative fuel choices, while also creating more higher-skill, higher-wage jobs as the company builds more and continues to engage in the worldwide marketplace.

For more information on Green Circle Bio Energy Inc., visit: www.greencirclebio.com/index.php

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The leaders of Detroit's regional efforts are promoting the idea of sustainability as a job generator: Going green can help grow new jobs

If you are interested, a couple of new reports came out last week. Pittsburgh held Good Jobs, Green Jobs national conference last week. Read more.

During the conference, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy released Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy.

In addition, the Apollo Alliance released a report on green collar jobs. 

In Montana, farmers are being trained on how to plant camelina, a  promising crop for the production of biofuels.

Farmers who plant camelina for the first time can get their seed costs reimbursed if they farm in the 32 counties of northern and eastern Montana covered by WIRED Montana's Agro Energy Plan.

The reimbursement program covers camelina seed costs of up to $1.30 per pound for a minimum of 10 acres and a maximum of 80 acres at seeding rates of three to five pounds per acre.

For more on how this innovation is moving into the market, read more. 

The web site of the Montana State University's Agricultural Marketing Center also contains tools to help farmers evaluate the biofuels option.

One supporter of the project is Bruce Bainbridge, an economist at Dawson Community College in Glendive. Bainbridge, who manages the DCC Clean Fuels Wired Grant, said he has been using the materials Schumacher has put on the Web to help individuals who are considering biofuels production.

Read more . 

You can visit the MSU web site to explore some of the briefing papers on biofuel production. 

David Widawsky at the EPA is launching a project this spring to map assets related to the greening of the U.S. workforce. He's got an intern in tow, and he has started her on a mapping exercise that includes "a physical and conceptual mapping of assets around type of partners (federal, state, local, private, NGO), type and level of funding, industry or sector, and several other factors."

This project is a prototype. David is hoping to define some useful frameworks for mapping these assets and sharing the information so others can connect to these assets more easily. 

If you have any interest in this project, connect with Linda Fowler at Fowler.Linda.M@dol.gov.  

The latest issue of EDA's magazine, Economic Development America, is themed Regional Strategies, Local Action, Global Success.  It has contributions from several familiar groups, including a specific discussion on the Central and Eastern Montana WIRED region.

It can be found here . (PDF)