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The National Renewable Energy Lab has released a technical report entitled, E85 Retail Business Case: When and Why to Sell E85. According to NREL,

The document identifies seven variables that can make E85 profitable and weighs their influence using a model NREL created based on a discounted cash flow analysis. These variables are:

• E85 equipment configuration
• E85 throughput
• Equipment costs
• Return on investment
• Maintenance and operation costs
• Base taxable income
• Annual throughput of mid-grade and premium

Knowing the relative influence of these variables helps retailers assess whether they are good candidates for an E85 project. The model also helps them estimate the minimum margin that they would need to make on each gallon of E85 in order to make their investment profitable.

All fifty governors signed on to a National Governor's Association letter asking congress to extend the renewable energy tax credits. The letter urges Congress to "extend, for at least five years, tax provisions that encourage the development of renewable energy sources and promote energy efficiency."

The letter also encouraged Congress to "continue to develop incentives for programs that help families and businesses use energy-efficient building techniques, materials, and equipment readily available in today's market. Extending incentives for energy efficiency and conservation will slow the growth of future energy needs, minimize ratepayer costs, and lessen potential environmental impacts"

The tax credits are a critical component in sustaining the renewable energy industry. Bart Ruth, policy committee chair of the 25x'25 National Steering Committee said, "The policies currently in place to develop and nurture non-fossil fuel based energy sources have been short term and in many cases intermittent. Such on-again, off-again policies have made long-term investment in new technologies and interest in renewable energy difficult to maintain," The full letter can be found here.

Southern Company has released a report detailing a series of tests conducted on co-firing green wood chips from whole and from approximately needle free pine trees. The purpose of the project was to "determine what level of processing of whole trees is required to successfully co-fire the chips in a boiler, and to evaluate the benefits and costs of wood processing compared with the effect of the fuel on the power plant." The tests were performed at Plant Gadsden in Gadsden, Alabama. From the report, summary results are as follows:

• Green wood chips were successfully co-fired in blends with coal between 8% and 15%
  wood by weight. Of the input fuel energy, 2.8% and 5.5% was from wood, and represented about 2.0 MW to 3.8 MW biomass power.
  
• Sulfur emissions were reduced, and particulates were no higher with co-firing. At normal operating condition, carbon monoxide emissions were unchanged. The measured impact on NOx emissions was small.
  
• With 10% co-firing, boiler efficiency was about the same as coal alone, while there was a slight reduction in efficiency with 15% wood.
  
• Higher moisture losses due to high wood moisture were offset or nearly offset by reduced dry gas losses up the stack.
  
• High moisture of the wood coal mixtures resulted in low mill temperatures and high mill bowl under pressures. This caused a 5% load derate when co-firing 15%.
  
• The coal-wood mixtures had much lower fuel energy to volume ratio than the baseline coal. The issues appear to have been related to the installation of new automatic controls. Stability issues were corrected in subsequent tests by tuning the fuel-steam pressure automatic controls.

The project was initiated by Southern Company & Alabama Power, USDA Forest Service, Forest Based Economic Development Services, University of Alabama, and Auburn University.

The full report can be found here.

A briefing from the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University seeks policy changes that "place a greater emphasis on food prices and greenhouse gas reductions," which would in turn encourage a "transition away from current feedstocks toward those that do not reduce our ability to produce food." The report offers two biomass options that can facilitate breaking the food and fuel link: (1) Capturing biomass that is currently treated as waste or is a co-product of existing production processes and (2) Growing biomass on land that is not suitable for food production or to grow the biomass without using land at all (algae, for example). The report also offers three policy options that would further encourage the use of non-food biomass:

• Placing a hard cap on ethanol made from corn and on biodiesel made from refined vegetable oil.
• Target tax credits and fuel standards depending on the impact each biofuel feedstock has on food prices.
• Fund further research programs for biofuel feedstocks.

The full briefing can be found here.

The Energy Information Administration has released the International Energy Outlook 2008. The Outlook projects 50 percent growth in energy use between 2003 and 2030. It also projects a 50 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions during the same period with current policy regulations. The EIA attributes this growth to "robust economic growth and expanding populations in the world's developing countries." While the report does project a 2 percent increase in hydroelectricity and renewable energy use, coal and natural gas consumption also increase by 2 and 1.7 percent. To learn more, read the press release and the full report.

In May 2008, the Brookings Institute released their report Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America. The report quantifies transportation and residential carbon emissions in the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in 2000 and 2005. According to the report, "Residential density and the availability of public transit are important to understanding carbon footprints, as were the carbon intensity of electricity generation, electricity prices, and weather." Metro areas east of the Mississippi were relatively worse in GHG emissions. And the South particularly, had the largest carbon footprints of any region in both 2000 and 2005. In addition to system-wide changes, such as pricing carbon, establishing and RFS, and increasing R&D, the report also offered more particular suggestions for reducing GHG emissions in metro areas. These policy options included:

• Promoting more transportation choices;
• Introducing more energy-efficient freight operations;
• Requiring home energy cost disclosure when selling and "on-bill" financing;
• Using federal housing policy to create incentives for energy and location efficient decisions; and
  
• Issuing a metropolitan challange to induce innovative solutions.

The full report can be found here.

Texas A&M's Agricultural and Food Policy Center analyzed the effect of ethanol on Texas food and feed in April 2008. The report found that "the underlying force driving changes in the agricultural industry ... is overall higher energy costs, evidenced by $100 per barrel oil." Oil prices have gone from $35 per barrel in 2005 to over $100 per barrel in 2008. Other findings include:

• Rising energy costs has led to higher costs of production for corn producers, resulting in fewer corn acres planted.
  
• Food items like bread, eggs, and milk have higher prices unrelated to ethanol or corn prices, but are a result of higher world demands.
• The livestock industry has borne the cost of higher corn prices for feed and have yet to be able to pass those costs on due to the structure of the industry.

The full report can be found here.

Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman and Secretary of Agriculture Edward Schafer teamed up to respond to Senator John Bingaman's questions regarding ethanol's impact on food prices and gasoline prices. The letter can be found here and a DOE fact sheet showing how biofuels has helped keep gas prices lower can be found here. 

Vinod Khosla, the founder of Sun Microsystems, now runs Khosla Ventures with a priority on green technology, and specifically cellulosic ethanol. Below are a list of white papers looking at current ethanol issues:

Pragmentalists v. Environmentalists - Are hybrids reducing carbon emissions as much as we think they are? A comparison of the carbon reductions provided by current (and future) hybrid vehicles, vehicles run on cellulosic ethanol, and current gasoline powered vehicles.

Food vs Food - A response to the Foreign Affairs magazine article entitled "How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor."

More white papers can be found at the Khosla Ventures website.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) recently released the report Cornerstones: Building a Secure Foundation for North Carolina's Energy Future. The report recommends North Carolina take specific policy steps to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent in 2030. The recommendations fall under the four categories of energy efficiency, clean energy, pollution capture, and long-range planning. The full report can be found here.