85 liters of ethanol per each tonne (metric) of sugarcane harvested. This is the output of a standard sugarcane ethanol plant. As we know, 45 percent of Brazilian fuel needs are covered by ethanol. Of course, what once was thought as the easy solution to replace fossil fuels is now being blamed for a dramatic rise in food prices (or not), by as much as 86 percent. However, we found an article that states that only one feedstock has maintained prices since 2006: sugarcane.

Then there are the surface constraints. UNICA (the Brazilian association of sugarcane producers) states that only 1 percent of Brazil's agricultural land is used to produce ethanol, yet it supplies 45 percent of the country's fuel needs. UNICA also says that there's about seven times more land available from rough surfaces that can't be used for anything else, not to mention that they can plant different species of sugarcane which produce throughout the year.

Therefore UNICA's answer is "yes," ethanol is still a good alternative

[Source: El Mundo via Madrid+d]

Click to view a hi-res gallery of the Volvo C30 Green Racer

In the campaign to make racing greener, the World Touring Car Championship has been a leader. Following the example set by its sister company Audi at Le Mans, Volkswagen's Spanish subsidiary Seat began taking race wins in the WTCC in diesel-powered Leons. But the series has announced it is beginning to phase in ethanol, and of all the carmakers in the world, Volvo has stepped up to the plate.

We brought you initial news of the C30 Flexifuel Green Racer when it was unveiled for the local Swedish Touring Car Championship, in which it has already been winning races against fossil-fuel regulars. Volvo has now revealed, however, that the Green Racer is heading to the top-tier World Touring Car Championship. The event will be a one-off demonstration for the time being, as the Volvo won't be eligible for points and will only compete in the one race, next weekend at Brands Hatch. For both Volvo and the WTCC, however, it should be an interesting exercise. Check out the press release after the jump and the images in the gallery below.

[Source: Volvo]

Driving around South Carolina and Iowa in a flex-fuel vehicle? Time for you to fill up your tank with E85 at a promotional price on Wednesday, July 23, a Kum & Go station in Elk Point, South Dakota. The stations with the odd spelling are offering E85 for $1.85 a gallon. The following day, July 24, the Kum & Go in Sloan, Iowa is matching the deal offered at the South Dakota station. Both fuel promotions begin at 10 a.m. and end at 2 p.m., and are being sponsored by Kum & Go, the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest and the Iowa and South Dakota Clean Air Choice Teams. Thanks to Bob for the tip.

[Source: Clean Air Choice]

A recent paper by Wally Tyner published by Purdue University shows that, at least for Corn Belt states (like Indiana), corn stover could be a better cellulosic ethanol source than switchgrass. The paper considers the cost and prospective profits of whether a farmer could decide to plant and sell corn and corn stover, or plant switchgrass. The answer is clear to the author: corn is more productive, the soil quality is low, in which case switchgrass becomes the winner. There is also a consideration about the location of ethanol plants: they need to be near the feedstock, because corn is easily transported but corn stover and switchgrass are not.

Although you can check the complete report for the all the figures, take this statement by Tyner as an example of his summary: "With $6 and higher per bushel corn it [cellulosic ethanol] is already very close economically. And since the federal Renewable Fuels Standard calls for the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, of which 16 billion gallons have to be cellulose, cellulosic ethanol will advance."

[Source: Purdue]

What Ford has done with its Econetic moniker and Volkswagen has done it with its BlueMotion name, Citroën will attempt to copy by releasing its Airdream collection of vehicles. From its smallest model, the diminutive C1, to the full-size Grand C4 Picasso, expect to see the Airdream badge on as many as fifty models. While we are all for notifying consumers of added technology or features which improve the environmentally friendliness of a vehicle, we wonder out loud if Citroën's Airdream label is spread a bit too thin on this many vehicles. After all, the criteria which is used to determine a model's suitability for the badge seems a bit arbitrary:

• CO₂ emissions of less than 120g/km or,
• Fitted with diesel particulate filter system (DPFS) with CO₂ below 158g/km or,
• Run on superethanol E85 or,
• Fitted with Stop & Start technology
  

And:

• Manufactured in an ISO 14001 certified factory.
• Designed to be 95% recoverable (recycling and energy recovery) at end of life.

So, by fitting stop/start on a vehicle which emits way more than 120g/km of carbon emissions, the vehicle will still qualify for the Airdream badge. Doesn't sound all that impressive. The Citroen press release is after the jump.

[Source: Citroën]

The National Governors Association is teaming up with General Motors to promote the expansion of E85 distribution around the country. While no one seriously expects the corn-based ethanol that we have today to be anything more than a very small piece of the fuel puzzle, GM is firmly committed to next-generation biofuels. Since the start of this year, GM has made equity investments in two different companies (Coskata and Maskoma) developing processes to produce low-cost cellulosic ethanol.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announced the agreement at the NGA meeting in Philadelphia. Pawlenty has been a major proponent of biofuels in his own state, having recently proposed making all gasoline sold be a 20-percent ethanol blend. Under the agreement, GM will work with state governments to determine where best to locate E85 pumps to make them most accessible to drivers of flex-fuel vehicles. Currently there are just under 1,700 E85 pumps available nationwide out of the total of 170,000 filling stations. The intent of this partnership is to ensure that over the next few years as cellulosic ethanol gets commercialized, there will be easily-accessible locations where drivers of the millions of flex-fuel vehicles on the road can get biofuel. The GM press release is included after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

The new backlash against ethanol as a fuel is causing the premier of Canada's largest province to rethink a plan that would have doubled the ethanol content of gasoline fuels by 2010. With more and more people blaming the diversion of food to fuel production for skyrocketing food prices, a lot of the support for biofuels is starting to fade. Premier Dalton McGuinty is the latest to reverse course on a plan that would have required 10 percent ethanol content in gasoline by 2010. Leaders at the G8 summit in Japan this week declared that food security needed to take priority over biofuels. McGuinty has now decided that food costs need to be looked before the E10 plan moves forward. He wants to make sure the province's biofuel plans don't contribute to increased costs of food.

[Source: Globe and Mail]

Click above on the Ego concept for more images of VW's 2028 concepts

Apparently, Volkswagen thinks its time for another weird and wacky look into the future. This time, the German automaker is gazing just twenty years ahead. The results of its future look are three virtual concept cars. Yes, all three are capable of driving themselves, as you would likely imagine. As would be expected of any self-respecting gaze into the future, petroleum is not part of the picture. In its place are biofuels for those who simply must have liquid fuels and, of course, electricity. We feel pretty confident that these projections are possible, but that's right about where any semblance to reality ends.

After taking a leisurely stroll through the über clean park, a father and his son are reminded that it is time to leave by a hologram. What car to have delivered? The VW One wouldn't do, as it only seats a single occupant. The VW Room is overkill, as it is intended for an entire family. So, the son chooses to summon an Ego, a two-seater sportscar concept complete with user-defined green flames.

[Source: Volkswagen 2028]

The Autoblog Green Podcast has finally reached our second dozen! Sebastian and Sam kicked it just before the July 4th holiday, and touched on the Tesla sedan, fuel prices making a possible case for economical vehicles to consumers, ethanol from invasive species, and the possibility of GM dusting off the EV1. Most importantly, the new design of AutoblogGreen is discussed a little bit, too. Thanks for listening, see you again soon!

SUBSCRIBE to the AutoblogGreen Podcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the AutoblogGreen Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator

Maybe it's a good thing that American biofuel plants are filing for bankruptcy protection. According to a previously secret report conducted by the World Bank and obtained by the Guardian newspaper, biofuel production is hugely responsible for the food price crisis. How much? The report - the "most detailed analysis of the crisis so far," in the Guardian's words - says that biofuels caused global food prices to rise by 75 percent. This is much higher than previous estimates. Food Before Fuel estimated a 30 percent influence, and the Guardian says the U.S. government claims that biofuels were responsible for just a three percent rise.

The kicker? The report was finished in April but has been kept secret "to avoid embarrassing President George Bush," the Guardian writes. We wouldn't want that, now, would we?

Requiring ethanol and biodiesel in national fuel supplies helped push costs up, but sugarcane ethanol from Brazil did not play as big a role. All the more reason to bring out the second-gen biofuels as soon as feasible. Read more here.

[Source: Guardian]

In the past year, Italian high performance icon Ferrari has increasingly showed signs of succumbing to the pressures of the modern world of transportation. At the Detroit Auto Show in January, the Ferrari displayed what was labeled as an E85-fueled F430 Spyder and last year showed a mock up of a lightweight concept dubbed MilleChile. Speaking to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo once again proclaimed the company's commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption.

Montezemolo declared that a road-going hybrid Ferrari would be on the market by 2015 and the company intended to reduce CO₂ emissions by 40 percent by 2012. Bringing technology from race programs to the road is nothing new for Ferrari. This is a company that truly lives the motto "Racing improves the breed." From advanced variable intake systems to automated manual transmissions, Ferrari road cars feed the Formula One program with cash and feed off the advancements. The latest is the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) being developed for the F1 cars. KERS is a regenerative braking system and it's not known is if Ferrari is planning to use a flywheel-based system or electrical energy storage. Either, way Montezemolo has committed to maintaining the character of Ferrari while making the cars cleaner at the same time.


[Source: AFP via Sydney Morning Herald]

Fourth of July equals fireworks, parades and, if the Brazilian sugarcane growers - represented by UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association - get their way, a reduced or eliminated ethanol import tariff. UNICA is calling on the U.S. Congress to eliminate the 54-cent tariff on each imported gallon of ethanol. Doing so, they argue, would reduce the cost of using cars for U.S. drivers as UNICA's "Are We There Yet?" campaign will try to prove. After all, UNICA says, the ethanol tariff is a relic from 1980 and was never meant to be permanent anyway.

UNICA's website, which features the oh-so-subtle graphic seen above, doesn't highlight how badly American ethanol producers would be hurt by letting Brazilian ethanol flow more cheaply in U.S. pumps. Still, if cheaper gas is the result, then I'm sure not many drivers will really care where their fuel comes from (see also *cough* Wal-Mart *cough* China). Read more after the jump.

[Source: UNICA]

Holidays in the U.S. are used for so much more than celebrating. We've got President's day sales, the Christmas shopping season, special Easter candy flavors (notice a trend?). For the Fourth of July, something to do with being free is often in order, and this year the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has decided that it's energy independence that we need to focus on as a country, dagnabit.

EPIC has put out a statement calling for "unity in search of solutions." By coming together, fellow Americans, EPIC thinks that July 4th could become Energy Independence Day, with ethanol and other renewables for all. A few smarter driving sacrifices (if you can call consolidating trips when gas is at $4/gallon a sacrifice) and increased biofuel output would shift the balance of domestic vs. foreign energy sources to a more homegrown one.

Note: if we're going to be using corn to make all of this ethanol, let's not forget that October 16 is World Food Day.

[Source: EPIC]

The man who may or may not ever step up to the British throne has been keeping busy while his mother keeps his new seat warm. As wealthy people are wont to do, Britain's Prince Charles has a number of vehicles at his disposal. As a very public person, he has been trying to set an example by reducing the carbon footprint of his transportation fleet. Last year he had his Range Rover and Jaguar converted to run on biodiesel. Now he has decided to put some surplus British wine to use by having to distilled into ethanol to feed his Aston Martin. His Royal Highness has a 38 year old Aston Martin DB6 Volante that is now fueled by E100. The Aston only gets 8.3mpg (U.S.) on gas and will get less than that on ethanol. However, Charles only drives it about 300 miles a year so the overall effect is negligible at best. The vineyard that produces the wine is limited in how much it can bottle by EU quotas, so the leftovers are distilled to produce fuel.

[Source: This Is London]

This is not the time to be betting on first-generation biofuels. Add up the increasing cost of feedstocks and an overall tough economy and it's no great surprise that "going yellow," as it were, is not the easy path that some made it seem a year or so ago. The reality is hitting home. According to Reuters, about a dozen biofuel plants across the U.S. have filed for bankruptcy protection thanks to corn shooting up to $8 a bushel and ethanol's "miserable profit margins." The affected plants are mostly small or mid-sized facilities, a biofuels expert told Reuters, and he said he expected more to announce bankruptcy soon.

On top of the financial problems, many ethanol plants are only operating at 50 percent capacity and previously-announced plants are being stalled or stopped completely. Who knows how much longer blending E85 into gasoline at the pump will be a way to save a few bucks.

[Source: Reuters]