They can be much smaller and more localized than this - Butterfield's on-farm set-up makes 70,000 to 75,000 gallons a year.
Ethanol Plants vs. Oil Refineries: Security in Numbers As ethanol's market potential expands because more and more states formally implement bans on the fuel additive MTBE, more and more ethanol production facilities are being built. What's interesting about this economic development story is the fact that when you compare ethanol plants and gasoline refineries on a per gallon basis you begin to see what a dispersed energy production system looks like. Smaller, more numerous plants that are more rooted in the communities in which they're located and provide a larger geographic area with economic benefits. According to BBI International, as of September 2002, the U.S. had 67 ethanol plants that had annual production of 2.6 billion gallons per year (an average of 38.8 million gallons per plant). On the other side of the equation are about 145 oil refineries that produce 130 billion gallons of gasoline (an average of 800 million gallons per facility). Having most of our petroleum eggs in a limited number of baskets seem to present significant risks to our nation's energy security. Ethanol and other renewable fuels offer a significant advantage and value over fossil fuels because most plants are smaller and they are widely dispersed. More: Models of State Ethanol Programs http://www.newrules.org/de/1002de.html New Rules Project - Bulletins - Democratic Energy October 2002 Small-Scale Ethanol Production Models of State Ethanol Programs The conversion of biomass into ethanol provides farmers an additional market for their crops. Over the years, many federal and state rules have been developed to promote ethanol production for use in industry and reformulated gasoline. While this page does not include an exhaustive list of ethanol incentives, the rules on this page are unique in that they encourage ethanol production on a small scale. A decentralized, rural ethanol industry tends to favor a greater number of farmers over a wider area. Production credits for smaller ethanol facilities also promotes the formation of farmer-owned ethanol cooperatives that further increase returns to farmers. RULES * Hawaii Ethanol Investment Tax Credits In early 2000, legislation passed in Hawaii to provide tax credits for the production of ethanol in the state. The new law will help sugar growers on Kauai and Maui by offering incentives to use molasses and other wastes as the feedstock for ethanol. Supporters also hope the possibility of using municipal solid waste as a feedstock will cut down on the amount of waste being landfilled. More... * Minnesota Ethanol Program - A Model To meet its goal of replacing 10 percent of its fuel needs with ethanol, in the late 1980s Minnesota instituted a producer payment program of 20¢/gallon on up to 15 million gallons of ethanol per year for a maximum of 10 years. The payment is limited to in-state producers, and the small scale requirement has resulted in the formation of more than a dozen farmer-owned ethanol processing cooperatives. More... * Wisconsin Ethanol Program Wisconsin's Act 55 provides ethanol producers a credit much like Minnesota's - beginning July 1, 2000 it will provide 20 cents per gallon for no more than 15 million gallons of production. The feedstock must come from a "local" source, definition to be determined. More... The New Rules Project http://www.newrules.org/ http://www.newrules.org/agri/smalleth.html Best Keith >Hi Hakan > >>It is difficult to make tables in mail, if you cannot use html. >>Therefore I also did the tables at the end of, >> >>http://energy.saving.nu/biofuels/biofuelorg.shtml >> >>Hakan > >Difficult too to discuss them by email, for the same reason, so I >copied your tables and did an alternative version for comparison, >here: >http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_compare.html > >Best > >Keith > > >>At 04:08 PM 12/4/2002 +0100, Hakan Falk wrote: >> >> >Keith, >> > >> >Original draft for article at >> >http://energy.saving.nu/biofuels/biofuelorg.shtml >> > >> >You just posted several press releases from oil companies and these are >> >quite telling. They touch very much the subject of my article. The >> >situation in Poland and the "moonshine" argument, show the relevance of >> >this discussion. David have already started to think about it and I hope >> >that we get more valuable views. >> > >> >To add to the discussion about centralization versus decentralization risk >> >for Ethanol and biodiesel/SVO, I have done the following tables. I is a >> >topic for discussion and I am not claiming that I got it right on the first >> >time or on my own. >> > >> >The following table is a first attempt to map technical feasibility of >> >fossil to bio fuel replacement. Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
