Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX)
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- Ethanol: Our Answer to Reducing U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil [view article]
- Alternative Energy Investors See High Oil Prices as Temporary [view article]
- Best and Worst Performing Stocks Seven Months Into 2008 [view article]
- Growth in Corn Harvest Means Good News for Ethanol Producers [view article]
- Cramer: "Ethanol Is a Fuel That Doesn't Work" [view article]
- US Markets Rise as Alt. Energy Indices & Commodities Fall (Wk Ending 8/8) [view article]
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [view article]
- EPA Rejects Congress's Ethanol Waiver [view article]
- Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
- Ethanol Stock as Cheap as an Ear of Corn? [view article]
- Obama's Misguided Ethanol Policy [view article]
- Majority of Americans Support Ethanol [view article]
loading ...Recent PEIX Articles
- Pacific Ethanol: Market Growth and Increase in Production to the Rescue
- Ethanol: Our Answer to Reducing U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil
- Growth in Corn Harvest Means Good News for Ethanol Producers
- US Markets Rise as Alt. Energy Indices & Commodities Fall (Wk Ending 8/8)
- Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
- EPA Rejects Congress's Ethanol Waiver
- Ethanol Stock as Cheap as an Ear of Corn?
- Best and Worst Performing Stocks Seven Months Into 2008
- Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed?
- Majority of Americans Support Ethanol
- Full List of Articles »
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Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
Subsidy Eye,I appreciate your comments on my "analysis". You have valid points. I will reply on the acreage note, looking at the graphs is is fairly obvious that from 06 to 07 farmers elected to plant corn instead of soybeans. Note that soybean acreage fell quite a bit. I grew up in Iowa and farmers their plant either corn or soybeans depending on what they believe will be most profitable. Also, the first graph in you link shows total planted acreage for all crops pretty level for the last several years and well below the amount planted in the 1980's.
In regards to Brazilian ethanol I find it very hard to believe that the U.S. Congress would ever pass legislation that would benefit Brazilian agriculture at the disadvantage of U.S. farmers. Think about it. Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
Bouzerdad: The Amish use, essentially, organic growing methods. Great if more producers can adopt those, but lot's of luck. The percentage of U.S. land planted to corn on farms that are certified organic is a fraction of 1%. ReplyIs the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
Hey, I believe the Ahmish figured out how to grow corn without diesal fuel......lets see what new technology they employ ......or just buy from them....point being the way we historically do things is not necessitate that they will always be the best practice. Lots of efficiencies will be gained as demand and competition increases. Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
It's a fact of life, and will only get worse... the taxes on oil companies will only rise.Someday soon, I fear that the US Gov will finally do the currently "unthinkable"... confiscate effectively all profits from public energy companies... with a 90%+ tax rate.
They will use their "Warts on Terriers" justification. It will be speechified that back during WWI & WWII there were "dollar a year men", and that nobody should profit while the "Wart" is on.
Of course, by then, marginal personal income tax rates will probably be over 75%, social sec taxes will be over 25%, unemployment will be 50%+ (except for government employee types)...
And smart Americans will already be living and working in Russia, sending care packages by DHL back to their unlucky brethren. Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
The myth of big oil subsides is just that a myth. There aren't any except for the same tax deductions any company gets. The fact is oil companies collect and pay nearly 3 times as much in taxes as they net in income, much of which is distributed to their shareholders (us), the rest goes into reinvestment and exploration.Last quarter for example Exxon-Mobile Paid $32 Billion in taxes and there net profit was $11.6 Billion. So if you want wind-fall profits just look to the government there take is all wind-fall. Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
I'm increasingly under the impression that Tim Plaehn just pulls his information from thin air. He writes,"Has anyone figured how much more energy farmers are using to harvest the same amount of corn that they harvested before ethanol became a major user of corn. I would guess that energy usage in the farm belt has not changed since the ethanol boom. The corn raised is just going for a different purpose. The same number of corn acreage is still being planted."
This is an interesting comment in itself, because if it were true, it would underscore the argument that fuel is competing with food (or, to be accurate, feed). But the same corn acreage is NOT being planted. New acreage, some not previously plowed (e.g., former pastures or orchards), has been planted to corn over the last several years. Other acres have been planted to corn that were previously planted to wheat or soybeans. Overall, 19.5% more acres were planted to corn in 2007/08 than in 2006/07. See the graphs on this USDA web page:
www.ers.usda.gov/brief...
Generally, corn requires more fertilizer and more machinery fuel per acre (not necessarily per ton) than wheat. Not a lot more, but some more. And certainly corn cultivation requires a lot more fuel than grazing cattle.
Tim Plaehn then claims,
"[A]t the present time Brazil has enough excess ethanol capacity to provide less than 10% of the U.S. demand and are already shipping most of their excess capacity to the U.S. It would take them several years to tear up enough rain forest to plant enough sugar and build enough plants to make a major dent in the U.S. usage."
This is a self-serving argument, one frequently used by protectionists: "There is no point in lowering trade barriers, because our foreign competitors wouldn't have the capacity to supply us!" Well, if that would be the case, what's the worry? But of course, this is circular logic. If Brazil could count on trade barriers staying down, it would of course build up that capacity.
But that capacity would bot be in the Amazon but in the Cerrado (Brazil's savannah). Despite Brazilian experts explaining this to every person they meet, I guess that fact hasn't yet registered with Tim. Reply
Best and Worst Performing Stocks Seven Months Into 2008 [view article]
Nice article, but more informative would be using the same criteria for the last 6 - 7 weeks. ReplyEthanol Stock as Cheap as an Ear of Corn? [view article]
Vse, from riches to rags, just in stock price not in prospects. Watching this one in particular.Falling commodity prices will limit perceived upside for now. Reply
Ethanol Stock as Cheap as an Ear of Corn? [view article]
Charlie. Why do you keep posting that question? Farrell committed suicide.www.ktvu.com/news/1592...
I have spoken with colleagues who knew him well. His death was surprising, and tragic, but nobody can ever know really knows what drives a person to take his own life. Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
My, my. Leave you alone for a day and all heck busts loose without me and My own off the Cuff Big Mouth.What matters to me is "what will continue to happen to my corn-fed Cattle?" I mean I already have to pay 50% more for Rib Eye. I used to be able to get 10 ears of corn for a buck as little as 4 years ago, now if I'm lucky its only 5.
But that's just my rant, I love steak. The more marbled, the better.
Other than the price rise in food across the world, which coincidently began with Congress and the absurd thought that food should be a viable subsitute for lack of foresight, I have heard that Ethanol Fires are extremely hard to extinguish.
Could either of you distinguished erodites give me an answer regarding car crashes involving Ethanol fires.
Do all fire departments carry the chemicals necessary to extinguish them or is it a case of "Burn, baby burn". If the latter, then I would say the Infrastructure for Corn Ethanol has a long ways to go. Reply
Peters
Ethanol Stock as Cheap as an Ear of Corn? [view article]
What was the cause of death of Alexander Farrell, 46, expert on alternative fuels?www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin...
Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
ElCid: Pretty good assessment.The biggest asset Ethanol has is the Farmers-Corn Lobby in D.C.
Everyone knows Corn doesn't hold a candle to sugar for efficiency or yield.
But as you said we need all the niche players in this "Whole new Game" .
We're going from one big player to a team and with no depth in the bench every 2% player has to be suited up!. Reply
or
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
You all are giving the US Congress (with around 20% approval ratings) way too much credibility.I strongly believe that the ethanol mandate will not be repealed simply because of significantly lower corn prices AND the fact that the infrastructure is already mostly in place to produce and distribute corn-based ethanol.
While it is definitely not the most efficient or socially responsible form of biofuel, it will be in the peripheral focus of US energy policy because the US has an enormous competitive advantage in corn production, as the US produces about 43% of the world's corn.
Cellulosic ethanol, wind power, solar power, biodiesel, sugar-based ethanol, clean coal, nuclear power, LNG, GTL, and even some algae tech I've read about lately should all be used as the US seeks to diversify away from "foreign oil." A modern economy is one of diversification, and with energy driving economic growth, there is no reason the US should have been dependent on oil for this long.
I could rant on and on about how I believe in supply-side economics, but I'll leave it with this: the US government needs to create a legal and tax environment that accommodates alternative energy research, development, production, distribution, and implementation and PE/VC money from Silicon Valley to Boston and everywhere in between will fund it and make some new billionaires along the way.
Never underestimate three things: human ingenuity, human creativity, and human greed...
Cheers Reply
Is the Ethanol Mandate Likely to be Repealed? [view article]
From a Chemical Engineer with good knowledge of the process of distilling ethanol...______________________...
"...The energy balance for ethanol production is a matter of some controversy. Typical energy input for a state-of-the-art process like the one I have described is about 34,000 BTU per gallon of fuel ethanol. Average ethanol input for actual plants in operation, most of which are older and not state of the art, is considerable higher at about 52,000 BTU/gal. Many plants are old or small and do not use molecular sieve dryers for ethanol purification, relying on a third distillation step that consumes more energy than the dryers. Older plants also do not feature all the energy recycling and can require 80,000 or more BTU to produce a gallon of fuel ethanol. As the energy content of ethanol is about 84,000 BTU/gallon, these old plants sometime consumed more energy to make the ethanol than what was contained in the product. Even the state-of-the art process requires energy equal to about 40% of the energy in the product to manufacture fuel ethanol. The effect of plant efficiency has affected the conclusions of studies looking at the total energy efficiency of corn to ethanol conversion..."
______________________...
I had stated over 30,000 btu per gallon ethanol as a good estimate of distillation EROEI input-quant... I also pointed out that those who did not well design systems (as state of the art here shows) would probably expend much more, witness the evidence of Mr. Miller's chosen study... it required roughly 3 times what state of the art systems described above use.... but, (and to you too, Mr. Miller) you see, these values as I at first projected and then teased from your chosen study data prove what is required...
And remember, this is simply the distillation step... all other processing inputs are ignored.
Giving Ethanol refiners tax credits encourages wasteful practices and bad engineering design justified by banker logic... money as the end all and be all.
Back in the late 70's, Smoky Yunick (who else alive reading SA besides me knows who Smoky even is, I wonder...) said that someday mankind would come to it's senses and use BTU's as a currency, instead of mythical electronic notional currency units, such as the unbacked dollar really is. He observed that it would change behavior, worldwide, for the better. Wasteful practices that "seemed smart by bankers" would be exposed for the fraud that it truly was.
Smoky was right. The hypesters and banksters are wrong.
Reply
Best and Worst Performing Stocks Seven Months Into 2008 [view article]
Banks and Broker firms wrapped toxic waste i.e.: subprime, credit card debt, car loans, etc. into structured finance vehicles i.e.: CDO-ABS-MBS-SIVs and misled the market into buying them and bond insurers into insure them and now they have to clear their books from this toxic waste which is going to take time quarter after quarter but without a doubt will improve their book value. Reply